Readers: Let the women stay!
COURIER LIFE, DECEMBER 20-26, 2019 39
Residents of a Bedford-Stuyvesant
women’s shelter have been
given less than 30 days to pack
their bags as the city seeks to repopulate
the refuge with homeless
men, according to locals and shelter
residents.
The shelter at 85 Lexington
Ave., operated by Bowery Residents
Committee (BRC), is being
repurposed as a men’s shelter, with
a special focus on men with mental
illness, which neighbors and shelter
residents say was dropped on
their head with little warning.
“Nobody had notice, the case
managers told us that it was a
surprise to them as much as it was
to us,” said Tonya Williams, who
has lived at the shelter for nine
months.
Readers had a lot to say online:
DHS behaves like a secret organization
and does not allow the homeless
to communicate with them.
They have a set of rules that shelters
must follow but their rule book is
never given to the homeless and the
residents are given no power to oppose
the rules.
I lived in this shelter between 2001
and 2003. Residents were tested for
hepatitis C (can you think of a more
vulnerable time to be told you have
hepatitis C, an incurable disease
starts that time) and then I saw signs
around the shelter that were recruiting
people to participate in medical
experimentation – they said, “Get
treated and get paid.”
How harmful it will be to displace
these women! Who in DHS has made
this decision? Why are single, homeless
women treated the worst?
How can you take a shelter that
has struggled to become a supportive
community and destroy it? What
is wrong with the decision makers?
I’ll tell you. They are sadistic.
Elizabeth Faraone
I feel like the system in general
should be tackled fi rst before creating
another component that may
not be carried out thoroughly. creating
a men’s shelter, absolutely. but a
shelter for men focusing on mental
health is a big leap especially when
dealing with the very disorganized
and often dehumanizing social work
system in terms of homelessness.
No one knew about this in advance.
not even case workers. people
who are already destitute given such
short notice to vacate and have to go
through the intake process all over
again.. so the mental health of these
100 men matters more than the however
many who were forced to vacate
in a short period of time?
I feel like this could have been better
thought out. instead pushing people
out of a shelter and rearranging,
why not put mental health focus on
EVERY shelter? Every single shelter
is full of people with mental health issues,
drug addiction, abuse victims,
etc. Not a single person in those shelters
is completely ok. they’d all benefi
t from a mental health initiative
that could actually help to get them
off of the streets.
the fact that this was done so hastily,
with lack of informing people in
advance, makes me wonder if things
all factors have been accounted for
like where all psychiatrists are coming
from, how much security the
place would need etc. imo this looks
like another way for people to feel like
they helped but structurally doesn’t
actually do much but switch things
around a bit. another way of sort of
fi xing the symptom but not the disease.
micromanaging when we need
a system fi x on the macro level usually
just ends up being a rather expensive
fail with good intentions.
Nicole Polsinelli
Wow, with all the abandoned
buildings is this really necessary?
Kinda pathetic to uproot women and
children.
Clare Kope
The DHS is up to no good!...Would
love to reach the mayor about this issue.
Keiko Niccolini
Find the men another shelter.
Why are they more important than
women? They are human beings too.
Marcy Magrino
No more high rises!
A Dumbo development fi rm unveiled
designs on Thursday for
two, massive skyscrapers, along
with new beaches and parkland
planned for the Williamsburg waterfront.
Two Trees Management — the
company responsible for redeveloping
the site of the former Domino
Sugar factory — wants to erect
the 650- and 600-foot towers at a
former industrial fuel-oil-storage
complex once owned by Con Edison,
located on River Street between
Grand and N. Third streets,
which the fi rm purchased for $150
million on Wednesday.
And in place of the current vacant
lots there, fl ashy renderings
created by high-profi le landscape
architects James Corner Field
Operations and architecture fi rm
Bjarke Ingels Group display an
idealized vision of a planned 3.5-
acre park, a looping boardwalk,
and two small beaches along the
shores of the East River.
Readers shared their thoughts.
I have lived on South 2nd Street
for thirteen years and attended Saint
Francis Prep which was on North
6th (Bedford/Driggs) fi fty-two years
ago. The quiet neighborhood I knew
in the 60s gave way to the artists
and hipsters who could afford to live
here when I moved in. They were fun
and our ‘hood was relatively pleasant.
With each new development, the
crowding becomes more unbearable
– and the community less friendly. I
walk on Driggs to avoid the hordes
– something one did not do a decade
ago…. One South First is an ugly eyesore
that hulks over the neighborhood;
I can see its unseemly asymmetry
from my windows. Now, two
even larger towers are proposed….
Our subways will become even more
impassably crowded than they already
are. Often, one cannot even
squeeze into a car by the time they
get to Bedford or Marcy. I do commend
the MTA for the station improvements
that are in progress on
the L and the wider staircases on the
J/M/Z – but we must fi ght this atrocity
tooth and nail.!!! Eric R. Wilson
Setting aside all of the urban
planning issues… those towers look
pretty snazzy, if they end up looking
like that.
Tyler Burbank
Who would swim and catch fi sh (if
there are any) from the East River?
It’s a fl ood prone area. ENOUGH
HIGH RISE BUILDINGS! Build
for the middle class and poor. GO
AWAY!
Diane Howley
More God awful buildings for
Gentrifi ers and Hipsters to invade
us.
Justin Allen
What is this, Dubai?
Jan-elle Fox
Beaches? Going to sell you the
Brooklyn Bridge too!
Frances Zarnock
I don’t like the towers, but the redevelopment
of the Brooklyn waterfront
is a FABULOUS idea. Looks
like it could rival parts of Bridge
Park.
Mo Lynn
I’d like to images on the fi rst day
of summer when everyone tries to go
to the beach or 100 more people at the
pool.
Adam Ingberman
Open the WWII memorial!
The Department of Parks and
Recreation missed yet another important
construction deadline to
allow the city to reopen the longshuttered
World War II memorial
in Cadman Plaza Park, and veterans
of the confl ict are outraged
at the city’s ongoing failure to provide
access to the monument.
“It’s been so many years ago
that we’ve been fooling around
with this here — everybody wants
to know what the heck’s going on,”
said Marine Park resident Jack
Vanasco, 92, who served as an
army corporal from 1939 to 1947.
Readers made themselves heard
online:
My Uncle Warren is one of those
names. For years we used this space
for community events and classes.
This is sad.
Lois Allen.
My cousin jack and his brother
Roy have tried and tried to get them
off their asses and nothing. My Uncle
Ed is on that list as well. Pressure
should be brought to bear on DeBlasio
for disrespecting the 300,000 guys
who served from Brooklyn!
Vincent Vanasco
If you really want something
done, rezone the area and build a
highrise luxury apartment instead.
Sheva
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