New Chelsea Homeless Shelter 127 W25th

chelsea could be the most expensive psf in the city at this point---bargain?

You should perhaps consider the Bowery? There are real bargains abound, plus an outflux of those people you don't like up to Chelsea.

"Heads up people! 325 bed shelter going up in the middle of Chelsea for the homeless, mentally ill, drug/alcohol addicts, and ex-cons/sex offenders. You can read about it here... To think I was looking to buy a place for my family in the area. I have two young grade school girls so this is definitely a deal killer no matter how good a bargain I get."

NEWSFLASH: This is New York City. Not just New York City, but Manhattan. And not just Manhattan, but CHELSEA.

It never was intended to be a "family" neighborhood, no matter how many rich people move in and push the gays out. This part of the magic of living in the city: living side-by-side with ALL of humanity, not just fellow stick-up-the-ass WASPs who share your income bracket.

If you're not ready to live side-by-side with the homeless, the mentally ill, the drug addicts, and those people who've committed crimes -- and here's the key -- HAVE PAID THEIR DEBT TO SOCIETY -- then you really don't belong here.

Please, not just for the sake of your naive and unsullied children, but for all New Yorkers who have no interest in dealing with your intolerance, stay the hell out of our city and go to New Jersey or Connecticut.

NEWSFLASH: The Gays were prevalent in Chelsea only for about ten years -- not before, not after. Now the homeless, mentally ill, drug/alcohol addicts, ex-cons/sex offenders and naive and unsullied children should have a chance to live there.

Fine. But don't expect the homeless, the mentally ill, the drug and alcohol addicts, and those people who have paid their debt to society to move because of the children.

NYCMatt: they dont have to move. they cant go wherever they want. but why do my tax dollars have to go towards subsidizing a homeless shelter in my own neighborhood?

and why do people keep using the phrase "debt to society". how have they paid their debt? they took drugs, robbed, soiled, etc... and then had to spend their time in either a rehab clinic of jail, for which society paid for. so in what way have they repaid their debt? if anything, the tab is still running.

"but why do my tax dollars have to go towards subsidizing a homeless shelter in my own neighborhood?"

It's the CITY. It's going to be in SOMEONE'S neighborhood, so why not yours?

*****

"and why do people keep using the phrase "debt to society". how have they paid their debt? they took drugs, robbed, soiled, etc... and then had to spend their time in either a rehab clinic of jail, for which society paid for. so in what way have they repaid their debt? if anything, the tab is still running."

Because "society" handed down a prison sentence, which they served out. Now they're free. The tab is not "still running", otherwise they'd still be in prison.

Like it or not, they now have a clean slate. If you don't like it, well then that's just tough shit -- go move to Iran where they just shoot and kill people for every little infraction. Would you prefer that?

So let me get this straight....my tax dollars go towards supporting a homeless shelter, and i should have no say in whether or not i want it in my neighborhood? the only people i see benefiting here are the homeless. property owners will see the value of their homes decrease. crime will increase. and we all get to pay for this. how is this ok? i am sorry, but criminals and drug offenders do not make for a better neighborhood. give me gays, foreigners, lower class, middle class. that kind of a composition is beneficial. but criminals? i dont think so.

the homeless shelter they are living in is paid for by tax payers. just like that prison was. so yes, that tab is still running. they chose to take drugs and commit crime, and now i have to pay for it. i work hard. where is my handout?

Virtue is its own reward; now stop whining.

What makes you think, were the situation not managed with homeless shelters, mental institutions and prisons, that the streets of Chelsea would not be jam-packed with the homeless, mentally ill, drug/alcohol addicts, ex-cons/sex offenders, foreigners, lower class, whitey, middle class, The Gays, and naive and unsullied children? Now THAT would truly cause property owners to see the value of their homes decrease.

ekartash: You lost me at "why do my tax dollars have to go to ...?" whenever anyone pulls out that chestnut, i tune right out. the way i see it, we're a civilization because we all contribute into the pot, and we have a representative government that addresses the societal needs that we as individuals couldn't do on our own.

i know you can't mean that you don't believe there's people out there who need help, surely. (for instance, hello? unemployment compensation? to help keep the society from falling apart during a recession?)

"he way i see it, we're a civilization because we all contribute into the pot". you are incorrect. only 50% of this country pays income tax. so we dont all contribute. and since i am contributing, i should be able to voice my opinion. we are taking this up with the local politicians.

i am all for helping the needy. but that doesnt mean that they should be living in my backyard.

Chelsea isn't your backyard. If you do have a private backyard, the needy aren't living in it. If they were, you could call 911 and your tax-powered police to arrest them.
Even though not everyone pay income tax, between social security payments, FICA and sales taxes, almost all people who work pay taxes. If the republicans hadn't blocked the 9/11 responders bill last week, we could also have recaptured the lost taxes from those companies who use a PO box in the Cayman Islands as a tax shelter. Apparently, that was a tax increase.

"i am all for helping the needy. but that doesnt mean that they should be living in my backyard."

If you don't want the "needy" living in your backyard, then you should be living someplace that HAS a backyard.

Like it or not, the CITY is a melting pot.

Sounds to me like you're not cut out for city living.

Try Westchester.

There is a very -well educated homeless bag-lady, who has taken up residence on the streets of East Midtown. I've been seeing her out there for the past few months. I buy her food and some basic toiletries. I gave her some clothing.
I speak with her and she told me that she was laid-off from her job, her unemployment checks ran out, and she's unable to pay her rent on a small studio apartment that she had lived in up in The Bronx. She's unable to find work, of any kind.

Her I.D. was stolen from a homeless shelter, and her application for welfare has been delayed because of that.

She also has a good sense of humor. We had a conversation about Henry Kissinger and Margaret Thatcher.

Then, she told me about a lady who lives in the building, a few doors down from the empty storefront where she hangs out. That lady screams at her, and is very mean. The lady told her that her name is Mrs. ____, and she wants her off her block. A few days after that, I saw the homeless lady, and she was holding a piece of cardboard on which she had written: "Mrs._____ hates me!"

"Try Westchester"

What no homeless, mentally ill, drug/alcohol addicts, ex-cons/sex offenders in Westchester?

"What no homeless, mentally ill, drug/alcohol addicts, ex-cons/sex offenders in Westchester?"

No, just easier to keep them out of your "backyard".

It is a melting pot. And everyone who can afford it, and wants to, should live here. But when you cant afford it, and you expect me to front the bill, just so that i get the privilege of living next to you, dont be surprised if i am a bit hesitant.

There is a lawsuit, and this one seems to be valid.

They applied for the permit with incorrect information on the proposal. Turns out they hid the part about the living facility... which, is actually not legal (against zoning). They only got the permit because of the false claims.

This is going to get interesting...

Which is neither here nor there, and could be a case of the neighbors shooting themselves in the foot. Bowery has scores of facilities around the city, and this one's proposed to be their new headquarters (i.e., they'll really keep an eye on things; trustees and other high-level donors will attend meetings there and take tours of facilities).

It will also provide their full range of services ... more space taken up by residential clients, less overall traffic for their other services, which use floorspace at a higher-density rate (i.e. classrooms).

If I lived nearby, I'd accept it as planned.

This is not historically a residential neighborhood. I'm in favor of keeping this in areas such as this and realistically, if not here, then where? Families moving here is in the scheme of things a relatively new phenomemon and was done with full knowledge of the zoning and history of this neighborhood. Gentrification shouldn't be done at the expense of traditional family neighborhoods.

all the homeless who got kicked out of the welfare hotel on 22nd and 8th so they could make it a gem have a right to move too. as someone who grew up here chelsea was always filled with homeless people, gays and criminals. the rawhide is 30 years old so don't give me that only gay for 10 years bs.

Update on the homeless Lady:

My B.F. went in search of her, yesterday. I'm out of town.
(She didn't want to be put up in a hotel, we already offered. She wanted a job.)

She told me that her former job was working as a dog-groomer. He found her a live-in job, taking care of the pampered pooches, in a very nice home with a lovely family. Out in the Hamptons.
He drove in and found her today. He drove her back out to the Hamptons with him.

When they go back to Manhattan after the summer, she will continue to live in their Hamptons home, with the caretaker. They are happy to employ her.

Not everybody in a homeless shelter is a former criminal. People can just be subject to hard times. Especially in the past few years.

O.K. Now you can go back to arguing.

jasonkyle, you missed the word "prevalent" -- whatever you want to call them -- homeless, The Gays, criminals -- a ten year run, 1988-1998 ... done, Finnish, ova. Even the little brats and Future Divorcees of America are about at their final curtain ... who knows what's next? Maybe Bowery Northwest.

And isn't the rawhide a store that sells pet toys? What does that have to do with the price of pork bellies?

Oh Alan ... your feigned ignorance about The Rawhide isn't convincing anyone.

oh alan hart just cause your gay days might have been over let's face it 8th avenue was hella gay until the big cup closed. crowds of gays clustered around there all day long until it shut it's doors in August 0f 2005. i did not miss the word prevalent. i just disagree with you because you are incorrect.

and the Allerton hotel (where a crackheaded criminal-ish relative of mine once lived) didn't close until 2007 or so.
From Vanishing New York
The Allerton has been called a “tinderbox for the homeless” by the New York Times: "For decades, Chelsea residents have tried to stop the noise, crime, drugs and harassment they say come from tenants at the Allerton Hotel, at West 22d Street and Eighth Avenue. And a recent murder there, some say, is proof the situation is getting out of hand. ‘The Allerton has probably been the biggest problem that lower Chelsea has had for as long as I can remember,’ said City Councilman Thomas K. Duane, whose district includes the hotel." ''And I've lived here over 20 years.''

Seriously, jasonkyle, you're pointing to TWO businesses as an indication of the neighborhood's character? It seems to me that if you can even identify two, it's because they stand out in contrast to the neighborhood. So no.

ok i live in this neighborhood. i just made 2 examples do i seriously have to list every chelsea gay bar and go through crime stats. i am not interested in arguing with you but our opinions wildly differ here. just because one considers a neighborhood "over" (and also in this case "not gay") due to age or jadedness or whatever does not mean any of those things are true. to call chelsea not predominantly gay in the 2000s AT ALL is just silly, and is not making you look very knowledgable.

now i am going go out, prance the streets, and make chelsea gayer. so have a nice sunday.

Speaking of prancing in the streets: Bill Hong's chinese restaurant was located for decades on E. 56th between 2nd and 3rd ave. After they closed a few years ago, a series of unsuccessful restaurants rented and closed in that space. It was empty again until June. "LIPS" restaurant is now in that space.

It's a trannie club. Lots of trannie hookers coming and going, from afternoon until closing. It's a trannie hooker parade, right past the windows of a very nice, expensive restaurant located one residential building away.

At night, the trannie hookers take to the street to do business with the car-customers cruising the block. There are apartments for sale in the building next door there.

Bet you can buy at a good price for an apartment there.

"Which is neither here nor there, and could be a case of the neighbors shooting themselves in the foot. Bowery has scores of facilities around the city, and this one's proposed to be their new headquarters (i.e., they'll really keep an eye on things; trustees and other high-level donors will attend meetings there and take tours of facilities)."

suuuure... just like the bowery before that.

I actually talked to a business owner on the block, he noted that homeless are camping out in front now, and one saw someone take a dump in the street between 2 parked cars in the middle of the day.

Maybe they'll keep it clean right in front, but its not going to help every other block in the neighborhood.

Be nice - my grandmother grew up in Chelsea, and my great-grandmother (other side of the family) drank herself to death there. I have warm memories.

ooh my great grandfather died in the restaurant that stood where the chelsea clearview is now. maybe they hung out :)

Too bad - you don't own the city. They can do this anywhere. You chose to live there- I myself hated living in Chelsea but that's besides the point. It has to be built somewhere. I guess you think they should move it to Harlem because you spent so much on your apartment. Such is life.

no, harlem has too many. I'm not averse to it being there at some point. I think its just dumb to do it in a neighborhood that is getting better by leaps and bounds each year. Wait until it has critical mass.

"I actually talked to a business owner on the block, he noted that homeless are camping out in front now, and one saw someone take a dump in the street between 2 parked cars in the middle of the day."

Really.

I saw this happen in Brooklyn Heights.

And Hell's Kitchen.

And the Upper East Side.

HELLO! It's the city!

Which would you prefer to be located there?: (Or on your block in Manhattan, below 96th Street)

A) A mosque

B) A trannie club with trannie hookers doing business on the street

C) A Homeless Shelter

B. Atleast they are working

O.K., anybody else? Serious question.

NYCMatt must be a broker....

I will vote for B also....they are fun and entertaining, and really don't bother anyone.....they actually work in my West Village neighborhood, near the very expensive Richard Mier buildings. Martha doesn't seem to care so why should I?

> I saw this happen in Brooklyn Heights.
> And Hell's Kitchen.
> And the Upper East Side.

Matt, you need to trade up to a better neighborhood... stop living under the bqe.

;-)

seriously, I had this happen in my vestible on ues.

But, in this case, we're talking about a whole homeless camp, not a one off.

my my how times have changed. Talk of homeless shelters, bullets flying in the bronx, state budget cuts, "fringe vs. non-fringe", LIC vs. manhattan proper, true C7 vs. chopped up fives... I guess when RE stops going up forever, these are the things ppl argue over on a RE blog.... my my

absolutely. times have changed considerably.