This just arrived in my inbox from Al Vann’s office (Council Member, 36th District)
“Like many constituents of my district, I am troubled by the fact that neither Community Board 3 nor myself were notified of a newly opened supportive housing site located at 332 Malcolm X Boulevard. Neighborhood organizations like the Malcolm X Merchants Association and the Bainbridge Street/Malcolm X Block Association have a right to be concerned.
Central Brooklyn – my district in particular – is being oversaturated with social service supportive housing sites. I call on the administration to set clear rules regarding notification when social service buildings are sited in any district. Central Brooklyn should not be bearing the burden of housing all of these facilities throughout the city. Every district and every neighborhood should bear some of this responsibility.”
Council Member Vann introduced a resolution in October that would establish a system for rotating the placement of transitional housing among all of the city’s neighborhoods in order to reduce the burdens on communities already oversaturated with these services.
Central Brooklyn, the Bronx and parts of Manhattan are over-saturated with homeless shelters, halfway houses and other social service facilities while other communities have few, if any.”
I agree with Al Vann on this one, but I wonder what the next steps will be. How do you remove this sort of facility from your neighborhood? How is it that this sort of place surreptitiously sets up and begins admitting individuals without giving Bed-Stuy residents a voice?
Previous post regarding the facility at 332 Malcolm X Boulevard:
Illegal Shelter Pops Up On Malcolm X?
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I am glad to note that Mr. Vann is responding to this issue. Bed Stuy is not a ‘dumping ground’ for everything that other neighborhoods in Brooklyn decline to host or endure. We are really over saturated with these social service supportive housing sites.
Bed Stuy is home to many caring families, children of all ages and senior citizens. We need to protect our community from this horrendous sites that are detrimental to our quality of living.
Al VANN did nothing to help resolve this situation. That statement his office released is a joke. “I call on the administration to set clear rules”…. How about your administration take some real action???
The people of Bed-Stuy and Community Board 3 took matters into their own hands and got things done. Once again Vann’s administration have let us down and shown how out of touch they are with the community. Time for a fresh change in Bed-Stuy.
REALITY, you need to get a grip. How do you know what Al Vann has been doing about this situation? It’s clear you don’t understand how city government works. You should really get informed before you start coming out of the side of your face. As a legislator, Vann doesn’t have an administration but an office. Since you know how to use the internet, I’m sure you can find out what the difference is. How is Vann out of touch with the community. If you didn’t realize, he was re-elected with a majority, so maybe it’s you who is out of touch.