Coalition For Carroll Gardens Updates Community On 9th Street Homeless Shelter

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Many readers have been wondering where matters stand regarding the proposed 170 bed men’s homeless shelter at 165 West 9th in Carroll Gardens.

The Coalition for Carroll Gardens (CCG), a coalition of residents who have organized "to ensure that full community input is part of the process in the development" has just released an update in respect of this matter. CCG have retained the services of a lawyer and continues to press our elected officials and all agencies involved for a fair public process that will "create a solution that reflects the needs of all parties involved."

From a CCG press release:

Dear Supporter,

Alan Lapes was granted permits by the Department of Building (DOB) for alterations to convert his ten unit condo building at 165 west 9th street into a homeless shelter. The TRO obtained by CCG in December 2012 forces Lapes to follow the letter of the law - and stopped him from squeezing 170 men in the building when he was ready for action. Once the permit was obtained, CCGBrooklyn’s lawyer and zoning consultant conducted an extensive overview of the building history, plans and permits. We found various discrepancies between the original plans and the various requests and filings made to the DOB. Beginning with a dubious Certificate of Occupancy granted eight years after the building was finished -

DOB allowed Scarano, a notorious architect barred from filing in the City of New York to self-certify his building at 165 West 9th Street.

Among the other problems uncovered by our lawyer and zoning consultant, CCG found:

-Original building plans are missing

-Mislabeled floors that misrepresent actual use

-Misrepresentation of actual floor area deductions allowable for the lot size

-Unclear alterations and plumbing works, large scale works carried out without permits prior to the current permits

-unsafe access and exit as per law

For full details of our findings, click here.

Our lawyers submitted a request to the Borough Commissioner of the DOB to respond and address these concerns at the end of April. This demand was then followed up with letters from the elected officials, Brad Lander, Joan Milman, Villamette Montgomery, Bill De Blasio and Marty Markowitz all reiterating our concerns in early May and acting in support of CCGBrooklyn's position.

Click here for copies of the letters from the elected officials.

Some of you saw us out at the Court Street Fair, where we also gathered hundreds of signatures IN ONE DAY to take to Ira Gluckman, the Brooklyn Borough Commissioner at the DOB in support of the letter. We dropped this petition last week by hand

So why have we heard nothing back from the Commissioner?
Call Commissioner Gluckman today to let him know you want answers and expect accountability from all city agencies.
Ira Gluckman, R.A., Borough Commissioner: tel (718) 802-3677 & (718) 802-3676

The next hearing for the legal case, which once again was adjourned at the request of the city lawyers, will be on the 24th of May.

CCGBRooklyn remains committed to exposing the way the city regulatory agencies are failing at their job and bypassing due process, allowing people like Alan Lapes to continue his outlandish profits at the expense of communities and the Homeless.

Please continue to donate to our legal fund - click here to make your tax deductible donation online - We need your support to change the conversation and have communities talk back. We can't continue this fight without your ongoing donations. Donate today!