Councilmember Helen Rosenthal.
Councilmember Helen Rosenthal sent out an email on Sunday shifting her stance on certain issues surrounding the new homeless shelters that have been placed in hotels on the Upper West Side in the past couple of months. She said she’s gotten hundreds of emails, tweets and calls about the shelters in the last two weeks.
For months, city officials have not even confirmed that there are hotels being used as shelters on the Upper West Side — West Side Rag broke the news that the Belleclaire and Belnord were being used as shelters after speaking to homeless residents and anonymous city officials and reviewing permits. The Department of Homeless Services would not even confirm the existence of the shelters.
But since The Lucerne on 79th Street was turned into a shelter late last month, the issue has become a political hot-button. Rosenthal ended up in a confrontation with residents about The Lucerne last month.
Rosenthal said she was unhappy with how the city has been communicating about this issue. But she said she is not opposed to further shelters being placed in the neighborhood, after saying earlier that “I have told City Hall that under no condition will we accept any more temporary shelters.”
And after saying she was “demanding that all remaining [sex] offenders be moved out,” Rosenthal amended that position as well.
Her full statement is below.
Over the past two weeks, my office has received hundreds of emails, phone calls, and tweets about people in our community who are homeless. Many residents are upset, angry, and fearful for themselves and their children. Some think that the UWS is deteriorating along with their property values. Some of you have reached out with deep compassion, unity, and a neighborly desire to do our part as the city faces the twin crises of the pandemic and homelessness. I am personally responding to as many of these communications as possible, and in particular, trying to address frightening rumors and other inaccurate information.
Many of the concerns we are hearing stem from the little notice given and few concrete answers regarding the placement of temporary shelters in Upper West Side hotels. The emergency shelter system is opaque and the City has made clear mistakes in its communication with neighborhoods and local officials. In response to our questions, the City sent this letter yesterday.
We are also hearing from many of you about serious street safety issues, such as drug overdoses. I discuss these issues regularly with the commanding officer of the 20th Precinct, Captain Zuber, and he is in ongoing communication with all of the shelter providers and street homeless outreach teams. Borough President Brewer, other local electeds, Community Board 7, and I are all working together to make sure the conditions we are seeing are addressed, and the City has just committed to meet with UWS community leaders on a regular basis.
I encourage you to engage with the 20th Precinct’s neighborhood policing program. Click here to learn about public meetings throughout the precinct this month. (A reminder from Captain Zuber: NYPD officers can only make arrests for illegal activity, such as the purchase or sale of drugs, if they see it themselves. The NYPD cannot use photos supplied by residents. Please call 911 to report a crime or emergency.)
I will continue to hold the City’s feet to the fire, to make sure they are doing everything possible to keep you safe and ensure that people who are homeless can stabilize their lives. My role is to push the City for answers and bring you transparency. By getting accurate answers to your questions, all of us can be guided by facts, rather than misconceptions and rumors.
It’s unfortunate that the Administration did not choose to include the UWS in its emergency shelter decisions and provide a reasonable amount of advance notice. The UWS is among the most compassionate neighborhoods in the city, and we could have played a more active and constructive role in determining how to provide for some of the city’s most vulnerable residents.
To be clear, some of the questions my office is receiving are not related to the shelters, but to the ongoing and unresolved homeless encampments in our district: along Broadway near 72nd, 79th, and 95th streets. With my full support, Goddard Riverside Homeless Outreach workers interact with these people regularly, trying to build their trust and bring them into shelter. Once in shelter, they can finally get help in addressing the issues that have kept them on the street: mental illness, addiction, and poverty.
We are in a difficult situation — as a city, and as a district. With evictions and unemployment at historic levels, an unprecedented number of our fellow New Yorkers will experience homelessness and entry into the shelter system– many for the first time. According to a recent analysis, landlords have obtained 14,000 eviction warrants, and when the courts fully open, an estimated 50,000 renters could face eviction in New York City alone.
I want to make my position very clear: housing is a human right, and access to social and human services is essential. While I understand the anger and fear of many constituents (exacerbated by the lack of information from the City) and was initially moved to respond in very stark terms, I regret stating that the Upper West Side would not accept any more people who are homeless. The Upper West Side is known as a place that welcomes those in need and I remain steadfast in that tradition. We are in the middle of a public health and economic crisis — this is our reality — and we will rise to the challenges it brings.
That being said, as a mother, a staunch feminist, and advocate for survivors– I will be hawkeyed about ensuring that laws regarding sex offenders’ residency, and proximity to schools and playgrounds, are being closely followed.
Please see our latest updates below about the three emergency shelters in District 6 hotels. (A fourth hotel, the Park West, is not in my Council District but in Community Board 7, and is also being used as a temporary shelter.) As you recall, these emergency placements are required by the Dept of Health to contain the spread of Covid. When the Department determines that it is safe for clients to return to their congregate shelters, they will do so. Each of the shelters has a different base of clients:
- The Belleclaire, with 288 clients, includes 100 women living there and about one-third of the clients go to work every day. Their focus is on job placement assistance.
- The Belnord, with about 100 male clients, specializes in mental health and crisis intervention programs.
- The Lucerne, with about 283 male clients, serves those with drug addictions and other mental health issues. The City has confirmed that there are no registered sex offenders at the Lucerne.
Regarding registered sex offenders living at the Belleclaire:
- Those with residency restrictions (restricted by state law from living within a thousand feet of a school) have been moved out. The City made a mistake in placing any individuals with these restrictions at the Belleclaire. The Dept of Homeless Services (DHS) tells us that it was one individual.
- There are no residency restrictions on the remaining clients. We follow up with the DHS directly with our questions, as it is unclear how regularly the NYS sex offender registry is updated.
- Simply as a point of reference: There are over 1,600 NYS registered sex offenders in Manhattan (living in private residences, homeless shelters, etc.). Mental health professionals advise that sex offenders are less likely to repeat offend when they are in a stable living environment with access to services, rather than in a distressed condition, such as homelessness.
I know that each one of you wants clear answers and concrete next steps, and my office (and other elected officials) are doing everything we can to supply them. At the same time, we are continuing all our other work — assisting NYCHA residents with badly needed repairs; getting air conditioners to low income seniors; ensuring the delivery of meals to those in need; and addressing the increasing number of calls about evictions.
We are also closely following the City’s school opening plans. I am pushing very hard for the City to place a nurse in every school, as well as social workers to help children process the incredibly difficult situation we are all going through.
More likely than not, we will face additional revenue shortfalls in the coming months as well, and I will fight — as I always have — to make sure that the most vulnerable are protected.
Note: Because of the enormous number and length of comments received, we will be shutting down the comments section of this article at 5:30PM, to allow us to catch up. We approved many lengthy comments, because to exclude them seemed wrong. As much nastiness as possible was excluded, though some slipped through. There will be more opportunities to comment on this topic. Please be concise and civil.
What an awful representative we have in her. Nauseating.
Concerned residents can start to leave reviews for the Hotels on TripAdvisor, Kayak, etc.
This is a public safety issue. Quit calling this a homeless issue. It’s a public safety issue when people are harrassed, drugs are consumed in view of our children, and general crime goes up. A man overdosed in the Duane Reade on 79th and Amsterdam. It’s a public safety issue and the City (and Rosenthal) have decided to make our neighborhood less safe
Capt Zuber?!? Has anyone seen a policeman besides 82nd street where they spend their days holding up th barricades?
How about old fashioned patrolling? Oh. I forgot they got their feelings hurt with all the “defund the police”. Boo hoo. I’m going to take my ball and go home. Cops think they are teaching us a lesson by not doing their job. Typical of someone who chooses that profession. It used to be a noble one.
awwww poor you. This has been going on in poor neighborhoods for years. I guess the entitlement that comes with living in the Upper West Side is getting to you.
Exactly. There are some very concentrated areas where most of the problems are. Have police officers stationed in these areas and empower them to arrest those who break the law. Problem solved.
I think there is a small army of police outside Trump Tower – how about relocating them? Times Square usually has a very dense police presence but since no one is there right now, how about relocating some of those officers?
Evictions at historic levels?? None of these men were evicted due to the pandemic. The city has put a moratorium on evictions
Two crises?? She is equating the pandemic with homelessness?? That’s like equating a tidal wave to my kitchen faucet dripping.
I don’t think she understands that the issue is not homelessness. I think this neighborhood is more than willing to take in homeless people who are trying to stay safe, keep the community safe, follow the law and try and get off drugs.
The problem is – putting ~300 drug addicts together in a place where drugs are readily available does not accomplishes this.
Letting this happen in a family neighborhood which was already struggling to recover from Covid is wrong
Watching folks leave the Lucerne and gather in groups outside without masks on is a public health issue.
And using tax dollars to pay for folks to social distance while watching them gather without face masks on is insulting.
All this while our schools face 20% budget cuts and no additional available space.
you are 100% correct – She’s so missing the point. I wonder everyday if all the staff that has been hired @ these “temporary” hotels for the homeless (BTW at enormous cost) is doing what they’ve been tasked or is this just another NYC boondogle. At the very least, DeBlasio must be forced to recognize how he’s altered this city for the worst and exhibits ZERO respect to the people who pay the taxes and with pride help create safe and wonderful neighborhoods. !!!
Get them out of here! This is bs!
Keep Voting Dems in. It will only get worse
Someone should ask how many homeless shelters were created in Carnegie Hill.
Just fed up. Hassled by some drunk guy on West 79th Street, got in my face bc I didn’t have a dollar. Ridiculous. Helen Rosenthal should be ashamed of herself. ITS 2020 HELEN. WOMEN SHOULD NOT BE HARRASSED.
There is not ONE offense anywhere where it was estsblished proximity to a so-called park or school was a factor in offending. The only thing residency restrictions do is make life more unstable and reoffense rates HIGHER than they otherwise would be.
The question becomes, can society create a fictional public safety policy or law whose outcome is a loss of safety for the offender (loss of housing) and results in lower public safety (higher rates of reoffending)?
The answer is, NO.
I tefuse to follow laws applied ex-post facto and has no basis in public safety. In fact, the registry is so dangerous to public safety and only has punitive outcomes, it has become an inherent RIGHT to flee the registry and do whatever I can to avoid registry laws.
You all have thrown people on a registry, labeled them dangerous and then used social pressure and politics to automatically isolate people from society until they are desperate outcasts, alone and hopelesss.
My punishment is OVER. You all don’t get to create comprehensive police states around groups that a legislature is the sole branch who defines who is dangerous and who populates a “dangerous list”.
Public safety is all about integration for ex-cons. On a registry there is no safety. By not being on a tegistry I am integrated and a productive member of society. On a registry I am an outcast and desperate, unable to care for myself.
The law allows no recources for those that does not pose any danger to society. The law allows for no challenges or appeals. A presumption of dangerousness applied by a legislature is inherently illegal.
Your registry is not a civil law, but a cruel punishment that I will never follow again.
Taking people’s housing under a public policy of shifting danger to another jurisdiction is illegal
What a bunch of word salad.
Here is three words for you – 14 Sex offenders. Helen’s office told no one that sex offenders were moved in!
Is there a complete list of UWS “hotels” under contract with NYC:both the “new” and the existing, e.g. The Excelsior?
https://therealdeal.com/2016/08/23/city-pays-for-homeless-to-stay-at-luxury-uws-hotel/amp/
The Excelsior does not appear to be currently in use as an emergency shelter. We broke the story about it here: https://www.westsiderag.com/2016/08/17/uws-hotel-being-used-as-a-temporary-homeless-shelter
They are on the Broadway median At 77 in front of Belleclaire all day every day, n masks, no distancing, passing joints around. How is this helping stop the spread? All it does is make the real area residents unsafe as we can’t even cross the street. Virtually all roaming around are not wearing masks correctly if at all.
We worked long and hard to build our neighborhood and now have to live in fear while our tax dollars are paying for social distancing that’s incomplete at best.
Why can’t you cross the street?
Because there is usually a half nude man sprawled in an alcoholic haze on the ground on the south side of the street!
Imagine that–facts, rather than misconceptions and rumors, let alone hysteria, histrionics or falsehoods.
This indeed. Where is the UWS’s humanity? I imagine those screaming bloody murder about the shelters don’t have anyone in their lives who has struggled with homelessness.
Where is the humanity? The compassion?
I lost it when one of your nice men grabbed my daughter’s arm. How dare you lecture us when our children are getting harassed.
Vote Rosenthal out of office.
She’s not running again. Even she knows the job is too much for her.
I believe that Council Member Rosenthal is prevented from running due to Term Limits.
But you can imagine what you want.
Thank You for this part of your statement
I fully support it.
I want to make my position very clear: housing is a human right, and access to social and human services is essential. While I understand the anger and fear of many constituents (exacerbated by the lack of information from the City) and was initially moved to respond in very stark terms, I regret stating that the Upper West Side would not accept any more people who are homeless. The Upper West Side is known as a place that welcomes those in need and I remain steadfast in that tradition. We are in the middle of a public health and economic crisis — this is our reality — and we will rise to the challenges it brings.
Is safety a right? My daughter always walked around by herself, and now after being Aggressively panhandled for money, she wants me or her brother to be with her.
She’s 15 years old, but very short for her age. Under 5 feet and looks younger than she is. I guess she’s an easy mark. I am so fed up with these comments, all of these people don’t even live here.
I support Rosenthal in her regret to not accept more shelters. She’s absolutely right about extending a hand to those less fortunate in theses times. Those of you forcefully protesting these moves and thinking that this is not about racism; those of you brandishing crosses on your forehead on Ash Wednesday; those who attend synagogue every Saturday, I invite you to think a little deeper about your feelings regarding this issue and reconsider, for just a moment,the dissonance between what you claim to believe in and how you’re reacting to this situation.
This is what helping others looks like sometimes and just because those in need don’t look like us doesn’t mean we should consider them inferior humans.
This is a challenge that arose during the most inopportune times and we should stop bickering among ourselves and take pride on the hand we are extending to those in need. After all, this too shall pass.
Thank you. Fully agree with this. Homeless people don’t just disappear when we send them away. They have to live somewhere. What about the UWS is so special that we can’t have them in our midst?
JLC, Exactly. Thank you for your compassion, something that seems particularly rare on the UWS lately. I live in the neighborhood and absolutely agree with you.
Other fellow commenters, you should be ashamed of your racism and prejudice.
Yes, shame on me and my ptsd.
It’s not about racism. Nobody cares whether he’s white, black, or green, lewd behavior is lewd behavior. When they publically urinate, it’s all yellow.
BTW, one of the more publicly circulated photos of a guy masterbating on the steps of the Historical Society is a white guy. The one of a guy bending over his drug paraphernalia to shoot up is white. Let’s focus on the issue.
Meant thank you to JLC, not these appalling, entitled, Scrooge-like UWSiders: “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?”
I don’t recognize my community anymore with so many expressing these attitudes in this time of universal crisis.
THANK YOU!!
And I invite you to think about those of us who have been assaulted by men multiple times in our lives. How can we override our nervous system and help but be fearful walking alone, being leered at, being approached, being threatened by men. This is not just about homelessness. This is about the demographics of who is being sheltered. Think.
I do NOT support additional shelters.
I also want to see the distribution of shelters pre and post COVID.
While we vote Rosenthal out of office, let’s not forget to also get Nadler (What an embarrassment! He doesn’t know about the violence happening in his district), De Blasio and of course Cuomo out of office. Maybe one of our city or state programs can find more suitable work for them all.
DeBlasio can’t run again. I imagine if Cuomo runs for a fourth term he’ll win by a landslide.
What has Nadler to do with this? He’s our Representative in the US Congress. The job doesn’t deal with these sort of issues. Nor should it. Our Representatives and Senators have a full-time job as it is.
As has been noted frequently in comments, she is term limited. So statements about ‘throwing her out of office’ don’t actually who much knowledge of the neighborhood
SAFETY IS A PUBLIC RIGHT. My daughter should not have a man masturbate in the grass besides the playground at West End Ave and 76th Street.
A man was urinating on the corner of 76&Broadway this afternoon into the street, meaning fully exposed in broad daylight, as 2 small children (And others) walked by.
And…he wasn’t wearing a mask.
We are compassionate, but where to draw the line? Apparently right into a puddle on Broadway.
She should be voted out along with DeBlasio!
They have ruined this great city!
Rosenthal and DeBlasio are term limited. Obviously DeBlasio has no future in public office, but Rosenthal certainly has her sights set higher. Her involvement in this debacle must remain a millstone tightly wrapped around her neck.
What’s next? The city paying for homeless criminals to live in the four seasons?
No more shelters. Please! The city has to be transparent about how these hotels are being picked. 4 hotels in a 15 block radius of a residential neighborhood has to hit some sort of saturation point. What a depressing state of leadership. At every single level.
I don’t understand why a police officer needs to observe the crime taking place in order to make an arrest. If I see someone shoot someone else and take a photo of the crime, is Capt Zuber saying that the police can’t make an arrest unless a police officer witnessed the shooting? Homelessness and criminal activity are not synonymous. Let’s be compassionate for our fellow citizens and have the police deal with criminal behavior.
A police officer is no longer willing to risk his career over an arrest, even a justifiable one, in a ‘woke’ neighborhood like the UWS. Cops with seniority are transferring out of Manhattan to precincts in Queens and Staten Island as fast as they can.
You make me tired. I’m so weary of your ongoing re-explanations of your positions going back to the school boards redistricting of our neighborhood (I live in Lincoln Towers). Try researching all points of view before speaking. Our current situation is so very complicated. We need thoughtful, well informed leadership.
As residents of Lincoln Square have long known, Helen Rosenthal does not represent all of her district. Now she has abandoned the UWS too. She must be thinking about her next job.
West Side Rag is doing a good job in covering this story. My kid got wacked in the head for not giving any $ after leaving the convenience store on 79th. The neighborhood was never like this before.
She flip flops more than the pancakes at ihop. She threw her constituents under the bus and lied.
She suggested that parents now have the opportunity to patrol with a whistle —her words— to protect our kids.
Enough!!!!! I’m not worried about whistles I’m worried about sex offenders and needles on the streets.
Pretty confused. They left jail bc of Covid, but refuse to wear a mask. I asked the people on the bench to put on a mask and was spit on? This is the thanks for taxpayer paying for their hotel rooms.
Meagan, they weren’t in jail, they were in shelters. It says a lot about you that your mind automatically went to the word jail. It is not criminal to be homeless.
PS – I always wear a mask, but you know as much as I do that many of our neighbors don’t wear masks. It sucks. Why aren’t you on here complaining about the rest of our neighbors? What makes you think that you and all these other commenters get authority over the homeless?
Racism and prejudice are running rampant up here on the UWS. It’s shameful.
Hi Elizabeth,
Thank you for your relentless clearheadedness. You have been a a brave voice, and an excellent one… going against the tide of myths and prejudice.
Oh please spare us with your race-baiting. If you cared about the safety of your neighbors you wouldn’t be so quick to accuse everyone of being a racist. We are talking about an over-saturation of drug addicts, pedophiles, and mentally unbalanced people that have made the neighborhood dangerous. Who gives a damn what color they are?
Helen is like Jerry, a lot of words and no action. Shame on them. Vote them out with that fool mayor.
Thus is unacceptable to me. I don’t care where these ppl go but I am extremely sick of seeing them & putting up with them in my neighborhood. Get rid of them. My compassion evaporated with their disgusting, aggressive, & lewd behavior. The neighborhood is becoming very seedy.
Wow. Hundreds of people, each one an individual human being, many trying their best to turn their lives around – and you lump everyone in together with the ones whom you find offensive?
Wow
Friday night on 79th and Broadway, we had a guy with a large knife flashing it around. Took 15 minutes for the cops to come and at that point the guy took off. This is the Upper West Side? Thanks Helen
The Trump Hotels would be an excellent choice for housing more homeless. No self-respecting Manhattanite would ever consider staying there, and there are no tourists coming. The location in Midtown is not a residential area, so that would make it a better choice than UWS locations
Great idea
I propose that anyone that supports homeless shelters on the Upper West Side. To come to live in one of these shelters for one month. Lets see if they still approve the shelters that are located in a community that is for hard working families.
“shelters that are located in a community that is for hard working families.”
There seems to be a common misconception that only families deserve to live here.
This great city is made of many different people, with different lives. That’s what a city is.
When can we get rid of her?
Wow… I appreciate the attention to our situation but… I have yet to see those services provided to us. This is the big issue. We need help for our substance use disorder, mental health issues and so much else. I am not seeing that here as of yet. Not for everyone. Not onsite. Please push for this. It will change things for sure. 283 people who have issues can benefit.
Also, we’re still trying to get a decent meal served. One that is healthy and nutritous. This is an issue that has not been remedied. What is being done about something as simple as providing us with healthy and nutritous meals? It’s a reason why many are choosing to revert to drug use while here. Being treated like we’re less than humans is not conducive to our growth and development
Do persons in The Lucerne get SNAP cards? Are they considered disabled? If so, do they receive SSD payments?
I’m asking because it’s not easy for many of those who have lost their jobs to get a decent meal. Some have to wait in long lines at food banks. Among those who still have jobs are some who are scared to go out to shop or to eat outdoors at a restaurants. And, if they choose to order grocery, often they find that the produce in their orders are those that they would have rejected.
It’s not pleasing for most of us these days.
rosenthal is delusional..arrogant and has failed us her constituents…she shirks her responsibility and is driven by a personal agenda…at this most difficult time our 6th district needs thoughtful leadership not her inept drivel
Helen, check out the registry. There were child rapists 1000 feet from 2 playgrounds.That is against State Law. Do you care about the children here at all?
I believe the children are the future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside.
I’m truly my frightened to live in my home on W 77th St.
I came home to find three men doing drugs on my stoop last night. I can’t and won’t live like this.
Do us all a favor and resign Helen Rosenthal, let’s vote someone in who will act is in the UWS’s best interests.
The cops need to dismantle the street encampments, now. Sending social workers to politely ask the street people to accept shelter is hopelessly naive. The streets have devolved into squalor and chaos and Helen is basically absolving herself and the city of any responsibility for it. Her constituents should not be expected to put up with the degradation of our public spaces because of Helen’s misguided compassion for these drifters who aren’t even from NYC.
Maybe the NYPD should have a SWAT team (Social Workers and Therapists)
I called Helen Rosenthal’s office twice before they moved the homeless into the hotel at Lucerne. It was about my 82 mother. She walks with a walker and is slow. She got stuck at West 79th in the mediam on Broadway. A guy named Carl ( NO MASK) got right in her face and asked for money. He was drunk already carrying a beer bottle. She didn’t have any money, and yet he wouldn’t move away. WHY DOES MY MOTHER HAVE TO GET SICK BECAUSE OF THIS GUY. Well, no one ever called me back from her office. I called the 20th Precint, they told me to call 311, 311 put me through to 911 who told me they could only react to situation happening. One big circle of NOT MY PROBLEM. Awful.
Don’t forget these statements and policies on election day people. Unfortunately, I think it is too late. The elected officials of the UWS don’t care about the personal sacrifice, hard work, and investments people and families have made here. People are leaving at an alarming rate and progressives are screaming good riddance. Who will be left to foot the enormous tax liabilities for your left wing social policies? The disdain for some “conservatives” here is mind blowing.
Yes, homeless people deserve…housing. Alcoholics and drug addicts deserve…TREATMENT and COUNSELING in a controlled professional health facility, not housing in upscale hotels with full rights to walk the streets and accost local residents, and NO supervision in their rooms. Reports of drug use inside the hotels have been confirmed by residents: crack and heroin, at least.
Not surprisingly, many UWS residents are welcoming addicts and pedophiles into our neighborhood, instead of demanding that they get the help they need!
The problem here is that a large number of the people transferred to the UWS are not just homeless, they are struggling with mental health issues, addiction issues – and are, not surprisingly, destroying the quality of life for small business and residents.
Where’s the Boro President on this issue. She’s been conspicuously quiet.
Wish someone would address the shirtless man on West 79th. Screams all night and runs out into traffic. Called Rosenthal’s office and they said to call 311. Did that twice, nothing changed. I’m guessing Helen doesn’t own her apartment and rents and can pick up and leave anytime she wishes after she destroys the neighborhood. I still have to sell my apartment.
He has been there for years,
What do you want to happen? Police can’t arrest him for standing there shouting. He can’t be *forced into treatment.
Why among all the pretty stark insanities of the left is there furious rejection of protective police in schools long subject to fights, secreted firearms, rape and abuse of all other sorts? Why do leftist crazies want to subject teens to the vagaries of adolescent crime, disorders and chaotic misadjudgment or hinky parenting? It makes zero sense even as rioters’ violence make no sense.
Liar liar – pants on fire.
If Rosenthal has any sense of decency left
she must resign – now!
If she could (she can’t due to term limits)
run again – she’d lose in a landslide.
There must be thousands of empty hotel rooms by Kennedy airport.
Put the homeless there.
In response to a solicitation from Helen’s office, I volunteered to be a building captain early in the pandemic to connect people (mainly seniors) with assistance, and Helen surprisingly hand-delivered the assistance materials to my apartment so that I could distribute them to my neighbors. That earned her quite a bit of respect in my book, and so does this, because regardless of whether you agree with her position, she’s both admitting a mistake and taking a stand that’s going to bring her a ton of heat.
Also, while I understand the concerns people have about this not-ideal situation, I have to say that the immediate vitriol from a lot of people seems self-defeating — cops are probably already shrugging off complaints because so many people have been flipping out at the mere sight of shelter residents sitting outside talking.
Couldn’t keep her word for 2 weeks. And that is why there is no more trust in our elected officials.
I sympathize with the position of compassion for the homeless and the mentally ill. But Ms. Rosenthal’s job is to represent the people of her district. And she is not doing this.
Like the county clerk whose religion would not allow her to do her job which included issuing licenses for same-sex marriages, Rosenthal’s ideology is not allowing her to do her job. If Rosenthal wants to become an advocate for the homeless and drug-addicted, she should do this. But she should immediately resign her current position.
Yes!
Why won’t the police accept a picture or video that a citizen takes to report a situation? they have to see it themselves? Videos and pictures are helping them do their jobs.keep us safe, engage the community – the 20th percent is living in the dark ages on this issue.
People keep saying the bad old days are coming.
But sorry to say 1978 is here and will be a decade before it gets better.
People are still moving out of city My building has lost 48 apartments worth of family’s in Two months. Looks like this will double over the next two months
Last night on 79th street & Amsterdam (on th eother side of the street as the Lucern) there was a homeless woman who made a makeshift bed behind the bus stop using her belongings. She did not look drunk or strung out but someone who was sincerely down on their luck. I talked to her & she told me she heard of the Lucern & thought it was a shelter for all to come to who needed some help. She got there & was wrong. She said she was traveling the US, had some bad luck, ran out of money & is now not sure where to go or what to do. I felt bad for her. This is a person who could use help from a shelter & become productive once again from it instead of all the others who are taking complete advantage of this entire situation. I went to my apartment, made her a sandwich, got some cold water, cookies, an Ensure shake & brought it all down to her. She deserved a meal to eat. Not like these others who are destroying our neighborhood.
“She said she was traveling the US, had some bad luck, ran out of money & is now not sure where to go or what to do.”
So why is *going home* not an option?
I am a retired man trying to sell my apartment across from the Lucerne. The value had dropped considerably and I am afraid to leave my house. What is being done to protect those of us who have paid taxes all these years ?
I sympathize with your wanting to feel safe, but not with you expecting top dollar for your apartment. Paying taxes was not price insurance.
Let me guess – World Peacenik has a rent-stabilized apartment and is currently hiding out at his/her sprawling country estate upstate which has doubled in value due to the pandemic.
Sam Domb, Empire Hotel Group… Seems this gentleman is making money during the Pandemic even though no tourists are in the city. He’s the owner of the hotels housing the homeless. How much is he getting paid for this and who approached whom? I KNOW something has to shift with homelessness in this city. The question is how to solve this major problem. Who are the homeless and what do they need? Can NYC provide it? One homeless person at a time…Last note: Fear doesn’t help. Humanity does.Do we have compassion?
ALOT! I know all about the homeless hotel business. It is a goldmine for the owners who are able to take advantage of the contracts with the city.
Domb is a big DeBlasio donor.
Following the money confirms the corruption of the DeBlasio administration.
This isn’t about the homeless. This is about contracts to donors.
The area needs stepped up policing. Accountability by Project Renewal. What resources are they providing these residents?
Curfew enforcement.
How do you import hundreds of methadone patients into an area without a clinic? Unless that’s the next new neighbor Helen Rosenthal will grace us with?
Also, hotels are a terrible solution to our homeless crisis.
Where is Shirlayne DeBlsio in all this?
800 million for ThriveNYC to ha ha help mentally ill.
Come on down First Lady, get a good look at the population and tell us where you sent almost a billion bucks of our taxes?!
There is definitely a whiff of privilege in the comment section where there is an assumption that drug use and criminality should not be a regular part of life, when such conditions have been entrenched in many communities in this city.
New York City is no longer a tourist destination and therefore hotel owners are seeking alternate forms of revenue. This is a business decision, and I encourage discouraged residents to not patronize these hotels, particularly when criminals and vagrants are in tenancy.
I am taking a neutral wait-and-see position on this issue for now and will be monitoring it closely from our family’s Rhinebeck country house where we can socially distance and do zoom schooling and remain virtual members of the Upper West Side without the safety risks. Kudos to Helen for keeping us informed at our new forwarding address.
LOL
“There is definitely a whiff of privilege in the comment section”
Also this
“I am taking a neutral wait-and-see position on this issue for now and will be monitoring it closely from our family’s Rhinebeck country house where we can socially distance and do zoom schooling and remain virtual members of the Upper West Side without the safety risks.”
How can you say both of those things with a straight face. Downright hilarious.
Strange how there are no shelters on Madison Avenue, or indeed much of the UES
The reason is very simple. The East side is not a socialist supporter of insane liberal policies. I moved my family from the west side to the east side because of all the deterioration. I went to grade school on the west side in the early 80’s this is worse. You need to consider your political beliefs and if you are not willing to live with the impacts next to your house then you need to consider less radical positions. These are not just “homeless
people” they are not criminals who have been reformed and served their time. These are addicts and ill. They need to be held in a facility until they are not a danger to themself or others. If you are really saying to yourself that this is the right policy but should be done in other neighborhoods then accept it in your back yard.
it’s impossible to answer every point in Truthteller’s rant in 100 words, but the fact is that the majority of the current residents of the Lucerne are not “a danger to themselves or others.” Many or most are in late middle age or seniors and are infirm. GO take a look!
Are there mentally ill people on the streets who are dangerous “to themselves and others”? yes, far too many, and they should be taken off the streets. But a policy of locking up EVERYONE in the lucerne, which is what Truthteller is advocating, is fascistic.
Please explain how you could decide to potentially allow more homeless shelters in our neighborhood? given the damage already done to our community? Will there be any benefit at some point to allowing the city to dump all over us?
She doesn’t care. She’s term limited so she’s looking for another perch.
HELEN Rosenthal is the SUSAN COLLINS of the Council.. Unreliable, developer friendly and clueless, according to her own excuses. She loves photo ops and maneuvering for praise but working for her constituents has never really been her strong suit.
Every time I contacted her office I was either ignored, or made feel like whatever I complained about was my own fault. We live here and are witnessing the deterioration of our neighborhood. It is not mere rumor. We chose to stay and our voices, and concerns, are being ignored.
very insulting to Susan Collins who actually explains her votes with fact and reason and constitutionality. “Unreliable” in Collins’ case means she doesn’t vote along party lines bc she actually puts integrity above party, which is now apparently a “bad” thing? Give me a break… I swear half the ppl who comment here just repeat things they hear on the news and have never actually bothered to educate themselves on the topics and people they discuss here. mob (lack of critical) thinking is sadly the new definition of “liberal” — bring back the classical libs please…
You nailed it.
That’s an amazing way of putting it.