WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JUNE 14, 2018 11
Local lawmaker condemns Ozone Park shelter in letter to the mayor
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
As news of a homeless shelter
opening in Ozone Park later
this year spreads throughout
the borough, one Queens lawmaker
is taking his concerns directly to the
mayor’s offi ce.
Assemblyman Mike Miller sent a
letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio on June
11, adding yet another layer of opposition
to the Department of Homeless
Services’ (DHS) plan to open a shelter
at the former site of the Christ Evangelical
Lutheran Church on 101st Avenue
and 86th Street.
Miller completed a triumvirate of
local elected offi cials whose districts
cover the shelter site — joining Senator
Joseph Addabbo and Councilman Eric
Ulrich — who made it clear that a lack
of community input on this proposal
was unacceptable.
“I would like to understand your
administration’s perspective on how
having two shelters forced upon my
assembly district and Community
Board 9 without any input from the
community in which it will eff ect is
fair to my constituents and students
in the surrounding schools,” Miller
wrote in the letter. “How is placing a
homeless shelter to house 113 single
men ages 21 and up who are dealing
with mental illness and addiction near
seven schools in my district safe?”
While Board 9 contains one of the
infamous hotels converted to a shelter
in Kew Gardens that the mayor has
vowed to dismantle, Miller pointed out
that Ozone Park is already home to a
drop-in homeless shelter on Atlantic
Avenue — one mile away from where
the new shelter is being built.
Miller also condemned the fact that
the nonprofi t service provider that
will operate the new shelter, Lantern
Community Services, identifi ed the
location for the shelter independently.
Although the city welcomed community
input for possible shelter sites
earlier this year, it is a provision in
the mayor’s ‘Turning the Tide on
Homelessness in New York City’ plan
that service providers come to an
agreement with property owners
before presenting plans to the city.
Referring to an administration that
“continues to fail at transparency,”
Miller mentioned the QNS.com report
on June 11 in which a DHS spokesperson
said the agency is looking to “identify
new shelter sites within CD9 for
at least an additional 150 individuals”
over the next few years.
DHS fi rst notifi ed Miller and the rest
of the elected offi cials on Monday, June
4, that it plans to move forward with
the shelter proposal. Two days later,
Ulrich was one of the fi rst to voice that
he was “deeply disturbed” about the
location of the shelter in his District 32
in a June 6 statement.
Addabbo followed suit on June 12,
hours before a Community Board 9
meeting in Ozone Park, and released
a statement that said he would “take
every credible, necessary measure” to
protect the neighborhood where he is
a lifelong resident.
“As we prepare to oppose this mayor’s
ill conceived plan and provide
improved services for the homeless
individuals, I believe now is the time
to refrain from striking false fear
into the community and gather facts
in order to strategically work together
in making a timely, credible argument
against the city’s Ozone Park shelter
idea,” Addabbo said.
During the Board 9 meeting that
night, however, a massive crowd of
community members came to express
their concerns, and Ulrich said the city
“might as well empty Rikers and put it
on 101st Avenue,” as he addressed the
audience.
In neighboring District 30, Councilman
Robert Holden has fought
successfully against homeless shelters
in the past, and he weighed in on the
city’s latest proposal and apparent lack
of notice to the community aft er a June
6 meeting at his Middle Village offi ce.
“I’m always worried because I’m
a veteran of two wars of homeless
shelters,” Holden said. “The battles
are looming, but I want to be creative
and I know that it’s an issue. I have
a newfound respect for the mayor
and DHS Commissioner Banks
because they do have tough jobs …
We’re in the neighborhoods trying
to keep our neighborhoods good, but
they have a bigger duty to house the
homeless.”
Photo via Google Maps
The former Christ Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Ozone Park.
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