“Children will be in great danger”
Residents oppose Blondell homeless shelter in public hearing
BRONX TIMES R 16 EPORTER, MAY 7-13, 2021 BTR
Furthermore, he stressed
that before the contract is
approved the board would
like to review it.
“We want more transparency
from the city,”
he stated. “We ask that
this contract be placed
on hold.”
Marianne La Croce,
who lives on Blondell, is
against the shelter because
there are three
schools, Herbert Lehman
High School, P.S. 12 and
an occupational training
center for the disabled all
within three blocks of the
facility.
She feels this would
endanger the kids.
“I know as a parent I
would not want my children
going to a school
and coming home knowing
there are hundreds
of homeless men on the
same street as my child,”
she stressed.
La Croce said she
called all three schools
and none knew about the
shelter.
“They know their
children will be in great
danger,” she stated. “We
need to have a conscience
here.”
Executive director of
the Westchester Square
Business Improvement
District, Yasmin Cruz,
explained that during the
past nine years property
owners invested millions
to revitalize the area
and this planned shelter
could make all that for
naught.
“Putting a facility
of this size we will not
be able to sustain what
we have done,” she commented.
“How much more
is Westchester Square
supposed to take before
its back is broken.”
Sandi Lusk, director
of Westchester Square-
Zerega Improvement
Organization, shares
Cruz’s discontent with
the planned shelter. Lusk
noted that Blondell primarily
has one to three
story homes and this will
be out of character with
the neighborhood.
“Westchester Square
was experiencing a renaissance,”
she exclaimed.
“We think this
is absolutely the wrong
place for this.”
BY JASON COHEN
Residents in and
around Westchester
Square expressed opposition
to plans for a homeless
shelter for single men
in the community during
a public hearing the city
held last week.
The location of the
shelter, at 1374 Blondell
Ave., sits right on the border
between Boards 10
and 11 — and members
and residents of both districts
turned out at the
public hearing to voice
disapproval of the plan.
Foremost Real Estate,
operating under the 1400
Blondell LLC holding
company name, is slated
to construct a 3-story
building for a transient
shelter and a health care
clinic at the Westchester
Square location. The shelter
is slated to open midlate
2023.
Currently, there are no
shelters in CB 11, according
to the Department of
Homeless Services. The
agency says more than
300 households, comprised
of hundreds of
individuals, from this
community district reside
in the shelter system
citywide.
District Managers
of Community Boards
11 and 10 — Jeremy
Warneke and Matt Cruz,
respectively — both
stress that the boards
are against the planned
shelter. Warneke noted
that, from what he understood,
the shelter is a
done deal.
“These hearings to
my knowledge are procedural,”
Warneke said.
“If one can’t prove a rule
has been violated, then
there is nothing anyone
can really object to.”
According to Cruz,
the city did not include
residents in the decision
to put a shelter there.
The site of the future shelter in Westchester Square on
Blondell Avenue. Photo by Jason Cohen