By The TimesLedger
For more than two decades, the city Department of Correction has been dumping former inmates released from Rikers Island on the streets near Queens Plaza. Each morning the buses arrive with men and women who have completed their sentence. The location was chosen because of its proximity to the Rikers Island Bridge and because it is a hub for subway and bus transportation. Each former inmate is given a two-fare Metrocard.
Although there is no indication that the releasees do anything worse than stealing an occasional newspaper, people who live and work in the area have long opposed the practice. Their concern is understandable. Offenders are sent to jail at Rikers when their sentence is one year or less. Their crimes are relatively minor.
But these are potentially dangerous people – just ask any of the correction officers who work at Rikers. To ask any community to be a dropping off point for these criminals is unfair. There has to be a better way.
Each day DOC sends out dozens of buses loaded with inmates heading for court in each of the boroughs. Would it not be possible to include the day's releasees on the DOC bus to their borough of choice? Each courthouse is also located near a transportation hub. Such a plan might even save money at DOC by eliminating the need for the 5 a.m. run.
It is critical that any plan be cost efficient. It is also important that the public understands that the men and women on the DOC bus have done their time and deserve the opportunity to rebuild their lives.
Still, there must be a better way.
Editorial: If not here, where?
The Salvation Army is seeking approval to open a drop-in center for the homeless in an area zoned for manufacturing in Long Island City. Not surprisingly, Community Board 2, which must give its approval under the complex ULURP process, is not pleased.
The board notes that the city has big plans for this neighborhood. The proposed location for the facility at 10-34 44th Drive is part of an area slated for economic redevelopment.
The board has a point. A drop-in center for the homeless is not going to jumpstart the revitalization. The homeless often suffer from mental illness and drug or alcohol addiction. The problem is that there is not one community board in Queens that is ready to welcome a new homeless shelter or any public facility. Nobody wants an AIDS hospice, a halfway house, a group home for delinquents or a methadone clinic in their neighborhood, even if it's a manufacturing district.
But the reality is that there are thousands of residents in each borough in desperate need of help. They are our children, our parents, our aunts and uncles and our brothers and our sisters. It is not sufficient to say that the community will not welcome a facility because it does not fit in with the plans for development.
The ULURP process provides political cover for the NIMBYS of New York. On most boards one vocal member on the land use committee is often persuasive enough to block even the most well-intentioned project. Something has to give. Community boards must escape from that cult of victimization that allows every board to imagine that is oppressed by organizations trying to provide public service.
On the other hand, service providers must understand that they have a moral obligation to be good neighbors. As we see it, in terms of service providers, one could not ask for a more considerate organization than the Salvation Army. Not only are they good neighbors, they have provided enormous service to this city. They deserve to be welcomed in any neighborhood.
