BY JASON COHEN
More than 400 Riverdale residents
packed a Zoom meeting in
opposition to a proposed men’s
shelter in the community.
On Oct. 13, the NYC Department
of Social Services (DSS)
presented its plans to the Community
Board 8 Health, Hospitals
and Social Services Committee
to construct a 130-bed single
men’s shelter at 6661 Broadway,
where it will house four to six
people in dorm-style rooms.
The shelter would be serviced
by the African American Planing
Commission Inc. (AAPCI)
and is anticipated to be ready in
the fall of 2023. Currently, there
is only one DSS and city Department
of Homeless Services shelter
facility within the Bronx
Community Board 8 district,
which serves families with children.
Throughout the meeting the
consensus was that this shelter
would bring crime into the
neighborhood.
“This is not making me
feel safe,” said resident Julissa
Freire, who told the committee
that she understands the need
to help people, but that the community
must be consulted before
these projects are designed, not
after.
Community Board 8 member
Laura Spialter is worried the
shelter will house drug addicts,
people with mental health issues
and sex offenders, and could be
dangerous to the neighborhood.
According to Spialter, it is a problem
that DSS can only access
criminal records of sex offenders
and not other people who may
past criminal histories.
But safety was not the only
concern on the part of residents
in the area.
Sean Murray, a small landlord
in the Bronx, said the shelter
will bring property values down.
Murray told the committee that a
single men’s shelter will destroy
Riverdale and he is ready to leave
the community. (I thought the
name in the zoom meeting said
Sena. I could have seen it wrong,
but they also had no chat feature
so I couldn;t ask for names)
“I’m not waiting for this neighborhood
to crumble,” he said.
Some elected officials were
also staunchly against the proposed
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, O 2 CT. 22-28, 2021 BTR
shelter. Democrats New
York State Assemblyman Jeffrey
Dinowitz and New York City
Councilman Eric Dinowitz both
voiced opposition to the facility.
Jeffrey Dinowitz said the “proposal
already seems like a done
deal.” He added that the city government
is supposed to be transparent
and work with the community,
not against it. He is also
concerned that there will not be
24/7 on-site services at the site
and that past shelters in his district
have had a history of crime,
such as Project Renewal, where a
former resident killed the shelter
manager in 2015.
Additionally, as the city has
recently cut ties with multiple
nonprofit providers, Jeffrey Dinowitz
was quite alarmed to
learn that the city would be paying
AAPCI $6.5 million a year.
“I am very concerned about
the proposal, not least of which is
the opaque and top-down method
that the Department of Homeless
Services has used to come
up with this plan,” he said. “This
shelter should not be built, and I
stand with my neighbors in opposition.”
The site of a proposed shelter at 6661 Broadway in Riverdale.
Photo Pablo D. Castillo Jr.
The proposed shelter would
include case management, individual
and group counseling,
permanency planning and housing
placement assistance, support
groups, independent living
and life skills workshops, and
support in finding and securing
employment. Off-site service linkages
will include, but will not be
limited to, primary healthcare,
health/mental health services,
referrals to substance use treatment,
vocational training, employment
placement, GED instruction,
conflict mediation and
legal services.
AAPCI would provide onsite
security around the-clock.
A minimum of two security officers
would be located at the building
entrance to control building
access and to monitor security
cameras, which will be located
throughout the building and
grounds. Staffing would consist
of a minimum of three security
guards per shift and one additional
supervisor per shift. As an
added measure, a total of at least
42 security cameras would be installed
throughout the building
and across the shelter grounds.
The issue is expected to be
discussed further by the Community
Board 8 Land Use Committee
and the full Community
Board 8 later this month.
Riverdale community furious
over men’s shelter proposal
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