FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com SEPTEMBER 5, 2013 • THE COURIER SUN 11 GLENDALE RALLIES AGAINST PROPOSED HOMELESS SHELTER BY LIAM LA GUERRE [email protected] A senior center, a school, maybe even a park is fine, but residents in Glendale want to shut the door on a proposed homeless shelter. Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. led a protest on August 30 in front a defunct factory at 78-16 Cooper Avenue, which nonprofit Samaritan Village plans to transform into transitional housing if its proposal is approved by the city’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS). “We are against a 125-unit homeless shelter that the city is planning to ram down this community’s throat,” said Vallone, who is running to be the next borough president. “This is the wrong location and it’s the wrong size.” The community has been against this proposal since last year when rumors started. But recently Samaritan Village negotiated with Michael Wilner, the owner of the property, and submitted a proposal to the DHS. The nonprofit also sent a letter to Community Board 5 and local leaders to officially notify them of the plans. Wilner could not be reached for comment as of press time. And when The Courier contacted Samaritan Village, which operates multiple shelters around the city, the group said that it would not comment as the proposal is still being reviewed. The nonprofit said it plans to insert 125 families in the building and it will have security. Community members are worried that adding that number of people in the neighborhood would inundate already overcrowded schools. Residents also believe that Glendale isn’t a good fit for the shelter because transportation is limited since there are no subway lines nearby. THE COURIER/Photo by Liam La Guerre Residents rallied against a proposed homeless shelter that could replace a defunct factory on Cooper Avenue. The factory, which used to manufacture plane parts, is contaminated, according to multiple sources, and the building would need millions in tax dollars to repair. So instead of a homeless shelter, residents said they would prefer to see a school, a park for local kids or a senior center for the many elderly in the area. “Right now I’m looking for someplace for my mother,” said Bob Holden, president of the Juniper Park Civic Association. “I’m looking for something that I’d feel is appropriate, but I have to look upstate. So we need something in our neighborhood.” They aren’t completely sure what the site should become, but there is a unified belief that a homeless shelter will damage the community. “It’s ridiculous,” said Augie Trinchese. “I’ve lived here for 41 years and I don’t want to see my property value go down.” Vote dates set for co-locating schools The Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) will vote on four proposals to co-locate multiple Queens schools at the end of October. The PEP — made up of seven mayoral appointees and five representatives from each borough — will meet in Brooklyn on October 30 at 883 Classon Avenue to discuss a series of plans that would squeeze more than one school into a building. In one proposal, the city’s Department of Education (DOE) wants to temporarily put P.S. 176 Cambria Heights and a new public elementary charter school inside I.S. 59 Springfield Gardens. The charter school would be part of Success Academy, which operates 18 public city charter schools, and would open next year. A public hearing before the plan goes to the PEP will be held on October 9 at 6 p.m. at 132-55 Ridgedale Street. The city also wants to put another new Success Academy Charter School and a new transfer high school inside August Martin High School. Officials will hear out the public at August Martin on October 3 at 6 p.m. There are also plans to add another new elementary school inside P.S. 40 Samuel Huntington in Jamaica next year and co-locate Corona Arts and Sciences Academy with Civic Leadership Academy, Pan American International High School, Voyages Preparatory and Queens Transition Center in Elmhurst Educational Campus in 2015. A public hearing for Samuel Huntington will be held at the 109-20 Union Hall Street school on October 9 at 6 p.m. and one will be held for Corona Arts on October 1 at 6 p.m. at 45-10 94th Street. The PEP will vote on more than a dozen other co-locations proposed in other boroughs on October 15. There were no notices scheduled for another city plan to add a new school within Martin Van Buren High School.
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