Marte and CB1 Notify City Hall of Opposition to Pearl Street Shelter Plan, While Community Mobilizes
City Council member Christopher Marte is pushing the administration of Mayor Eric Adams to pause and rethink plans for a safe haven shelter at 320 Pearl Street, next to the Peck Slip School. In a July 30 letter to City Hall, Mr. Marte wrote, “Given this site’s proximity to an elementary school, as well as the nonexistent engagement with elected officials, the community board, community members and local stakeholders, I strongly urge you to pause and relocate this project until a serious conversation about the future of this site can be held.”
“This absolute lack of notice and engagement with the community is completely unacceptable, and has destroyed whatever trust the administration and the Department of Social Services could have had with the thousands of residents in the neighborhood,” Mr. Marte continued, before enumerating a litany of questions about the proposed shelter, which is slated to open before the end of the year. Among these concerns are whether there will be a medical van parked outside the shelter (as is common with many safe haven facilities), and if so whether it would block an M15 bus stop on Pearl Street, or take over the school’s “play street” on Peck Slip. Also at issue is a smoking area planned for the front door of the shelter (alongside an entrance to the school used by small children), and whether residents with substance abuse problems are likely to use drugs in public spaces adjacent to the school.
“The fact that this shelter is expected to open shortly and none of these questions have been addressed is exactly why this project is so inexcusable,” Mr. Marte continued. “This project must be paused and relocated until the community can be engaged in a good faith manner to productively discuss this site and its use.” He added, “I absolutely welcome safe havens in my district to help those most in need” and proposed “exploring alternative uses for this site, such as a shelter for families with children who could take advantage of the many resources for families in the community, most importantly the open seats in our local schools.”
Separately, Community Board 1 (CB1) chair Tammy Meltzer wrote to Molly Park, commissioner of the City’s Department of Social Services (DSS), which oversees homeless shelters, on July 10, noting that the Board enacted in June a resolution demanding the Adams administration delay the planned opening of the shelter, change its target population from single adults to families with children, and engage in meaningful consultation with all stakeholders before presenting the community with a fait accompli. In particular, Ms. Meltzer noted CB1’s call “to change the type of use to a family shelter, which this community has demonstrated it has the resources to support.”
In parallel developments, a grassroots community organization calling itself PeckSlip Advocates for School Safety has organized around this issue. In an online petition, the group has collected more than 2,400 signatures protesting the decision to open a safe haven shelter on Pearl Street, and raised more than $15,000 for a fund intended to bankroll legal action against the plan.