FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com OCTOBER 13, 2016 • THE COURIER SUN 3 WHO’S ATTENDING NEW OZONE PARK SCHOOL? NO ONE KNOWS AFTER COMMUNITY PROTESTS, BELLEROSE HOTELS WILL NO LONGER BE USED AS HOMELESS SHELTERS BY ANGELA MATUA amatua@qns.com/@AngelaMatua The city seems to have heard the message shouted by Queens residents last month at a Bellerose motel that houses homeless families. State Senator Tony Avella, Councilman Barry Grodenchik and Assembly members David Weprin and Michaelle Solages announced on Oct. 7 that the Department of Homeless Services has agreed to stop using two Bellerose hotels as homeless shelters. The Bellerose Inn at 249-05 Jericho Tpke. and the Quality Inn at 256-15 Jericho Tpke., both owned by Harshad Patel, will resume normal hotel operations in 60 days, according to the elected offi cials. Hundreds of Queens residents gathered outside of the Bellerose Inn last month to protest the city’s “warehousing” of homeless families in that location. They also gathered outside of Patel’s home in Glen Oaks. Protestors argued that the city’s practice of throwing families into hotels was unfair and only benefi ted hotel owners who charge exorbitant prices per room. “It is unconscionable that they would just throw homeless families in crappy hotel rooms,” protester Nancy Houlton previously told The Courier. “There’s no plan to get them good housing, just throw them in a hotel and pretend everything is okay.” The Queens/Nassau Joint Task Force was joined by the Maspeth Middle Village Task Force and Juniper Park Civic Association to express their frustration with city policy. Maspeth is also trying to fi ght the city’s proposal to convert a Holiday Inn into a homeless shelter. “It is refreshing to know that Mr. Patel followed through on his commitment to us to no longer use these two hotels to house the homeless,” Avella said. “Now that we have confi rmed that the city will comply with his wishes, we have to work towards fi nding a more permanent solution to help these families.” Weprin argued that hotels are inadequate locations for homeless families considering the city mandates that each family have access to a living space with a kitchen. “I thank Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Steven Banks for recognizing this reality and communicating a clear plan for the future of these temporary shelters in eastern Queens,” Weprin said. Photo via Google Maps Two hotels in Bellerose will no longer house homeless families. BY DOMENICK RAFTER editorial@qns.com/@QNS They’re building it, but who’s coming? Community Board 10 received an update on Oct. 6 on the school under construction at Albert Road and Raleigh Street in the Centreville section of Ozone Park, but one piece of information about who would actually go to the school perked their interest the most. P.S. 335, which is slated to start welcoming students next September, will have 20 classrooms including two special ed classrooms and eight District 75 classrooms, according to Schools Construction Authority (SCA) representative Ben Goodman, who spoke at Thursday’s Board 10 meeting in South Ozone Park. The school will house about 500 students, including 100 District 75 students, and have two separate playgrounds: one for early childhood students and one for the rest of the kindergarten through fi fthgrade classes. But what concerned the board members was the proposed zoning map for the school, which is not what they expected to see. The proposed zoning for P.S. 335 would include a signifi cant chunk of Ozone Park west of Cross Bay Boulevard, leaving out some students from the northern part of the community. Community Board 10 Chairwoman Betty Braton said the board’s approval of the school several years ago came in part because the facility was considered “walkin ready,” meaning that most of its students would come from the immediately surrounding community within walking distance. There is no public elementary school in the Centreville area, requiring students to cross dangerous thoroughfares (Rockaway Boulevard, Cross Bay Boulevard and North Conduit Avenue) to get to a school if their parents cannot drive them. “We can live with a minor tweak, but with the danger of crossing the boulevard, it’s a very diffi cult thing,” Braton said, adding that the board would refer their concerns to District 27’s Community Education Council, which will vote on the proposed zoning plan later this month. Pat McCabe, a representative from state Senator Joe Addabbo’s offi ce, said the senator, as well as Councilman Eric Ulrich, were concerned about the zoning plan. “We expected 10 or so families from west of Cross Bay to be included in the zoning,” she said. “But this is much more. This is not what we were promised.” McCabe said upwards of 400 families zoned for the school would be forced to send their kids across the boulevard. Another concern, mentioned by CB 10 First Vice Chairman John Calcagnile, was where students would enter the school. The school’s main entrance is to be on Raleigh Street; before construction, Raleigh Street was a dead-end street. The board had approved the school with the understanding that Raleigh Street would now connect to Albert Road to allow for movement of traffi c. Goodman said he believed that would be the case. Rendering via Archinect.com
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