10/02/2020
Patrick Kennell, president of the Financial District Neighborhood Association (FDNA), said, “like many of our neighbors, the FDNA was surprised by the news—dropped late on a Friday night of a holiday weekend—of City Hall’s imminent plan to establish a permanent homeless shelter at the former Radisson Hotel on William Street in FiDi. According to news reports, the City’s plan would move a group of some 200-300 homeless men from the Upper West Side’s Lucerne Hotel to William Street in FiDi.”
“We share our neighbors’ deep concerns over the impacts this plan could have, not just for FiDi neighbors but for the Lucerne residents, too,” he continued. “Many of those concerns are legitimate reactions to a Mayoral administration providing absolutely no community notice or engagement on such an important step. We know our neighbors are compassionate and thoughtful people looking for verifiable information—not rumors, social media anecdotes and unspecific news reports.”
The FDNA is calling upon the de Blasio Administration to hold off on moving the homeless men in the Lucerne to the Radisson New York Wall Street until DHS has released a comprehensive written plan, including an analysis that outlines delivery of services, costs, and security.
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer urged Mayor de Blasio, “to reverse his decision to move the [homeless men] at the Lucerne to another hotel Downtown, the third or fourth such move for many of the residents. The relocation is being done on a very accelerated basis and with no planning process for the new site.”
View as Webpage Lower Manhattan’s Local News Gimme Shelter Online Meeting Tonight Will Preview City Plan to House Homeless in FiDi Hotel The Radisson New York Wall Street, at 52 William Street, is the site of a planned homeless shelter. Lower Manhattan residents and community leaders are scramblin...
