Several Dutch Kills hotels are sheltering homeless men as the city
deals with overcrowding in the system due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo courtesy of Doris Nowillo Suda
TIMESLEDGER |2 QNS.COM | MAY 29-JUNE 4, 2020
BY BILL PARRY
With so many small businesses
in Queens adversely
impacted by the coronavirus
outbreak, Assemblywoman
Catalina Cruz introduced the
Commercial Lease Efficiency
and Resolution (CLEAR) Path
Forward Act, a bill designed to
reduce commercial evictions
and encourage tenants and
landlords to renegotiate terms
of commercial leases outside of
the courtroom.
The legislation is specifically
designed to mitigate business
interruptions and unnecessary
commercial evictions
due to the loss of revenue as
a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our district is the epicenter
of this epidemic, forcing
the small businesses who are
so important to our community
to shut down for months,”
Cruz said. “This bill would
ensure that these unforeseen
circumstances are deemed legally
beyond their control. The
majority of these businesses
are immigrant-owned, and are
often a pathway for entry into
the middle class.”
Under existing New York
law, a party to a commercial
lease may excuse compliance
with the lease where circumstances
beyond their control
make it impossible to perform.
When Governor Andrew Cuomo
called for the unprecedented
shutdown of non-essential
businesses due to the COVID-
19, businesses throughout the
region were forced to close
their doors.
This action, while necessary
for the health and protection
of the general public,
resulted in a severe loss of revenue
for local businesses, with
many of them facing mounting
debt due to the inability to pay
high rents for storefronts that
are inoperable.
“Prior to the epidemic,
many of these business owners
were struggling to stay afloat as
rent began to rise,” Cruz said.
“Now, with the state shutting
them down, they are in danger
of losing their only source
of income and face mounting
debt and possible eviction. The
CLEAR Path Forward Act will
encourage renegotiation of
lease terms where possible so
that businesses could remain
open.”
“The legislation provides a
roadmap for landlords and tenants
to negotiate a settlement,
prevent litigation and avoid
evictions. In such cases where
the parties cannot reach a
settlement, the bill provides
clear criteria for the court to
evaluate whether there should
be a reduction of the rent or
termination of the lease,” Cruz
added. “The bill also unequivocally
provides that COVID-19
was an unforeseeable event to
prevent inconsistent judicial
rulings across the state.
“Eighty-nine percent of
businesses in New York City
have fewer than 20 employees
— these are the local neighborhood
businesses that are most
in danger from the unprecedented
economic circumstances
caused by COVID-19,” said
state Senator Brad Hoylman,
who carries the measure in the
upper chamber. “No one wants
New York City to be a place
where only chain stores and
outlet malls can survive. Our
legislation will help prevent
unnecessary litigation and
encourage out-of-court negotiations
between commercial
tenants and landlords to create
a path forward for our small
businesses.”
BY BILL PARRY
A Dutch Kills community
activist has been warning
her neighbors of the unmistakable
rise of homeless men
wandering around the neighborhood.
Doris Nowillo Suda sees
them walk by her house on
Crescent Street, where she
has lived for 45 years, and
watches them gather on side
streets and playgrounds,
sometimes in their pajamas.
She has even stepped over a
man who was sleeping on the
floor of her local deli.
“I know the city has to put
them somewhere after clearing
them off the subways, but
this is not a solution at all,”
Suda said. “It’s heartbreaking
that they are providing a roof,
bed, and shower but absolutely
no structure. We need to
know, what is the plan?”
She has installed new security
cameras at her home and
told her 78-year-old mother
she can no longer go outside by
herself. But Suda is warning
fellow Dutch Kills residents to
be aware of the influx of homeless
men staying in shelters at
hastily converted hotels such
as The Vue on 22nd Street,
the Best Western Plus on 21st
Street, and several others in
the neighborhood.
“There are a lot of longtime
residents who are now
retired senior citizens,”
Suda said. “They need to
be aware of this. Substance
abuse aside, they are walking
around without facemasks
and they don’t practice social
distancing at all.”
Looking after her neighbors
is something her father
always did. Nicolas Nowillo
was a community leader who
was often called “The Mayor
of Long Island City.”
The intersection of 40th
Avenue and Crescent Street is
co-named for her father after
he was beaten to death outside
of the family home by a homeless
man in September 2008.
Nowillo went to escort an elderly
woman who called from
her car after seeing the man
staring menacingly at her.
“My father was a giving
man and instilled that in
many people,” Suda said of
her father. “He was my hero.”
She also has empathy for
the rising number of homeless
individuals but her tightknit
community has absorbed
several shelters already. Suda
has been told by shelter workers
that as many as seven hotels
have been converted and
homeless men will be living
in them for six months to a
year.
“We already have done our
fair share,” Suda said. “And
now I have neighbors who
have had their cars broken
into and every evening I see
more stuff happening on the
Citizen App.”
A spokesman for the Department
of Social Services,
which oversees the Department
of Homeless Services,
could not confirm specific locations
that the city is using
to provide temporary shelter
during the coronavirus pandemic
due to the state’s Social
Services Law.
As of May 17, DHS was
tracking 817 COVID-19 cases
among sheltered New Yorkers
and continues to proactively
relocate thousands of individuals
from targeted shelters to
commercial hotel settings out
of an abundance of caution,
including seniors and single
adults from larger congregate
locations, who are not sick at
this time, according to the
agency.
“At DSS, we’re continuing
to implement tiered strategies
and proactive initiatives to
combat COVID-19, protect the
New Yorkers who we serve,
and ensure anyone who needs
it is connected immediately
to care or to isolation — and
the use of commercial hotels
is central to this work,” DSS
spokesman Isaac McGinn
said.
Reach reporter Bill Parry
by e-mail at bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at
(718) 260–4538.
Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz has been providing meals at her
district office during the pandemic and now she is introducing a
bill to protect small business. Courtesy World Central Kitchen
Cruz bill aims to protect
shuttered small businesses
‘This is not a solution’
Community on guard as city converts Dutch Kills hotels
into shelters for homeless men during COVID-19 pandemic
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