Sheltering Asylum Seekers At Queens Creedmoor Center "Inhumane": Pols

QUEENS — Lawmakers and community members in Queens opposed Wednesday the new proposed location to shelter arriving asylum seekers in Bellerose amid the lack of transportation and infrastructure in the area.

Queens lawmakers and residents convened to urge city officials to reconsider its plan to place a tent shelter at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Bellerose.

"We stand together, as one voice, to say Creedmoor is not the place to set up tents with 1,000 beds for asylum seekers," said Senator Toby Ann Stavisky. "To drop off huge numbers of people at a site that has no infrastructure or services such as transportation, air conditioning, security, sanitation, laundry, showers or bathrooms is inhumane."

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Council Members Linda Lee and Vickie Paladino, members of the Community Board 13 Civic Association, and others also joined the call to change the tent shelter location.

Attendees were also urging the Eric Adams administration to establish a better line of communication with Eastern Queens residents amid the lack of input from the community.

Earlier this year, residents were invited to participate in the development plans for the surplus land of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center campus. The city was expected to gather all the input and create a plan that met the needs of the community for the over 50 acres of land.

But as asylum seekers arrive in the city en masse, the Adams administration has been scrambling to shelter the thousands of people arriving from the U.S.-Mexico border seeking asylum.

“Although we believe in helping our fellow man, the communities of Eastern Queens should not have to sacrifice safety, nor quality of life, to achieve this objective,” said Community Board 13 Chair, Bryan Block.

Last spring, the city served more than 90,000 asylum seekers with an average of 300 to 500 people arriving each day. The city has opened over 185 emergency shelters and spent over $1.45 billion to address the influx of asylum seekers.