Tempers flared on Tuesday as nearly fifty parents and local residents rallied against the opening of a proposed shelter for the mentally ill and drug-addicted on the Upper West Side.
The $500M facility slated for West 59th Street across from John Jay College, would sit next to the popular Gertrude Ederle Playground, which the protesting parents claimed would put their children in close proximity to at-risk homeless New Yorkers and potentially expose them to second-hand smoke from the shelter’s proposed smoking area.
“In a city where it’s illegal to sell wine next door to a playground, Project Renewal wants you to believe it’s safe to bring in drug-addicted people from all over the city and to building their smoking courtyard next to the playground,” said one of the activists, Rachel Azarian, who has three kids.
The shelter will be run by the non-profit Project Renewal, which won a contract that lasts 40 years to build out and operate the facility.
Hoping to be operational by 2025, the facility plans to provide 200 women with room, food and treatment and counseling for mental health and drug addiction.
That averages out to approximately $60,000 per person, per year.
“Everywhere in the city, people with families live. Everywhere in the city, there are schools,” Sara Lind, a mother of two who is a former member of the local community board. “There’s no reason that somehow the Upper West Side is special and exempt from caring for our neighbors.”
A spokeswoman for Project Renewal said the smoking terrace would be on the third floor of the building and that the ground floor smoking area is strictly for residents finishing up their cigarettes on their way inside.
The shelter has been controversial.
Former Manhattan Borough President Gail Brewer — who now, once again, represents the neighborhood on the City Council — wrote a letter in 2021 to the then-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s homeless services commissioner, Steven Banks, asking him to build apartments instead.
“I did not support this as Borough President and I do not support it as Council Member,” Brewer said in a statement Tuesday. “I have urged the city at every opportunity to turn this into permanent housing.”
The Department of Homeless Services continued to back the project in a statement.
“We are committed to ensuring that every community has the critical social safety net resources to help their neighbors in need,” said spokeswoman Neha Sharma. “This high-quality shelter will be the first-of-its-kind in this community offering women experiencing homelessness the critical opportunity to receive the support they need and deserve to get back on their feet.”
