Blog Archives

Hearing Wednesday on Maspeth homeless shelter proposal

8/29/2016

Hi All,

First and foremost, thank you to everyone who has been attending the nightly protest rallies at the Holiday Inn and especially to those 1700+ marchers who joined the 5-mile walk this past Saturday in the hot sun. There will be rallies tonight and tomorrow night as well.

Please don't forget about the August 31st Public Hearing regarding the conversion of the Holiday Inn Express to a residence for adult homeless couples or parents with an adult child. Community Board 5 is holding the hearing at the Knockdown Center, 52-19 Flushing Avenue (at 54th Street), at 7:00 pm. (We were told that some stores on Grand Avenue have signs stating 7:30 pm, but the hearing will begin at 7:00 pm.) The Knockdown Center can hold about 3,000 people so everyone should be able to get in.

If you are taking public transportation, the Q59 bus will leave you one block from the location. The Q57 bus, which you can take outside of Dunkin Donuts on 61st Street, will take you right to the location.

See the attachment for more information.

Roe Daraio, President
COMET Civic Association
www.cometcivic.com

March for Maspeth today at 1:30PM!

8/27/2016

Homeless shelter update

8/17/2016

Hi All,

Thank you to all who attended the August 11th hearing regarding the proposed homeless shelter at the Holiday Inn in Maspeth. The turnout was fabulous! Within no time Martin Luther's gym was filled to capacity with crowds waiting outside to get in. We were told the line stretched for several blocks. It was impossible to get an accurate count of the crowd, but we believe it was about 2,000 or more.

Since those outside would never get a chance to hear the proposal or testify, we decided they should make good use of their time and rally outside the Holiday Inn. After the hearing many folks left the building and joined the crowd that had already assembled outside the hotel.

Mike Locascio, who is spearheading the fight, is holding a rally every evening this week outside the hotel beginning at 6:30 pm. We urge everyone to to make time to attend.

There will be another public hearing on August 31st but the location is now up in the air. Maspeth H.S. does not have the capacity to hold the crowd. Once a location is determined we'll let you know.

Below is a YouTube video of August 11th's crowd outside Martin Luther H.S. and subsequent march to the Holiday Inn.

Roe Daraio, President
COMET Civic Association
www.cometcivic.com

Markey says no to Maspeth homeless shelter

8/15/2016

Nightly rallies at Holiday Inn all week at 6:30pm

8/14/2016

Hi All,

See the message below from Michael Locascio who is spearheading the fight against the proposed homeless shelter at the Holiday Inn in Maspeth.

This is our community and we all need to stick together! I know the weather has been brutal, but please try to come out and support your neighbors. This will be ongoing for the entire week.

Roe Daraio, President
COMET Civic Association
www.cometcivic.com

Please forward the following information to Comet members. First I want to thank Comet for all the help, we will be having a rally Monday night at the Holiday Inn starting at 6:30 pm and proceeding forward every night during the upcoming week. We need everyone there we need to stand United as one front please pass the word to everyone so we can let this man know that we cannot have this homeless shelter where he wants to have it.
Thank you.

Michael Locascio

Overnight Commercial Parking Operation in Maspeth; JVP drug arrest

8/14/2016

FYI from 104th Precinct:

To Members of the Community,

On Friday, August 12, 2016, members of the 104th Precinct Highway Safety Unit conducted a commercial overnight parking operation. This operation yielded 34 Summonses for commercial vehicles being stored. In addition, 1 detached trailer and 1 school bus were also summonsed. For the last month, we issued 119 overnight commercial summonses and 1038 for the year. We will continue to conduct daily enforcement and arrange a tow operation in the next few weeks.

On August 11, 2016 at 445am, members of the 104th Precinct arrested a 27 year old Maspeth resident for smoking marijuana in Juniper Valley Park. This male has 11 prior arrests for drug distribution. In addition, we have issued 9 summonses for park after dark and alcohol.

Capt. W

Letter to Comptroller Scott Stringer re: proposed Maspeth homeless shelter

8/13/2016

Maspeth Shelter Joint Letter 8-12-16 by Christina Wilkinson on Scribd

Statement by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey on City Proposal for Homeless Shelter in a Local Hotel

8/9/2016

The proposal to use a Holiday Inn Express hotel in Maspeth to provide temporary space for homeless couples may be a mistake. All of us need to learn more about the plan than we heard from city officials last week. I am concerned about the opportunity for adequate community review of the proposal. We need time to hear about the job placement and counseling services that will be provided to ensure that the shelter is truly ‘temporary’ for residents. I am also concern about the track record of the proposed provider. We need answers to our questions and I am opposed to moving forward with this plan until we hear them.
--- 000 ---

Assemblywoman Markey sponsored a bill in the NY State Assembly this year to require adequate community notification and the opportunity for public review of any shelter or supportive housing proposal. The bill, A2553, co-sponsored by many NYC legislators, including Senator Joseph Addabbo in the Senate, was not approved by both houses of the Legislature. It would require public review by the local community board before such a project could move forward, mandating a local hearing within 45 days of the announcement of such a project and denying permission for the project to begin until a minimum of 60 days after that hearing.

Meeting August 11th about homeless shelter

8/3/2016

Hi All,

A meeting date/time/location has been set to discuss the Maspeth Homeless Shelter proposal.

Thursday, August 11th, 7:30 pm
Martin Luther H.S.
60-02 Maspeth Avenue

Help Needed!
Fliers notifying the community about the upcoming meeting are being printed and will be available soon. Volunteers are needed to help distribute the fliers. Please contact Mike Locascio at ny234eva@yahoo.com if you can find time to help out!!

Roe Daraio, President
Comet Civic Association
www.cometcivic.com

Homeless shelter to open in Maspeth

8/3/2016

Hi All,

I just had a conference call with a representative of the Mayor's Office of Community Affairs and a representative of the Mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. They called to give me a briefing about what went on this morning with elected officials, NYPD and Community Board 5 concerning their intention to place a homeless shelter in Maspeth on the Woodside border.

I asked a lot of questions and here are the answers in a nutshell:

The proposed homeless shelter will be at the Holiday Inn on the LIE service road across from McDonald's.
The Mayor's office is aware of the severe overcrowding in School District 24 and in light of this no children will live at this shelter.
The shelter will house 110 "couples", boyfriends/girlfriends, etc. etc. This would total 220 people altogether.
The shelter will house these "homeless" couples on a temporary basis but they are looking to make the site permanent so they can continue to house people on a temporary basis.
I was told the "good" news was that no sex offenders would be housed there. When I replied, "Similar to the Pan Am Shelter??, I was told that was an "unfortunate oversight".
I asked if people with criminal history would be housed there. Needless to say, I didn't get a direct answer but was told that there would be "security" in and around the homeless shelter. In addition, the 104th Precinct would monitor the area.
It didn't faze them that the Pan Am Homeless Shelter and the Metro Motel Homeless Shelter is in close proximity.
I asked where these "homeless" couples are living now and was told they are in shelters around the city. The representative from Intergovernmental Affairs alleged that many of these couples formerly lived in addresses within Community Board 5 (Maspeth, Middle Village, Ridgewood, Glendale, Woodside).
I was told that if the community could come up with an alternate site with a quick turnaround, within 30 days, they may reconsider this location. A "quick turnaround" means ready to move in with minimal to no construction.
COMET will be working with our elected officials to come up with a date, location and time in order to give the community a chance to hear the proposal and voice their concerns.

I know this is not good news. We need to stick together as a community.

Stay tuned.

Roe Daraio, President
Comet Civic Association
www.cometcivic.com

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