| As Peck Slip
School Protests Shelter in
Former Hotel Next Door City
Pushes FOIL to Sept 10
by
Matthew R. Lee
LOWER
MANHATTAN,
July 12 – A controversy has
been developing near the South
Street Seaport, in which the
NYC Department of Social
Services is moving to open a
men's shelter next door to the
Pcck Slip school.
Inner City Press and its
Downtown News Service went to
investigate, and found what
was previously a Hampton Inn
hotel at 320 Pearl Street now
empty, with brown paper on its
windows.
It turns
about the David Schwart's
Slate Property Group, already
subject to protest by tenants
on the Upper West Side for
radically raising their rents
- threatening to make some
homeless - bought the Hampton
Inn in December 2023 for $24
million.
How is it more
lucrative to turn it into a
homeless shelter than run it
as a hotel? And why is the
City doing this plan, with a
developer being protests by
its existing
tenants?
A Freedom of
Information Law request has
been filed - and on July 12
the City pushed its time to
respond back to September 10:
"Dear Mr.
Lee, I
write in response to your
request below, emailed July 7,
2024,
seeking:
All NYC contracts for homeless
shelter at 320 Pearl
Street
… records regarding the
(proposed?) "Safe Haven"
homeless shelter at 320 Pearl
Street, which David Schwartz'
Slate Group reportedly bought
in December
2023.
[All records reflecting] …Was
there an RFP process?
[and]
How was the community,
including the Peck Slip school
next door,
consulted?
Please be
advised that before a further
response can be provided, the
agency requires time to
conduct a diligent search in
order to locate available
records and review what is
found for responsiveness and
releasability. Based on the
overall volume of requests
received by the agency as well
as an initial review of the
particular language of your
request, including the volume
of records requested, the type
of records requested, the
search methods involved and
the potential need for
redaction, the agency will
respond further to your
request on or before September
10,
2024.
Thank you for your request,
and please feel free to call
or email with any questions or
concerns.
Sincerely,
Avraham Schmeidler | FOIL
Assistant OFFICE OF LEGAL
AFFAIRS | Legal Process &
Records Access Unit 150
Greenwich Street, 38th Floor,
New York, NY 10007."
Watch this
site.
***
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