Enriqueta Cruz at the town hall meeting held in PS 124 on Tuesday night, demanding that officials remove sex offenders from the homeless shelter near the school. Forum Newsgroup photo by Ryan Lavis
With 24 registered sex offenders currently living in the Skyway homeless shelter just blocks away from P.S. 124 in South Ozone Park, hundreds of parents voiced their worries at a town hall meeting held Thursday night in the school’s auditorium.
“Ever since that shelter came in, I have no peace of mind. My kids have no lives because they can’t go outside,” Soraida Johnsamson said, who has three daughters that attend P.S. 124.
City Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica), a vocal opponent of the shelter, led a panel that consisted of representatives from the Department of Homeless Services, directors of the Skyway shelter, and Deputy Inspector Thomas Pascale of the 106th Precinct.
“It’s not to be tolerated that we have sex offenders in our community,” Councilman Wills said. “Anyone who thinks it’s acceptable to place this near our children need to take those same sex offenders and put them near their homes, and see how well they deal with it.”
While the panel had no authority to promise the closing of the shelter, they explained that guards patrol the school and its surrounding streets throughout the school day. Currently, seven guards from the shelter make rounds to ensure none of the shelter’s occupants are around the school or children – a program called the Good Neighbor Policy.
“They are looking diligently not just at the sex offenders, but at all of our clients to make sure they are not near the school,” the program director at Skyway said during the meeting.
But Councilman Wills, parents and school officials said a couple of guards is not enough to guarantee the safety of the almost 1,400 students going in and out of P.S. 124. Some said that many kids have to walk home alone because both parents work.
“Our kids can no longer feel safe playing on the streets or walking back and forth to school, because many of them don’t have the luxury of a parent who can take them,” PTA Treasurer Assunta Soldano said.
The Skyway Shelter, at 132-10 South Conduit Avenue, currently has 174 men living there. It served as a family facility from 1998-2011, and housed several children who also attended P.S. 124. But they were kicked out when the Department of Homeless Services decided to use the space for male adults. This forced these families to move a distance further away, making it difficult for kids to travel to school each morning.
“That shelter was a place for children and families down on their luck,” Soldano said. “Those kids were ripped overnight from that shelter”
A DHS representative said that they changed the shelter because they “needed the space for the demand we were seeing on the single adult side.” According to DHS, there are 250 shelters citywide, with 18 in Queens. The Skyway Shelter is currently the only one in South Ozone Park.
Of the 24 level 2 and 3 sex offenders at the men’s shelter, Councilman Wills said that 16 of them were accused and convicted of priors with children under the age of 16.
“My husband works hard for his money, and he pays his taxes so my family can live in this community,” Mrs. Johnsamson said. “I want them gone, because until they’re gone this community isn’t going to live again.”
By Ryan Lavis
