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| The homeless problem is evident. |
"Not in my backyard" is a bit whiny, so I think it would better suit the people of the Bronx to change the acronym's meaning to something that pokes Mayor Manhattan Bloomberg. It's no secret that the Bronx isn't much more of an afterthought for the city administration, and it becomes especially clear when looking at the placement of homeless shelters in the borough. The big story recently has been the Muller Army Reserve Center. Despite hundreds of people from the Bronx-and even some people from Yonkers-coming out in support of a plan for the National Guard to fill the empty space, the Mayor is still trying to stick a homeless shelter in there.
And if that wasn't enough, here's another story from the Daily News about the city trying to put a 200-bed transitional men's homeless shelter across the street from a junior high school:
"We don't like men we don't know," said 10-year-old Michelle Valdez at Arcilla Playground. "I'm a little girl and I don't want them to come and [do something] bad to me."
Local residents and community leaders are meeting today (pretty much right now, actually), to protest the shelter. This is from a Highbridge community website:
Highbridge will join with Morissania. We will Help protect our children from being exposed, to the tragedies of life, at a very early age. From 3pm to 7pm we will join hands around PS 145 on E. 165th Street in Bronx. Both communities are engaged in the exact same struggle with the City and Our right to have a say.The website notes the struggles that both Highbridge and Morissania have had in getting the city to listen to them. Highbridge has also struggled with an excessive amount of homeless shelters within a few blocks from one another. They've tried reaching out to Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio and City Comptroller John Liu but haven't had much help.
The group has their own idea of what should happen. They include:
- In Highbridge, relocate the Men from 1260 Sedgwick away from PS 126 and the community-at-large and return the mothers and babies back to that shelter.
- In Morrisania, remove the Men's transitional shelter away from the front of PS 145 and the community-at-large and use that building as per Community's recommendations.
- A call to the Public Advocate to investigate what are the roots of these decisions that endanger children and was done in such a sneaky way. Why is the Bronx being saturated with Transitional Shelters?
UPDATE: Here's a comment from one of the local residents that needs to be read:
Those are not 2 little girls taking pictures. Those are residents and mothers who have been telling the city that they want the men relocated away from the school. WE WOMAN have had to take pictures to document what OUR CHILDREN have to see and then send them to motivate OUR POLITICIANS TO DO SOMETHING. In the original picture, that is the men who have missed curfew and are sleeping on the stairs to PS126's play yard.
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| School bus, |
This is quite amazing, these photos.
ReplyDeletehttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/city-hall-accused-of-steamrolling-opposition-to-bronx-shelter/?pagemode=print
ReplyDeleteThose are not 2 little girls taking pictures. Those are residents and mothers who have been telling the city that they want the men relocated away from the school. WE WOMAN have had to take pictures to document what OUR CHILDREN have to see and then send them to motivate OUR POLITICIANS TO DO SOMETHING. In the original picture, that is the men who have missed curfew and are sleeping on the stairs to PS126's play yard.
ReplyDeleteThe picture was taken at 3pm in afternoon as children were leaving and coming down the street from PS126 & PS 11. This was on the corner of University Ave & 167th Street. The man went to the bathroom on the street and then proceeded to clean himself at the open hydrant. IS THIS WHAT THE CITY IS TELLING OUR CHILDREN THEY ARE WORTH???
ReplyDelete