The Manhattan homeless shelter where lunatic stabber Ramon Rivera was staying has long posed a “serious threat to human life,” leaders of a prestigious nearby life sciences center have said.
Leaders of the Alexandria Life Sciences Center sent a scathing letter to City Hall Thursday — obtained exclusively by the Post — urging officials to make good on a long-standing promise to relocate the troubled Bellevue Men's Shelter.
One of the three victims killed this week in a brutal spree allegedly carried out by shelter resident Rivera, 51, was stabbed just steps away from the Kips Bay Center, according to the letter. .
“This heinous and horrific act is unacceptable,” the letter rages.
“This deadly attack shows how the shelter, which was supposed to be demolished decades ago, has implemented strict security protocols within our campus to ensure the safety of its tenants and their mission-critical research. This is another example of how we continue to push forward.”
Rivera, who suffers from mental illness and has a long criminal history, was charged with three counts of first-degree serial murder on Monday for the brutal killings that unfolded over several hours across Manhattan from the West Side to the East River. is being asked.
The shocking stabbing reignites longstanding concerns about the Big Apple's mentally ill homeless population, prompting Mayor Eric Adams to unintentionally remove troubled vagrants from the streets and place them in psychiatric treatment. We decided to strengthen our efforts.
Fear of dangerous homelessness is a fact of life at Alexandria Center, which has invested $1.5 billion to expand the city's only commercial life sciences campus, the letter details.
When the city of Alexandria signed a deal to build the center in 2006, City Hall officials promised to relocate the shelter, the letter alleges.
“Not only has the city failed to deliver on that promise, it has poured even more money into the building to maintain it as the city’s largest men’s shelter,” the letter reads. “This shelter is a reception center for homeless men, including those recently released from Rikers Island with serious felonies, and is notorious for being one of the most dangerous shelters in the city.”
Alexandria Real Estate Equity says vagrants at the 30th Street and 1st Avenue shelter are firing weapons and angrily harassing and threatening people entering the nearby Alexandria Center. The letter was signed by Joel Marcus, executive chairman and founder of
The letter claims that the threat prompted the center to take security measures, including partially closing the main gate of the elevated plaza.
But officials from the Ministry of Urban Planning blocked those efforts, citing “enforcement issues,” the letter said. City officials also ignored the center's concerns about the shelter's “dangerous” facade and years-old scaffolding around the building, according to the letter.
Alexandria leaders asked city officials to create and enforce a safety plan for the shelter's neighbors, and to “improve Alexandria's safety protocols to ensure that our tenants and their vital research remain safe.” “We should support, not hinder,” he said.
“These are important actions the city needs to enact immediately, in addition to fulfilling its original promise to consider ways to permanently close and/or relocate the shelter,” the letter states. are.
City Hall officials did not respond to requests for comment.
