A homeless shelter shuttered days before the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday became a cause célèbre among elected officials and opponents of the Atlantic Yards project.
The Pacific Dean Shelter, 603 Dean Street, which housed about 80 families, was closed Jan. 15 to make room for the $4 billion-plus 22-acre project.
About 30 protestors from the neighborhood, along with City Council Member Letitia James, State Sen. Velmanette Montgomery and pop singer Crystal Waters, who sang her hit “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless),” protested last week in front of the shelter and down the street from it at Freddy’s Bar (which is also facing condemnation for the project).
James called on Governor Paterson to enact an emergency moratorium on eminent domain proceedings so that the shelter could at least remain open until the spring.
Montgomery said she will physically put herself on the line to prevent the shelter from closing.
“I will put myself on the ground in front of the bulldozers. I will do anything I can to stop this,” she said.
City Department of Homeless Services (DHS) spokesperson Heather Janik said 36 of the families were moved to permanent housing.
“The remaining families in need were transferred to alternate shelter facilities in the DHS system, where they will continue to be treated with dignity and respect as we work to move them quickly back to their own communities. Each family remains a priority to DHS,” said Janik.
Ironically, back in 2002, before the city and developer Bruce Ratner announced the Atlantic Yards project, members of the community protested the shelter coming into the neighborhood.
