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May 10–16, 2019
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SHELTER CONUNDRUM
Park Slopers blast plan to open new homeless shelters on Fourth Avenue
Lander addressed concerns
about school overcrowding,
saying he would work with city
agencies and local school leaders
to ensure there was space
for the kids, but noted that
many shelter kids tend to stick
with whatever schools they’re
already attending.
Beyond that, the properties
were always planned for
residential use, and would
have likely attracted more students
to local schools had they
opened as market-rate rentals,
although nobody made an
issue of it until the shelters
were announced, according to
Lander.
“Both those buildings have
been in construction for quite a
while, and no one had brought
any concerns about the capacity
of the schools,” he said.
One Park Sloper scorned
his neighbors, describing them
as faux liberals for their harsh
criticism of the city’s shelter
plan.
“I must say to my neighbors
who claim to be progressive,
and post signs on their windows
supporting Syrian refugees,
if you’re against homeless
people coming into our neighborhood,
you’re against homeless
people,” said Joel Berg.
Many locals did express
support for the shelter, including
one man who asked what
community members could do
to support shelter residents.
Quinn suggested volunteering
during Win events for kids,
including the shelter operator’s
summer-camp program, in addition
to wrapping free gifts for
kids come Christmas time.
The audience would eventually
boo her before she could
fi nish describing opportunities
to help the shelter residents.
BY COLIN MIXSON
A city scheme to house homeless
families within a pair of
Fourth Avenue residential developments
was met with outrage
during a public meeting
at Seventh Avenue’s John Jay
Educational Campus on May 1,
where locals shouted, heckled,
and booed at presenters from
the Department of Homeless
Services and its chosen operator
for the upcoming refuge.
And it’s not because they
don’t like homeless people —
they’re just not willing to pay
developers to house them, according
to one Park Slope
man.
“You want to pit the working
class people of this city
against the homeless,” said
Bo Samajopoulos. “This is not
about the homeless people —
Brand Lander and Mayor Bill
de Blasio are bailing out developers.”
Park Slope Councilman
Brad Lander organized the
meeting to discuss the city’s
plan to install shelters in buildings
at 535 and 555 Fourth Ave.
slated to open this fall. The
properties were originally
built as market-rate rentals,
before offi cials at the Department
of Homeless Services
worked out a deal with developers
to house destitute families
there.
The neighboring shelters
will be run by nonprofi t shelter
operator Win and will feature
a combined 253 units,
along with childcare services
and programs designed to help
get down-and-out New Yorkers
back on their feet and into permanent
housing.
Both buildings will feature
24-hour security and surveillance,
and will be offered ex-
Eggs-cruciating!
One of Prospect Park’s swans with her eggs, before they suddenly disappeared sometime last weekend.
For more, see page 6. Prospect Park Alliance
clusively to families, with the
majority of residents expected
to be women and children, according
to Jackie Bray, fi rst
deputy commissioner at the
Department of Homeless Services.
At the meeting, questions
about the shelters’ effect on
property values were quick to
arise, with one Park Slope resident
asking why the refugees
couldn’t be sited in a less gentrifi
ed area.
“Why are the shelters being
taken out of areas now marked
for gentrifi cation, like Sunset
Park, and moved into areas
that have already been gentrifi
ed,” asked Father Joe DeVincenzo.
Another woman asked
about what effect the shelter’s
pint-sized residents would
have on local schools, claiming
nearby PS 124 is already near
capacity.
Bray, Lander, and former
City Council Speaker Christine
Quinn, who now serves as
Win’s chief executive offi cer,
struggled to address concerns
expressed by residents as their
audience at the packed high
school auditorium shouted
over them, and Quinn in particular
was routinely drowned
out by a chorus of boos.
The Homeless Services offi
cial claimed there’s “zero research”
showing shelters reduce
property values, and said
the city bases its decision to
site a shelter in a community
based on the number of existing
shelters there and its current
population of homeless
residents.
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