{"id":322258,"date":"2026-08-15T21:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T21:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/322258\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T21:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T21:52:11","slug":"upper-west-side-parents-neighbors-raise-concerns-about-homeless-shelter-next-to-gertrude-ederle-playground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/322258\/","title":{"rendered":"Upper West Side parents, neighbors raise concerns about homeless shelter next to Gertrude Ederle Playground"},"content":{"rendered":"

UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) — City leaders joined an Upper West Side community on Saturday, protesting quality-of-life concerns linked to a new women’s shelter next to Gertrude Ederle Playground<\/a>. They are now calling on the state to restore order.<\/p>\n

There are big concerns from neighbors, so Eyewitness News asked the Department of Social Services about it. They said in a statement that a community advisory board has been set up, and they are opening up a clinic to ramp up support at this location.<\/p>\n

Neighbors, however say it’s too late.<\/p>\n

“They are walking around sometimes without shoes on asking for food, things that should be provided for the shelter,” said Stacey, who lives nearby.<\/p>\n

Stacey is one of the hundreds of people on the Upper West Side living near West 58th Street and Amsterdam Ave. who are reporting problems after a women’s shelter opened up this spring.<\/p>\n

She says her concerns are for the shelter residents and the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

“I personally have seen fighting – physical fights between some of the women. I’ve called 911, 311 and the shelter many times, and I just see a lack of oversight,” Stacey says.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, residents showed photos capturing the issues – from naked women talking to children, to fights and cussing i the streets and to beer bottles and marijuana cartridges in the nearby park.<\/p>\n

“I will audit and investigate every homeless shelter in New York, make sure the shelters are safe,” says New York Attorney General Candidate Saritha Komatireddy.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the uproar was enough to bring dozens out to a press conference, including Komatireddy.<\/p>\n

Saritha Komatireddy, Candidate, New York Attorney General<\/p>\n

“Make sure that when taxpayers give money to homeless shelters, that those homeless shelters actually help the homeless, not just themselves,” Komatireddy said.<\/p>\n

Gale Brewer, New York City Council, District 6<\/p>\n

“I think that when you were placing a shelter in a residential area, and I’ve been through this for 40 years, I’m very familiar. You really need to consider the behavior of the clients,” said Council member Gale Brewer.<\/p>\n

Brewer said she has heard from schools in the area, The Department of Social Services and residents themselves. She says a change needs to happen.<\/p>\n

“It should have been affordable, permanent housing and not a shelter, but I lost that fight. Now we need to have a change of client,” says Brewer.<\/p>\n

Eyewitness News received a statement from Project Renewal with the shelter.<\/p>\n

They say they have increased outreach and are responding promptly when concerns arise.<\/p>\n

Project Renewal also says the health clinic will open on site once federally approved.<\/p>\n

———-<\/p>\n

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Copyright \u00a9 2026 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) — City leaders joined an Upper West Side community on Saturday, protesting quality-of-life…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[121412,9,11,10],"class_list":["post-322258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-121412","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}