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February 5, 2010
City to Bronx Community About a Homeless Shelter: ‘Not in Your Backyard’
The New York Times
by Sam Dolnick
When New York City shuts down a 10-bed shelter in the Bronx because of bureaucratic bullheadedness, it's big news to The Times. When that same city kicks out dozens of families and shuts down a shelter in Brooklyn on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday so The Times's development partner can knock it down and build a parking lot... well, that's not news that's fit to print, apparently.
In the perpetual battle against homelessness in New York, the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center in the Bronx was only a bit player, with about 10 beds in its gym. But offering space for even a handful of destitute people meant something to those who benefited from a warm, safe place to sleep, as well as to those who helped provide it.
But this winter, when New York’s homeless population is above 37,000 and shelters are working to increase capacity, the gym now sits empty at night because city officials have ordered the program to close.
Posted by eric at February 5, 2010 6:09 PM