Crown Heights Neighbors 'Betrayed' By Electeds Who Didn't Tell Them About Homeless Shelter

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Angry residents crowded into a Crown Heights basement last week for an emergency meeting with city leaders about a new homeless shelter going in on their corner. Furious with what they said was a lack of notice that 267 Rogers Ave. would become a homeless shelter, they demanded to know why they hadn't been told about a project that could completely transform their neighborhood.

At the meeting, a representative for the city's Department of Homeless Services said notice about 267 Rogers had been sent to all local elected officials on Feb. 15 — more than a month earlier and nearly two weeks before Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his sweeping plan to open 90 shelters across New York City.

Naturally, a number of curious heads at the meeting turned in the direction of City Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo, seated a few rows back.

Eventually, the councilwoman stood up. "One of the great challenges that we have as elected officials — we find out about homeless shelters almost in the same way that you did," she said.

"So I'm not exactly sure when you were aware of the fact that a homeless shelter was coming." People surrounding her answered: just days earlier.

Cumbo then said: "We found out maybe about a month prior, so we had no more knowledge about this" than you did.

The audience wasn't impressed by that answer. Instead, they wondered why she hadn't shared the news with them.

As Crown Heights community leaders scramble to organize against what they call the city's under-cooked and unfair plan to build three new homeless shelters in the Crown Heights area, it's becoming apparent, they say, that city and state politicians played a central role in keeping neighbors in the dark.

"Nobody let us know. I’m wondering why?" Dwayne Nicholson, a former chairman of Community Board 9 which covers the area, told Patch.

"I know that these kinds of things create a lot of anger, frustration and everything else. But some people do feel betrayed. We have you here as an elected official to let us know what’s going on. You dropped the ball."

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The Department of Homeless Services called Cumbo and briefed her about the shelter on Feb. 15, according to communications records reviewed by Patch.

State Sen. Jesse Hamilton was also briefed by phone that day, the records show. Hamilton, though, said through a spokesman that he was not notified about the shelter until March 6 and denied knowing anything earlier than that.

Neither State Rep. Diana Richardson nor members of Community Board 9 were reached on the 15th, the records show, but they were told about the shelter over the phone shortly after.

Hamilton and Richardson also toured the facility on March 10 — a tour Cumbo's office declined to take, the records show.

That would mean these officials had 12 or 13 days to tell the community — through email lists, neighborhood leafleting or social media — that the shelters were coming, before the mayor announced his big plan on Feb. 28.

"I do not care if you received word on March 6 and you went on a tour on March 10," Dion Ashman, the Crown Street block association president who organized last week's meeting, told Patch.

"If you went on a tour on March 10, you should have found a way to get this out to the neighborhood."

A spokesman for Hamilton told Patch by email that "After notification, Senator Hamilton reached out to colleagues, elected officials’ offices in the impacted communities, to discuss a constructive course of action." Hamilton has also called for legislation in Albany that would require a longer notice period for new shelters.

By March 1, the city had provided the locations of the first five shelters to the media. Three of them, the city said, would open within a one-mile radius of each other in Crown Heights and Prospect Heights.

The city originally said the Rogers Avenue shelter would be located at 265 Rogers, but has since corrected the address to 267.

"If you screwed up, admit that you screwed up," Ashman said about the lack of notice he got from people who represent him.

"That’s what this all comes down to. If they do not do what they’re supposed to do, the people are going to find a way to vote them out of office. They’ve got to do what they’re supposed to do. They were elected to represent the people — so represent the people. It’s not that difficult."

Cumbo called issue of community notice "a red herring to detract from the underlying issue - the city's non-compliance with the Fair Share criteria."

"A 30-day notice is not the equivalent of gathering community input, but rather the dictation of a plan already set in motion," she said through a spokesperson in a statement emailed to Patch on Thursday morning. "We cannot diminish the urgent need to provide permanent, low-income housing, or the rights of the community to decide the best way to reintegrate its former residents."

Patch reached also reached out to Richardson's office to ask what steps she took to notify the community. The office said a communications officer was away and that the office would not have a comment on any issue until that person returned.

All three officials, along with Community Board 9, are hosting a town hall meeting Thursday night.

Image via Simone Wilson, Patch Staff, who also contributed reporting to this story.