Brooklyn, Jun 3, 2008—A crowd of two hundred Central Brooklyn residents, members of
community-based organizations, and elected officials gathered near the steps of the Bedford-Atlantic Armory Shelter to protest a disastrous plan, recently announced by the Bloomberg administration, to close the existing central intake center for all homeless men in New York City. Under this plan, the current Manhattan site would be leased to private developers to build a luxury hotel and conference center, and the intake center for all homeless men from all five boroughs would be relocated to a dangerous and difficult to reach armory in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
Sunday’s rally was organized by the Crown Heights Revitalization Movement (CHRM). Sandy Taggart, one of CHRM’s co-founders, said of Sunday’s rally, “This is just the beginning. This community cares for people, and the community’s opposition to the City’s plan is tremendous because it is bad for everyone—the homeless men currently living at the shelter, all homeless men in New York City, and the people who live and work in Central Brooklyn.” CHRM is joined in the fight by neighborhood residents and businesses, many local community groups (Crow Hill Community Association, Crown Heights Unites Coalition, Crown Heights North Association, Central Brooklyn Anti-Violence Coalition), advocates for the homeless (Coalition for the Homeless, the Legal Aid Society, Homeless Services United), and many of Brooklyn’s elected officials.
Speakers at Sunday’s rally, in unanimous opposition to the City’s plan, included Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz; NYS Senators Velmanentte Montgomery and Eric Adams; NYS Assemblymen Hakeem Jeffries and Karim Camara; NY City Council Members Letitia James, Albert Vann, and Bill deBlasio; Democratic District Leader Jesse Hamilton; Nizjoni Granville, Chair of the
Housing Committee for Community Board 8; Patrick Markee, Senior Policy Analyst for the
Coalition for the Homeless; Nathan Ashford, a resident of the Bedford-Atlantic Shelter; New York Daily News Columnist Errol Louis; and Takhara Robinson of the Central Brooklyn Anti-Violence Coalition.
Citing poor management of the Brooklyn shelter, the harm to all homeless men Citywide and the degradation of the quality of life in the already oversaturated residential communities of Central Brooklyn that are home to the Bedford-Atlantic Armory, the speakers demanded that Mayor Bloomberg and the City’s Department of Homeless Services keep the intake center in Manhattan, the borough with the largest number of street homeless men. According to Borough President Markowitz, the planned move of the intake center would be bad for both Brooklyn and Manhattan. Mr. Markowitz emphatically stated at the rally, "Manhattan residents agree with us because their fear is that if they move the intake center to here, more of those that need services will choose not to come to Brooklyn and will stay on the streets of Manhattan."
Common themes of the rally’s speakers were better services for homeless men, respect for Central Brooklyn, and fair share for all communities. "It's not a question of not in my backyard at all, media. We have done our fair share," said Councilmember Letitia James. NYS Senator Velmanette Montgomery was quick to point out the City’s abysmal management of the current shelter at the Bedford-Atlantic Armory, "We have had this ongoing battle to try to clean up this facility for many years, and we have still not gotten the city to pay attention, so rather than working with us to help bring the necessary support to the men in this facility they are now going to dump another number of homeless men in this place that is not fit for the men who live here already." Speaking of the disrespect for the Brooklyn communities that are home to the Armory, Councilmember de Blasio commented that it would "have been nice if the City of New York had come to you and said, 'What should we do here? How can we improve the community?' But that's never the way the City of New York starts the discussion," said de Blasio. "It never goes to people who've been the backbone of the community and says, 'What's the right thing to do?'"
The communities neighboring the Armory Shelter are culturally rich, diverse communities. These are old-fashioned friendly neighborhoods of churches, community organizations, and beautifully tended gardens. These are communities of hard-working families who take pride in their neighborhood and who are ready to lend a helping hand. They are also thriving and growing economically. But these communities are oversaturated with social service beds and are now stretched to the limit. According to official City and State data, Community Board 8, which is home to the Armory, has more residential social service beds per acre than any other Brooklyn neighborhood—more than six times the median.
Courtesy of www.revitalizecrownheights.org
June, 3, 2006, Tuesday
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