10 TIMES • AUGUST 18, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com Hundreds protest proposed homeless shelter in Maspeth BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport Maspeth has a crystal clear message for Mayor Bill de Blasio, his administration and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS): don’t put a homeless shelter there. Thunder, lightning, rain and oppressing heat couldn’t keep thousands of residents from Maspeth and the surrounding areas from packing into the Martin Luther High School gym on Aug. 11 to state their case as to why the city should scrap its proposed plan to convert the Holiday Inn Express at 59-40 55th Rd. into a homeless shelter. The COMET (Communities of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together) civic association organized the session. Residents had plenty to say about the shelter, sharing their concerns over the safety of their children — the hotel is located within a few blocks of a school and a playground — and the fact that there are already three homeless shelters within the area. They also expressed little faith in Acacia Network, who would be running the shelter, to provide the proper services for the shelter residents and to keep them safe. The other shelters that Acacia operates have had a history of violent incidents. Amid a chorus of boos and chants of “No homeless shelter!” from the heated crowd, Steven Banks, commissioner of the city’s Human Resources Administration (HRA), took the stage to try and ease some of the community’s concerns as he explained what the plan is for the shelter. Banks fi rst cited the depressing stats regarding the homelessness crisis in the city, as anywhere between 58,000 and 59,000 New Yorkers are homeless on any given night. “One of the changes I wanted to make was to create a process in which we open new shelters and we give the community notifi cation, knowing full well that we might end up with meetings like this. The plan with respect to this shelter is an Oct. 1 opening,” Banks said, his words failing to stem the outrage from guests. The plan is for the shelter to house adult families; one quarter of the people in those families are working and 43 percent of them are receiving Social Security disability benefi ts, according to Banks. “There are 243 residents of Maspeth in shelters around the city right now,” Banks said. “By looking at clients who are either working or receiving disability benefi ts through Social Security, we want to give them a better place to be.” Banks also said that there will be “peace offi cers” on site 24 hours a day to protect the residents, and HRA will work with the 104th Precinct to patrol the areas around the shelter. “The New York City Police Department has a management team that is working with DHS currently,” said Captain Mark Wachter, commanding offi cer of the 104th Precinct. “When a security plan comes to the Police Department, we — myself the precinct commander, and other top offi cials of the NYPD, and DHS including the commissioner behind me — will review that and I will have my personal input on those plans if we open a shelter in this precinct.” Elected offi cials at the meeting backed the community and vowed to fi ght for Maspeth. Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley blasted de Blasio and his administration for wanting to put yet another shelter in the area. Some audience members jeered her at the start, and Crowley assured them she was on their side. “It’s crystal clear, Community Board 5 (CB 5) is on de Blasio’s hit list,” Crowley said. “We’ve been told that we need to do our fair share when helping the homelessness crisis, but in a low-density community with many one- to two-family homes, we don’t have our fair share of basic city amenities. We don’t have adequate public transportation, a hospital or even enough seats in our local schools.” State Senator Joseph Addabbo further pleaded with Banks to listen to the community and not shut them out of this discussion. BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport As Maspeth residents gathered to protest the proposed homeless shelter at the Holiday Inn Express last week, one elected offi cial was noticeably absent from the meeting: Assemblywoman Margaret Markey. Community members were stunned that the assemblywoman did not attend, or send a representative in her place to the meeting on Thursday, Aug. 11, at Martin Luther High School, while her colleagues in government, Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley and state Senator Joseph Addabbo, stood alongside Maspeth and voiced their opposition against the shelter. Brian Barnwell, a Woodside resident challenging Markey in the September Democratic primary, was also present. In a time of great concern for Maspeth, residents are looking toward the offi cials they helped elect into offi ce to fi ght for them to prevent this shelter from opening, and Markey’s absence from the meeting ruffl ed plenty of feathers throughout the community. In a statement released on Aug. 8, however, Markey came out against the shelter proposal, saying the plan “may be a mistake.” “I am concerned about the (Continued on page 11) opportunity for adequate community review of the proposal,” she added. “We need time to hear about the job placement and counseling services that will be provided to ensure that the shelter is truly ‘temporary’ for residents. I am also concerned about the track record of the proposed provider. We need answers to our questions and I am opposed to moving forward with this plan until we hear them.” Later in the week Markey Not in our town! Photos: Anthony Giudice/RIDGEWOOD TIMES Residents gather to protest the proposed homeless shelter at the Holiday Inn Express in Maspeth. Despite absence from massive community meeting,
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