Metropolis officers are prepping an outdated South Bronx storage facility for as much as 2,200 migrant males from the troubled Randall’s Island tent metropolis — all whereas crowing that the asylum-seeker disaster is waning.
And it’s simply across the nook from “The Hub” — one of many Large Apple’s most drug-addled strips.
“Wrong move!” neighborhood resident Serene Bilal informed The Publish. “You must work with the folks already right here. We now have points happening. Why the Bronx? Why choose on the Bronx?
“It’s going to be dangerous,” the 21-year-old videographer mentioned. “We don’t know who these people are. We are not talking about 10 people. We’re talking about thousands. That’s a lot.”
The plans — which obtained closing approval final month, data present — name for the shelter to open subsequent month at 825 E. 141st St. to accommodate migrant males who had been on the troubled tent metropolis at Randall’s Island.
The town pays between $250,000-$340,000 to retrofit the constructing after approving an emergency contract that didn’t undergo the usual bidding course of, data present.
The town was pressured to scramble to search out area for migrants flooding into town since 2022, changing outdated faculties and church buildings into shelters and erecting tent cities at Randall’s Island and at Floyd Bennett Discipline in Brooklyn — which was shut down by town over the weekend.
Phrase of the plan comes after Metropolis Corridor mentioned the inflow of migrants within the 5 boroughs has slowed considerably because the variety of asylum seekers in metropolis shelters tapers off.
Metropolis officers introduced in October that the huge Randall’s Island encampment — which sources mentioned has turn out to be a breeding floor for the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua — might be closed, and made an analogous announcement about dismantling one other tent metropolis at Floyd Bennett Discipline in Brooklyn.
Displaced migrants, officers mentioned, can be moved to different shelters.
They uncared for to say the brand new Bronx facility, which got here as a shock to space retailers and residents, who mentioned crime is already a priority within the neighborhood with out an inflow of migrants.
Issues within the space embrace The Hub, a business stretch of the borough uncovered by The Publish the place junkies shoot up within the open and sellers peddle their wares with out concern of retribution.
“Instead of dismantling open-air drug markets in the Hub, the city is treating the South Bronx as a dumping ground for the endless stream of shelters,” mentioned Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY).
“The Bronx is treated differently than the rest of the city,” Torres mentioned. “We are treated as the second-class borough of New York City.”
In accordance with metropolis stats, almost 230,000 migrants have been housed in taxpayer-funded metropolis shelters for the reason that flood of migrants started in 2022, and there are actually simply over 50,000 nonetheless within the system.
For Bronx locals, the migrant shelter plan for his or her block doesn’t really feel like something’s waning.
“I did not have the faintest idea,” the supervisor at an area retailer informed The Publish. “We’re involved. We now have issues simply basically as a result of there are folks lingering within the streets and there have been stories of thefts. It’s going to worsen.
“I think they are discarding them in the shadows at the edge of the Bronx where they think people won’t get affected,” mentioned the person, who requested to not be recognized. “I’m concerned for the safety of our female workers. I might have to change around some shifts.”
One lady who works an early morning shift within the neighborhood cited the current lethal arson assault on a sleeping New Jersey lady on a Brooklyn subway prepare — allegedly by an unlawful immigrant.
“That right there scares me,” she mentioned. “You’ll see a bunch of individuals hanging out, consuming and doing you realize what and it’s a must to stroll by them to go to the prepare. We work in a dead-end space and there are not any police round right here.
“It’s going to create more problems,” she added. “I think it’s going to get more violent.”
A neighborhood upkeep employee mentioned the world is already dangerous with no new migrant shelter in it.
“It’s a dead end,” he mentioned. “People don’t come outside, they stay inside. They are afraid. They rob you down here. You don’t see anyone walking around here at night.”
In an electronic mail Tuesday, a rep for Metropolis Corridor mentioned the shelter was “a temporary move” as officers proceed to scale back the variety of websites used to accommodate migrants.
“Thanks to our strong management of this unprecedented humanitarian crisis, New York City has seen over six straight months of population decline in our emergency shelter system, allowing us to close 46 migrant shelters in the span of a year,” the rep mentioned.
That, they mentioned, will save taxpayers $2.8 billion.
The town had 263 shelters up and working on the peak of the migrant disaster and is now working 190.
