WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES AUGUST 16, 2018 3
Miller has other ideas for Glendale shelter site
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
As tension builds while Glendale
residents wait for a fi nal decision
about the potential homeless
shelter on Cooper Avenue, one
local lawmaker is hoping to convince
the city that there are much better
uses for the building.
Assemblyman Mike Miller has
sent a letter to three diff erent city
agencies requesting that the old factory
be converted into a new police
precinct, a high school or a veteran
services center, according to a press
release. There is currently a proposal
being considered by the Department
of Homeless Services (DHS) to house
200 single homeless men there, and
the community is staunchly opposed
to the idea.
Miller suggested that the city could
accomplish any of his three suggestions
by using eminent domain, or
the practice of forcing the sale of a
property for the benefi t of the public.
In suggesting that the building
become a police precinct, Miller sent
a letter to Police Commissioner James
O’Neill to explain that it would be
a huge improvement for the 104th
Precinct. The command is currently
located on Catalpa Avenue in Ridgewood,
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a residential street two blocks
east of Fresh Pond Road.
“The amount of space located at 78-16
Cooper Avenue would be better served
as an upgraded 104th Police Precinct
for the community,” Miller said. “The
potential precinct could even hold
civic meetings, in addition to better
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onsite parking and have a secured and
contained location.”
Miller also sent a letter to Department
of Education Chancellor Richard
A. Carranza asking him to review the
possibility of making the building
into a new school for District 24, the
most overcrowded school district in
Queens. In fact, Councilman Robert
Holden issued a call for suggestions
in May for new school locations due
to the severity of the overcrowding.
“We are in desperate need of a high
school,” Miller said. “This site has
been looked at by the Department
of Education numerous times and it
was denied each time. I urge the new
chancellor to visit this site and see
for himself that putting a homeless
shelter at this location is depriving our
children of a quality education. What
makes more sense, a homeless shelter
in a residential community, or a school
for an overcrowded district?”
Lastly, the assemblyman sent a
letter to Loree Sutton, commissioner
of veterans’ services, requesting that
the building be used as a center for
veterans in need. Whether it provided
aff ordable housing for veterans
or simply resources for them, Miller
said, it “should be considered for a
facility to help those who fought for
our freedoms.”
“All three of these suggestions would
be an improvement to our community
than to shelter the homeless in a warehouse
facility,” Miller said.
Miller has joined Holden and
Senator Joseph Addabbo in speaking
out against the logistics of placing a
homeless shelter in the Cooper Avenue
building.
File photo/RIDGEWOOD TIMES
The old factory at 78-16 Cooper Ave. that is being considered as a homeless
shelter site.
Bryan G . Van Huele
Financial
Services Professional
Agent, New York Life Insurance Company
(929) 328 - 9772
bvanhuele@ft.newyorklife.com
39-02 Main Street, Flushing, NY 11354
Registered Representative for NYLIFE Securities LLC
(member FINRA / SIPCA),
a Licensed Insurance Agency
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