4 AUGUST 19, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Community members come out to speak against community homeless shelters. Photos by Julia Moro
Maspeth protesters rally against homeless
shelters in New York City communities
BY JULIA MORO
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Republican Mayoral Candidate Curtis Sliwa
and about 20 protesters gathered outside
of a Holiday Inn in Maspeth on the night of
Wednesday, Aug. 11, to rally against neighborhood
homeless shelters in New York City.
The group met at the same spot as they did fi ve
years ago when they successfully pushed back on
the city’s eff orts to turn the Holiday Inn into a permanent
homeless shelter.
Aft er the protestors successfully shut down plans
for that shelter, Sliwa said the city is again pushing to
use the local Holiday Inn to house homeless people.
Sliwa told the crowd that the Democratic Mayoral
Candidate Eric Adams has been talking with incoming
Governor Kathy Hochul to sign a bill that would
allow outer-borough hotels to be used as mental
health and homeless clinics, citing a New York Post
article. Adams and his team could not be reached
before publication.
“One of the many friends of Mayor Bill de Blasio
will enable the Holiday Inn to either become a provider
of mental health services for the emotionally
disturbed or become once again a homeless shelter,”
Sliwa said.
Sliwa and protesters criticized de Blasio and Social
Services Commissioner Steve Banks for their
handling of the homeless in the city, shouting “dump
Steven Banks.”
“You’re in by 10 at night; that’s the curfew,” Sliwa
said. “You get kicked out by 7:30 a.m. to roam the
neighborhoods that you’ve been put into, many of
whom never came from those neighborhoods. It creates
an adversarial situation with your neighbors
and those who are now clients of the Department
of Homeless Services, and it’s led to many, many
problems.”
Mitch Schwartz, the deputy press secretary for
Banks, said that the commissioner had spent his
Republican Mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa criticized Mayor Bill de Blasio and Social Services
Commissioner Steven Banks for their homeless crisis policies.
entire career advocating for New Yorkers in need.
“Banks knows that we can only solve this crisis
if every part of the city does its share to provide
shelter and transitional housing to those without
homes,” Schwartz said. “The mayor is grateful for
the commissioner’s expertise and service, and
he looks forward to continuing to fi ght for equity
alongside him.”
Phil Wong, president of the Chinese-American
Citizens Alliance, spoke at the rally and detailed
his experience protesting the city moving homeless
families into the Pan American Hotel back in 2014.
“In the middle of the night, a couple of buses rushed
in several hundred people into the Pan Am Shelter,
and overnight, the hotel was fi lled with homeless
families from all over,” Wong said. “I live right behind
the shelter, so I had front row seats.”
According to The New York Times, the Department
of Homeless Services notifi ed local offi cials of
the Pan Am move the day before the buses rolled in.
“The entire city of New York’s homeless policy is
a failure,” Wong said. “You see the homeless under
the Long Island Expressway. You see the homeless
in the subways. You see them everywhere. We are
looking at outright abuse of our tax dollars.”
Sliwa and the organizers refuse to allow shelters
in their neighborhoods, but Sliwa still said they
deserve housing somewhere. The Republican candidate
recommended the city consider housing people
in commercial areas where warehouses are empty.
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