In a Jan. 24 press convention, Rep. Ritchie Torres, Borough President Vanessa Gibson and Neighborhood Board 1 Chair Clarisa Alayeto voiced robust opposition to the town’s plan for a large new South Bronx migrant shelter. Gibson mentioned she is attempting to cease the contract for the location.
Picture Emily Swanson
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Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to open a 2,200-bed shelter for migrant males within the South Bronx is being met with huge resistance from residents and elected officers, together with Rep. Ritchie Torres, who mentioned the plan for 322 Bruckner Boulevard is “typical of the second-class treatment the Bronx has typically been given.”
Torres held a press convention Friday alongside Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson and Neighborhood Board 1 Chair Clarisa Alayeto to denounce the town’s plan for a brand new shelter within the Bronx. The announcement comes simply weeks after the town revealed plans on Jan. 10 to shut 13 shelters throughout Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and Yonkers by June.
In response to Adams, the closures are because of a gentle decline within the migrant inhabitants in latest months. Nevertheless, he emphasised the necessity for a brand new shelter within the Bronx, noting that no present shelters within the borough are slated for closure.
However the announcement of a brand new shelter within the Bronx has generated quite a lot of native pushback.
“The Bronx is underserved and overburdened,” Torres mentioned.
He mentioned the brand new shelter shouldn’t be within the South Bronx, not less than not with out some type of accompanying native funding. As an example, he referred to as for everlasting housing for the tons of of residents displaced by a fireplace at 2910 Wallace Avenue whose resort stays are expiring.
By the tip of fiscal 12 months 2025, the town will spend a complete of almost $10 billion on the migrant disaster, mentioned Torres. In a Jan. 16 letter to Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul opposing the shelter, he mentioned the town will spend $250,000 to $340,000 to retrofit the South Bronx constructing.
Torres additionally pointed to security issues with the huge shelter. Town plans to populate it with migrants relocated from the soon-to-close tent construction at Randall’s Island, which noticed some situations of crime, together with a July capturing that killed a 44-year-old girl.
“Instead of reducing gang violence in the Bronx, the city is relocating gang violence in the Bronx,” mentioned Torres. “When you concentrate 2,200 men in a single community, what do you think will happen?”
Town’s plan is “profoundly destabilizing and disruptive to the Bronx,” he mentioned.
Gibson mentioned she, like her constituents, was blindsided to be taught concerning the shelter plans via the media and mentioned she has since obtained little info from the mayor’s workplace. As an example, she mentioned she remains to be unaware of which group organizations are slated to supply providers on the shelter.
Gibson mentioned she requested Metropolis Corridor to cease the contract. Whereas she was not sure of its standing with the constructing proprietor, “I think we still have time,” she mentioned.
The borough president mentioned she doesn’t consider the shelter might be short-term as promised as a result of “‘temporary’ in the eyes of government is usually three years.”
“I don’t want this facility at all, not for three months or three years,” mentioned Gibson.
The shelter has come up in opposition to opposition from the fortieth Precinct Neighborhood Council and Neighborhood Board 1.
Alayeto, who chairs the board and is working for metropolis council, mentioned the South Bronx shouldn’t be anti-migrant however “this is about our concern with the process.”
The board’s Committee on Public and Supportive Housing is assembly with the general public on Jan. 27 to debate the shelter. Gibson, who’s attending, mentioned Deputy Mayors Anne Williams-Isom and Camille Joseph Varlack have been invited however haven’t but confirmed attendance.
“We want answers,” Gibson mentioned. With the brand new shelter, “There should have been some giveback to the Bronx.”
Alayeto mentioned residents’ voices should not be missed. “What’s happening here is not happening anywhere else.”
Shifting views
Within the press convention, Torres acknowledged his views on immigration have shifted rightward given the “deeply destabilizing” state of affairs in New York Metropolis over latest years.
On the identical time, he mentioned he’s additionally involved that President Trump will overreach his authority in an effort to deport extra immigrants. As an example, Torres mentioned Trump’s govt order calling for an finish to birthright citizenship is a “most outrageous abuse of power.”
Torres mentioned state regulation ought to change to require group notification of latest shelter plans, and whereas he helps right-to-shelter legal guidelines for New Yorkers, metropolis sources can’t help limitless immigrants from different international locations, he mentioned.
Torres was one in all 46 Home Democrats who lately voted in favor of the Laken Riley Act, which allows immigration authorities to detain migrants who’re accused and never but convicted of theft crimes. Traditionally, these accused of violent crime or main drug offenses have been prioritized for detention. The invoice handed with bipartisan help and is predicted to vastly enhance the variety of migrants held in legal detention — however at a steep price ticket. Lawyer Normal Letitia James was amongst these crucial of the invoice.
Torres mentioned most migrants don’t pose a danger to public security and ought to be protected. However for others, “Removals should be based on public safety risk.”
