MULLER LOCAL REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY PUBLIC HEARING

    The PS 21 auditorium in Wakefield was packed with people who wanted to have their say on the mayor's proposal to put a 200 bed homeless shelter at the Muller Army Reserve Center (MARC). While there was a statement read by  representatives of Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs and Tokumbo Shobowale Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development (the other two Local Redevelopment Agency beside Bronx BP Diaz), everyone wanted to know why the two were not present to hear the public testimony. .  

    Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Councilman G. Oliver Koppel, Representatives of Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, State Senators Jeff Klein and Gustavo Rivera all gave statements referring to the over saturation of homeless shelters in the area, and the need to have the National Guard from the buildings next to the Kinsbridge Armory be placed into the MARC so that much needed schools could then be built next to the armory. 

    Community Board #12 Chairman Father Richard Gorman thanked BP Diaz for the public hearing, and then went after the reps from the Deputy Mayors for only giving out speaking time to the first 25 people out of the hundreds in the audience who wanted to speak. He added that there is an American flag outside the school and went on to criticize the LRA report for not having any comments from the over 1,000 signatures handed in from the Wakefield Taxpayers Association and others who sent in comments. 

   Father Gorman than stated that the homeless shelter to be run by the DOE Fund was moved by the mayor after the City Council rejected the Related proposal for the Kingsbridge Armory. He said that it was payback to Diaz, and a reward for the Doe Fund for their testimony in the Charter Revision hearings that allowed Mayor Bloomberg to run for a third term. He concluded with "Either you have a bunch of numbskull's or liars working for you, and we should kick your butt out of City Hall". A standing ovation was then given to Father Gorman. 

   Speaker after speaker spoke about how a homeless shelter at the MARC could damage the community from the park across the street, to the girls Catholic school nearby, and even Yonkers City Councilman Dennis Shepherd who represents the ares a few blocks away outside of the city line. There was talk of the three other homeless shelters being built right near (one across the street) the MARC, and the row of bars on McLean Avenue just over the city line in Yonkers. There was not a person who said that this was a good idea, but almost everyone said that the now empty MARC should be used for the purpose it was built, that being to house the national guard.