Angry Upper West Siders Wanted Homeless "Scum" Out Of Their Neighborhood. De Blasio Took Their Side

For many New Yorkers, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision this week to evict several hundred homeless men living in the Lucerne Hotel signaled a shocking and sudden betrayal of principles. But for a small contingent of Upper West Side residents, who’d mounted a weeks-long pressure campaign against the new shelter, the news was greeted as a hard-fought victory.

In a neighborhood Facebook group with 14,000 members, local residents had openly fantasized about an armed uprising against their homeless neighbors, counseled each other to use wasp spray and dog feces to make them feel unwelcome, and referred to people perceived as homeless as “trash,” “scum,” and “thugs.”

At the end of last month, a noose was found outside the Lucerne Hotel, a message of intimidation aimed at homeless residents, according to some who saw it.

Randy Mastro, the attorney and former deputy mayor to Rudy Giuliani who was hired by Upper West Siders to expel the shelter, praised the mayor’s decision this week a “testament to community organizing.” Other observers, including some in City Hall, said they felt de Blasio cowed to pressure from a vocal contingent of well-off Manhattan residents, who’d effectively wielded their power against a group without any.

The mayor’s abrupt move will impact nearly 900 people, including 350 residents who will be kicked out of the Lucerne and a second hotel location in Long Island City, as well as 525 individuals who will be moved from existing family shelters to make room for the transfers. On Thursday, some people with disabilities were moved with little notice out of a Midtown family shelter to one in Canarsie, in order to clear space for the men from the Lucerne.

One 28-year-old Lucerne resident, who asked that his first name be withheld to protect his identity from his employer, sighed with exhaustion when asked how he felt about his impending move in the coming days.

“Here we go again. I’m like a nomad. Where the wind goes, you gotta go,” said Mr. Smith, who has a one-year-old daughter he’s supporting through minimum wage custodial work. “Money always gonna talk. Our opinion don’t even matter, our living arrangements don’t even matter. Nothing for nothing. We don’t have no say so. Remember, money rules the world.”

In screenshots of comments posted on Upper West Siders for Safe Streets obtained by Gothamist/WNYC, commenters schemed to make the neighborhood less livable for the new homeless residents. One member, Valerie Clark, who didn’t return a request for comment, told people to rub dog feces on benches so people wouldn’t sit on them.

There are references to second amendment rights, and one commenter Jared Longhitano, who declined to comment further on what he had written when reached over the phone, proposed “having round the clock militias shooting these assholes.” He also suggested that residents “kick them in front of a bus if possible.”

Several mentioned using wasp spray and where to buy it.

“Forget pepper spray or mace,” wrote 60-year-old Clodette Mardini Sabatelle, who identifies herself on Instagram as a trustee with Community In Crisis, a federally-funded organization that aims to stop overdoses. “Use Hornet Spray and shoot in the eyes.”

When asked about her comment, Sabatelle, who has lived on the Upper West Side for 16 years but spent most of the past two months at a New Jersey summer home, said she only meant that a person should use hornet spray in self-defense.

“If somebody attacks you, then I would spray hornet spray, not just to randomly [spray it but] as another way of protecting yourself,” she said. “I’m definitely of the Black Lives Matter Movement. I definitely think there's systemic racism, however, I also think this was a bad decision.”

Corrine Low, with UWS Open Hearts, a group formed to counter the animosity toward residents of the neighborhoods’ shelters, said the organization’s stated intent of wanting “safer streets” is a misnomer.

“What they’re really calling for is safer streets for white people, because [they’re] making direct calls for violence against minority homeless residents,” she said. “This is what the mayor is capitulating to.”

One of the group’s moderators, Jackie Moffett, claimed she was unaware of the vitriol within the group. “It is never the intention of this page to promote or accept violent, hateful or racist rhetoric,” she said. “Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. We can and will strive to be even more diligent.”

A Gothamist/WNYC reporter was promptly kicked out of the Facebook group after receiving the email. Megan Martin, the president of West Side Community Organization, which hired Mastro to expel the shelter, said the group was not affiliated with the Facebook page, though all its listed officers were members of it and members had used it to raise funds for the legal campaign. Martin herself had posted in the group as recently as September 9th.

"The West Side Community Organization is a separately incorporated association that is not part of the Facebook group," Martin said in a statement. "And we do not condone certain language, rhetoric or threats that have appeared on its pages. Our group's goal is simple: to serve our community and those in need with commonsense solutions that will improve the quality of life for all involved."

Members of UWS Open Hearts were camped out overnight outside the Lucerne on August 29th, when during the course of the evening, they found a noose hanging on the scaffolding in front of the hotel.

“My son was climbing on the scaffolding and I was watching him and he asked if he could play with a rope that he saw there,” recounted 47-year-old Melissa Sanchez. “I didn’t even believe what I was seeing. It was very clearly in the shape of a noose.”

Several people who were there described police coming to the scene, reviewing security camera footage and determining they wouldn't investigate further, after they said it came from a construction site nearby. When asked about the incident, an NYPD spokesman said they didn’t have a report of the noose, adding that it would only be considered harassment “if someone took it the wrong way.” The NYPD has in the past ignored reports of nooses found in the five boroughs. .

That same night, a man wearing a Trump hat also heckeld the crowd, chanting, “White Lives Matter,” and flashing a white power finger gesture, according to photos and video provided to Gothamist/WNYC.

When Mayor Bill de Blasio was asked about his sudden policy reversal at a press conference Thursday, he denied reporting in Politico New York that found he’d made the decision against the guidance of Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks.

“The only disruption we had was at the worst of the pandemic, and now thank God, the worst is behind us,” he said. “There's fewer and fewer people in shelter, more room to work with. It's exactly the time to start getting out of hotels.”

But several people in City Hall told Gothamist this wasn’t the case, adding that the decision to transfer the residents went against the advice of his health and social service agencies, and came with little notice.

“It would be one one thing if everyone agreed, but there was no consensus,” a source in City Hall told Gothamist/WNYC. “In fact, consensus was the opposite, that the city was doing the right thing where it counts and standing up for our values.”

The roughly 10,000 homeless New Yorkers who were moved into 61 other hotels—including three others on the Upper West Side—during the height of the COVID-19 crisis will not be relocated at this time, according to a DHS spokesperson.

The weeks of targeted and relentless tabloid news coverage of the Lucerne have been stressful for shelter residents, said a 51-year-old resident, who declined to give his name. After he learned Tuesday night that he’d have to leave the Lucerne, he said he had trouble sleeping, fearing what was to come.

“It was a whole lot of anxiety,” the man said. “I wish [de Blasio] would have taken into consideration that this is trauma on top of trauma.”

“Is [the new] place going to be safe?,” he wondered. “Will the new community be just as up in arms as the current community?”

This story has been updated to include a comment from Megan Martin of the West Side Community Organization.