4 SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Town hall on homeless shelter in sees huge turnout
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Residents of southwestern Queens
continue to be polarized, yet frenzied,
over the installation of homeless shelters
in Glendale and Ridgewood.
The issue could not be better illustrated
than with Thursday night’s town
hall in Glendale hosted by Councilman
Robert Holden, which stoked anger
against the city’s attempts to provided
shelter for 200 indigent males.
Some chatter at the town hall expressed
concern that the auditorium
at P.S. 119 had too many people and
posed a fi re hazard; more than 400
were said to be in attendance.
Holden’s opposition to the shelter
echoed an argument that has taken
place in nearly every neighborhood
that has risen up against a planned
shelter in their community, claiming
that a former factory under renovation
at 78-16 Cooper Ave. was out of
character with the neighborhood.
“It doesn’t fi t in with the fabric of the
neighborhood. That’s our argument,”
Holden said. “This is like four new
blocks of people that won’t necessarily
live in the neighborhood that have
problems… We’re a compassionate
neighborhood. We have soup kitchens,
food pantries and smaller shelters
throughout the neighborhood.”
He then read aloud a fact sheet that
his offi ce prepared outlining the proposed
Glendale shelter, operated by the
Westchester County-based nonprofi t
Westhab.
As Westhab’s fi rst contract with the
city’s Department of Homeless Services
(DHS), they will provide 8 case
managers and 2 social workers on staff .
There will also be an in-house security
Photo: Mark Hallumn/QNS
staff of 40 guards and 6 supervisors,
according to Holden’s offi ce.
The single men to be housed in
Glendale would be “employed or
deemed employable,” as noted on the
fact sheet.
DHS has not confi rmed many of the
particulars of this fact sheet apart
from information QNS was given by
the agency in August.
Holden was joined on the dais by
state Senator Joseph Addabbo, Assemblyman
Mike Miller and Assemblyman
Andrew Hevesi, who took a diff erent
approach to opposing shelters.
Stopping the ‘business’
of shelters
Taking aim at Governor Andrew
Cuomo and his background of being
in the “business” of shelters, Hevesi
claimed the system used by the city to
house the homeless was corrupt in that
it costs less to simply provide rental
assistance to the needy.
Hevesi claimed Cuomo and his sister
Matilda have profi ted off the venture,
Help USA — which has a location on
Wards Island — and that executives
associated with the organization now
have in turn contributed to Cuomo’s
campaign.
“I understand you’re mad at the
mayor, I understand you’re mad at
the city and I understand you don’t
want the shelter,” Hevesi said. “But
I’m telling you, unless we deal with
this macro issue of Cuomo protecting
a select group of people who are
making money off homelessness, who
are making money off of the Glendale
shelter because there’s new contracts,
homelessness will persist.”
Hevesi said he would not oppose
the Glendale shelter nor would he offer
support, instead advocating for a
rental supplement.
Others, however, viewed opposition
to the shelter as racism that criminalizes
the poor.
Members of the Ridgewood Tenants
Union attended the Sept. 19 town hall,
issuing a statement beforehand that
called for more protections for renters
and tweeting their views of the
observations around them.
“While we support the two shelter
openings in Ridgewood and Glendale,
we do not believe that shelters are the
answer. We believe that our housing
crisis is, above all, the result of a
moral crisis that will only be solved
by housing-based, common sense
solutions that are not driven by the
usual anti-homeless, racist and classist
sentiment that usually dominate these
discussions,” an RTU statement read.
“Anti-shelter advocates and organizers
like Councilmember Bob Holden
oft en dehumanize and criminalize the
homeless but we stand fi rm in our commitment
to defend all of our neighbors
against prejudice and hate.”
A diff erent stance
in Ridgewood
DHS announced in August it would
not only install the shelter on Cooper
Avenue, but would add another on
Summerfield Street in Ridgewood,
which will have to be built from the
ground-up.
Standing in stark contrast to the
movement in Glendale, City Councilman
Antonio Reynoso — whose district
includes the Summerfi eld Street
site — made a statement at the Sept. 18
Community Board 5 meeting which
supported the Ridgewood shelter and
eff orts to provide other services to the
homeless.
“I am 100 percent in support of the
homeless shelter that will be going up
in Ridgewood. It’ll be 200 members
in that homeless shelter – it would be
women and children,” Reynoso said. “I
believe that we have a responsibility
as a community, as a people, to help the
neediest … I’m doing everything I can
to make sure the transition is a positive
for the families that are coming
into the community.”
Reynoso said he would address
community concerns, but would not
play on negative stereotypes about
the homeless or what he called scare
tactics. Though he has not yet come to
a decision on whether or not he will
hold his own town hall, Reynoso said
he wanted to open a public forum for
concerned residents.
During that same Board 5 meeting,
Holden called for the community to
show up in force and advocated for
residents to join the 104th Precinct
Civilian Observation Patrol (104COP),
implying that there will be an elevated
level of danger to the community aft er
the shelter becomes a reality.
DHS did not return multiple
requests for comment before press
time.
Board 5 will hold a public hearing on
the Glendale shelter on Oct. 7 at Christ
the King High School.
This story was updated on Sept. 20 at
7:10 p.m. with additional information
from Holden’s offi ce.
Ridgewood
Property Owners
& Civic Association
P.O. Box 86007 Ridgewood, NY 11386
www.facebook.com/RPOCA.NYC
“After 87 years of community service we’re still
building a reputation, not resting on one!”
General Membership Meeting
Thursday October 3rd, 2019 at 7:00 pm
Ridgewood Presbyterian Church
59-14 70th Ave Ridgewood, 11385
1/4 block East of Forest Avenue. Entrance from Street side parking lot – no steps
New facility coming to Ridgewood to assist
our homeless pet population in Queens
Animal Care Centers of NYC
Represented by Ms Alex Silver, Community Outreach and Engagements
Manager, who will enlighten us about the work this NYC Agency does
and how we can help.
Update on the Fresh Pond Road Coalition
Sandwiches and Coffee being provided by Frank’s Deli in Maspeth,
Courtesy of Kerzner Realty, Inc
Property owners in Ridgewood are always welcome to submit
a membership application, subject to RPOCA Board approval.
For Information Call Paul Kerzner, Counsel 718 381 3366
/WWW.QNS.COM
/RPOCA.NYC
link
/RPOCA.NYC
link
