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QUEENS WEEKLY, JUNE 2, 2019
Katz comes out against College Point homeless shelter
Residents question the borough president’s timing with her letter to Mayor de Blasio
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Queens Borough
President and district
attorney candidate
Melinda Katz came out
against the College Point
shelter in a letter addressed
to Mayor Bill de Blasio.
But some neighborhood
residents wonder why she
didn’t speak out sooner.
In the May 14 letter, Katz
expressed her concerns
about the Department of
Homeless Services (DHS)
shelter plan for 127-03 20th
Ave. She urged the mayor
and DHS to “explore other
potential locations” for the
200-bed men’s shelter.
“This location is
simply deficient in the
requisite resources and
infrastructure necessary
to help individuals
stabilize their lives
and regain sustainable
dependance,” Katz wrote
in the letter.
She cited a lack of
transportation and health
care services as well as the
four nearby schools with
“close to 3,000 children”
as her top reasons against
the shelter. She also
mentioned that “while the
aim of keeping homeless
individuals closer to home
is laudable, it remains
unclear how many of
the 200 individuals
would actually be from
Community District 7, let
alone from Queens.
Members of A Better
College Point Facebook
group criticized Katz
for her belated response
to their “solutions not
shelters” fight. One person
claimed that the letter
came after community
members filed a lawsuit
against the city and
that Katz waited to
publicize her concerns to
coincide with her district
attorney campaign.
“And she wants to
march in our Memorial
Day Parade to drum
up votes because she’s
running for Queens DA.
We have been trying to
get her to support the
‘solutions no shelters’
cause for months. She was
invited to all our protests
and never responded,” said
Cathleen Shannon.
“Helping after the fact
is lip service. Another
one that knew what
was going on,” said
Damon Baumann.
But some, like Sal
Pezzino, said that despite
the timing, Katz’s
support is a point in the
community’s favor.
“Her support however
gotten is still important
and the letter seemed very
strongly worded letter. The
fact that every single one
of our representatives
now is against the shelter
is a win,” said Pezzino.
The mayor’s “Turning
the Tide on Homelessness”
plan seeks to end the
use of all 360 cluster
and hotel sites citywide,
including the ones in
Queens. According to
DHS, the borough would
have the capacity to
shelter approximately
5,300 homeless New
Yorkers once these sites
are closed.
“As we implement our
borough-based approach,
we are ending the use
of all cluster sites and
commercial hotel facilities
citywide, including the two
commercial hotel facilities
in this Community
District, and distributing
new high-quality facilities
more equitably across the
five boroughs. This highquality
facility will offer
200 men from Queens
the opportunity to be
sheltered in their home
borough, closer to their
support networks and
communities they called
home as they get back on
their feet,” said DHS.
In addition to Katz,
Councilmen Paul Vallone
and Dan Rosenthal and
Senator John Liu have
openly voiced their
opposition to the shelter in
letters and at communityorganized
rallies.
QNS reached
out to Katz’s office,
but representatives
declined to comment for
the story.
Reach reporter Jenna
Bagcal by email at
jbagcal@qns.com or by
phone at (718) 224-5863 ext.
214.
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz
Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
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