The West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing is proposing to demolish three city-owned parking garages at 151 West 108th, 143 West 108th, and 103 West 108th Street, and the five-story Valley Lodge 92-bed homeless shelter at 149 West 108th Street, on the Upper West Side. According to DNAinfo, the nonprofit is planning to build a new facility with a 110-bed homeless shelter and at least 280 residential units in two separate buildings. All of the apartments would be rented at below market-rates to a mix of seniors, singles, and families. The plans will be taken through the city’s Urban Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) so larger buildings can be built, possibly generating an additional 90 residential units in the process. The nonprofit will also build a public bathroom at the adjacent Anibal Aviles Playground. Construction is expected to begin in 2017 and be completed in 2019.
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The Manhattan Valley community which is a small area on the northern tip of the Upper West Side has many questions and objections to this project: a project that has increased the number of units and has included a large clinic and daycare center. This project will also be responsible for the loss of 800 parking spaces. Manhattan Valley which basically consists of 10 streets and 2 avenues is already saturated with appropriately 40% of the affordable housing within the Upper West Side….a high percentage considering that Manhattan Valley only goes from West 100 Street to West 110 Street. Manhattan Valley has always been considered to be a soft spot for the placement of a multitude of social services and affordable housing projects and still social groups continue to target this community as an area to place more and more people at poverty levels. The project intentionally or unintentionally is an example of social groups being responsible for a socio-economic segregated community. 800 parking spaces will be deleted from a struggling community that already lacks real services which will put this community at further risk. A diverse retail business corridor along the most northern segment of Columbus Avenue has a high vacancy rate and a non-existent pedestrian flow. Appropriately 1/4 of the parking along Columbus Avenue has been lost to the bike lane due to various unloading zones. Manhattan Valley is a struggling impoverished community and yet the City along with social groups such as The West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing continue to pour people that require supportive services into an area that demands economic and social diversity. Both the City and groups such as The West Side Federation for senior and Supportive Housing blantly refuse to consider the impact that this mega project will have on the immediate community. In essence, both the City and the various social groups are responsible for creating a segregated community….a community that is isolated by geographic barriers such as Park West Village to the south and also isolated due to economic and social isolation….thus denying a contained community real opportunities.