A Manhattan judge on Monday gave city officials the green light to open a controversial homeless shelter in the ritzy “Billionaires’ Row” neighborhood.
State Supreme Court Justice Alexander Tisch rejected arguments from the West 58th Street Coalition and other opponents that the former Park Savoy Hotel doesn’t meet current safety standards and is unsafe in case of fire.
Tisch ruled that while the only way out is through the lobby and the stairwell may be too narrow for both tenants and first responders at the same time, “these are all aspects for which the City and its agencies are supposed to be given deference.”
Tisch said the fact that the city granted the shelter a partial temporary certificate of occupancy “demonstrates to the Court that the building is presumably safe and in compliance with applicable laws.”
He also ruled that claims the neighborhood already had more than its “fair share” of shelters were “without merit.”
The Park Savoy, at 158 W. 58th St., stands back-to-back against the iconic One57 apartment building, the city’s first “supertall” residential skyscraper and home to a $100 million condo that was the city’s most expensive when Dell founder Michael Dell bought it in 2014.
Last year, neighbors were blindsided when Mayor Bill de Blasio quietly sent letters to local officials that revealed his plan to turn it into a shelter for 150 homeless men, sparking the suit against the city.
The West 58th Street Coalition’s lawyer, Randy Mastro, said the group was “disappointed in today’s decision and plans to pursue an immediate appeal.”
“This unsafe building should not be permitted to operate as a homeless shelter,” Mastro said.
“Placing the homeless in this building puts their lives at risk, as well as the lives of staff, neighbors and firefighters responding there.”
Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks said that “we will begin serving our neighbors in need at this location as soon as possible.” He also called Tisch’s decision “a win for hard-working New Yorkers experiencing homelessness who will have the opportunity to get back on their feet at a high-quality, employment shelter.”
This report originally appeared in the New York Post.
Lostwalllet on April 30th, 2019 at 16:03 UTC »
FYI, for those who don't live here, the City has to provide shelter for anyone who asks. (Lost a lawsuit about a decade ago.) Ever since, every single-room-occupancy (single room, hotplate "kitchen" only, shared bathroom) building—which used to cater to students, the elderly, and those who needed a short-term place to live—has been kicking tenants out, tripling the rent, and opening shelters—with the taxpayers paying three times the market rate (or about $2,000-3,000 per unit per month). Many of these facilities are not properly staffed, do not have security, and do not provide any mental or rehab services. They are basically VERY expensive dumping grounds for people and it's not unusual for the buildings to house between 200-500 people per building. They are spread out throughout the City* but just the size of these buildings changes neighborhoods. Midtown, where this "Billionaire Row**" is, has many of these SROs and faded, old hotels and there are already a number of shelters there, too.
Additionally, the free place to stay actually is drawing people to the City—with consequences. (The family that lost their two children, horrifically, when their steam radiator exploded were addicts from Maine who moved to NYC, and worked the system specifically to place themselves into free housing. Another article, which was behind a paywall, quoted a woman who was complaining about being looked down upon by neighbors in other buildings, who then said she had come to NYC from Maryland and went right to a shelter intake.)
This is not about NIMBYs, it's about an out of control drug abuse and mental health crisis, with the slum-lords profiting because they know the City needs to legally supply places to live—an no one in the City has a clue how to control it. People are being warehoused in hotels (at full rate), slum-lord buildings converted into pricy units—and those who were paying tenants are being evicted to make way. All of this has exasperated the affordable housing stock further.
Addendum: Many of the street homeless in my neighborhood will not go to shelters because they are either too unstable to know better and/or will not submit to curfews or cull their belongings—as shopping carts full of trash are not allowed in shelters. These are the most seriously in need of mental health services, and many are so out of it that they will not accept help.
——
* And they are, my neighborhood actually has double the average beds. Thankfully, a court changed the number of beds in one of the buildings—which placed 500 homeless residents in two adjacent buildings on one block! The court limited the number of beds the City could place there and allowed an effort to reserve more than half for homeless veterans—which the neighborhood totally supports.
** None of the billionaires will spend much time there—they use these apartments as tax shelters and to launder money. Apartments can be bought under company names, and many of the actual owners, and their nationality, are unknown. Albany and City Hall allows it as both get paid a flip tax every time one of the units is sold—and it's hugely profitable.
KeepThatInMind on April 30th, 2019 at 15:27 UTC »
Are judges allowed to research these sorts of statistics themselves, or can they only rely on what is presented to them in court? Assuming that statement is based on actual facts rather than just the judge's opinion, I mean.
arogozine on April 30th, 2019 at 12:45 UTC »
I am sure all current residents whole heartedly approve of this.