Tribeca Citizen | Parents of Peck Slip School raise funds to fight homeless shelter

Parents at Peck Slip School in the Seaport are raising money to block the city's Safe Haven emergency shelter, which will open in the fall at 320 Pearl, the building next door to the school. Over the summer, they formed a nonprofit and have launched a GoFundMe campaign for legal fees and a petition.

The establishment of the home was announced in a letter from the city's Department of Social Services to Community Board 1 a week before school ended. This timing drew ire from parents, as the parent board was unable to meet over the summer. This forced them to form a separate group called PASS (PeckSlip Advocates for School Safety) to organize. Since then, they have written five letters to the city asking for more information about the home and asked their parent representative to write hundreds more – all to no avail.

“They don't communicate with the community at all – we don't know anything that we haven't researched ourselves,” said Peggy Bilse, treasurer of the Peck Slip PTA and a PASS board member. She added that the DSS representative who attended the July 23 CB1 board meeting also couldn't answer any of her questions.

But the group is moving forward. It has hired an attorney to explore legal options and further investigate plans, which it says date back to January, when the city signed the contract with Breaking Ground, the nonprofit that will operate the shelter.

Read more here, but the facility is what's known as a “low-barrier” home, meaning residents don't have to be sober or follow many typical home rules, including a curfew. The parent group is largely opposed to this type of home. Not only will it share a wall with the school, but the entrance will be just feet from where children line up at the start of each day.

The group also learned from Community Board 1 that the shelter will have two smoking areas adjacent to the school's windows, which they said was also confirmed by Breaking Ground. (See photo below.)

They also disputed DSS's statement to me that Breaking Ground has experience operating Safe Haven shelters next to schools. According to ILoveTheUpperWestside, they actually have one on West 83rd, across from PS 9 and Center School. But parents argue that the 83rd Street location is across the street and around the corner from the entrance to the Columbus school.

As a group, PASS is not opposed to another type of housing at this site. A family shelter would be appropriate because of the proximity to the school, Peggy Bilse said, or another shelter that Breaking Ground also manages — shelters specifically designed for low-income seniors, many of whom are chronically homeless.

“They say Safe Haven's shelters help the most vulnerable in New York. For us, the most vulnerable in New York are our children,” she said. “That's our biggest concern.”

Community Board 1's next topic is the animal shelter at its Quality of Life Committee meeting on September 18 at 6 p.m.