Almost 300 homeless men are being relocated from a hotel in an upscale liberal New York City neighborhood following outcry from residents.
The city temporarily moved the men into the hotel, the Lucerne, in Manhattan’s Upper West Side in July as part of an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus in local homeless shelters, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
- The Times report described the Upper West Side as “a largely white neighborhood with a reputation as one of the most liberal enclaves in New York and elsewhere in the country.”
The backlash: But Upper West Side residents complained that the homeless men intimidated them on the streets, and urinated, defecated and used and sold drugs in the open.
- Some formed a nonprofit, the West Side Community Organization, and hired a lawyer who threatened to sue the city.
The lawyer, Randy Mastro, a former deputy mayor under Rudolph Giuliani, told the Times the pending removal of the men was “a testament to community organizing.”
- “Families, seniors, small business owners, longtime residents and newcomers united,” he said. “They were shocked and horrified to see what was happening in broad daylight in their neighborhood, and they wanted to do something about it.”
- Mastro said he had asked Democratic Mayor Bill De Blasio and other city officials to relocate the homeless men.
The city’s Department of Social Services declined to comment on whether the pressure campaign prompted the move, which will begin as early as this week.
- During the pandemic, some 9,500 homeless men and women were temporarily relocated to hotels across the city, provoking scattered complaints, according to the Times.
“A sad day”: Other Upper West Side residents and New York City activists opposed pushing for the homeless men to go, with some calling the backlash by their neighbors racist, the Times reported.
- “It’s a sad day when the mere threat of a lawsuit can get City Hall to reverse a decision it made,” said Helen Rosenthal, the Democratic council member who represents the community.
- “What message does this send that groups who can afford to hire high-powered lawyers are the ones who will get their way?”
Liberal NIMBYs?: The homeless men’s expulsion comes as liberals have widely denounced as racist President Donald Trump’s warnings that Democratic nominee Joe Biden would “destroy” the suburbs as president, including with his housing policies.
- Both De Blasio and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a fellow Democrat, have repeatedly feuded with Trump and suggested he is racist.
- Cuomo last week responded to Trump’s move to defund New York City by saying the president “better have an army” to protect him if he comes to visit hometown.
- About 79 percent of New York City voters in 2016 went for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, over Trump, including 86 percent of Manhattanites.
