Community calls for safer neighborhood following two shootings in Clinton Hill
Police are trying to track down a suspect wanted for opening fire outside a migrant shelter Sunday night killing a man and injuring another.
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Residents in Clinton Hill are calling for major changes to the Hall and Ryerson streets shelters following a deadly triple shooting that claimed two lives, including a 21-year-old victim who lived in the shelter.
Residents say for months their calls about the dangers inside, including the 3,200 person capacity were unheard, and hope the tragic events can highlight the need for better conditions.
"When 4.000 of us have no privacy or lockers for valuables or enough food to eat. We all live in fear of desperate acts of theft and violence outside," said resident Tim Walker
Organizers are calling for the city to set the cap for migrant shelters at 400, and to create multiple smaller facilities across the city to meet the need. They say the conditions inside the shelter are unsafe for those inside, and the community around it.
"Not in my backyard doesn't represent our view. It's not in anyone's backyard, I don't think the city should mass warehouse migrants in mega shelters in anyone's backyard," said resident Alia McKee
Those in attendance also calling on Councilmember Crystal Hudson to do more, calling on her to oppose the resigning of the lease for the Hall Street facility in March of 2025.
Councilmember Hudson says she agrees that the current cap cannot hold.
"For the long term, we cannot continue to, have, you know, 3,200, people in a congregate settings such as this one, and so we have called on the mayor to work with us to, identify new sites that would accommodate, smaller shelters for these folks," she said.
"We know that the current lease, existing lease is up in March of 2025. We've had several public conversations, private conversations, about, you know, what happens after March of 2025. We've made very clear our demand to the mayor and his office, which is that this is not a tenable solution," Hudson said.
When asked about the migrant shelter conditions during a press conference Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams responded by saying that a viable solution to having fewer people in migrant shelters is to "let them work".
Residents say ending the lease is the only way to ensure the facility does not continue in its current form.
"I would love to have a shelter of 200 people at the bottom of my street. It's not. You've got eight months to do this now before the lease is renewed. Please do it as if our lives depended on it," Walker said.
