Greenpoint Homeless Shelter Proposal Scrapped
On Friday Brooklyn11211 and New York Shitty broke the news that the homeless shelter proposed for 400 McGuinness Boulevard, at the foot of the Pulaski Bridge, is a non-starter. NYS reprinted the letter from the building’s owner and nonprofit Help USA to the Dept. of Homeless services about the proposal being withdrawn, and it cites…
On Friday Brooklyn11211 and New York Shitty broke the news that the homeless shelter proposed for 400 McGuinness Boulevard, at the foot of the Pulaski Bridge, is a non-starter. NYS reprinted the letter from the building’s owner and nonprofit Help USA to the Dept. of Homeless services about the proposal being withdrawn, and it cites budgetary concerns as the reason the shelter won’t be happening. NYS, however, sees this as a community-activism win for a proposal that was deeply unpopular with residents: “We did it!!! Let this be yet another example that community action can and does work! In closing, I would like to give props to our Community Board, City Councilman, Steve Levin; State Senator Martin Malave Dilan; Assemblyman Joseph Lentol and my fellow Greenpointers for their hard work and due diligence fighting against this project.”
400 McGuinness Shelter Nixed [Brooklyn 11211] GMAP
Last Gasp: Withdrawn! [NYS]
Greenpointers Really Don’t Want Homeless Shelter [Brownstoner]
Um, yes I do.
The point I was trying to make was that yes, we need more jobs and affordable housing. That takes time. You can’t just point at an empty lot and say “Poof! Now we have a factory and jobs.” Until someone figures that out, we shouldn’t just leave all the homeless on the streets.
I have a hunch that even if this proposal was for a 50-bed shelter, the neighborhood would have been up in arms. Heaven forbid “people will wander around” (according to Jack K in the Brooklyn Paper article). It would seem that every homeless person is a crime waiting to happen.
Dirty’s right (again)
hugo doesn’t understand the difference btw an intake center and a shelter
Wow – let’s pat ourselves on the back for NIMBYism!
Yes, I concur that Greenpoint’s homeless problem should be dealt with in Greenpoint – but of course they would rather that the homeless are sent to another part of the city. Out of sight, out of mind.
While it would be great to solve the homeless problem with truly affordable housing and jobs, that’s a very tall order. Some basic homeless shelter is a necessity. Almost every society, every town, from any era has had homeless people. Pushing them to another neighborhood is not a win of any kind.
If you look online at nyc.gov the homeless shelter intake places are very out of the way, excepting the ones in Manhattan.
Montrose said it well, and DH and WL are correct. Greenpoint’s homeless issues are real and very neighborhood-specific. I’m sure there are plenty of residents who would oppose a shelter of any type, but there are a lot of people (community members and advocates) who would like to see a shelter that addresses Greenpoint’s homeless issue. The proposed intake center (and yes, some opposition to it) ignored those issues entirely.
Montrose said it well. When we had rallies opposing the intake center, we had men from the shelter come up and tell us how badly the present shelter in the Bedford Armory is run. What I think the city is actually aiming to do is ship as many of the homeless out of Manhattan to shelters in Brooklyn- the further away the better. The less convenient to public transportation, the better because somehow the City believes if they get them out here, they won’t go back to Manhattan. I think that’s very unrealistic. The majority of the homeless are in Manhattan and that’s where they want to stay.
Greenpoint may be happy but neighborhoods like Crown Heights won’t be because most likely the City will try to put yet another shelter here or in Bed-Stuy. And both these neighborhoods already have more than their fair share of shelters.
dirty’s right
“Greenpoint should stop patting themselves on the back for getting a pass this time, and start thinking of how they can have a shelter that serves the homeless in their community”
from everything i’ve read, that appears the be the goal of the community. give us something that addresses the current homeless problem, not something that exacerbates it.
don’t think anyone believes this will get rid of all the empty zyweic bottles and human fecal matter in the area parks.