Harlem's Riverbank Park Floated As Site For 200 Asylum Seekers

HARLEM, NY — The city is considering housing 200 migrants in a theater and gym inside a Harlem park, but the local community board says the site would be "unsafe, unhygienic, and sub-standard," multiple local officials and Community Board 9 confirmed to Patch.

Riverbank State Park, which runs alongside the Hudson between West 137th to 145th streets, was surveyed Friday afternoon by a New York State office team looking for housing for asylum seekers, Assembly Member Al Taylor's office, Council Member Shaun Abreu's office, and Community Board 9 confirmed.

Hours later, Harlem's Community Board 9 penned a letter of objection to Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services about housing the asylum seekers in the gymnasium and theater near 679 Riverside Dr.

"It is our duty to receive asylum seekers with dignity and compassion," the letter reads. "This proposal would instead place them in unsafe, unhygienic, and sub-standard field shelter conditions.

"We can and must do better by both the refugees coming to our city and to the residents of our community who rely on Riverbank State Park."

Abreu, who represents the area in the Council, told Patch he supported the community board's position on the matter.

A spokesperson from the governor's office pointed Patch to a press release from last week about the expiration of Title 42, and singled out a line.

"The state continues to work with New York City on selecting appropriate sites within the shelter asylum seekers as they arrive and await legal work status," the spokesperson said.

Title 42 was a pandemic-issued health restriction that allowed authorities to turn away migrants at the U.S. border to help prevent the spread of the pandemic.

The restriction ended on Thursday.

The spokesperson did not provide more details on whether Riverbank State Park would be selected as a site.

Community Board 9 have numerous objections to housing the asylum seekers in the park, the first and foremost of which is a shortage of bathrooms.

A series of renovations have taken many of the bathrooms offline, raising concerns about "adequate toilet or shower facilities for the proposed 200 individuals."

Community Board 9 also emphasized that Riverbank Park was "one of the few" outdoor spaces in Harlem for recreational, athletic, and artistic experiences.

"[Harlem] cannot afford to deny our community its use during the busy summer season," the group wrote.

"Particularly when our young people have suffered through three years of diminished social and enrichment activities due to the pandemic."

Community Board 9 chair Barry Weinberg argued that other locations in Harlem would serve as better residences for asylum seekers if the neighborhood was selected by the state, such as City College and Columbia dormitories, which wouldn't take away from public spaces the community used for activities.

This news arrives after the New York Post reported that City Hall was considering using New York City landmarks, airports and parks, including Central Park, as housing for migrants to cope with the expiration of Title 42.

Members of Community Board 9 also rushed to Riverbank State Park on Friday to speak to the site inspectors in person about why they believed the Harlem park wasn't right as a site for the asylum seekers.

"This would be a deeply harmful loss for our youth and older adults at a time when we cannot shoulder such a blow," Community Board 9 wrote in its letter about the possible loss of the Riverbank Park gymnasium.