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City Hall protest for College Pt. shelter plan
BY MARK HALLUM
The weather couldn’t stop
scores of College Point residents
from making the long trip to
Lower Manhattan to protest a
proposed homeless shelter in
the community.
The protesters gathered
on the steps of City Hall on
Jan. 13 demanding that the
city Department of Homeless
Services come up with another
way to help homeless residents
in Queens.
The agency has proposed
opening a shelter for up to 200
men at a site located at 127-03
20th Ave.
For months, College Point
residents, including Jennifer
Shannon, have said the plan
simply doesn’t work for the
community.
At Sunday’s protest,
Shannon repeated her concerns
that the community offers
little public transportation
and medical services — both
of which are necessary to
accommodate the homeless
population that the shelter
would serve.
“College Point really
is on the most northern tip
of Queens, and there really
is nothing there. To get to
any service, it’s 45 minutes,”
Shannon said, referring to the
three-to-five unreliable bus
routes available.”
BLAZE ON BELL INJURES TWO
Firefighters work to put out a fire on the second floor of 42-28 Bell Blvd. in Bayside that
resulted in two people suffering serious injuries. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.
Photo by Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech
voiced was that the residents at
the facility will not be allowed
to stay in the building during
the day and that medical
assistance is sparse.
City Department of
Homeless Services spokesman
Isaac McGinn denied the
claim, explaining that this is a
misconception that arose from
the fact that residents are sent
into common areas of the facility
to engage in job development
and other programs while
sleeping quarters are cleaned
by staff.
Shannon admitted that
DHS had not said this is
its policy, but that it had
been in contact with other
communities who claimed
homeless residents were
turned out during the day.
One concern Shannon
“If we get sick in College
Vol. 85 No. 3 52 total pages
Point, we have to go to Bayside,
we have to go to Whitestone —
we’ve got no services,” Shannon
said. “No train, no precinct,
no hospital. So how are they
helping these men?”
But like many other
homeless shelter facilities
established by the city, McGinn
confirmed that the College
Point shelter will have medical
services provided on-site as well
as mental health assistance.
“Our only thing is this is
just a really horrible location,”
Shannon Said. “This is not
a NIMBY thing, it’s just not
safe. It’s just not safe to put 200
men transitioning – many of
them, probably most of them
from prison – in the middle of
a community surrounded by
our schools.”
Michael Deng, who also
helps organize the opposition to
the shelter, echoed Shannon in
the claim that those opposing
the College Point shelter had
been villainized by those in
favor, which they viewed as an
unfair assessment.
“We’re talking about a
very small number of people
who go through homelessness
versus a community of 80,000
people, 28,000 households,
more than 5,000 school kids,”
Deng said. “It couldn’t be a
worst site. Five schools in
the middle of the commercial
center of College Point. We’re
not against homeless, we have
our own homeless we are
taking care of.”
There are currently an
estimated 63,000 to 70,000
homeless individuals in the
city, a situation which has been
treated as a crisis by Mayor Bill
de Blasio. The College Point
location is slated to be another
addition in his Turning of
the Tide on Homelessness
initiative.
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