Too remote. Too far from schools. Unsatisfactory accommodations.
Those are just some of the reasons cited by migrants refusing to stay in newly opened shelter space at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, according to Council Member Joann Ariola and Assemblyperson Jaime R. Williams.
Some two dozen families totaling 100 people were expected to be brought to the shelter site on Sunday, according to a statement from Williams and Ariola, who represent the area. An untold number declined the accommodations in large temporary tents, for the cited reasons and others.
“It’s proven over this weekend that the migrants could see upon arrival that this was not a good place to house individuals,” Ariola, a Republican, said Monday.
The planned 2,000-bed shelter at the former naval air station site and National Park Service greenspace has been decried by Ariola and Williams, who along with other elected officials are suing the city and state to block migrants from being housed there. The windswept former airfield is in the Marine Park section of southeast Brooklyn, along the shore of Jamaica Bay.
Lawyers for the shelter foes are expected to ask a state Supreme Court judge to expedite a hearing on their request to block the city from using the property to house migrants, Ariola told Gothamist.
City Hall on Monday did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Floyd Bennett site is among 200 emergency shelters the city has set up to house an influx of new migrants that began arriving in New York City in spring 2022.
In a statement on Sunday, City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak noted that 140,000 migrants have passed through the city’s intake system since then, and over 65,000 currently reside in city shelters.
“We have used every possible corner of New York City and are quite simply out of good options to shelter migrants,” Mamelak said in the statement.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said much the same when asked about the Floyd Bennett site on Monday.
“It’s not ideal for anyone,…
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