Randall’s Island migrant facility
File photograph
Join our Bronx Instances e-mail publication to get information, updates, and native insights delivered straight to your inbox!
Residents and elected officers are talking out on social media towards town’s plan to open an enormous new migrant shelter within the South Bronx whereas closing 13 different websites citywide by June.
The brand new shelter is deliberate for a vacant constructing on Bruckner Boulevard with capability for two,200 single adults, largely transferred from the tent construction at Randall’s Island, which is closing subsequent month, in line with metropolis officers. The variety of new migrants throughout New York Metropolis has decreased for every of the previous 27 weeks, and now, with the bottom complete in 18 months, town is “reshuffling” and “reconsolidating,” a spokesperson stated.
However the plan to shut 10,000 beds citywide has not included the South Bronx, the place opposition to the brand new shelter is rising.
Council Member Diana Ayala, whose district consists of the shelter, instructed the Bronx Instances that she beneficial the constructing for a possible shelter almost two years in the past, but it remained vacant via the peak of the emergency. Ayala stated she was not knowledgeable upfront concerning the metropolis’s plans to make use of it presently.
Though she expressed concern about housing 1000’s of migrants in a single location, the brand new shelter shall be solely momentary as extra individuals are exiting the system than getting into, Ayala stated.
However Council Member Rafael Salamanca Jr. stated the positioning is one other instance of town’s constant burdening of the South Bronx with shelters and inexpensive housing.
“Once again, the South Bronx is carrying the weight for homelessness in the city of New York,” he instructed the Bronx Instances. “It’s a never-ending saga.”
Borough President Vanessa Gibson has not but issued an official assertion on the shelter plan, however in a Jan. 14 publish to her private Instagram account, she referred to as it “completely unacceptable.” She additionally famous that provision must be made to help native residents and households.
Gibson expressed concern concerning the massive measurement of the shelter and its potential impact on the encompassing group, which she stated is “already overwhelmed.” She additionally pointed to the potential for Trump administration officers to focus on the positioning for mass deportation efforts — a priority shared by Ayala.
As media protection of the brand new shelter has elevated, native residents are additionally making their opposition and skepticism identified.
Clarisa Alayeto, chair of Group Board 1, which covers Mott Haven, Port Morris and Melrose, took to social media to say that “once again, decisions are made without consulting residents, businesses, or those directly impacted.”
“We’ve seen and heard a lot of the [safety] issues that have happened near migrant shelters, with migrants,” she stated in a video publish. “How are we ensuring this is not going to be the case in the South Bronx?”
The Bronx Instances reached out to Group Board 2, masking Hunts Level, Longwood and Morrisania, and has not but obtained a response. In keeping with Salamanca Jr., the board wrote a letter of opposition to the shelter.
The fortieth Precinct Group Council additionally opposes the plan, saying on Instagram that it might trigger elevated crime and high quality of life issues and a pressure on native assets.
The council stated a gathering is being deliberate (date TBD) to listen to extra group enter. “With the ongoing spike in crime, coupled with existing challenges such as needle litter, homelessness, mental illness, and vagrancy, we firmly believe that adding this shelter will further strain our already overburdened neighborhood.”
View this publish on Instagram
A significant drawback with town’s plan, in line with Alayeto, is that it was applied with out searching for residents’ enter.
“There are a lot of questions that our community and our residents have,” she stated within the video. “Nobody came to talk to the community.”
