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This Sunday, the Crown Heights Revitalization Movement will hold a rally near the armory at Bedford and Atlantic where the city wants to import a homeless intake shelter from Manhattan. According to Daily News columnist Errol Louis, the event will draw a diverse group—”Young and old, black and Jewish, rich and poor”—of Crown Heights residents, since the city’s plan has united the notoriously divided community in dissent. Louis argues that the “shameful plan” is “outrageous” because the men’s shelter at the armory is already one of the worst in the city, allowing, as it does, Level-3 sex offenders to roam the neighborhood’s streets during the day and allegedly turning blind eye to to all manner of violence underneath its roof. Louis argues that instead of bringing the Manhattan homeless shelter to Crown Heights, the city should completely shut down the Bedford facility: “After a quarter century of effort, DHS has brought disgrace upon itself and crime and violence to a struggling neighborhood that deserves better. Instead of compounding its failures, City Hall needs to stop the relocation plan dead in its tracks and focus on cleaning up the mess it has already made.”
Shut Down This Nightmare [NY Daily News]
Crown Heights Doesn’t Want Homeless Intake Center [Brownstoner]
Photo by ambr0sia2003.


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. 7:40- I know for a fact many of the people who are going to the rally are also lifelong residents of the neighborhood- not newcomers. Some have lived in Crown Heights for generations and the issue isn’t getting rid of the shelter, it’s Manhattan dumping its problems in Brooklyn. It’s about this neighborhood taking a disproportionate amount of the burden, and especially at a time when the neighborhood is improving.

    And beyond that, the City is not doing much to help these men in the Armory now- why add more of them? And why force them to come out here from Manhattan – how many of them will come so far, especially in bad weather? And how will they pay for transportation? Most homeless people are not criminals, many of them are veterans who deserve much much better.

    I think a lot of people are not just angry that Bloomberg thinks Crown Heights is just a poor unimportant community that must put up or shut up. I think a lot of us are angry that men will be forced into even more hardship, and get even less help.

    The outer boroughs do not exist to serve Manhattan. Manhattan problems must be dealt with by Manhattan.

    bxgrl

  2. 7:40, the argument, for me, is not the existence of a shelter, or a personal fear of those inside. I live pretty close to that corner as well, and I see the better side of my Crown Heights neighbors, as well. I’ve gone by the armory on many occasions when local church vans pull up and distribute hot meals to the men inside and out. I’ve seen people go in with bags of clothes and bedding. And I’ve seen people stop and talk to the men hanging out across the street, or under the armory towers. I’m not talking about furtive drug deals either. We do the best we can here in Crown Heights.

    I am not protesting because of the existance of the shelter, which has been there for a long time. I think it needs to be run much better, which is a post by itself, but its existance is a necessary part of life in this city. I’m protesting the idea to dump the homeless problem of Manhattan on our overburdened shoulders, without a second thought, without consulting or even notifying the community until it was all planned out. That is not right, not fair, and not going to happen without a fight.

    You seem to have issues with the new people moving into CH. Many of these new people are injecting some well needed energy into a community that needs to wake up and realize we aren’t a hidden jewel anymore. Too many of us have gotten used to getting nothing good from the city, and just don’t even bother to protest anymore when we are slighted or treated unfairly. This is our community, jewels, warts and all. ALL of us who live here need to be active participants in our fate. That is not an oldtimer vs newcomer, black/white, or richer-poorer issue. Stop worrying about the motives of those moving in, and let’s all be about the business of preserving, holding onto, and improving our community for the good of all of us.

    Montrose Morris

  3. 7:40:

    Yours is the best post I’ve ever read on Brownstoner, in part because it’s so deeply felt.

    But all New Yorkers need to see the homeless’ humanity, too. It’s not your or your Crown Heights neighbors’ responsibility alone.

    My best wishes to you,

    NOP