All quiet at Fresh Meadows shelter-hotel, councilman says

People experiencing homelessness after the release from city jails have been housed at the Wyndham Garden hotel in Fresh Meadows, but there have been no notable issues. Image via Google Maps

By David Brand

So far, so good at a Fresh Meadows hotel used by the city to house people released from Rikers Island jails, says Councilmember Barry Grodenchik.

Despite concerns from local residents, there have been no notable disturbances at the 186th Street site, Grodenchik said. Officials from the 107th Precinct have also informed him that there has not been an uptick in crime since the hotel began housing people leaving jails, he said.

“I’ve made about a dozen visits and there’s never anybody outside,” Grodenchik said. “I know there have been rallies there, but it’s been quiet.”

Indeed, the biggest disruption outside the Wyndham Garden hotel was an August protest that doubled as a Trump-themed campaign event for a Republican congressional candidate. 

“We’ve asked people, if there are issues, they should call my office. Call the other elected officials. But we really have not had those issues,” Grodenchik said.

The city has paid for rooms for about 100 formerly incarcerated New Yorkers at the Wyndham Garden since about May to prevent the spread of COVID-19 behind bars and in homeless shelters, officials said. The Office of Emergency Management and the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice are overseeing the program and the nonprofit Exodus Transitional Housing provides reentry services.