Peyser Calls AH Residents "Army of the Damned', Garaufis "Bully'
Monday, March 8, 2010
Judge's Ruling Is Insanity
By Andrea Peyser New York Post March 8, 2010
The army of the damned is about to grow stronger.
On stoops in places like Washington Heights, they sit and smoke for days on end, talking to themselves or begging for change. One day in 2005, one of these faceless, unmedicated and unsupervised men flipped out and stabbed a baby.
And now, the number of lost souls is set to skyrocket to levels unseen since the 1980s, when alleys were lined with bodies and roads were ruled by squeegee extortionists. For that, we owe thanks to a federal judge. Let's give a big round of applause to Nicholas Garaufis!
You might have heard of Brooklyn's bully. Garaufis is the man who set quotas for hiring minorities in the Fire Department -- despite a lack of evidence that discrimination exists. This month, the activist jurist ordered Albany to start moving 4,300 mentally ill adults from the group homes in which they currently live into "supported" apartments where they'll dwell independently, "integrated" into the community. Or so we hope.
Garaufis was angry. "Frankly incredulous," he wrote, that New York was doing little to put the mass of humanity out of group homes that are staffed 24 hours a day. He wants them living alone in apartments where they'll receive regular visits from staff members. That is, if the mentally ill allow staffers inside.
He didn't explain where he would get the fairy dust to magically turn these hurting humans into productive citizens.
Activists for the mentally ill rejoiced. But residents in afflicted neighborhoods, families of the sick -- and the ill themselves -- are panic stricken.
And, as I've recently learned, Judge Garaufis has a potential conflict of interest here.
He is married to Elizabeth Seidman, who is on the board of directors of Fountain House -- which supplies the very "supported" housing units to the city that the judge so loves.
How did this happen? In response to my query, Judge Garaufis faxed me a transcript from a 2007 court hearing in which he disclosed his potential husband-wife conflict to lawyers in the case.
"I want to give a notice of this, although I don't think it has any effect on my ability to decide the case," he said. No one objected and nothing changed. Garaufis refused further comment.
As word of the judge's ruling spread, horror ran through neighborhoods where group homes are destined for the wrecking ball.
"We'll go to the site and maybe do a teach-in with some of the people there. Ask them, 'Are you ready?' " said Councilman James Sanders Jr. of Queens.
As a resident of a Far Rockaway group home, Robert Evans, put it: "These people don't even know how to shower or shave, and they certainly don't know how to shop or cook."
Garaufis micromanaged the extent to which operators of supported housing may go to persuade reluctant residents of group homes to come with them. "Adult-home residents will likely require multiple meetings or discussions, and perhaps even trips to see what supported-housing apartments look like," he ruled.
"Basically, the judge gave them the authority to harass these residents until they say yes," said Jeffrey Edelman, owner of the Wavecrest home in Queens and one in The Bronx. He said creating some 4,500 units of supported housing will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions -- or more.
In the name of civil rights for the mentally ill, we're moving backward. Group homes were once considered a pleasant alternative to mental institutions. Supported housing has been a failure in Washington Heights, where residents hang out on streets, and neighbors avoid them. So much for "integrating" into the community.
Occasionally, someone refuses his medication, to disastrous effect. Bernard Derr went off his meds, and stabbed a baby in the stomach.
Group homes are not perfect, but they're not the hell pits of yesteryear.
They are the kindest solution for those who need help.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/judge_ruling_is_insanity_K68goo14Y5gVUqbciPED1J