FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MAY 17, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 11
Protesters rail against homeless shelters in Blissville area of LIC
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com / @jenna_bagcal
Blissville residents and elected offi cials
came together on May 14 and 15 to protest
the siting of the third homeless shelter
in the small Long Island City community.
Th ese protests come in the wake of the
May 16 closure of the Fairfi eld Inn, the
hotel which the Department of Homeless
Services (DHS) plans to convert into a
300-person shelter. Th is new shelter,
located at 52-34 Van Dam St., would be
the third in Blissville within the span of a
few months.
Th e fi rst shelter in the community is
the City View inn at 33-17 Greenpoint
Ave., which houses about 100 single men.
Th e second shelter is Sweet Home Suites
at 39-06 30th St., home to 150 adults and
children. Th ough residents maintain that
they are not acting with a NIMBY (not in
my backyard) attitude, they said that they
fear that the homeless will outnumber
the residents in an area that they claim is
already lacking the proper resources.
On May 15, residents and members
of the newly formed Blissville Civic
Association were joined by Councilman
Jimmy Van Bramer and David Aglialoro
from Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan’s
offi ce on the steps of City Hall. DHS
Commissioner Steven Banks testifi ed in
front of the City Council moments before
the protest.
“Blissville has seen the opening of three
shelters within just a few blocks of each
other in recent months. It is unfair and
unwise to continue to site shelters in a
small, isolated area that is lacking many
basic services,” Van Bramer said.
According to the Blissville Civic
Association, elected offi cials including
Congressman Joseph Crowley,
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney,
Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan and
state Senator Michael Gianaris have
signed a letter to the mayor draft ed by
Van Bramer “to rescind the plans for a
new shelter at the Fairfi eld Inn and fi nd
another location that would be more suitable.”
Blissville is a community located in a
small corner of Long Island City between
the 1st Cavalry Cemetery, the LIE and
Newtown Creek, and is home to about 450
people. Many residents of this small community
claim Spanish as their fi rst language,
followed by English and Bengali.
Th e day before the City Hall demonstration,
the Blissville Civic Association
staged a protest in front of Gracie
Mansion, where Maloney echoed the feelings
of Blissville residents.
“Putting a third shelter in Blissville,
which lacks critical services, including
mass transit, parks, schools, laundromats,
grocery stores, urgent care facilities and
hospitals, fails to meet the needs of this
vulnerable population,” said Maloney.
Residents expressed their frustration at
the DHS for not fulfi lling their due diligence
to the community.
“No one came and talked to us,” said
Ferwah Rizvi, a resident and member of
the Blissvile Civic Association. “Th at said,
as is mandatory, DHS and the provider
Home/Life Services did hold a town
meeting, but that is all. Questions to DHS
have typically taken two to three weeks
for answers. We have had to fi le FOIL
requests for the proposal and contracts,
and that’s been nearly a month ago, and
who know when they will arrive?”
Rizvi added that the situation is a
human rights issue, and the Fairfi eld Inn
is not equipped to be a home. She said
that the hotel does not have a kitchen or
laundry room and residents would have
to go half a mile to wash their clothes. Th e
nearest resources, including supermarkets,
drug stores and the subway stations
are a mile away, and hospitals or medical
services are 30 to 45 minutes away.
Jaclyn Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for
Mayor Bill de Blasio, said that despite
these complaints, the city is moving in a
positive direction when it comes to the
homelessness issue.
“Our plan distributes resources and
responsibility in a fair way for the fi rst
time in our city’s history. Th is decadesold
challenge wasn’t created overnight
and it won’t be solved overnight, but we
are headed in the right direction,” said
Rothenberg.
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