Ozone Park civic group
hosting 5-boro summit
BY BILL PARRY
A Queens civic association
is calling for an emergency
five borough summit call to
action Feb. 8 to discuss the
city’s failed response to the
homeless crisis.
The Ozone Park Residents
Block Association (OPRBA)
is calling on every leader of a
community group in the city
to join the forum on Feb. 8
and help find a solution to the
city’s plan to place 90 shelters
in residential communities
and discuss legal action, such
as a class action suit, to stop
the process.
Sam Esposito, the OPRBA
president, said the meeting
is not open to the public.
They are asking for one
representative from every
civic, organization, block
association and community
boards to come to the meeting
at the DESHI Center at 83-
10 Rockaway Blvd. in Ozone
Park on Friday at 6 p.m.
Interested leaders are asked
to register online at ozpkba@
aol.com to receive credentials
to attend.
“Please be respectful
as our Ozone Park elected
officials, as week as others,
who have supported us from
the start will be present at the
meeting,” the OPRBA said in
an email. “We will not allow
for disrespect or bashing.
This is strictly to discuss two
things and that is it. Please be
ready and prepared to … fight
together for a better NYC.”
The organization will also
provide pizza and bottled water.
“We will discuss having
this summit in each of the
other boroughs and moving
around the city as we are
Please be
ready and
prepared to ...
fight together
for a better
NYC.
Ozone Park
Residents Block
Association
welcomed but in order to
change the narrative, we need
to show the administration,
the City Council and the
elected officials we can and
will mobilize our people if
we are not treated with the
respect we deserve,” the
email continued.
In a separate email sent to
city and state elected officials
throughout the borough,
Esposito urges them to attend
the forum because “they
have the power to change the
narrative, make a difference,
be the hero this city needs
right now.”
Esposito emphasized the
organization is not against
homeless people but the
way the city is handling
the crisis.
“This is not going to be a
forum for people to complain,
bemoan, whine, protest,
accuse, or criticize, any
one or any policy,” Esposito
wrote. “This is about being
proactive moving forward.”
Reach reporter Bill
Parry by e-mail at bparry@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4538.
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson with Mayor Bill de Blasio.
An unlikely deal
City, feds reach deal to overhaul and reform NYCHA
BY BILL PARRY
The city has reached an
agreement with the federal
government that provides
a new roadmap forward
for NYCHA and the 400,000
residents who live in its
334 development across the
five boroughs.
In a joint appearance by
Mayor Bill de Blasio and
U.S. Housing and Urban
Development Secretary
Ben Carson Thursday, they
announced a federal monitor
would be selected by HUD and
the Southern District of New
York with input from City Hall
to address the longstanding
issues at the housing
authority’s properties.
“The families who have
endured unimaginably poor
housing conditions deserve
better from their housing
authority,” Carson said.
“Today we are presenting
NYCHA residents with bold
new solutions for decadesold
problems.”
The search for the
federal monitor will begin
immediately, according to
Mayor de Blasio.
The city will pay for the
cost of the monitor who will
provide quarterly reports to
all the agencies involved.
“What we have done here
today creates a strong patch
forward, a tangible path
forward,” de Blasio said. “It
will change and improve
the lives of public housing
residents. We wanted to make
sure there would be results.”
The agreement, made
under HUD’s authority
and not subject to court
approval, establishes specific
requirements and milestones
to address the serious health
and safety hazards at NYCHA
complexes, including leadbased
paint, mold, heat,
vermin, among others. It also
requires the existence of a
substantial default by NYCHA
but does not impose a receiver.
The mayor said that
means NYCHA remains
“under local control.” As part
of the agreement, the city
is committing at least $2.2
billion in funding over the
next 10 years to address the
issues while HUD continues
to provide funding to NYCHA,
which is estimated to be
around $1.5 billion a year.
“This is a very positive
outcome, one that I believe
can bring meaningful change
to living conditions of the
many thousands of families
who depend on NYCHA for
their housing,” Carson said.
“But there is still a lot of work
to be carried out. We look
forward to continuing what
has been a productive working
relationship with the Mayor and
his team. HUD will continue to
advocate for the hundreds of
thousands of children, women
and men in New York City
whose lives and livelihoods
depend on having safe, fair
and affordable housing. They
deserve nothing else.”
Congresswoman Carolyn
Maloney said more needed
to be done at the state and
federal level to end the third
world conditions that exist at
NYCHA developments.
“The state and federal
Photo via Twitter/@NYCMayor
governments must do their
part to help the residents
of NYCHA by significantly
increasing the amount of
money invested in public
housing,” Maloney said. “As
a member of the Housing,
Community Development,
and Insurance Subcommittee,
I will be closely monitoring
the implementation of this
agreement and will work with
my colleagues in the New York
delegation to make sure that the
voices on NYCHA’s residents
are heard loud and clear in the
halls of Congress.”
Comptroller Scott Stringer
was incredulous over the
agreement, especially that a
federal monitor was central to
the plan.
“Now they want a monitor?
NYCHA already has monitors
— its residents who have
suffered from decades of
disinvestment,” Stringer
said. “They’re the parents
who sought help when their
children had lead poisoning.
The grandmother who has to
huddle near a stove when it’s
colder inside her apartment
than outside. And the family
dealing with health issues
because of rampant mold in
their home. The time for talk
and political stunts is over.
Cut the long overdue check
from the federal government
to fully fund the needed
repairs, listen to the real
NYCHA monitors, put a plan
in place, and get to work.”
Reach reporter Bill
Parry by e-mail at bparry@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone
at (718) 260–4538.
Sam Esposito (r.) speaks at a press conference on Aug. 7,
2018, alongside E. Christopher Murray (c.), Slawomir Platta (l.)
and other elected officials to announce his hunger strike and
the lawsuit filed against the city pertaining to the proposed
homeless shelter in Ozone Park. File photo
4 TIMESLEDGER, FEB. 8-14, 2019 TIMESLEDGER.COM
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