Civic leader says Council Speaker helped drive homeless out of his district and into Lucerne Hotel
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The Lucerne Hotel on West 79th Street. Photo via Google Maps
By David Brand
A Hell’s Kitchen civic leader credits Council Speaker Corey Johnson and his staff for using their influence to push homeless New Yorkers out of a local hotel and into the Upper West Side, kicking off their cruel journey through Manhattan.
About half of the homeless men scorned by Upper West Siders and jettisoned from their temporary lodging at the Lucerne Hotel on 79th Street Tuesday were first relocated from the Washington Jefferson hotel on West 51st Street in July.
They might have remained at the Washington Jefferson if Johnson and his staff had not intervened, according to Hell's Kitchen 50-51st Street Block Association Chair Steve Belida. Johnson’s office denies that the Speaker and his staff played any role in the decision to move the men out of his district.
In a memo to civic association members, Belida praised Johnson, his chief of staff Erik Bottcher and his Manhattan Community Board 4 liaison Carl Wilson for their assistance in getting the men out of the Washington Jefferson Hotel on West 51st Street.
“We reached out to Speaker Corey Johnson and he quickly responded,” wrote Belida, an oft-quoted critic of quality of life issues in his neighborhood. “It was agreed that the facility was not adequate for the needs of those there.”
“It was with the great help of Erik Bottcher that we were able to show a need for this shelter to be relocated,” Belida continued. “Erik was always there assessing what was going on and helped greatly. We would also like to thank Carl Wilson."
Bottcher is running for Johnson’s term-limited council seat. Belida did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
Belida’s memo was screen-grabbed and shared on the “Upper West Siders for Safe Streets” Facebook group, the forum that fueled the backlash to the Lucerne and resulted in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision to move the men out.
“As you can read, the city took an active role in the transfer of these homeless men from the Washington Jefferson to the Lucerne,” member Megan Martin wrote in a post accompanying the memo in the private Facebook group.
The Speaker’s office denies that Johnson or his staff intervened or otherwise used their influence to get the men out of his district. They merely facilitated meetings between Manhattan Community Board 4 and DHS and did not take a stance on the adequacy of the site, officials said.
CB4 already hosts more than 2,000 people who are experiencing homelessness and housed in commercial hotels. Two other homeless shelters are also located in the same area as the Washington Jefferson.
“New York City was in the midst of a homelessness crisis when the pandemic hit, and COVID-19 made matters even worse,” said Johnson’s spokesperson Jennifer Fermino. “As a temporary solution, moving people into hotels was done as a life-saving measure because of this unprecedented pandemic, and the Speaker strongly supports this mission.”
“That has meant well over 2,000 individuals experiencing homelessness have been temporarily moved to his district over the course of just several months,” she continued. “He has worked with the community to address challenges these moves have brought head on, while recognizing the humanity of all involved and the importance of this program.”
During the peak of the pandemic, the Department of Homeless Services began moving people from barracks-style congregate shelters — where adults may sleep a dozen or more to a room — and into two-bed hotel rooms to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Facebook screenshot shared with the Eagle
DHS maintains that the service provider at the Washington Jefferson, Project Renewal, wanted to consolidate clients at a single, larger site to more efficiently serve them. They chose the Lucerne.
Councilmember Helen Rosenthal, who represents the Upper West Side, said she has received the same information from the city.
“I’m taking them at their word,” Rosenthal said.
Regardless of the motivation, the decision to move the men from the Washington Jefferson to the Lucerne has repeatedly disrupted life for hundreds of New York City’s most vulnerable residents.
“My experience during the pandemic has been marked by instability,” wrote former Lucerne and Washington Jefferson resident Larry Thomas in an op-ed for the Daily News.
“The community treats us like we are criminals, and the city has given in to their demands to move us out.”
Upper West Siders played up accounts of alleged Lucerne residents using drugs, masturbating and menacing community members near the hotel. As the stories generated daily tabloid coverage, Upper West Siders hired attorney Randy Mastro, a former deputy mayor, to sue the city.
On Tuesday, de Blasio caved and chose to move the men — a decision homeless advocates and some elected officials say sets the precedent that wealthy Manhattanites will get their way if they complain loudly enough.
Within two days, the move was already rippling through the shelter system.
The city will uproot 150 families from an East 31st Street shelter for people with disabilities to make room for the Lucerne residents, the Daily News first reported.
Homeless rights advocates have assailed the reactionary decision-making.
“Mayor Bill de Blasio’s pathetic and shortsighted surrender to Upper West Side NIMBYism has unsurprisingly disrupted the lives of other vulnerable New Yorkers at various shelters around New York City, all in the midst of a public health crisis," said Judith Goldiner, the top attorney in Legal Aid’s Civil Law Unit.
VOCAL-NY spokesperson Paulette Soltani said city leaders should support New Yorkers experiencing homelessness, rather than jerk them around in response to political pressure.
“Every elected official should be standing on the side of compassion and care for the most vulnerable people in our city,” she said. “And every New Yorker should be working to ensure homeless New Yorkers finally have a pathway to permanent housing.”
