All is quiet at 226 Beach 101st Street. The Rockaway Park construction site is padlocked, and the door is boarded up. That’s because a Queens judge has issued a temporary restraining order at the location — effectively halting construction at the site of a planned city homeless shelter.
It’s something members of this community, like Torey Schnupp—have been fighting since word got out last year. She says it doesn’t make sense for an area— still reeling from Hurricane Sandy.
“When you see a neighborhood trying to recover, and still recover. The last thing you want to do is put an at-risk population in such a narrow piece of land,” said Torey Schnupp, Founding Member, Rockaway Solutions Not Shelters.
Schnupp is one of the Founding Members of Rockaway Solutions Not Shelters, a grassroots group opposing the department of homeless services plan to house more than 100 homeless adult men here.
She's also a plaintiff in a suit filed to halt the city's plan to open the shelter, arguing the environmental review was inaccurate, and the plan violates state laws for residency of the mentally disabled.
“You have to have a smaller facility to provide more specialized care. People need more help in those circumstances. And we’re talking about 108 men here, where the law has a cap at 48,” said Attorney Mike Scala.
A spokeswoman for the department of homeless services tells NY1 in part quote: "We’re confident the courts will recognize our vital need for these high-quality beds and remain committed to continuing our open engagement with the community" She added the agency plans to give priority to men who are from the Rockaway peninsula and there are 1087 homeless individuals from the community currently housed in shelters across the city, but only about 600 of them are sheltered on the peninsula.
But Schnupp says her neighbors are not backing down.
“The Rockaway community we united to stop this from happening. We don’t have to take what the city wants to dish on everybody," said Schnupp.
The temporary restraining order will be in effect until the next hearing which will determine whether or not this case will move forward. That’s set to happening within the next two weeks.