14 The QUEE NS Courier • december 18, 2014 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com SEN. AVELLA CALLS CONDITIONS AT PROPOSED PAN AM PERMANENT SHELTER ‘HORRENDOUS’ BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO [email protected]/@aaltamirano28 State Sen. Tony Avella has joined the opposition to the planned conversion of an emergency homeless shelter State Sen. Tony Avella LAGUARDIA NOW $2 OFF Expires 12/31/14 With coupon only $2 OFF Any Ride To Manhattan/Queens Minimum $20 Not to be combined with any other offer Photo courtesy of Sen. Tony Avella’s office NEWARK NOW $5 OFF Expires 12/31/14 With coupon only KENNEDY NOW $3 OFF Expires 12/31/14 With coupon only 23-03 Astoria Boulevard • Astoria • 718.204.5861 “LI# B01506” at the former Pan American Hotel into a permanent facility due to what he called “horrendous” conditions at the site. Avella, who is chairman of the Senate’s Social Services Committee, joined residents and local leaders to speak out against the proposal to convert the shelter at 7900 Queens Blvd. in Elmhurst to a permanent facility under a $42 million contract with the city. “It is an outrage to take an abandoned hotel, warehouse homeless families inside it, ignore shocking City Code and HPD violations, waste an exorbitant amount of taxpayer dollars in the process, and then award a $42 million contract to a questionable-at-best organization, making the entire situation permanent,” Avella said. According to the senator, the shelter houses over 700 residents, made up of families of which many have small children. Each unit at the shelter holds four to five people. Because the shelter uses former hotel rooms, they are not equipped with cooking facilities. The senator and organizations such as Elmhurst United claim this goes against a NYC Administrative Code requiring that each unit at a family shelter have a kitchen, and in order to do this, there would need to be major renovations at the site. The shelter has also had a large number of violations such as failure to provide hot water or heat for days, reports of bed bugs, peeling of lead paint in one unit, and garbage left sitting in front of the entrance to the children’s play area, according to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. “As chair of the State Senate’s Social Services Committee, I understand the vital importance of addressing our growing homeless population and I am committed to working to resolve these issues,” Avella said. “However, this cannot be at the expense of homeless families and children or the community as a whole. We must look to fix this broken system, not warehouse those people that need our help most.” Due to all these conditions, Avella said he calls on the city to reject the contract that would convert the former hotel into a permanent homeless shelter because he believes it is “not fit for long-term housing for the homeless.” According to the city’s Department of Homeless Services, the hotel was remodeled before the agency began using it as a shelter. The building also always has hot water, yet sometimes there is a lack of pressure, and hot water has been at full capacity since Dec. 7. Additionally, there have been no problems with the heat. Bedbugs were identified in five units and are currently being treated by an extermination company, and the facility has been lead-free since July. “We have worked swiftly with our provider to respond to all concerns in the building,” said a DHS spokesperson. “Providing adequate shelter for families in need is a priority for this administration, and it’s heartening to see the community concern about the welfare of these families – an encouraging development after unfortunate and regrettable opposition to this shelter.” The city is wrestling with a record number of homeless people. More than 59,000 people are currently in the shelter system. Bill introduced to City Council calling for term limits for community boards BY the queens courier staff [email protected]/@queenscourier A new bill that was set to be introduced in the City Council on Dec. 17 calls for putting term limits on community board members appointed in mid-2016 or later. Councilman Daniel Dromm, who is one of the initial sponsors of the bill, was set to introduce legislation in the Council’s Government Operations Committee that would establish term limits for community board members. Currently under law there is no limit to the number of consecutive two-year terms board members could either be appointed to or serve. If the new bill were to pass, those appointed for a first term starting April 1, 2016, or after would only be allowed to serve twelve years, or six consecutive terms. Under the proposed bill, a board member such as former Community Board 2 chair Joseph Conley would not have been able to serve the almost three decades he had under his belt. Dromm told the Gotham Gazette that just how communities change, he believes community boards should, too. Although he “applauds” and thanks those who serve 30 or 40 years on a board, he added that he thinks they “need to move things around.” Community boards have up to 50 voting members. Votes by community boards are non-binding, but they often carry influence with elected officials.
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