Andrew Cuomo is pledging if elected mayor to cease a shelter growth in southern Brooklyn that has drawn intense pushback from native residents, together with the neighborhood’s Council member, who not too long ago endorsed Cuomo’s bid for Metropolis Corridor.
The shelter, deliberate on the nook of 86th Avenue and twenty fifth Avenue in Bensonhurst, would offer beds, psychological well being counseling and substance abuse remedy for 150 homeless New Yorkers. The event was proposed by Mayor Adams’ administration in 2023 and would develop into the primary homeless shelter of any sort in Bensonhurst.
Councilwoman Susan Zhuang, a conservative Democrat who represents the realm, has spearheaded an aggressive marketing campaign opposing the shelter that culminated final summer time when she was arrested for allegedly biting an NYPD chief within the arm throughout a raucous protest on the web site of the event.
Jeff Bachner/New York Day by day Information
Councilwoman Susan Zhuang is seen on the 62nd Precinct in July 2024 after being arrested throughout a protest on the proposed shelter web site. (Jeff Bachner/New York Day by day Information)
On Monday, Cuomo marketing campaign spokesman Wealthy Azzopardi confirmed the ex-governor would certainly as mayor halt the shelter growth, saying “the community’s feedback has been outright ignored and misunderstood” by Adams’ administration.
“Of course we need to get homeless New Yorkers the help and the resources they need, but we must look at the full picture when we determine where to place shelters and we believe that next to a school and a senior center is not the right place,” Azzopardi stated.
Spokespeople for Adams and his Division of Homeless Providers, which oversees the shelter development, didn’t instantly return requests for remark.
Requested about campaigning for Cuomo, Zhuang stated in a textual content message the 86th St. shelter plan is “just one issue that disproportionately impacts our community.”
“And Andrew Cuomo has proven time and again that he is the leader who is going to fight for AAPI New Yorkers across the city,” she added, utilizing an acronym for the Asian-American and Pacific Islander neighborhood.
Homelessness is at an all-time excessive within the metropolis, and Adams’ administration has argued extra shelters and reasonably priced housing have to be constructed to fight the disaster.
Cuomo, who’s polling as the favourite to win the June 24 Democratic mayoral major, additionally says extra housing development is required, however has staked out some coverage positions that critics say would exacerbate the town’s crises of surging rents and homelessness.
Getty
Cuomo is polling as the favourite to win the June 24 Democratic mayoral major. (Getty)
Along with opposing the Bensonhurst shelter, Cuomo rolled out a housing plan final month that stated he would as mayor object to most zoning adjustments that may permit for the development of taller buildings with extra flats in “low-density” neighborhoods within the outer-boroughs.
That place units him aside from most of the different 2025 candidates for mayor, together with Adams, who say producing extra housing throughout all neighborhoods of the town is a should.
Curtis Sliwa, the Republican mayoral nominee who might face off in opposition to Cuomo in November’s normal mayoral election, has additionally been a outstanding opponent of the Bensonhurst shelter and lauded the ex-governor for becoming a member of him in talking out in opposition to it.
The “City of Yes” is the rezoning plan Mayor Adams and the Metropolis Council adopted final yr to spur housing manufacturing throughout all 5 boroughs.
