A television fell from a window of the 95th street homeless shelter, known as Freedom House, on Thursday morning, smashing into pieces on the sidewalk below, a neighbor told us. We checked with police headquarters, but they had no information about it.
But local resident Tudor Popescu, who walked by and took the photo above said that security at the shelter seemed to know who threw it. He wasn’t confident that they would do anything. “We called police. Also not confident they are doing anything. We walk our daughter there everyday…The neighborhood is getting more and more dangerous.”
Local group Neighborhood in the Nineties is suing the city over the shelter, claiming it is a neighborhood nuisance and was installed against the rules of the city charter.
The Department of Homeless Services, as always, did not respond to a request for comment.
I returned from walking my dog in Riverside Park and the man who threw the TV out of the window was in the street with the security people pointing him out. They were doing nothing about it. They usually do nothing about anything. They hand under the scaffolding east of the building smoking and gossiping. They are useless. I could have been hit by the TV had I been 5 minutes earlier.
When is the city going to do something about this shame to the neighborhood? I’ve been living on the w90s for a while and the area is becoming more and more dangerous because of those shelters. Send them to a different place. We pay a lot of rent to live here feeling unsafe and unprotected.
I’ve lived in th West 90’s for 40 years and it’s soooo much safer than it used to be.
But many of us are paying 2013’s unregulated market rate, not 1973’s rent stabilized rate.
This shelter has changed the neighborhood dramatically, I have been a resident for 20 years and was recently threatened with a knife from one of the tenants. I called Gail Bruer, the city council’s office. They told me they would get back to me and to not call the police. I later did call the police and they could not do anything. It is life threatening and completely upsetting to walk up 95th from the shelter to Broadway to see drugged out people hanging around being loud and cursing. When Im in my bedroom and living room, the windows face the inside of the building and I hear people screaming all night long. Is this shelter going to stay? I don’t know how this neighborhood can survive this.
Clearly, the neighborhood is at fault for not effectively communicating to shelter clients the proper procedure for TV recycling. We have to just do better I guess. Really, totally our fault.
This type of problem is the result of the city government’s failure to take the quality of life and safety concerns of the neighborhood into consideration.
It’s all about the money. Someone is receiving a hefty pay check for housing these people.
Just a question for Ken. How long have you been living in NYC? Were you here in the bad
old ’80’s? Throwing a t.v. out of a window is not a form of recycling — it’s a form of aggression. There must have been a fight or some type of confrontation involving some of the homeless people in this building.
Liz,
I an a life-long resident and UWS home owner. I remember the Bad Old 80’s very well. My comment was intended to be interpreted as facetious. The shelter issue is unresolved for except for the shelter-owner collecting rent from the City. The situation is disgraceful and Gale Brewer appears to have tuned-out. If Niki’s recounting of what Brewer’s office told her is correct – there should be an investigation of her office’s conduct. For anyone who has forgotten the Bad Old 80’s – here is a reminder of how the subways looked in 1987:
http://youtu.be/JN4ATDfCYmo
For anyone who needs a reminder: Gail Brewer and Linda Rosenthal sponsored and passed the law that outlawed the use of SRO Hotels as transient hotels. Owners of these hotels upgraded the properties – while not evicted long time protected tenants – but did rent to tourists seeking affordable lodging. Gail and Linda did not like this (Gail sniffed she did “not want to share the sidewalks with backpackers”). The owners warned them that they have to pay the bills and and would be forced to take in contracts from other City agencies to fill the rooms. And that is exactly what happened.
Which then paved the way for Airbnb, Home Away and similar ‘hotel’ services filling the void for affordable tourist housing. Now those services are turning our condos and co-ops into transients’ destinations accommodating non-vetted occupants.
Ken was making a joke.
It is upsetting to have such a high rent and at the same time, have facilities like that nearby.