BP Brewer & UWS Open Hearts Host Christmas Day Meal + Toiletries Giveaway at Lucerne for Homeless Residents

"Don't be a grinch, Mayor de Blasio: let the men stay at the Lucerne"

NEW YORK, NY (12/24/2020) (readMedia)-- On Christmas Day, UWS Open Hearts Initiative and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer will distribute meals to temporary hotel shelter residents, prepared in Goddard Riverside's community kitchen. Volunteers will distribute meals in front of the Lucerne and also devlier meals to local unsheltered individuals and other hotel shelters. 250 total meals will be distributed. The event will also include the distribution of toiletries and treats to help lift spirits during this triggering and difficult time of year.

Earlier this month, a judge granted the men of the Lucerne a stay order until the court can hear their appeal. The court could rule any day, though Mayor de Blasio has the power to call off the move at any time. Other cities, like San Francisco, have extended the use of hotels as shelters during COVID-19. Goddard Riverside has also sponsored a comprehensive jobs program for Lucerne residents that would be jeopardized by the move.

Background

In late July, clients of Project Renewal were placed at the Lucene after being transferred from another hotel in Midtown. The hotel placements were part of a de-densification plan that saved lives during COVID, but left some 5,500 New Yorkers behind in congregate shelters.

Soon after the move, Bill de Blasio caved to a group of Upper West Siders who started a racist facebook group and raised $150,000 to hire former Giuliani deputy Randy Mastro to kick Project Renewal shelter residents out of the Lucerne. The eviction was initially announced September 9th, with a plan to displace disabled adult families at Harmonia shelter and transfer Lucerne residents in. After widespread outcry, the mayor announced the Harmonia residents would remain, but Lucerne residents would still be displaced, this time to the Radisson, a former COVID isolation site. The Mayor's decision to move the shelter has emboldened NIMBYs across New York City to privately fundraise ever-growing sums to keep shelters out of their neighborhoods.

A NY1/Ipsos poll from October found that sixty-two percent of New Yorkers support housing people currently homeless in their neighborhoods. A few weeks ago, 22 former senior officials and aides in the de Blasio administration -- including former Deputy Mayors Alicia Glen and Richard Beury, as well as former DOH Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett -- wrote an open letter to the Mayor urging him to allow the men to remain at the Lucerne.

Dozens of elected officials and candidates have stood with the men of the Lucerne, including Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, Senators Brian Benjamin, Robert Jackson, Jose Serrano, and Brad Hoylman, AMs Linda Rosenthal, Yuh-Line Niou, and Dick Gottfried, every candidate for Manhattan Borough President, CMs Helen Rosenthal, Ben Kallos, Carlina Rivera, Brad Lander, Steve Levin, Keith Powers, and Mark Levine, Comptroller Scott Stringer, Mayoral candidate Maya Wiley, Mayoral candidate Shaun Donovan, Mayoral candidate Dianne Morales, Cynthia Nixon, Zephyr Teachout, and others.

WHO:

BP Gale Brewer

UWS Open Hearts Initiative

Homeless New Yorkers

WHAT:

 Christmas day food giveaway for unsheltered individuals

WHEN: Friday December 25, 2020 at 12:00PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)
WHERE: The Lucerne Hotel
201 W. 79th Street
New York, New York 10024
NOTES: