New York City is moving out of oversized tents to provide temporary shelter for migrants heading to a small island off Manhattan from a remote Bronx site, after weekend storms raised concerns about possible flooding there. originally planned.
Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday that the city’s relief center will now be located on Randall’s Island, which sits in the waters between Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx. The island has five bridges connecting it to the three districts, and people can leave the island by bus or on foot to reach the city’s subway system.
The center tents they had been placed in a parking lot from Orchard Beach, in the northeast part of the Bronx, on the Long Island Sound, where access to public transportation is limited. Images published on the internet showed puddles in the area after the weekend rains.
In a statement announcing the change, Adams said that while the city could accommodate the original site, changing the location of the center was “the most efficient and effective path.”
The city’s plan for the Orchard Beach shelter had been met with concern by immigrant advocates, who cited lack of access, among other reasons, and that concern extended to the new location.
“The city must look for solutions other than encampments, where our clients will be isolated and exposed to extreme weather conditions, and far from public transportation and other critical services,” the Legal Aid Society and Coalition for the Homeless said in statements released Tuesday.
Adams said the new site will open around the same time as the original location was planned, though he did not specify when that would be. He added that it will have the capacity to hold 500 people.
New York City has seen an unexpected surge in asylum seekers in recent months, sent to the city from other statessuch as Texas and Arizona.
the influx has put the shelter system to the test of the city, which has led the authorities to look for other places to receive the migrants and to propose the installation of temporary camps.
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