WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 9
Glendale and Middle Village residents protest
outside of shelter developer’s home in Brooklyn
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH/
ADOMENECH@QNS.COM
The deafening sounds of whistle
blows and chanting broke the
Sunday morning silence in
Brooklyn as members of the Glendale
Middle Village Coalition and residents
protested outside of the home
of an alleged employee of Liberty One
Group, a Brooklyn-based real-estate
investment company.
“We are not here to protest the homeless,”
Mike Papa, one of the protester’s
organizers, told residents on a packed
charter bus in Forest Park before the
bus headed to Brooklyn. “We are going
aft er greedy real estate developers.”
Last week, Glendale Civic Association
President Kathy Masi invited
residents via a Facebook post to participate
in the Sept. 23 rally against the
conversion of a defunct factory at 78-16
Cooper Ave., on the Glendale/Middle
Village border, into a homeless shelter
for 200 men.
Councilman Robert Holden announced
in July that DHS was working
on a plan to create a shelter at the former
factory months aft er the agency
announced the original homeless
shelter plan had been rescinded.
At 9 a.m. on Sept. 23, two charter
buses waited for protestors in the
Forest Park Bandshell parking lot to
white banners with the words “No
Homeless Cellters” hung on their
fronts. The word “cellters” implied
that homeless persons in the shelter
would be treated more like prisoners
than people, a viewpoint shared by a
number of attendees.
Just before the buses left at 10 a.m. toward
their destination in the Midwood
section of Brooklyn, state Senator Joe
Addabbo boarded one of the buses and
spoke to the protesters.
A resident takes photos of protesters from Glendale and Middle Village in Midwood, Brooklyn on Sept. 23
“We need the mayor to listen to our
credible arguments about our safety
and the future of our children,” said
Addabbo.
Senator Joe Addabbo speaks to
protestors shortly after they have
boarded the bus that will leave in front
of developers home in Midwood.
Although not all of the almost 100
Glendale and Middle Village residents
that boarded the buses knew all of the
details about the proposed homeless
shelter or the relationship between One
Liberty Group and DHS, all were dissatisfi
ed with the city’s eff ort to “turn the
tide” on homelessness and vehemently
opposed to the proposed shelter’s opening
and development corruption.
Many protestors felt ignored
by city and viewed the proposed
shelter an example of how city
agencies are only concerned with
the bottom line.
A Midwood resident takes pictures
as Glendale and Middle Village residents
gather to protest a proposed
homeless shelter.
“These guys are making millions and
millions of dollars on city contracts
while helping no one,” said Papa.
As shouts on the Brooklyn block
grew louder, neighbors opened doors
and peered out windows to watch the
line of sign-carrying protestors march
in front of the well-manicured lawns of
the neighborhood. Cellphone-wielding
Photos by Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech
teenagers fi lmed as parents and small
children watched the spectacle. Old
men stood huddled on the sidewalk
and laughed.
Protestors shouted and blew whistles
at what turned out to be an empty
home. The Liberty One employee was
nowhere to be found.
“We know that he isn’t here,” said
Papa. But that did not matter to the
protesters from Queens.
Glendale and Middle Village residents
were there to make their point
to the families of this community that
they were not going to be ignored and,
according to Papa, would come back
every Sunday if necessary until they
were heard.
State Senator Joe Addabbo addressed protesters on their bus before
they departed for Brooklyn on Sept. 23.
link
