WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 8, 2022 12RIDGEWOOD TIMES
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 efforts to remove
more than 100 encampments erected on
city streets by individuals with no other
place to go. He shook o accusations that
the e 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? This is dignity? This
is how we treat fellow New Yorkers?”
Adams makes a great point. The 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
EDITORIAL
ESTFAontB: EnLgrIavSerHs OlEd EDngl is1h 9No0rm8al
Co-Publishers
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA SCHNEPS
Editor-in-Chief
ZACHARY GEWELB
Classified Manager
DEBORAH CUSICK
Assistant Classified Manager
MARLENE RUIZ
Reporters
JENNA BAGCAL
ETHAN MARSHALL
CARLOTTA MOHAMED
JULIA MORO
BILL PARRY
© 2022 SCHNEPS NY MEDIA, LLC.
General Publication Office: 38-15 Bell Blvd.,
Bayside, NY 11361
TELEPHONE: 1-718-821-7500/7501/7502/7503 FAX:
1-718-224-5441
E-MAIL: editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com
WEB SITE: www.qns.com
ON TWITTER @ridgewoodtimes
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY
FOR 110 YEARS
COMPOSITION RESPONSIBILITY: Accuracy in receiving ads
over the telephone cannot be guaranteed. This newspaper is
responsible for only one incorrect insertion and only for that
portion of the ad in which the error appears. It is the responsibility
of the advertiser to make sure copy does not contravene
the Consumer Protection Law or any other requirement.
TIMES NEWSWEEKLY Is Listed With The Standard Rate & Data
And Is A Member Of The New York Press Association
Mayor Adams and his administration are stuck in a no-win, must-win situation when it comes to combating homelessness.
Photo by Dean Moses
THE HOT TOPIC
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
STORY:
Rosa’s Pizza will replace Jack’s at Bay
Terrace Shopping Center
SUMMARY:
Just three months a er Jack’s Pizza
closed its doors in the Bay Terrace
Shopping Center, Rosa’s Pizza announced
that it would take its place.
Cord Meyer said that the new pizzeria
has plans to open “by around
Memorial Day.”
REACH:
21,869 (as of 04/04/22)
simply have no trust that they’re any safer
in a shelter than they are on the streets.
The mayor acknowledged that the city
has much to do to build trust among homeless
individuals and get them o 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 makeshi 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. O er services
to help homeless New Yorkers get back
on their feet and live stable lives in safety.
If the Adams administration can o 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
/www.qns.com
link
/www.qns.com
link
