14 APRIL 18, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Glendale shelter opponents take fi ght to L.I.
BY MAX PARROTT
MPARROTT@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
For months, Glendale and Middle
Village residents have grown
concerned that the owner of a
former factory at 78-16 Cooper Ave.
would convert it into a homeless shelter
— especially with construction activity
there increasing in recent weeks.
In response, the Glendale Middle
Village Coalition filled two coach
buses with protesters on April
13 and traveled to Jericho, Long
Island, to rally outside of factory
owner Michael Wilner’s house and
synagogue. Their goal: to pressure
Wilner to build a school instead of
a shelter.
At Wilner’s residence, however,
protesters found that they were
marching outside an empty house,
with a security guard keeping
watch. They then headed to the
synagogue and were met there by
congregants who were upset about
their presence.
“Michael Wilner, shame on you. Let
us build the school,” the protesters
chanted as they marched around
the block of Wilner’s house.
In addition to publicly shaming
Wilner about the shelter, the
homeless shelter opponents aimed
to publicize Councilman Robert
Holden’s proposal to build a school
for special needs students in the
factory space.
At the moment, both proposals
for the school and the homeless
shelter sit in limbo with different
city agencies.
Mike Papa, a lead organizer for
the rally, began his speech outside
of the Wilner residence about
Scores of Glendale and Middle Village residents rallied on April 13 outside the Long Island home of Michael Wilner,
owner of the factory at 781-6 Cooper Ave. rumored to be a homeless shelter, which residents would rather see
transformed into a new public school. Photos: Max Parrott/RIDGEWOOD TIMES
the need for expanding District
75’s programs for students with
special needs.
“P.S. 9 is so overcrowded, it is
forced to operate out of seven
different schools and distant
locations,” said Papa. “The New York
City School Construction Authority
(SCA) has visited this site along
with the District 75 leaders and
our elected officials and our entire
community are all convinced that
there could not be a more perfect
location to build this desperately
needed new location.”
Then Papa addressed the
protesters’ source of fear — a
homeless shelter that Papa claimed
would house “200 single males”
who were “coming right out of
Rikers Island” and would include
“sexual offenders.”
The application that Wilner
submitted to the Department of
Buildings in August to turn the
factory into a “transient lodging
house” does not specify the gender,
relationship status or criminal
record of the residents who would
be housed there.
A homeless shelter at the Cooper
Avenue factory has been longrumored,
and rumblings about
the plan re-emerged last summer
just months after the city said the
previous shelter plan had been
withdrawn from consideration.
After listening to Papa’s speech,
protesters looped once more around
the block. As they did so, Nick
Bufinsky, the security detail hired
to guard the residence, said that he
was sympathetic to them because
his girlfriend lives in Glendale.
“I was reading this story this
morning and I go, ‘I hope they don’t
build a homeless shelter there,’”
he said.
The next stop was Temple Or
Elohim, where Wilner serves as
temple president. The protesters
decided not to chant in an effort to
minimize disruptions to religious
services. However, the temple’s
cantor, David Katz, rushed outside
to confront them.
“I’m livid and I can’t believe they
would come to a place of worship to
protest someone who is a member
here. It has nothing to do with the
temple,” Katz said.
The temple was having a service
within 10 minutes of when the
protesters arrived, in addition to
hosting a bat mitzvah that day.
After their brief march outside
the temple, the protesters filed onto
the buses and headed back to Middle
Village, where Holden met them. He
expressed his appreciation for their
support of his plan and assuage
their fears over the construction
in the factory.
“They’re putting up sheetrock.
I asked New York City Human
Resources Administrat ion
commissioner Steven Banks why
are they doing that,” said Holden.
“He goes, whatever they’re doing,
they’re wasting their time.”
Papa, who had earlier expressed
his dismay that Holden had not
joined the protest in Long Island,
asked the councilman how close
the SCA was to making Wilner an
offer to buy the site and turn it into
a school.
“Last time I heard — and it’s all
up to the mayor — they were 90
percent toward approving the
school proposal, they’re still telling
me this. We just need the mayor to
sign off on this,” Holden said.
Despite not being able to say
anything conclusive about the
future of site, Holden commended
the protesters on their efforts.
“I think the obstacle here is
Michael Wilner. He had multiple
offers for this,” Holden said. “This
area is being developed and there’s
a lot of money invested here, so I
think the worst thing you could put
here is a homeless shelter. The best
thing is a District 75 school, which
we’ve been working on.”
When they realized Wilner wasn’t home, the protesters marched over to
his synagogue and held a silent protest there.
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