FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 8, 2022 • THE QUEENS COURIER 22
editorial
THE QUEENS
PUBLISHER AND PRESIDENT
CO-PUBLISHER & VICE PRESIDENT
PUBLISHER’S CHIEF OF STAFF
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ART DIRECTOR
DIGITAL EDITOR
STAFF REPORTERS
CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS
PRODUCTION MANAGER
INSIDE SALES MANAGER
PRODUCTION MANAGER CLASSIFIEDS
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
SARA KAUFMAN
ZACHARY GEWELB
NIRMAL SINGH
JENNA BAGCAL
ETHAN MARSHALL, KATRINA MEDOFF,
CARLOTTA MOHAMED, JULIA MORO, BILL PARRY
CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI
DEBORAH CUSICK
CELESTE ALAMIN
KEITH FIOCCA
MARIA VALENCIA
Schneps Media, P.O. Box 610257 Bayside, NY 11361
718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441
www.qns.com
editorial e-mail: editorial@qns.com
for advertising e-mail: ads@qns.com
Entire Contents Copyright 2022 by The Queens Courier
All letters sent to THE QUEENS COURIER should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should
include a full address and home and offi ce telephone numbers, where available, as well as affi liation, indicating
special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, AS WELL AS OP-ED PIECES IN NO WAY REFLECT THE PAPER’S POSITION.
No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE QUEENS COURIER. The
publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error.
Errors must be reported to THE QUEENS COURIER within fi ve days of publication. Ad position cannot be guaranteed
unless paid prior to publication. Schneps Communications assumes no liability for the content or reply to any
ads. The advertiser assumes all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold THE QUEENS COURIER
and its employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the publication or recording placed
by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement.
Photo by Dean Moses
Mayor Adams and his administration are stuck in a no-win, must-win situation when it comes to combating
homelessness.
Story: Chip City opens new brick-and-mortar store at Bay
Terrace Shopping Center
Summary: The newest Chip City cookie store opened
up at the Bay Terrace Shopping Center on Friday,
March 25. Dozens of excited cookie lovers lined up
outside for the grand opening, where the fi rst 100
customers received a free cookie with purchase.
Reach: 36,777 (as of 03/28/22)
No-win and must-win
“Look at this condition a fellow New Yorker
was living in,” Mayor Eric Adams said last week
while pointing to a photo of 500 hypodermic
syringes found at a homeless encampment site
dismantled last week.
Adams made the point while defending
his administration’s eff orts to remove more
than 100 encampments erected on city streets
by individuals with no other place to go. He
shook off accusations that the eff orts were an
inhumane answer to a complex problem, and
underscored that doing something was better
than doing nothing at all.
“I am supposed to allow this to stay?” the
mayor asked reporters. “I am supposed to act
like I don’t see this? Th is is dignity? Th is is how
we treat fellow New Yorkers?”
Adams makes a great point. Th e questions
he asked are those which we’ve asked ourselves
time and time again in recent years as homelessness
spiked in our city, and nothing was
done to stop it.
How could we have allowed this to happen
for so long? Why did we normalize the sight
of homeless individuals erecting shanties on
streets and below elevated highways? Why
do we treat homeless individuals more as an
inconvenience than as people in crisis who need
our help?
Adams announced a handful of Safe Haven
options where those impacted by the encampment
crackdown can go to for help, but still, too
many of these displaced individuals are being
told to head over to a city-run shelter.
Homeless individuals have told us of horrifi
c experiences of abuse and crime in these
shelters, to the point where they simply have
no trust that they’re any safer in a shelter than
they are on the streets.
Th e mayor acknowledged that the city has
much to do to build trust among homeless
individuals and get them off the streets. While
the encampment sweep might be necessary to
help clean up the streets, it’s doubtful that it did
anything in the way of rebuilding that trust.
Mayor Adams and his administration are
stuck in a no-win, must-win situation when it
comes to combating homelessness. People cannot
live on the streets of this city in makeshift
hovels, but they also cannot be forced to take
up shelter in unsafe places.
Adams should follow the advice of homeless
advocate Shams DaBaron, and seek state funding
for the rapid conversion of underutilized
hotel spaces into safe, supportive housing for
homeless New Yorkers.
Make these new residences homes, not warehouses,
for homeless people. Off er services to
help homeless New Yorkers get back on their
feet and live stable lives in safety.
If the Adams administration can off er that to
homeless New Yorkers, they will have done a world
of good while restoring the city’s moral compass
in the direction of compassion and justice.
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
/www.qns.com
/www.qns.com
link
link
