A New York City councilwoman on Newsmax Wednesday railed at the evacuation of nearly 2,000 migrants from a tent shelter at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn ahead of a massive storm, saying it only proves the former airplane runway was always the “wrong place.”
In an interview on Newsmax’s National Report, Councilwoman Joann Ariola said, “you didn't need a crystal ball. It was common sense” the facility wouldn’t withstand rain storms like those that hit the region Tuesday.
“Floyd Bennett Field is the wrong place … for a base camp for migrants … it floods. It is open to the elements,” she said. “Just this morning 35 mile per hour winds are still there, and I was almost knocked down."
She also said the evacuation of migrants to James Madison High School a few miles away in Brooklyn forced those students to remain at home Wednesday and do remote classes.
“It's not fair to the students,” Ariola insisted. “It's not fair to the taxpaying New Yorkers who are going to have to pay for this type of operation over and over again because Floyd Bennett field is very fragile when it comes to weather events, and there will be other evacuations, and that's not any way that we should be spending our New York City citizens’ taxpayer dollars.”
The city has been using tent structures to house an influx of migrants over the past two years, with about 70,000 people currently staying in homeless shelters, including tents and dozens of hotels, the New York Times has reported.
“Floyd Bennett Field was ill conceived from the beginning,” Ariola charged. “We have a lawsuit pending and I think that the city should focus more attention on their lawsuit to amend the consent decree for Right to Shelter — because that would stop the influx.”
“So if we have 2,000 people now that needed to be evacuated, then what will happen when the next 4,000 arrive?
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Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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