Dear Mr. Mayor and Commissioner Taylor, The entire district 2 community, Kips Bay, Turtle Bay, Gramercy Park, Murray Hill, etc. appreciate your response to our petition. We promise you that we will stay vigilant. We look forward to seeing the actions you documented take effect, yelding positive results in our neighborhood. Specifically to summarize your response, we expect that: 1. No sex offenders will be housed at the 30th Street Shelter. “We are no longer housing residents with sex offenders status at this location.” 2. DHS will perform joint assessments with the NYPD within the affected areas covered by the 13th and 17th precincts. 3. DHS will increase joint patrolling with the 13th Precinct in that area, and continue discussions with the NYPD, the City’s Department of Probation, the City’s Department of Corrections, and the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, regarding security and service needs at the 30th St. Shelter. 4. The newly created Community Advisory Board for the Mainchance Drop-in Center will be active and target homeless hotspots around East 32nd St., with your street outreach team to engage homeless New Yorkers found on the streets, and offer them appropriate services. We agree that the 30th Street Shelter has resided in the Kips Bay Community for over 30 years, but we disagree that it has not been without major incident. There have been sporadic criminal incidents throughout this time involving shelter residents. Recently the community has noticed a substantial increase in criminal conduct in our community. We have documented many incidents of mugging, public lewdness and aggravated harassment over the past 6 weeks. The Kips Bay community has reached its tipping point. The community is committed to living in a safe neighborhood. We seek to protect our children, our families and our quality of life in the face of what has been an increasingly threatening and menacing presence of men from the 30th Street shelter harassing our residents. Just since the date of your response on June 5th we have reported and documented many instances: 1. Public masturbation 30th and 3rd (June 7th, 5:30pm; no response despite two calls to 911) 2. Public defecation and urination – various dates and times, but plentiful. 3. Assault on a minor 1 block from the 13th precinct (June 9th, 7:50am; police called and responded) 4. Assault on a woman on 31st between 2nd and 3rd (June 8th, 9:30pm; police called and responded) 5. Harassment at St. Vartan’s park of children (June 7th, 11:46am; police called and responded) 6. Homeless encampment NW Corner of 31st and 3rd (June 6th, 5:55pm) 7. Robbery suspect caught and declared home as 30th and 1st (http://nypost.com/…/career-criminal-nabbed-by-cops-in-stri…/) In addition to this, we find it very surprising that the 30th Street Men's Shelter has FOUR NO LOITERING SIGNS posted on the gates of the shelter between 29th and 30th Streets and First Avenue. For DHS to put up this signs is basically stating that you do not care where these men go, as long as it's not on your property. Instead, they are now on all of our blocks. With all due respect, this community is fed up with having to deal with these issues. It has become an assault not just on the quality of life for the people who live here, and the people who commute in to work here; but also, on the very people you are seeking to protect in the shelter: displaced, poor, victimized, helpless men, women and children who need a true “shelter” – a clean, safe place to live temporarily while getting the help they need to re-enter the workforce. We are tired of the barrage of harassment, threats, assaults (verbal and physical), and a slew of public lewdness and defecation. This has turned our community upside down and caused a general sense of anxiety and disappointment in how these shelters are operating. It is time for a change in how the City utilizes the 30th Street Men’s shelter and time to move the Mainchance Facility away from our public school on 32nd and 3rd. In addition to what we have already documented and requested in our petition (which now has over 1300 signatures), and to the steps you have promised above, the Mayor, Council, DHS should consider: 1. Reducing the bed size of the 30th street men’s shelter to 250 beds, in line with other shelters. 2. Moving the “intake responsibility” from the 30th Street Shelter to an industrial area of the city away from children, schools and residents. 3. Patrolling the community with police officers on the streets, to deter homeless encampments and all the behaviors listed above. Traditional "beat cops" would serve this community very well. 4. Removing the phone booths from 1st, 2nd and 3rd Avenues. Nothing respectable happens in these booths any longer. They are not used to make calls. They are now spots for drug deals, masturbation, defecation and loitering. 5. Move the Mainchance Facility away from our public school on 32nd and 3rd. Our community stands firm in our resolve to see this through. We support our children, our families, our friends, our police officers, and representatives who see this is no longer tolerable. We will keep shedding light on these issues through any means we can. We will continue to get more and more members of the community involved. We have taken the advice of our elected officials and Police Captains by utilizing 311 to report such issues and we will continue to do so as well as call 911 when needed. The monthly summary below shows how we, as a community, remain vigilant and dedicated to keeping our neighborhood safe: CALLS TO 311 IN DISTRICT 2/CB6: JAN - 1157 FEB - 1117 MAR - 1474 APR - 1553 MAY - 1447 JUN - 443 through June 9th, 2015 Lastly, we support the need for a homeless shelter – one that is clean, secure and small enough to actually house and take care of its residents. That is not happening now. We have spoken to panhandlers who are AFRAID to stay at the 30th Street Men’s Shelter. This is your opportunity to improve things for the homeless and for a community that cares. Thank you.