12 JANUARY 13 - JANUARY 19, 2017 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP CB 7 debates homeless shelters BY JAIME DEJESUS [email protected] Community Board 7 held its first ad hoc committee meeting on homelessness issues in the neighborhood on Thursday, January 5 in an effort to further educate the community on the rising number of homeless shelters within hotels. Attendees included Dan Tietz, the chief special service operator at Human Resources Administration (HRA), Matt Borden, assistant commissioner of governing affairs for Department of Homeless Services (DHS), and Matt Borden, assistant commissioner of governing affairs for DHS. Chair of the new committee, Arun Singh, led the meeting. “A year ago, the mayor announced that there would be a 90 day review of DHS services and the commissioner of HRA Steve Banks became the commissioner of the new combined department of social services that includes both HRA and DHS,” said Tietz while explaining the role of the two groups. “Since the end of that 90 day review of March and April of 2016, we’ve been working on a consolidation between the two agencies.” Throughout the presentation, Tietz did most of the talking, outlining the rising problem. “You don’t have to look very far to recognize that New York City has a challenge with regards to homelessness,” he said. “That is a challenge in regards to affordable housing and making sure that people with limited means have a place to live.” He also discussed the problems within the community itself. “This community specifically is admittedly in some number of hotels,” Tietz admitted. “We’re in those hotels in the absence of other purpose built shelters. If we had adequate other purpose built shelters, then we wouldn’t be in hotels." Tietz also mentioned getting rid of cluster housing, a practice where the city would take a certain number of apartment units in a building and would rent those units from landlords and use them as shelters. "We think that’s not a sensible approach that really hasn’t worked for communities for families, or money wise," he said. "We are committed to returning those cluster units to affordable housing stock." Delvis Valdes of the Village of Sunset Park, responded with concerns, especially with cluster sites. “You mentioned cluster sites that are apartments with bathrooms and kitchens as opposed to hotel rooms and you said hotel rooms aren’t an ideal situation,” he said. “It seems like you’re phasing out the cluster sites in favor of hotel sites. Don’t you think apartments with facilities would be better than hotels?” Tietz contended that they are not paying rental rates that the public would normally pay but are potentially paying more. The lack of clarity frustrated board members. District Manager of CB 7 Jeremy Laufer also presented his displeasure BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/file photo with the lack of communication between these agencies and the community. “We got less than a week’s notice regarding 49th Street,” he explained. “Nobody contacted us about helping find a space in this community. You mentioned that we worked to help find spaces. That’s not what happened.” Rally held outside a Sunset hotel housing the homeless. Kudos to Sunset Park group BY JAIME DEJESUS [email protected] A local Sunset Park business is being rewarded for its hard work raising awareness for breast cancer. Screen printing and clothing store Cotton Hustle, 5012 Third Avenue, collaborated with its own motorcycle club this past October and held a fundraiser for the disease by donning pink shirts, riding around the neighborhood and throwing a party afterwards. The event was such a success that the American Cancer Society took notice and will reward the group for its efforts on Saturday, January 14. “They wanted to recognize us for our efforts as a small business based out of Brooklyn,” said organizer Jose Rosario. The American Cancer Society plans to recognize the group with a photo op and presentation of certificates for the benefit, which raised $2,000. “We were on the bikes with other females who are survivors as well,” Rosario said, adding that the cause was personal for him. “They were a part of the whole event. My mother was there who has been a fighter for 25 years. Some of the other neighborhood ladies were there. The day was basically to honor them.” The group treated the women to breakfast and lunch from local Sunset eateries. “The day was successful,” he said. “It was a very family oriented Sunset Park event. We underestimated the amount of people that were going to come. We didn’t make enough shirts. Next year we have to triple them because it was such a big event.” Participants donated by buying pink shirts from the store. “A friend of mine died of cancer and we started a foundation for her, the Erika Roman Foundation in the Bronx,” Rosario said. “They were trying to raise $25,000 and they missed the goal. We didn’t know what to do with the money. We heard they were short of the goal, so we threw the money to their end and they hit their goal." The initiative also got help from the neighborhood. "The police captain at the 72, Emmanuel Gonzalez caught wind of what we were doing," he said. "He was amazing. He sat me in his office and asked what we needed from him to make the event a success. He provided units to block streets off to give us a lane of traffic." To boot, Girl Scouts from Coney Island attended the event and were cheering everyone on and handing out food. Everyone involved is thrilled to be recognized, according to Rosario. "It is great because we never expected that," he said. "The American Cancer Society said what we did was amazing and it touched us. We did it just because we wanted to help, so for them to say 'we want to recognize you' makes it even better." Photo courtesy of Jose Rosario Sunset store Cotton Hustle will be recognized by the American Cancer Society for its work raising awareness.
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