WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES APRIL 4, 2019 3
Glendale shelter opponents plan L.I. rally
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Members of the Juniper Park
Civic Association (JPCA)
are ready to protest aft er an
unconfirmed rumor that a former
factory on the Glendale/Middle Village
border is fi nally primed to house 200
homeless men.
Glendale resident Mike Papa claimed
the site is going to accommodate
what he termed “the worst of the
worst” during his Thursday night
announcement at the JPCA meeting
in Middle Village’s Our Lady of
Hope School. The community is now
organizing a rally outside the Long
Island home of Michael Wilner, who
owns the defunct factory at 78-16
Cooper Ave. For years, the city and
community have clashed over plans
to turn the site into a homeless shelter
for up to 200 people.
“All single men — 200 single men —
mostly ex-cons some sexual off enders.
That’s the population that is being put
in there; that’s not a rumor,” Papa said.
“The work at the site has been full speed
ahead, framing and building … They
gain procurement from the city and
the only thing left for them to do at this
point is to give the community board
30 days’ notice and the facility opens
… At that point there is nothing that we
can do about it. We cannot let it get to
this point.”
A spokesman for Councilman Robert
Holden, who has been pushing to place
a District 75 school for children with
disabilities at Cooper Avenue instead,
told the Ridgewood Times there is not
currently any contract with the city for a
homeless shelter.
“We support our constituents
coming together to push back against
the property owner, who is only
concerned about making money
with no regard to the community,”
a spokesman for Holden said. “But
ultimately it is not up to the property
owner if a shelter is going there or not.
It’s up to the city, and there has been
no contract for a shelter put forth by
the city. The councilman continues to
push for a school at the location and
is regularly communicating with the
relevant city agencies.”
The property owner, Michael
Wilner, has fi led applications with the
city Department of Buildings to have a
facility built and was in talks with the
city Department of Homeless Services
at one time allowing them to view
the space.
In August, Wilner submitted an
amendment to the application of
existing work to include a “transient
lodging house” which had not yet been
approved as of January, according to
the Department of Buildings.
A DOB spokesman said the
application amendment has not
moved forward.
DHS has launched its Turning of the
Tide on Homelessness initiative, which
aims to phase out hotel conversions
and establish shelters in community
board districts from which homeless
individuals originate.
The plan is to place individuals near
family and friend support networks to
rehabilitate the sum 63,000 to 70,000
homeless people.
“Every neighborhood, every
community board that sends people
into the shelter system should have as
close as possible to a representative
amount of shelter in that area. And
that’s what we’re going to do one way or
another,” de Blasio said on “Inside City
Hall with Errol Lewis” on March 18.
Attendees at the civic association
meeting erupted in applause when
Papa said he went to Wilner’s home
and and place of employment to
confront him about his alleged intent to
build a shelter.
Papa is organizing rally with three
buses scheduled to pick up potential
protestors at the 78-16 Cooper Ave. on
April 13 at 8 a.m.
File photo/RIDGEWOOD TIMES
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