It looks like the Muller Army Reserve Center, a former military base in Wakefield that community leaders want to house the Kingsbridge Armory Annex's National Guard so that the Kingsbridge Armory Annex can house a school (confusing, right?), is set to become a homeless shelter--the plan that Mayor Bloomberg's administration has long been pushing.
Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., who vehemently opposes the idea of another homeless shelter at the Nereid Avenue site, sent out a press release earlier this week saying the Mayor's office "is claiming that a vote was held in November 2010, despite having hosted a public hearing on June 22, 2011, to solicit public input on the reuse of the facility in advance of a vote."
Diaz is one on a three-member panel, or Local Redevelopment Authority (LRA), charged with voting on the building's fate (the two other members are Deputy Mayors from Bloomberg's administration). Diaz had purposely missed panel meetings to protest a vote on the issue.
The city says that redeveloped army bases are subject to federal guidelines that favor plans for homeless housing; Diaz and other community leaders argue that the Wakefield/Woodlawn communities have enough supportive housing, and that the neighborhood surrounding the Kingsbridge Armory Annex desperately needs schools.
A June 22 public hearing on the issue turned volatile, as local residents blasted Bloomberg's plan and Community Board 12 chairman Richard Gorman compared the mayor to a slaveholder.
“It is crystal clear that the mayor’s office had no intention of ever really listening to the Bronx community on this issue," Diaz said in a statement. "Despite close to 350 attendees of last week’s hearing—all of whom voiced their opposition to the plan—the Bloomberg administration is ignoring the clear will of the public and pretending that a vote took place last year."
“If a vote took place in November 2010, why did they bother having a public hearing last week? This bizarre decision shows an utter contempt for the people of Woodlawn, Wakefield and Kingsbridge Heights, if not the entire Bronx,” he continued.
An article in today's New York Daily News says that Diaz is threatening to sue the Bloomberg administration over the issue.
"the people of Woodlawn, Wakefield and Kingsbridge Heights, if not the entire Bronx" - may not, must not, or be allowed to discriminate.
ReplyDeleteGo Diaz, FILE THE LAWSUIT. MAYOR BLOOMBERG IS A LYER AND A RACIST PURE AND SIMPLE.
ReplyDeleteThey voted for Mayor Bloomberg to have the house for a 3rd Term. We can clearly see that he is in favor of cleaning up Manhattan, while leaving the 5-boro to suffer. Yes, homeless people need a place to live. But why shelter them where we have schools, residential area and heard working Citizen. They’re not going to stay living in the shelter, they’re going to be free to roam the streets and pry on our children and people who work hard and want to a walk home from the train station feeling safe. We already have to watch our back from the young teen ager who roams the street looking for trouble now this. Mayor Bloomberg needs to listen to the citizen of NY. Why doesn’t he take the time out to live in the Bronx, near a homeless shelter with no body guard to watch his back? Then he will see how serious this situation really is. Wakefield is a quite residential area, we have blacks, Spanish’s, Irish’s, Italians, we have all nationalities and we don’t even hear a peep from our neighbor across the bridge. We mind our business.
ReplyDelete