6 TIMES • SEPTEMBER 1, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com Maspeth shelter war Private meeting over shelter enrages Maspeth protesters Elected of cials le lawsuit against de Blasio administration over Maspeth homeless shelter BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport Local elected offi cials are taking the fi ght against the proposed Maspeth homeless shelter to court. Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley was joined by state Senator Joseph Addabbo and Assemblywoman Margaret Markey in fi ling a lawsuit in Queens Supreme Court against the City of New York, declaring that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration is in violation of the city’s administrative code with its plan to convert the Holiday Inn Express, located at 59-40 55th Rd., into a homeless shelter for adult families. After reviewing the offi cial proposal, elected offi - cials found it to be “shortsighted, fi scally irresponsible and completely inadequate for not only the homeless population but for the Maspeth community,” Crowley said in a statement. “The mayor himself, as well as Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Steven Banks, has said converting hotels into homeless shelters is an unacceptable solution to the city’s homelessness crisis. Yet time and time again, we hear of the city moving more people into hotels and motels,” Crowley added. “Hotel conversions should not be used to create shelter capacity, while phasing out the use of legal cluster site shelters, in which families are housed in apartments, in privately owned buildings, with kitchens and other home appliances. Letting these sites go is irresponsible and negligible.” The lawsuit seeks to uphold Administrative Code Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, who was at the rst public meeting against the homeless shelter, has led a lawsuit against the city. § 21-309(a)(2) which requires that units housing homeless families must be equipped with cooking facilities. It has been noted that the hotel rooms at the Holiday Inn Express do not contain stoves or other amenities that would constitute cooking facilities. “I have continued to stand behind the idea that hotels are not the proper venue for shelters and offer almost no long-term assistance to homeless families who need help to get back on their feet,” Addabbo said. “I remain fi rmly opposed to the shelter proposal for Maspeth and will strongly support this and any other credible plan that aims to stop this inadequate proposal from moving forward.” Maspeth residents have been looking for their elected offi cials to stand up for them in this fi ght Photo by Anthony Giudice/RIDGEWOOD TIMES against the homeless shelter. Crowley was slated to formally announce the lawsuit during the Community Board 5 (CB 5) meeting on the homeless shelter on Wednesday night, Aug. 31, at the Knockdown Center in Maspeth. “This proposal is wrong for Maspeth; it is wrong for the city of New York; and it is wrong for the homeless families the city says it is trying to help,” Markey said. “Mayor de Blasio has insisted that using hotels is a bad solution to the problem of homelessness and he was seeking to avoid it. Instead, however, his administration has opened several new shelters in hotels this year and brought this proposal to Maspeth. Our lawsuit is a reminder that this policy is wrong, it violates the mayor’s own policies and city regulations, and we stand fi rmly against it.” BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport Things got heated on Aug. 30 in Maspeth when protesters of the proposed homeless shelter got wind of a private meeting between community members, elected offi cials, members of the 104th Precinct and staff from Acacia Network, the group that is planned to run the homeless shelter. Once protesters heard of the meeting, they left their post outside of the Holiday Inn Express where they have been rallying every night for nearly two weeks and marched to O’Neill’s restaurant, where the meeting was taking place. The meeting had ended by the time they arrived, and they were left with questions regarding the subject and what took place at what they perceived as a secret meeting. Those in attendance at the meeting included Community Board 5 (CB 5) member Michael LoCascio, members of the 104th Precinct, state Senator Joseph Addabbo, a staffer from Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley’s offi ce and members of Acacia Network. They were discussing safety plans for the shelter at the Holiday Inn Express, which the city wants to open on or about Oct. 1. “It was a private meeting, yes, not a secret meeting,” Addabbo told the Ridgewood Times in a phone interview. “Should we not be able to stop this shelter, we have to be prepared public safety-wise. That is one of biggest issues with shelter. You have to have that kind of discussion with the police.” The protesters were angry that they were not notifi ed of the meeting and what was being discussed, and many saw it as the community giving up the fi ght. “We didn’t like that. It is so premature to sit down with Acacia, it’s like throwing in the towel,” said Robert Holden, president of the Juniper Park Civic Association (JPCA) and active protester against the shelter. “The last thing I would do as a group fi ghting this is to sit down with the shelter organizer. To me it was just the wrong thing to do.” Instead of holding a private meeting, Holden feels that elected offi - cials should have been at the daily rallies outside of the hotel and should update the community on what they are doing to stop the shelter from opening. “As someone who has been fi ghting this the whole time, going to the rallies every night, I expect our electeds to be more creative and fi ght this. That’s what I’m most upset about it,” Holden said. “How does Addabbo go to the meeting, but doesn’t stop in by the protest? The only thing we know is that he’s meeting with the Acacia Network and that’s like a slap in the face. A lot of people see this as a battle to save their neighborhood.” The Ridgewood Times reached out to Michael LoCascio, the 104th Precinct and Acacia Network for comment and is awaiting responses. Photo via Christina Wilkinson/Facebook Protesters moved their rally from the Holiday Inn Express to O’Neill’s restaurant when they heard of the private meeting.
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