Welcome Back! Success but more work ahead.

I hope everyone had a great summer! Over the past three months we have accomplished a great deal and everyone one of you should be proud! A few highlights include: • The 30th Street Shelter has moved out all sex offenders and is implementing a new program to turn it into a shelter for men who are employed or considered employable and seeking job training. • Increasing advocacy and awareness for mental health initiatives for the homeless to really get those impacted the help they need. • An outstanding job done by the men and women of the 17th and 13th precincts by increasing their presence in the area, working to remove vagrants nearby schools, day cares and residential buildings, and being very responsive to our needs. • DHS has implemented joint patrols of the area with the 13th Precinct • Extending security rounds to 10 p.m. at the 30th Street Shelter • Working with local elected officials to get funding for additional lighting to be placed in the neighborhood and installing lighting packs directly on the shelter building • Working with the district attorney to have 350 East 30th Street put into the D.A.’s "Trespassing Affidavit Program," which permits police to conduct vertical patrols • Advocating for neighborhood pay phones to be removed Where more attention is needed however is with the Mainchance Intake Facility on 120 East 32nd between Lex and Park. Mainchance has repeatedly declined to have a group meeting with members of the community in which it is located to directly hear our concerns. They prefer the buffer of our elected and appointed representatives to hear our issues. So be it. We need each of you to email/call/mail our representatives and make our voices heard about Mainchance and their lack of respect for our community which endangers us all and lowers the quality of life in the area. Below is a template of a letter you can use and I will also send out a link to it later, if that is easier. Thank you in advance for your continued support and focus on our neighborhood! Mauro Pennacchia ******************************************************************* Instructions: Step 1: Please read note below Step 2: At bottom of note type your name & address Step 3: Open a blank email Step 4: Copy entire note below and past into the body of your email Step 5: Add Subject: Mainchance Drop-In Center Step 6: Copy ALL addresses below at one time, and paste ALL into the “To” line of your email wally@cb5.org; office@cb5.org; kim@cb5.org; Chirag@cb5.org; dan.miner@cbsix.org; office@cbsix.org; office@cbsix.org; aliya.quraishi@gmail.com; mviverito@council.nyc.gov; bdeblasio@cityhall.nyc.gov; pressoffice@cityhall.nyc.gov; bkallos@benkallos.com; jtowsen@benkallos.com; tdigby@benkallos.com; rmendez@council.nyc.gov; vdiaz@council.nyc.gov; mviggiano@council.nyc.gov; srodriguez2@council.nyc.gov; aolavarria@council.nyc.gov; garodnick@council.nyc.gov; howie.l.levine@gmail.com; gmichel@council.nyc.gov; aamit@council.nyc.gov; lbland@council.nyc.gov; wbrightbill@council.nyc.gov; egustafson@council.nyc.gov; lreiss@council.nyc.gov; JPerez@manhattanbp.nyc.gov; gbrewer@manhattanbp.nyc.gov; jmates@manhattanbp.nyc.gov; MendozaI@dany.nyc.gov; mcarrion@cityhall.nyc.gov; kperez@cityhall.nyc.gov; carolyn.maloney@mail.house.gov; shelby.garner@mail.house.gov; Minna.Elias@mail.house.gov; brad@bradhoylman.com; laura@bradhoylman.com; rebecca@bradhoylman.com; lkrueger@senate.state.ny.us; sarahdiaz10@gmail.com; shalestern@gmail.com; kavanaghb@assembly.state.ny.us; pycior.ad74@gmail.com; hendrickson.ad74@gmail.com; quartd@assembly.state.ny.us; wallwina@assembly.state.ny.us; nariner@assembly.state.ny.us; GottfriedR@assembly.state.ny.us; pasterw@assembly.state.ny.us; peyreb@assembly.state.ny.us; gov.cuomo@chamber.state.ny.us Step 7: Send email Dear Representative, I am writing you because the leadership of the Mainchance drop-in center at 120 East 32nd St. has repeatedly declined to have a group meeting with members of the community in which it is located to directly hear our concerns. They prefer the buffer of our elected and appointed representatives to hear our issues. So be it. I am relying on you to make our concerns known and get them acted upon. Due to the deteriorating quality of life in Kips Bay, Murray Hill and other midtown east neighborhoods, a petition was created in early 2015 and sent to Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio, informing them of the intolerable behaviors of some of the homeless population in public including being under the influence of and using alcohol and drugs, urinating, defecating, masturbating, aggressive panhandling and the like. Over 2000 people so far have signed the petition. As a result of our effort, we have had increased responsiveness from the 17th and 13th precincts. We also look forward to the impact of the Mayor's recently announced NYPD homeless outreach program. The DHS's assistant commissioner of homeless services, Aqueelah Winston, who is responsible for the men's shelter at 30th St. and 1st Avenue, has conducted an analysis of the population at the center (at 850 beds the city's largest) and concluded that it has a very high rate of "unemployable" clients, i.e., drug and alcohol addicts, the mentally ill, and the undocumented. She agrees this clientele does not belong in our densely residential community and has committed to move that clientele to facilities in a more appropriate area, e.g., Wards Island, by the end of the year. The men's shelter would thereafter house employed and employable clients supported by appropriate programs. We applaud this response and are eager for it to take effect. The one holdout in efforts to improve the issues facing our community is Mainchance. We have respectfully requested that Mainchance improve their screening process. Presently, an individual need only provide ID to get into the drop-in center. We requested that clients of the center be screened for drug and alcohol abuse and mental illness and be referred to facilities where they can be treated. We requested that screening include open arrest warrants and referral of those clients to NYPD. We requested screening for sex offenders whom we believe should not be served by Mainchance which is within steps of a high school, grammar school, and the Stern College for Women Yeshiva University. Mainchance refuses. Their leadership argues they are like any other soup kitchen. Our position is that since they are funded by DHS, hence our tax dollar, they should be held to a higher standard. Speaking of our tax dollars, we are curious why Mainchance is paying a rent significantly above the going rate for the neighborhood (http://therealdeal.com/blog/2011/06/03/pressure-mounts-for-midtown-owner-alrose-group/) Additionally, they are paying rent to a landlord who is continuously on the New York State Department of Taxation list as one of the top 250 tax delinquents (see page 4 of at link below). http://www.tax.ny.gov/enforcement/delinquent_taxpayers_individuals.pdf Might our tax dollar go further to serving the homeless by moving Mainchance, whose lease is up in August of 2016, to a less expensive venue in a not so densely residential area, using the savings to provide more programs? This is not a case of Not in My Backyard NIMBY. The community has hosted the men's shelter since the mid-1980s and Mainchance has been her for a decade. But the change in the quality of life in our neighborhood is palpable and everyone, including Mainchance, needs to be part of the solution or they become part of the problem. As my representative, I count on you to voice our concerns and negotiate some responsiveness from Mainchance. I am counting on you. I vote and I will take note of your efforts on our behalf. Very truly yours, First Name & Last Name Street Address Apt# New York, NY 100