Pols, protesters blast de Blasio, bring borough homeless policy debate to City Hall
Photo Courtesy of Sen. Addabbo’s Office
Inclement weather last Friday didn’t affect the demonstration to protest what Councilman Eric Ulrich (second from r.) called “Mayor de Blasio’s failed homeless policies.”
By Michael V. Cusenza
Several borough elected officials and civic leaders last Friday spearheaded a spirited rally replete with chants and signs on the steps of City Hall to denounce what one city pol has called the mayor’s “hopeless homeless policies.”
“Since Mayor de Blasio took office, the homeless population in our city has skyrocketed to record levels,” said Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-OzonePark) in a press advisory announcing the demonstration. “Now more than ever, New Yorkers want real solutions that actually help people who have fallen on hard times. We demand a better plan.”
On Friday, Ulrich, one of Hizzoner’s harshest critics who is mulling a 2017 mayoral run, seemed to defend recent rallies in Queens and other boroughs against shelter siting, shooting down the notion that the events have been based on an anti-homeless sentiment.
“If [the administration] talked to us and gave us more time we could identify a better location, a more appropriate site where people could get services, where they could have access to better transportation, where we could loop-in other community groups that would also be supportive—especially of the children,” Ulrich noted. “Our hearts break for those children sleeping in our shelter system tonight. No one is against those children, or their parents, or other people who have fallen on hard times.”
Ulrich went on to say that something needs to change, because the current approach obviously is not working.
“We can’t just keep warehousing [the homeless] in hotels and motels and not let anyone [in the community] know about it. That’s a problem,” he said. “That’s a real problem.”
State Sen. Joe Addabbo, Jr. (D-Howard Beach), who also has consistently blasted de Blasio over the past few weeks, has said the five boroughs can’t thrive like this.
“I join others who believe that the current policy of dictating that people should live in rooms without kitchens for years, under prison-like conditions with guards, curfews and metal detectors, rather than placing them in more appropriate long-term housing, is a failed policy,” Addabbo said.
Chants also emerged from the steps on Friday, encouraging anybody within earshot of City Hall to “Dump the Dope from Park Slope!”
“People are here for a reason,” Ulrich said. “They’re here because their administration has failed them. Yes, the buck stops with the mayor – but what we want to come out of this press conference is a better plan.”
