City says Mott Haven migrant shelter is a 'done deal'
Tensions were high inside the Lincoln Hospital auditorium Monday night after the mayor's office unveiled its plan to open a temporary migrant shelter for single men along Bruckner Boulevard in Mott Haven.
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Tensions were high inside the Lincoln Hospital auditorium Monday night after the mayor's office unveiled its plan to open a temporary migrant shelter for single men along Bruckner Boulevard in Mott Haven.
The shelter will have the capacity to house 2,200 single men 18 years and older, according to the Mayor's Office of Asylum Seeker Operations.
"The city has used the South Bronx repeatedly as a dumping ground for industrial problems, and now they are treating human beings as discarded waste and it's not fair to the community," said Martin Rogers, who lives in Melrose.
The meeting was requested by Bronx Community Board 1 who says they and their neighbors were left in the dark on the plan.
"There was an opportunity before the shelter was identified to have this conversation, this is the conversation to say we don't want this here," said Clarisa Alayeto, chair of Community Board 1.
The new shelter follows the closure of roughly 20 across the city. The mayor's office credits the decline in the migrant population for the closures. So, the community asked, why is a new one needed?
"We need to temporarily open this site so we can close other sites and then close this site as soon as we can," said Molly Schaeffer, of the Office of Asylum Seeker Operations.
Shaefer says the Bronx is home to only 6% of the migrant shelters citywide, while the community board says they are also home to one of the largest numbers of regular shelters that was not reflected in the city's data.
"This is one of the most hardworking communities in the world, it's just another example of screwy policies," said Rogers.
The site will be managed by Garner Environmental Services. The city says there will be 24/7 security and metal detectors. The mayor's office did acknowledge that the plan was not properly presented to the community.
The mayor's office could not confirm an exact move in date but estimated people to move in by the end of February.
