The area along Blondell Avenue, once lined with vacant properties, is now home to a newly constructed 200-bed men’s shelter.
File photo by Adrian Childress
The Blondell single men’s homeless shelter is open and at full capacity of 200.
The first meeting of the Community Advisory Board (CAB) met remotely last week, of which I am a member, as well as two resident homeowners on the same block and the Westchester Square BID.
The representatives from DSS stated that there will be an onsite psychiatrist and psychologist, as well as a health clinic. Room and board are provided, along with recreational areas. The goal is for this to be a transitional shelter until the clients can get back on their feet and afford a place of their own (Blondell Commons, which is completing construction next door?). There is a curfew of 11 p.m., and there is onsite security. After the DSS members’ presentation (a win-win of course), we asked several questions and brought up some issues.
We asked if the on-site psychiatrist/health clinic was open. As of that meeting, they were not. We questioned the logic of opening to capacity without these resources operational. They said they were looking for staff. We asked how often the CAB would meet, and they said quarterly.
We were concerned about locating this facility in the same area with three other single men’s homeless shelters on Waters Place (run by the state) and the Poplar Street shelter, which will be opening imminently, as well as the methadone clinic also on Waters Place, the Covenant House shelter and St Peter’s family shelter, all a few blocks from this one. We also brought up the three schools. Lewis and Clark, P.S. 12 and
Lehman High School also very nearby. They seemed not to know about the other shelters (so they said), but it’s a moot point now. We just wanted to make it clear that this will pose a big issue for the Westchester Square commercial district and the community. We asked about extra police presence but none has been planned. They thought the extra police near Lehman High School would be sufficient.
There had also been some talk on Facebook, Bronx 12 and other social media sites concerning some incidents with homeless men harassing women and patrons of stores in Westchester Square. Even though local media got involved on the basis of “hearsay”; if you see or want to report an incident concerning harassment by a homeless individual you MUST report it to the police or call the community board (CB10 [718-892-1218], as Westchester Square is in CB10, not 11). If a complaint is NOT reported, the incident does not officially exist and is not actionable or counted. The other question is which of the many local facilities is the individual living in; we cannot assume they are from the Blondell shelter. This is for the police to find out. Beware of “anecdotal incidents”; hearsay is just that, hearsay, and may or may not be true. This is a very volatile subject, as the community is inundated with facilities for the homeless. If you see something, report it.
Also, we attended a public hearing given by CB10 about the Bally’s proposed casino and resort hotel to be located at Ferry Point Park. The Bronx Times headline said the community was “divided” about it. Were they covering the same meeting I was at? They were not divided about it. The community DOES NOT WANT THIS. There were the usual slick salesmen and consultants doing the presentation about how great it would be (another win-win for the community…yeah), and I am sorry to say our ex-state senator Jeff Klein was with them. They did the usual promising of “giving back” to the community and only using union labor (which promise we have heard before on Blondell
Commons, but it was not fully carried out). We have heard all these empty promises before. Several people brough up Atlantic City as a case in point. As a condition of building all those casinos, they would “give back” to the community. None of that happened and Atlantic City is a shambles. We don’t trust them and we do not want this! Until next time, TTFN.
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