West Side Rag » Bitter Taste Lingers on All Sides After City’s Decision to Remove Homeless Men

Posted on September 9, 2020 at 9:08 pm by West Sider

Indicators from a rally in help of the shelter on Wednesday. Photograph by Carol Tannenhauser.

The reactions to town’s decision on Tuesday to take away 283 homeless males from The Lucerne Resort on 79th Avenue got here quick and livid.

Opponents have been portrayed as wealthy and highly effective NIMBYs who bullied the mayor into giving in with threats of lawsuits. Councilmember Helen Rosenthal wrote on Twitter that “It’s a tragic day when the specter of lawsuit will get metropolis corridor to reverse a choice. What message does this ship that teams who can afford to rent high-powered legal professionals R those who will get their manner.”

Mayor de Blasio mentioned at a press convention that he had visited the shelter lately and thought situations round it have been “not acceptable,” with out going into element. He had spent a number of weeks downplaying issues in regards to the shelter.

A press convention and rally happened in entrance of the resort on Wednesday morning, that includes speeches by members of the UWS Ope Hearts Initiative and politicians together with Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Helen Rosenthal and state meeting member Linda Rosenthal (no relation to one another).

Williams known as for the choice to be overturned.

Reasonably priced housing is a citywide disaster. Homelessness is a citywide problem. Transferring a shelter off a block or out of a neighborhood isn’t fixing the difficulty, it’s hiding & ignoring it. Uprooting individuals in want isn’t an answer, it’s a significant drawback. This resolution must be reversed. pic.twitter.com/Mm0wdvwGgK

— Workplace of the Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams (@nycpa) September 9, 2020

“It’s unhappy that in our neighborhood, a bastion of nice privilege and of liberal household values, that the non permanent presence of those homeless people moved right here within the midst of a public well being disaster of unprecedented proportions, divided our group so intensely and brought on some to reply with concern and anger,” Linda Rosenthal mentioned.

The West Facet Group Group, which had pushed to have the homeless males moved, responded with gratitude to the mayor for the choice on Tuesday, saying in a press release that “the choice to maneuver 300 troubled people out of the Lucerne Resort into state-accredited shelters the place they’ll obtain on-site help and remedy was an essential step for all New Yorkers.” However members of the Fb group that spurred the nonprofit reacted angrily to the depiction of them as heartless, writing “disgrace on you” in coordinated Twitter posts to Helen and Linda Rosenthal.

Members have written op-eds saying their opposition to the shelter is about security not race. Their lawyer, Randy Mastro additionally put out the assertion beneath.

We’re grateful to town for working with us and others to offer town’s homeless inhabitants with covid secure amenities and the assets they want. It is a win-win! @savetheuws pic.twitter.com/XB0i8851fu

— West Facet Group Group (@westsideco_org) September 9, 2020

Challenge Renewal, which runs the shelter, additionally put out a press release, saying the lads “deserve higher.”

“Final night time we discovered that our employees and purchasers are being moved from the Lucerne to a different location. By means of all of this, the well being and well-being of our purchasers is, and has been, our primary precedence. These males, lots of whom have suffered trauma and been deprived all their lives, deserve higher. So do our 50 employees members who’ve labored across the clock to make sure purchasers had a easy and profitable transition. Lastly, there have been quite a few supporters and new buddies we now have made within the neighborhood. We’re grateful to every of them, particularly Council Member Helen Rosenthal, Borough President Gale Brewer, Meeting Member Linda Rosenthal, Mark Diller and CB7, and the numerous compassionate and caring residents who see our purchasers as people deserving of our collective help.”