Newark residents in the Ironbound section of the city are not convinced by a proposal to create a shelter for homeless veterans.
The line was clearly drawn Monday night at the Newark Central Planning Board meeting.
On one side of the Newark municipal chambers was Independence: A Family of Services Inc., a nonprofit multiservice agency in Irvington that has plans to use a Newark building it owns as a shelter for 40 homeless veterans. Members from several veteran posts were there to support the proposal.
Across the aisle, on the other side of the chambers, was a huge crowd of residents who say they support veterans, but do not think the project is suitable for their Ironbound neighborhood in the East Ward.
The Planning Board would have made a final decision Monday, but there were too many agenda items to fully accommodate the contentious issue. So, the meeting was adjourned until next month, though a date has has yet to be set.
Whenever the meeting is held, East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador will most likely receive more petitions signed by residents who oppose the project. Amador, who also does not support the shelter location at Van Buren and Elm streets, said he so far has received petitions with 900 signatures.
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Maria Oliveira is one of them. Her concerns are the same as her Ironbound neighbors. They're worried about veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress syndrome. They said the building, which would provide behavioral and mental health services, is across the street from a pre-school. East Side High School, the local park and the library are blocks way.
Oliveira also said she is skeptical that it will remain housing just for veterans who are homeless. "Maybe there will be veterans in the beginning, but that's not the way it's going to stay,'' said Oliveira.
Margaret Woods, the agency president, said she doesn't have any reason to be dishonest to residents. Her transitional program is designed to help veterans move into permanent housing. They will receive life skills training and attend workshops to help them re-integrate into the community and connect with their families. The facility, she insists, is a not a place for veterans to hang outside. She said there is communal space inside for activities and a rooftop garden. Services will be on site, but veterans will also be transported to programs at the Veterans Administration Hospital in East Orange and other venues.
"We have developed a model that is rich in services, brings dignity and respect to the veterans,'' Woods said. "It says to them we are paying our debt to you.''
Still, the opposition hasn't subsided since Independence, which has support from Mayor Ras Baraka's administration, submitted plans for the shelter last year. Woods had to end a community meeting she organized last September when some 200 residents were not satisfied with answers to their questions.
"A project of this magnitude and as important as this one should be should have strong support from the community where it is located,'' Amador said.
Since that meeting, Amador and Woods attempted to work on another solution.
Amador said developers he knows were interested in purchasing the building. He asked Woods to submit an offer if she would be willing to sell and relocate her program to another site.
Woods, who believes her three-story building is currently a good location, for the shelter offered $3.1 million after her team did a price analysis of property in the area that included finding another site. Amador said that was too much, since the building is assessed at $900,000. He backed away from helping.
"For the purposes of negotiation, we don't' feel that the price we gave the councilman is outrageous,'' Woods said.
So, that's where we are at this point.
Woods said she is working on having another community meeting so residents can ask questions, and she's hoping they have an open mind.
"I think a community has a right to have concerns, but I also don't believe a community has right to say that veterans aren't good enough to live right next door to them,'' Woods said.
That's not what it's about for Maria Pimentel, who lives next door or Mary Azagra's, whose father, brother and two son-in-laws are veterans.
"We can't give them enough because of what they gave so that we can have our freedom,'' Azagra said. "They deserve a place, but not where they (Independence) want to put them, not in the heart of the Ironbound.''
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Kyle Bowman, commander of the American Legion Gutyon-Callahan Post 152 in Newark, hopes residents reconsider their position because veterans need the help.
"Veterans will be an asset to the community,'' he said. "They (the community) should welcome them. These are people that served America.''
Dan McSweeney, a board member of the United War Veterans Council, which sponsors the New York City Veteran's Day parade, said ongoing communication and information is paramount when an issue such as this arises.
"When misunderstanding emerges, people usually end up supporting it, because most Americans support veterans,'' McSweeney said.
The project, which is permitted in that area, still needs variances to be approved by the planning board. The site lacks parking, and there's not enough front, side and rear yard setback, which is the distance between the building and the street line.
That alone, said Amador, who is also a Planning Board member, is enough to deny the application.
"We're not against providing the services to the veterans,'' he said.
"They deserve all the support they can get, but we need to do this with the dignity they deserve and that building does not offer the conditions that we need to have to provide those services.''
Planning Board President Wayne Richardson said the board has to judge the application based on merit and look at the negative and positive aspects of the project.
We'll see what happens next month.
Barry Carter: (973) 836-4925 or bcarter@starledger.com or
nj.com/carter or follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL
