BY SANDI LUSK
Some facts on the Community
Board 11 homeless shelters
from the city Department
of Homeless Shelters posted
by the district manager of CB
11 earlier this month:
The 1400 Blondell Ave. —
homeless shelter for 200 single
men; one block in from
Westchester Square literally
on the border with CB 10 —
location is close to contract
registration. The anticipated
construction should start
this spring, with a target
opening of spring 2024.
2443 Poplar St. –homeless
shelter for 200 single men; literally
one block in from the
border with CB 10 — and 2028
White Plains Road 140 beds
are moving through the contracting
process and working
to start building. They are
both scheduled to open in the
fi rst half or 2023.
SHELTER NO. 1:
BLONDELL AVENUE
The Blondell shelter will
be one block from Blondell
Commons, affordable housing
for extra low-income tenants
with a 20% homeless
component. We found out
about the Blondell shelter a
year ago through CB10 and
attended the hearings with
CB11, but in truth, these facilities
article 9 require
no public input. We thought
it was an outrageous boondoggle
at a $350 million (fi ve
times the average cost of
building a shelter) price tag
for a single building for 200
homeless men. It will cost
$300 million to clean up the
contamination on the site
and deal with the high-water
table there will have to be a
constantly running pump as
part of the infrastructure of
the building. This project is
a waste of taxpayer dollars,
and uses our money against
us to help turn Westchester
Square into skid row. The
only public feedback allowed
was at the contract hearing
last spring, which we attended
and brought up the
previous points to deaf ears.
We had written to the city Department
of Social Services
and the state attorney general,
because this type of insane
expenditure should be
investigated.
SHELTER NO. 2:
POPLAR STREET
We found out about this
site months after it had been
selected by reading about it
in the Bronx Times. We immediately
began networking
with residents nearby
and getting out fl iers to the
surrounding community
and businesses. No one was
aware of this shelter coming
in right next to them. Local
resident leaders organized on
social media to get the word
out.
The original location
for shelter No. 2 — Poplar
Street — was Stillwell Avenue.
The councilmember
at the time and the leadership
of CB11 instead recommended
2443 Poplar St. as
the “perfect site,” as Stillwell
was too close to homes and
schools. This “perfect” site
is a few feet away from the
Easter Seals Bronx Developmental
school for elementary
school-aged children, surrounded
by many homes and
in close proximity to the St.
Raymond’s schools. This appeared
to be a mystery, until
an investigative reporter for
the New York Post suggested
the Poplar Street location
was chosen for other reasons
having more to do with real
estate holdings than appropriate
site location.
We invited the deputy
commissioner of Department
of Social Services, Erin
Drinkwater (who said siting
of homeless shelters in such
a community was a “win
win” for “everyone”) to meet
with us and take a tour. To
our amazement, she agreed.
We began at the Blondell
site, where a group of people
waited to speak with her,
and then some of us escorted
her the 10-minute walk to the
Poplar site, where a group of
concerned residents met her.
While on Poplar, we were
standing across the street
from the site, outside the
playground fence for the Easter
Seals school. A group of
very young children were being
escorted outside to play.
They ran up to the fence and
started waving. They were so
adorable. And they will soon
be directly across the street
from a 200-bed homeless shelter
for single men, who may
have mental, alcohol or drug
issues. I think this made our
point more eloquently than
words could. My heart breaks
to think of it. Status: moving
forward.
SHELTER NO. 3:
WHITE PLAINS ROAD
I understand that the residents
of that community also
knew nothing of the shelter
soon to be planted in their
midst. There was a hearing
at CB11, but as I said in the
beginning, article 9 facilities
can be built “as of right” and
require no public input. As
far as I know, this one is also
moving forward.
Despite this, it is only right
to consider the “fair share”
criteria (which I know does
not have the force of law), notifying
residents and businesses
nearby about something
that may have such a
devastating effect on them,
and the social service agency
facilities in close proximity
should be taken into account
(of which there are many
near the Blondell and Poplar
locations); by the time there
is a public hearing, it is usually
a done deal.
But who am I kidding?
We have fought this battle
many times over in the past
and have always lost. CB11
will be making their “quota”
imposed by the city and the
residents and businesses affected
will have to live with it
or move. And judging by the
number of houses for sale, it
may very well be the latter,
undermining the stability
of our communities and local
economies. Now there is
a new city administration.
Who knows what may, or may
not, happen now.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, FEBRUARY 1 BTR 18-24, 2022 57
BY MARY JANE MUSANO
The Department of City
Planning (DCP) wants to hear
your ideas regarding what you
think is important in the landscape
of our community. It is
coming at a good time for us.
We are fi ghting a huge, out of
scale development on Bruckner
Boulevard and unless we
fi ght this with all the ammunition
we have, we will see our
one- and two-family homes
disappear in favor of towering
monstrosities.
We are asking every member
of our community to go
to goodurbandesign.nyc and
complete the survey. It is crucial
that you tell them that we
must preserve our low-density
zoning. Our community cannot
support upzoning because
it will decimate our already
overtaxed services like police,
fi re, sanitation, hospitals,
schools, etc. Our infrastructure
cannot support more
huge buildings either.
We also need to let them
know that we fought very
hard, for many years, to get
our downzoning. We received
the downzoning because the
community board, DCP, the
City Council, the borough
president and the mayor all
agreed that it was needed.
Being that our community
has become even more overcrowded
it makes sense that
no upzoning should be approved.
We are fi nally being asked
for our opinion. Please take
advantage of this opportunity
and pass this information
along to your friends and family.
Let your voices be heard.
As you might have heard,
the Buckner upzoning is up
for certifi cation sometime after
March 14. This means that
the public review process will
begin after that date. This is
winnable if we stay focused,
united and involved. Right
now, you can reach out to our
Councilmember Marjorie Velázquez,
as she has critical
voting power that can support
our cause. Velázquez
has confi rmed her support of
the community on this issue
many times and I do believe
that we can count on her continued
support. Her job now
will be to educate her colleagues
at the City Council
as to why this project will be
detrimental to our community
and why they should join
her in voting it down. You can
reach her offi ce at (718) 931-
1721 or mvelaz@gmail.com.
For those that are not familiar
with the Bruckner upzoning,
Throggs Neck Associates
LLC has proposed to
upzone the area from Crosby
Avenue and Bruckner Boulevard,
all the way down to Gifford
Avenue and into Tremont
Avenue. They want to change
our current R4A low-density
zoning so that they may
build four mixed-use buildings
ranging from 3-8 stories.
They are proposing to offer
384 residential apartments
which would inject more than
1,100 new residents into our
already overcrowded community.
The proposal will
upzone 35 parcels and that
opens the door to more towering
buildings, more people
and more problems. Stay involved.
Complete the DCP
survey and contact our new
councilmember, Marjorie Velázquez.
CIVIC CENTER
Waterbury-LaSalle
Association
Photo | Adrian Childress
CIVIC CENTER
Westchester Square/
Zerega Improvement
Organization
The location of a planned men’s shelter on Poplar Street.
Photo | Jason Cohen
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