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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, APR. 8-14, 2022 BXR
opinion-editorial
Lesson unlearned for CB11 leadership over White Plains Road shelter proposal
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BY ROXANNE DELGADO
In a recent Bronx Times letter to the
editor, the Community Board 11 District
Manager Jeremy Warneke doubled down
on the decision not to inform the community
of the 2028 White Plains Road
men’s shelter immediately after CB11
was notified in October 2021. He stated,
“I know that CB11 did the right thing,”
which echoed the words of CB11 Chair Al
D’Angelo, who also stated, “We obviously
made the right call” in a recent Bronx
Times article.
The City Charter mandates community
boards pass along information to
the community it serves as well as collect
the community’s input and hold public
meetings on issues that garner lots of
public interest. The community board is
a conduit where information is passed
through from agencies to the community.
Unfortunately, CB11 is not adhering to
this mandate and is instead a gatekeeper
of information that is disseminated only
if and when the board deems it, and to
whom.
The board members are appointed
to facilitate civic engagement and are
elected by the people to represent us and
make decisions on our behalf. Yet, a few
members failed to disclose the 2028 White
Plains Road shelter proposal; just as they
decided to relocate the 1682 Stillwell Ave.
homeless shelter, with no public input or
meeting. The board’s opposition to the
1682 Stillwell Ave. shelter proposal was
its proximity to schools and homes, yet
they relocated it to a site closer to schools
and homes at 2443 Poplar St.
CB11 is run as a private association
that is funded by taxpayers with more
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than $500,000. Public gallery sessions
are limited to 2 minutes and public input
is not taken seriously — there is a
lack of transparency. This can explain
why CB11’s public meetings have only
three or four people from the public in
attendance, usually the same people for
each meeting. At the board’s public meetings,
including the meeting for the 2028
White Plains Road shelter, barely any information
or advice was provided. In response
to a resident asking the board to
advise and inform them of the next step
to oppose the shelter, the CB11 chair responded
that the community should create
a GoFundMe page and hire a lawyer.
This response was after the board’s staff
didn’t even bother to submit the community’s
questions to the city Department of
Homeless Services a month after a public
hearing on the shelter was held on Feb. 3.
At a recent March board meeting, a
board member stated, “…it makes no difference
who did what, the bottom line is
we got no shelter.” Actually, this is the opportunity
to reflect on what is working,
what is not, and what changes we need
to make in order to hold the board and
its staff accountable. Lastly, we need our
government to pass laws to regulate the
board and hold them accountable when
decisions are made without public input,
and when decisions are made to benefit
only a few at the cost of the whole community
— especially when board members
have inherent conflict of interests.
A lesson unlearned is a lesson repeated.
Roxanne Delgado is the founder of
the Friends of Pelham Parkway community
organization.
On Friday, March 18, the city announced it was not moving forward with its plan to construct a 200-
bed shelter at the corner of White Plains Road and Bronxdale Avenue. Photo | Adrian Childress
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