4 AUGUST 2, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Glendale seethes as city revives homeless shelter proposal
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@ROBBPOZ
Just when Glendale residents
thought they were out of the homeless
shelter business, the city pulled
them back in.
More than six months aft er declaring
it no longer had a plan for opening
a homeless shelter at a former Glendale
factory, the Department of Homeless
Services is again eyeing the site as a
possible homeless shelter for men.
City Councilman Robert Holden
announced the news on Friday, a day
aft er rumors fl ew on Facebook that
the city had done an aboutface on its
January decision to shelve a proposed
homeless shelter for families at the site,
located at 78-16 Cooper Ave.
“My office had received several
reports from area residents over the
last few days about activity at the
former manufacturing building in
Glendale,” Holden said in his July 27
statement. “Aft er sending numerous
inquiries to various DHS offi cials over
a 24-hour period, and speaking with
DHS Commissioner Steven Banks,
these reports have validity, and I am
extremely concerned.”
According to Holden, “a sealed
bidding process under a request for
proposal was submitted for a large
facility at the location.” Banks had
also informed the Councilman that
“a DHS review committee believed
the proposal was strong, and that a
provider is currently in negotiations”
with the city agency.
The men’s shelter plans, while not
fi nalized as of yet, would include up
to 200 beds for 200 residents, as per
DHS regulations, Holden said.
On Monday, July 30, Holden said
that he would meet with Mayor Bill
de Blasio about renewed plans for a
homeless shelter in Glendale. He had
spoken to both the mayor and Banks
about the proposal over the weekend.
In the past, Holden — while opposing
the fi rst shelter plan as president
of the Juniper Park Civic Association
— argued that the commercial facility
required too much resources to be
properly converted into a shelter.
There were also concerns about the
site’s environmental state, as it had
been used for heavy industry long ago
and is located in close proximity to a
chemical storage facility.
Holden said he would also host town
halls “pending consultation with the
administration” about the proposal
and that he would “do everything
in my power to defeat this senseless
and inappropriate proposal to place
a men’s homeless shelter in Glendale.”
“I have fought against this location in
the past and will continue to do so; this
is unacceptable,” he added.
State Senator Joe Addabbo, who
opposed the fi rst Glendale homeless
shelter proposal and is currently fi ghting
another homeless shelter planned
for Ozone Park, issued a statement on
Tuesday blasting the mayor’s offi ce for
“yet another ill-conceived homeless
shelter plan in our community.”
“Aft er we thought that the Cooper
Avenue site was off the table, the Department
of Homeless Services has
now apparently brought it back into
the discussion and looks to be headed
towards trying to open a shelter there,”
Addabbo said. “I stand with my constituents
and am appalled at the mayor’s
complete lack of transparency, not just
with the Cooper Avenue site, but also
with many other sites across Queens
— including the Ozone Park shelter
proposal.”
Addabbo stressed that he would
“make it clear that the mayor cannot
just come into our neighborhoods and
plop homeless shelters in inadequate
locations and with little to no services
to help the homeless transition out of
these shelters.”
“This fight has just begun,” he
concluded.
File photos/RIDGEWOOD TIMES
City Councilman Robert Holden said on July 27 that the Department of
Homeless Services is again interested in opening a homeless shelter at
this former Glendale factory.
Queens pols call for more Gifted and Talented programs
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
Elected offi cials from Queens
stood on the steps of City Hall
this week to rally in support
of the Specialized High School Admissions
Test and off er a possible
solution for more students to succeed
on the controversial exam.
State Senator Tony Avella was
joined by Councilman Robert Holden,
Assemblyman William Colton of
Brooklyn and community advocacy
groups on July 31 at the rally where
the lawmakers announced new state
legislation and a City Council resolution
aimed at saving the SHSAT, the
test taken by students hoping to get
into one of the city’s eight specialized
high schools. Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed
in June that the SHSAT should
be removed as part of reforms that
would help more black and Hispanic
students get accepted to the schools.
Both the bill introduced by Avella
and the resolution introduced by
Holden would require the Department
of Education to create more
Gifted and Talented programs in
schools to give more children the
opportunity to participate in them.
“We must expand our city’s successful
Gift ed and Talented programs to
be available in every school to give
students the opportunity to achieve
academic excellence,” Avella said in
a press release. “We must not pit one
group of people against another but
rather expand educational opportunities
for all. That’s why I am proud
to have introduced this bill, S.9141,
in Albany requiring an expansion of
the city’s gift ed and talented program
for all students, and I will oppose
any changes to the Specialized High
School Admissions Test.”
More specifically, Avella’s bill
requires that all city schools with
kindergarten through fifth grade
and four or more classes per grade to
have at least one Gift ed and Talented
class per grade in which students will
gain admission through academic
merit rather than an admissions test,
according to the bill text. It would
also provide for automatic admission
into Gift ed and Talented programs in
sixth through eighth grade and allows
academic merit to be part of the
entry process in those grades as well.
“A real cause of the serious lack
of diversity in NYC schools is the
failure of the DOE to off er Gift ed
and Talented classes in lower grades
and middle schools in under-served
school districts to challenge and enrich
their brightest students,” Colton
said. “Students who study hard in
Gift ed and Talented programs and
do well on the SHSAT should not be
penalized for the failure of the DOE
to provide such programs to other
districts.”
Holden’s resolution, co-sponsored
by Councilman Eric Ulrich, largely
echoes what Avella’s bill says, but
it additionally states that the DOE
should create at least one Gift ed and
Talented class per grade for intermediate
sixth- through eighth-grade
schools with four or more classes per
grade.
“As an educator turned policymaker,
I have seen over the last two
decades the negative net effect that
the decreasing of Gifted & Talented
programs have contributed on our
children citywide — especially in
our disenfranchised communities,”
Holden said. “As policymakers, it
is incumbent on us to assist in the
development of our children’s
full potential, not hinder it … If
we truly care about a progressive
education for our children, then
lawmakers need to pass these
bills now!”
In Holden’s district, the Community
Education Council 24 also passed
a resolution in June opposed to removing
the SHSAT, and the mayor’s
proposal has been met with criticism
and other protests throughout the
borough.
The elected officials were also
joined at City Hall by members of
CoalitionEDU and the Chinese American
Citizens Alliance of Greater New
York to show their support for the
legislation.
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