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Park Slope residents sign petition backing planned family housing
can really declare victory.”
The shelters fi gure to occupy
two buildings — a 12-
story tower and its 11-story
neighbor — which were originally
intended as market-rate
rentals before the city brokered
a deal with the developers
to house homeless families
there.
Anti-shelter advocates
raised concerns in their petition
about the inevitable increased
population density in
the neighborhood, the potential
impact on local schools,
and the high price the city fi gures
to pay to rent the space.
Local Councilman Brad
Lander (D–Park Slope) defended
the shelters — which
are the brainchild of the Department
of Homeless Services,
not the City Council
— arguing that the developments
would bring more residents
whether they were used
for shelters or for private residents.
Additionally, Lander committed
to providing the nearby
public schools with additional
resources to help integrate any
new students who enrolled as
Caged exhibits
A mysterious activist installed several installations around Brooklyn depicting children in cages to protest
the handling of the immigration seekers on U.S. southern border with Mexico. For more, see page 16.
Photo by Paul Martinka
The pro-shelter effort came
as a direct response to that petition,
which Price said dramatically
overstated the anti
shelters, which has gathered
welfare sentiment among
over 1,100 signatures since its
Park Slopers.
creation on May 26. Continued on page 18
“I was disappointed by that
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More than 2,538 people
have signed a petition supporting
the city’s plan to open
two homeless shelters in Park
Slope, backing the effort which
has drawn fi erce opposition
from some locals since it was
announced in April.
“I felt that people in the
neighborhood were supportive
of the plan, but where’s
the evidence to back that up?”
said Kathy Price, who stated
the petition on June 13 on behalf
of the civic engagement
engagement group Citizen
Squirrel . “I wanted to show
the receipts.”
When city offi cials unveiled
their proposal to open
the two neighboring shelters
— located at 535 and 555
Fourth avenues, and offering
a combined 253 housing
units — some Slope residents
blasted the plan as harmful to
the neighborhood.
In an effort to get the city to
reconsider the plan, one community
group launched an opposing
petition protesting the
2020 TODAY!
petition when it was signed by
200 people,” she said. “When
that number climbed to 800, I
felt that it wasn’t refl ective of
the neighborhood.”
Within days, the supportive
petition overtook its protesting
counterpart, which Price
said proved her presumption.
“I was relieved and happy
to see that what I felt about the
neighborhood was panning
out in the numbers,” she said.
“1,500 signatures is where we
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