Via NYC Mayor’s Office.
Mayor de Blasio addressed complaints about homeless people being placed in hotels during a discussion with reporters on Monday, saying the city is going to figure out how to relocate residents.
Hotels throughout the Upper West Side and elsewhere have been turned into shelters to protect shelter residents from Covid-19. Ever since The Lucerne on West 79th Street became a shelter for people dealing with drug addiction and homelessness last month, thousands of Upper West Siders have said the program has gone too far and is hurting quality of life.
The mayor said things will change — it’s just not clear exactly when.
“As the health situation has continued to improve, we’re going to start the process of figuring out where we can get homeless individuals back into safe shelter facilities, and reduce the reliance on hotels,” de Blasio told reporters, according to Politico. “Hotels [are] certainly not where we want to be in general, and we’re going to start that process immediately.”
Before that happens, though the city will have to “identify space that will work in our existing shelters,” he said, according to the Daily News.
He also said that city agencies need to work together to handle quality of life complaints.
“On the specific quality-of-life issues, it’s incumbent upon every city agency involved to get out there and solve them,” he said, mentioning the NYPD, DHS, and the Health and Sanitation departments, the Daily News reported.
Politico says that de Blasio has previously made it sound like the hotels would continue to be used until a vaccine was available.
Before the barrage of complaints, de Blasio had suggested individuals experiencing homelessness could remain in hotel rooms until there is a Covid-19 vaccine. “It’s a matter of months until there’s a vaccine and the crisis is over — then we’re going to bring people back into the shelter system out of those hotels,” he said earlier this month.
What else did you expect from DuhBlahhZzzzoh?
I am glad that the mayor is at least facing the reality that these homeless shelters in hotels are a problem.
I am one of the UWSers who think things have gone too far.
I want to be clear that I wish no ill will toward the men in the shelter.
But I don’t think it’s good for a healthy community to have hundreds of men with drug problems, mental health problems and sex offender records to be dropped overnight into a community that includes countless pre schools, playgrounds, and public schools *during the same summer* that the City Council has drastically cut NYPD funding and plain clothes officers who used to deal with *exactly* the sort of problems that these shelters have brought to the neighborhood – including public drinking, public urination, lack of social distancing and mask-wearing, and drug dealing.
I also want to state that I am by NO MEANS against police reform and am in favor of Black civi rights.
These are complicated times and complicated issues.
I am just asking for reason and sound leadership – neither of which DiBlasio and Rosenthal have shown much of recently.
The city does better when we treat people with respect — including ordinary families and children AND homeless people AND non-violent/non-corrupt NYPD officers.
These hotel shelters should be dismantled before the school year starts. If the transmission rates are low enough to open schools and gyms, the transmission rates are low enough to put men safely back in congregate shelters closer to the place where they receive their methadone and other social services.
Very well-stated!
“These homeless shelters in hotels are a problem”
This was done to prevent the spread of Covid. It was also done in the UK (for those who says this is a DiBlasio problem – British Tories are not left wing, to out it mildly )
I love very near the Lucerne. Have encountered no problems whatsoever, but even if I had, I think that protecting a vulnerable population from a highly contagious, often fatal, illness, is worth it.
*Equivocating
NYPD has not been defunded. I’m not sure where you are getting that they have a 6 Billion dollar budget. They disbanded the crime unit and moved them in house…which obviously maybe they need to reconsider. But, NYPD has not faced any financial budget cuts and they have an outrageous budget…NYPD has so much power in this city. With all the Covid financial issues everyone will face budget cuts next year (schools, sanitation etc) but they will not. City council is moving some of their budget to “school security” next year but basically it’s still goes to NYPD. They’ve also seemed to go into one of their infamous work slowdowns once they tried to pass police reform (no choke holds, making police discipline records available to public) As a tax payer I absolutely think police discipline records should be public.
well said, Sammy. You are right on every point.
Do you really think he’s “facing reality?” Or do you think some of the Democrats up for re-election told him to get off his ass and make things right because their candidacies are on the line?
These homeless people need services in addition to shelter. Mental health facilities and counseling services are necessary for many of them. In the 1970’s, when NYS failed to replace large mental hospitals (ie, Willowbrook), that they closed, with small residential facilities with services, the patients were put out onto the streets without any support. The problem still exists today…40+ years later!
Guardian Angels have done more that our elected officials with our tax money!
Guardian Angels need to get out of our streets
Disgraceful that some in the UWS encourage vigilantes.
I find DeBlasio’s capitulation to the worst–most racist and ungenerous–impulses of those who refuse to share our neighborhood with those needing a safe haven in these dark times appalling–and predictable. Sending poor people back where they “belong”–to coronavirus-ridden and otherwise unlivable congregate shelters–is apparently the wish of the putatively “liberal” residents of the UWS as well as the mayor who has overseen the worst crisis of homelessness in NYC in recent memory.
The knee jerk reaction that all opposed to *any* policy even tangentially related to class are racist is dangerous for multiple reasons. That closes the door for rational discussion on potentially better alternatives. For example, cheaper housing that allows for more money going to other social services and less to hotel slum lords. Moreover, I find equating homelessness to race to be itself racist — there are plenty of brown and black housed UWS residents and plenty of white homeless.
We already share our neighborhood with many many people in supportive housing. The UWS has been more than generous and inclusive in this regard compared to other neighborhoods. This includes approving the new facility being built on 108th St. The problem with the three hotels IMO is that, combined with what we have, they saddle the UWS with a much much heavier burden than other neighborhoods in the city. This is not about a lack of compassion. It is about fairness.
I absolutely agree with this. What’s so mortifying is, after decades of living side by side with our good neighbors at Frederick Douglass Housing, far from being appreciated as fostering diversity and for living in good intelligence with our neighbors, we are constantly under attack for our lack of kindness and compassion. And for pursuing a “gated community” lifestyle and mentality. WHAT GATED COMMUNITY??? Our accusers, mayor, councilwoman and their ilk, have never taken a train and commute in limos, So is it any wonder they’re so out of touch?
Normal person: “I don’t feel safe with people shooting up, masturbating in public, harassing women, leaving used needles lying around, getting into fights, punching and stabbing people, and sleeping passed out on the streets.”
You: “You’re racist!!”
Um, what?? Also, it’s interesting that you think the above behavior is limited to non-whites. That, ironically enough, sounds quite racist.
Believe me, it’s the criminal behavior and open drug use we don’t want in our neighborhood.
My 14 years old son was robbed by two teens on bikes last week.
I saw a woman pooping at a bus stop. A man was masterbating standing next to a woman on a bus stop.
This all happened between 10AM and noon. My teens do not feel safe in the neighborhood they have grown up in.
Please help. Come up with ideas and not judgement or name calling. We all want the same, a neighborhood we feel safe in.
reply to Mom of UWS:
the “two teens on bikes” who robbed your son were certainly not residents of the Lucerne nor any other homeless hotel. In fact, i would make the educated guess that most of the residents of the Lucerne — who from my observations are a very high percentage elderly or late middle age, and a high percentage infirm — share the same risk from those two teens as your son does.
I’m no longer a liberal, okay?
I don’t want “to share” what used to be my neighborhood with crowds of beggars and the deranged.
I don’t want to have to look five ways before crossing a street because of the construction of electric bike lanes and lawless bike riders, electric bike riders, and electric scooter riders doing whatever the heck they please
I don’t want to have to spend half an hour or more looking for a parking spot on the UWS every evening after getting back from my teaching job out of town because of the elimination of nearly a thousand parking spots because of Helen Rosenthal’s and CB 7’s blindness and disdain.
Yes, my next move will be out of here – I can hear the wokes’ “Hoorays!” – to go to a place where a neighborhood still exists.
LOL that’s a lot of complaints
Sounds like you don’t want anyone but you to have a say in how this city works. .
Time to move to the burbs. You have the Greenwich mentality already.
Poor people? No! Drug users. Public urinators. Sex offenders. Sounds like you’re maligning poor people by associating them with these categories. Just curious, have you got a spare room for one of the drug addacs!
I agree Amy.
The city is taxing inhabitants then inefficiently and nearly unaccountably spending those dollars to destroy UWS property values by upending local quality of life.
Compassion does not have to rhyme with lunacy.
Nor does it!
I shouldn’t have to walk around a drunk laying on the sidewalk
Why is that exactly? Why are you so thus privileged? How have you earned this exclusive privilege? What did you do to ascend to this exalted status? In a world in which, unfortunately, there are occasional drunks lying in the street, what is it that makes you so very very indignant about what you believe you DESERVE?
Bc we pay taxes on our property and for public property to be kept safe and useable. This is for the public good, property value and neighborhood safety.
1. From the beginning there has been little transparency from the powers that be. You cannot blame your neighbors for being afraid when they were not provided with explanations for the management and accountability of these recent shelters. Perhaps if there had been more dialogue or proactive involvement (supervision and services for the mentally ill in the hotels, for example) from government officials responsible, there would have been less fear of the unknown—which is, btw, a natural human reaction.
2. Some of us come from areas in the world where it is not safe for women to walk alone at night. Call me crazy, but preserving the dignity and well-being of homeless individuals and procuring the safety of vulnerable members community (women, children, elderly) are not mutually exclusive. I know these are volatile times, but perhaps a compromise could have been reached where those homeless individuals who would benefit the most from staying in these hotels (those further along in their recovery or who need less psychological help/supervision) could have remained in the community.
I agree.
The kvetching worked!
Thank you Guardian Angels for your help!!
Get. Them. Out.
And then, Mr. Mayor, get yourself out & kindly resign.
Thank you Mayor. Your leadership is like none other.
Glad to hear this. I want my family and community to be able to feel safe going out again in our neighborhood that we have lived in for 40 years.
I do hope the homeless are transferred to places where they can get help. Job training, mental health support, etc. Certainly this was not the case in the hotels.
I shudder to think of how easily they could contract the coronavirus and spread it in the present hotels especially after many are without masks.
I also hope that they are tested for COVID19 daily. 671 residents within such a small radius going up and down elevators, etc. is frightening.
But, but I thought he had no control over this! I’m sure he’ll get right on that. I will believe it when I see it.
Die hard liberal here. It doesn’t seem like housing these men in hotels is helping with social distancing in the least. The whole thing is tragic.
Just a tactic to keep what he believes are the peasants quiet.
There is no timeframe of any kind.
No guideline or any criteria or goals to be met.
He now says it’s generally not a good thing to keep people in hotels. The operative word is “generally”.
Most importantly, it’s DeBlasio.
He can say things that are completely opposite to what he said the day before and believe both at the same time. This is compounded by gross incompetence and absolute stupidity.
He certainly is never going to send these people back to crowded shelters while COVID still exists in any form.
Beyond that is questionable whether he really wants to send them back at all.
The only thing that can possibly change what’s left of his mind is sustained community opposition, lack of funds in an increasingly bankrupt city or a combination of both.
What a disaster for our neighborhood
Why the city did not place them in the upper east side?will let you guess
The next thing that. Will happen is the owner of the lucerne will be delighted to convert the hotel rooms to SRO
And we will have additional 283 condominiums added to
this beautiful area
Great for real estate value….,.,.,
No wonder the owner is selling his townhouse
He want to get out before the home prices drop
The issue has been that government officials from the Mayor to the Council Woman, Helen Rosenthal did not do their due diligence to ensure the safety and quality of life for residents in the neighborhood would not be negatively impacted. They brought in sex offenders (and claimed it was an oversight), they brought in mentally ill and “recovering addicts” without ensuring they had protocols in place for providing them with the services they need to be successful. To add to this, they removed many trashcans from the neighborhood so with the influx of this population the streets have become overwhelmed with trash. How do we get the trashcans back? Tremendous failure and indicative of the Mayor’s and Council Woman’s performance.
WHO IS HE KIDDING? THE CITY IS A MESS. ALL OF IT CREATED BY HIM.
How about getting them, I don’t know, homes?? Study after study shows, that when people have a roof over their heads and feel safe, they are more apt to deal with their mental health and addiction. And shouldn’t everyone have a roof over their head as a right of birth?
Studies also show that, for the most part, when people are just “given” homes, with no sacrifice on their part, they have a value proportionate to their investment. Something for nothing is worth nothing to the recipient and is a basic truth in society in general.
It’s akin to the truth that “freedom is not free.” It’s free to those who do nothing to defend it, but rely on the sacrifice of others who make it possible.
Erica, I agree.
What a gasbag we have for a mayor. He is just pandering.
talk is cheap
every word this Mayor says is a lie including AND and THE…at his briefings he is taking notes while people ask questions instead of listening…..there need to be shelters that just take care of the mentally ill homeless so they don’t have to interact with the lucid ones trying to get better. Many of the ones on the street are a danger and need to be removed
Deblasio get real . The vaccine could be more then a year away . You have made our neighborhood dangers for us and the children . Think soon to be ex mayor I know it is hard . Move the homeless out for the saftey of the UWS and the children It will be better for the homeless . Upstate there is plenty of room
If the mayor is sincere in his intention then I am 100% behind him.
The UWS is overrun with these unfortunate individuals but this is not the right area for them.
I have been threatened, approached to buy drugs, accosted, and listen to shouting and yelling out my windows at night. The hotels and the UWS is not the right place. They must go!
Can I just ask: what is the right area for them, in your opinion?
Allison, let’s start with a neighborhood that is less densely populated and with a lower percentage of children. Most importantly, the unknown percentage of hotel residents who are mentally ill and/or in the throes of addiction need to be somewhere where can receive the medical and psychological and services they so desperately need. The homeless deserve respect and empathy, but the government “warehousing” them in these hotels in a family oriented neighborhood right before children go back to school helps no one! Particularly since mask wearing and social distancing by the residents of the hotels is not being enforced.
Why not Gracie Mansion as an option both inside and outside ?
How about increasing support services where the homeless are being housed, and making sure those with obvious mental health problems are not allowed to wander, harass people in public, dump trash baskets looking for something to eat, accost other people on the sidewalks, harangue and threaten neighborhood residents, and generally look as if they should be escorted or sequestered before they damage someone else. Where are all the “services” to have been provided to these unfortunate people? And why are the homeless who are in need of shelter and help being abandoned by the city? We see the pathetic minority at their worst, but the the city has obviously failed them.What happened to “Love thy neighbor. No exceptions.” That means you, NYC government agencies responsible for every citizen, not just prospective donors.
If Hizzoner thinks a vaccine will end the pandemic so quickly then he is even more misguided
I do not think anyone is against giving a second chance to anyone down on their luck or in a bad way. But we all value what we pay for too. Housing people without any required (non financial) commitment on their part, in 3 moderate luxury hotels in one if the best areas of NYC? Such poor planning, to put it mildly, at the expense of NYC taxpayers (once again). A predictable recipe for disaster…perhaps our esteemed Mayor might consider utilizing the now-emptied Riker’s Island as a temporary housing location.
I remember the Guardian Angels in the ’80s.
They were great then.. they are great still.
Thank you!
Mr Mayor: Where? When? How? Let’s allocate these funds to effect true change. $5000 per month, per man (?) Should buy some very nice re-hab.
I’ll believe it when I’ll see it.
BdB speaks with forked tongue.
Um. As lots of folks previously mentioned, what about repurposing the Javitz Center? Or hotel’s location like the Roosevelt and Peninsula and youth hostels that are in commercial areas and I’m sure not seeing much tourism?! And then, remind me how many people can actually live in Gracie Mansion?!! Done and Done. Now get them out of the UWS residential neighborhood before schools reopen if you want to see one bloody $ in school and property taxes!
When needs to be tomorrow Not some eventual possible time down the road. This response is unacceptable, and it was only in response to a question not an initiative by De Blassio.
Well the hoteliers, some of whom are our crappy Mayors buddies will be bummed they won’t be collecting their millions from the city for housing these people and making everyone’s life miserable except theirs.
I hope he knows tgat the problems we are experiencing aren’t anti-homeless, or racist but, rather, the result of being being overwhelmed by seriously mentally ill, often out of control , untreated, maskless men who are left idle. Combine that with the virus and reduced policing …
How about trying the Holiday Inn Times Square for 39 a night on Expedia instead of $300 Per room uptown i ok n UWS! Must be great to be Deblasio’s buddy and contributer. And who decided just which DB friend would get these lucrative contracts anyway? Is there any transparency? Hotel association? I’d like to hear some answers.
THANK GOD, He can’t run for a Third Term!!!! If we do not elect a new Mayor and Council persons to get us out of our current mess, this City is History..
Interesting situation..
All I can say is during the past 7 days I witnessed a threatened knife fight in front of Playa Betty’s, a homeless man urinating under the scaffolding on W72nd, a homeless woman defecating on Broadway at w 84th…Then I saw a young mother and her cute toddler on West 72nd— my heart went out to her as a mother and grandmother, and all I could say was “hang in there/ things will get better…” I am sorry there is poverty and homelessness, but just letting people camp out on the UWS and pee and crap in the streets is very unfair to residents. Why is that politically incorrect??
Why didn’t they just put homeless families in the UWS? So many children and families could benefit from the parks, playgrounds and the family oriented community. Instead without an impact study they just dropped single men here. It makes no sense. And then our own councilwoman calls her constituents racists. Really not fair of her.
While plenty of caveats are in order, the mayor’s comments suggest that the voice of the UWS is being heard. Kudos to Upper West Siders for Safer Streets which last count had near 9,000 followers. Most of my neighbors feel that the city has an obligation to care for the homeless but should do so without endangering the safety and well-being of residents. In this case, Project Renewal set up a shelter with zero pre-planning on how to engage neighbors and then never held a public forum. Most disturbing? Watching Helen Rosenthal decline to represent her constituents and hearing DHS Steven Banks equating a genuine concern about public safety as some kind of attempt to build “gated communities.” I would have thought DHS would have been trying to build consensus, not goad residents on.
He’s lying. Every word be said is a lie. UWS will have the homeless at the hotels until at least April 2021, that’s my prediction.
Sliwa has my vote next year!
The mayor did a corrupt deal with sam domb. Now domb’s son wants to add to the corruption with the Milburn. All of our politicians are corrupt. I’m a democrat. Wont vote trump but would happily vote republican in the city now. Enough!
The NYPD has lost my respect. It’s true that they have been disrespected. But they should be there to protect us. Nada. Our neighborhood is in the dumps
Cuomo btw is just as bad as deblasio.
I walked by 79th and Broadway today and I have to say…that guy that hangs out on the south median is really scary. He is clearly a danger to himself or others.
It seems irresponsible to allow him to sit out there all day just menacing people.
It’s literally a ticking time bomb. We can’t act surprised when this dude eventually goes off, god forbid.
The good news was that there seemed to be an NYPD squad car parked there, monitoring him to some extent but I doubt they can watch him 24/7. Looks like they are trying though.
Please rescue our UWS neighborhood from fear and destruction. I have lived in NYC 19 years and have never felt unsafe, until now. Thinking of leaving town as a result of negligence to think through a plan to help those in need without jeopardize quality of life for the permanent residents.
I know the mayor de blasio letter is long, but I think it is a public service, as most people do not understand why Dept of Sanitation is not picking up. Please post thank you
Good lord people. I returned to NYC after being away for a several weeks expecting a zombie apocalypse of the UWS based on the comment sections here, the Post, etc… I found my same amazing neighborhood I have lived in and loved for over a decade. The situation here isn’t great but it will be over in a few months and is being blown all out of proportion.
Thank you for one voice of sanity in the midst.
Dinkins, Beam, de Blasio , , , these three go hand in hand and in the history books!
I’m proud of our neighborhood for finally standing up for itself. The UWS has a history of letting the city walk all over it. Perhaps we are turning a corner.
Hopefully this gets done before school starts. Whoever thought that housing these people (who need help) next to two elementary schools (P.S. 87 and Anderson) was a good idea?
,a homeless man approached me from behind on 79th St. until he was in front about two feet away , then asked for money. He didn’t wear a mask . If he had the virus this was a sure way to spread it.This isn’t an isolated encounter 15 minutes earlier another homeless man came close to me on Columbus Ave. and asked for money. He didn’t wear a mask. Most of the 500 homeless men are not wearing masks In public and puts them and neighborhood residents at risk. I hope the Mayor and city can transfer the homeless to a facility that provides the treatment and support they deserve.
Must make our neighborhood safe
It *is safe.
Blog Post addressing the situation on the UWS: https://thequintessentialcentrist.com/issues/issue-80/homeless-on-the-upper-west-side