2nd Petition to sign - 'Fair Share' of Homeless Shelters in NoMad, Murray Hill, Midtown

As voters, taxpayers, parents and residents of the Nomad, Murray Hill and Midtown area, we are writing because we are gravely concerned about the type and sheer number of homeless shelters being constructed in our neighborhood with no community input. We feel that our communities have been unfairly over-burdened with homeless facilities and any additional expansion would negatively impact the quality of life in the area for community residents and for shelter residents alike. It is time for the Mayor’s Office and DHS to look at the disproportionate share of intake centers in our neighborhoods in accordance with the ‘fair share’ provision of the City Charter. The unwillingness of DHS to listen to community concerns has become so disturbing it had prompted headlines like these: http://chelseanow.com/2016/09/dhs-ducks-capacity-crowd-as-cb5-cuts-shelter-info-session-short/ Currently, the large majority of homeless shelters in Manhattan exist below 34th Street and above 14th Street. More specifically, there are now 9 homeless facilities just between 30th Street and 24th Street in Manhattan and they include +2000 beds. o The facilities now include: --The Latham Hotel, 4 East 28th Street -- 228-room SRO housing women and children --The Prince George, 14 East 28th Street -- 416-units, formerly a welfare hotel, now managed by Breaking Ground as low-income, transitional housing --Bowery Residents Committee, 127 West 25th Street -- 328-bed men’s shelter, and the site of repeated police action --La Semana Hotel, 25 West 24th Street – proposed 48-bed shelter --Clarion Hotel, 429 Park Avenue South (between 29th and 30th Streets) -- 60-room SRO. --Mave Hotel, 62 Madison Avenue at 27th Street– 72 room boutique hotel proposed for homeless housing --Mainchance Drop-In Shelter – 120 East 32nd Street --Bellevue Men’s Shelter – 400 East 30th Street 850 bed facility for intake of --Antonio Oliveri Center - 257 West 30th Street Drop in center Emergency intake shelters and drop-in shelters pose a real threat to the neighborhoods they are in. The screening process for admission to these shelters in at best 'unclear'. The community is gravely concerned about the lack of screening for sex offenders, convicted violent felons and anyone with outstanding warrants. It is the same screening process that allowed previously convicted serial sex offender Rodney Stover to be a resident of the Bellevue Men's Shelter, in the same community. Rodney Stover was just convicted of raping a young woman after following her into the bathroom on a bar in the very neighborhood just 2 months after being released from prison. Also the same screening process that allowed Todd Deas, a felon with 19 previous arrests, including rape and sexual abuse, to reside in the Porter St. men’s Shelter when he raped a 27-year old woman on her way home from Synagogue on October 18th 2016.