20 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 14, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
‘They might as well empty Rikers’: Ulrich & Ozone
Park residents slam men’s homeless shelter plan
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/@jenna_bagcal
Ozone Park residents and community
leaders are fi ercely against Mayor Bill de
Blasio’s planned homeless shelter in their
neighborhood.
At Tuesday’s Community Board 9
meeting in Ozone Park, several speakers
came before the board — and an audience
of hundreds of people — to express
their disapproval of plans for a homeless
shelter at the former site of Christ
Evangelical Lutheran Church on 86th
Street at 101st Avenue.
Th e proposed shelter is expected to
house over 100 men with mental illnesses,
and residents said that they fear
for the safety of the community and a
diminished quality of life.
“It’s about common sense, safety and
the concern for our children, our seniors,
our neighbors, our residences, our businesses
and our community. It is about
the quality of life being interrupted by
what there inevitably will be: robberies,
fi ghts, burglaries, stabbings, shootings,
defecating, urinating and possible sexual
abuses,” said Sam Esposito, a lifelong
Ozone Park resident.
He mentioned that a similar situation
occurred during his time as a police
offi cer when the Bedford Armory in
Brooklyn fi rst went up. He said that
crime in the neighborhood “spiraled
out of control” aft er the 350-bed shelter
opened its doors, and feared that the
same would happen in Ozone Park.
Councilman Eric Ulrich voiced his
opposition to the shelter, saying that
he spoke with Department of Homeless
Services Commissioner Steve Banks and
told him that he couldn’t place the proposed
homeless shelter in Ozone Park.
“Th ey might as well empty Rikers and
put it on 101st Avenue,” Ulrich said.
He added that instead of designating
the shelter for mentally ill men, it could
be used to house women and children
or war veterans instead. Representatives
from the offices of Assemblyman
Michael Miller, Congresswoman Nydia
Velasquez and Councilwoman Karen
Koslowitz echoed Ulrich’s sentiments.
State Senator Joe Addabbo took a
stance against the issue, saying that the
mayor’s plan is “ill conceived.”
“I stand ready to use my prior experiences
with this mayor’s administration
and its $2 billion worth of failed
homeless policies to work with my colleagues
in government, the local police
precinct and area residents in addressing
the many issues regarding this Ozone
Park site,” Addabbo said in a statement
released shortly before the June 12 meeting.
“I intend to urge the mayor’s offi ce
to reconsider this proposal for a number
of valid reasons, one being its unacceptable
large popular of mentally disabled
males in such close proximity to
fi ve schools.”
QNS reported that the Ozone Park
shelter is part of the mayor’s “Turning
the Tide on Homelessness in New York
City” plan. Under this plan, the DHS said
that they do not take part in deciding
where the shelters are built, and the decision
is left to nonprofi t service providers
and property owners.
While insisting that they were not acting
out of NIMBYism, many others who
spoke out about the shelter plan said
that the community would rather see the
shelter in another location. Esposito suggested
that the shelter be built in a more
secure and less densely populated area
like the abandoned Travel Lodge Hotel
outside of JFK Airport.
DHS informed Ulrich and Board 9 on
June 4 that plans for a shelter would be
moving forward.
Photo by Jenna Bagcal/QNS
Councilmember Eric Ulrich spoke in opposition of the Ozone Park homeless shelter at the Community
Board 9 meeting.
Questions surround proposed Ozone Park shelter
BY RYAN KELLEY
rkelley@qns.com
Twitter @R_Kelley6
A new homeless shelter is coming to
Ozone Park as part of Mayor Bill De Blasio’s
“Turning the Tide on Homelessness in
New York City” plan, and as the community
received the news last week, it became
clear that many questions remain unanswered.
Th e Department of Homeless Services
(DHS) notifi ed Councilman Eric Ulrich
and Community Board 9 on June 4 that
it was moving forward with plans to open
a “traditional shelter” at the former site of
the Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church on
101st Avenue and 86th Street by this coming
winter.
Despite DHS reaching out to community
boards and elected offi cials earlier this year
to welcome their input on possible locations
for new shelters, Board 9 and Ulrich’s
offi ce both confi rmed that they had no
prior knowledge that the church was being
targeted.
In a statement released on June 6, Ulrich
called out the mayor for “frantically trying
to construct shelters in residential neighborhoods”
and voiced his frustration about
the location of the proposed shelter.
“I am deeply disturbed by the city’s decision
to place a men’s shelter in the heart
of Ozone Park,” Ulrich said. “Th e proposed
location on 101st Avenue is completely
inappropriate for people with mental
health issues. I will be working with my
colleagues in government to determine if a
more suitable population can be sheltered
there. Our community deserves better.”
Ulrich’s statement revealed a curious
part of the proposal. When the Courier
requested information from DHS about
the shelter, a spokesperson mentioned several
times in an email that the shelter
will house “approximately 113 individuals
experiencing homelessness.”
Nowhere in the email did it mention
that the shelter will be for men with mental
illnesses. Yet, Ulrich’s offi ce confi rmed
to the Courier that the original communication
it received from DHS said that
the shelter would be for men with mental
health issues.
On June 8, DHS confi rmed that the shelter
will indeed house “single adult men
experiencing mental health challenges.”
Another point of uncertainty is the
Comfort Inn in Kew Gardens that currently
houses homeless men. Part of the
“Turning the Tide” plan includes eliminating
the use of commercial hotels and cluster
sites to house the homeless, and a DHS
spokesperson said “that includes closing
the single commercial hotel facility in this
CD (Community District).”
Th e spokesperson pointed out that the
hotel houses “126 individuals,” which is
13 more than the Ozone Park shelter will
house. DHS did not specify whether or not
the individuals in the Kew Gardens hotel
will simply be moved to the new Ozone
Park shelter.
Th e agency did, however, add that it
plans to “identify new shelter space within
CD9 for at least an additional 150 individuals”
over the next few years.
At the former church on 101st Avenue,
Department of Buildings records show that
the property is slated for construction of a
second story that will double the building’s
square footage.
Yet, the plan raised another question
when the project description noted the
building will become a nonprofi t institution
“without sleeping accommodations.”
When asked to clarify how the building
could serve as a shelter without sleeping
accommodations, the DHS spokesperson
said, “we’re confi dent that this matter will
be resolved in short order, with the fi nal
plan for the building refl ecting the intended
use: ‘nonprofi t institution with sleeping
accommodations.’”
Under the “Turning the Tide” plan, DHS
noted several times that it does not play any
role in deciding where the new shelters will
be built. Instead, it is up to the nonprofi t
service providers to identify locations and
come to an agreement with the property
owner to operate a shelter there, then present
that plan to the city for approval.
In this case, Lantern Community
Services will be operating the Ozone Park
shelter. Lantern has not returned a request
for comment on why this location was
chosen.
Lantern will be providing on- and off -
site resources to help the individuals being
housed at the shelter and it will also provide
security measures for the building,
according to DHS. Th ere will be a minimum
of four security offi cers per shift , 28
security cameras inside and outside the
building and a 24-hour open line for the
community to call with concerns.
Th e owner of the property, according to
DOB records, is a real estate development
company called Liberty One Group. While
the city reiterates that it has no involvement
in site selection under the mayor’s
new plan, DOB records also show that
Liberty One Group owns four of the 20
shelter sites identifi ed under the “Turning
the Tide” plan so far.
One of those sites, on Jerome Avenue
in the Bronx, was touted by DHS in its
request for community input earlier this
year, and in email correspondence for this
story, as its example of a “productive, collaborative
process with community members”
for identifying a shelter site.
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