Helayne Seidman
What are they smoking?
Parents are fuming over plans for designated outdoor smoking areas at an already controversial shelter for ex-cons and drug and alcohol abusers that will open steps from their lower Manhattan elementary school.
The so-called “low-barrier” shelter — because of its loose regulations on sobriety and criminal records — is slated to open on Pearl Street in the fall next door to the Peck Slip School, which serves pre-K through 5th grade.
This week it emerged that the plans for the 106-bed shelter at 320 Pearl St., which was previously a Hampton Inn, call for a courtyard and rooftop smoking section.
“It’s a serious health risk for all of our children and teachers,” said Peggy Bilse, a FiDi parent helping to lead the fight against the low-barrier shelter.
“Smoking areas mean cigarette and weed smoke next to our school building on a regular basis and would make it impossible to open windows on the side of the school building that abuts this area,” raged another parent.
The shelter operator, Breaking Ground, which rakes in nearly $300 million a year in “safe haven” shelter contracts with the city, notified the school that the outdoor yard and roof will be designated smoking areas, according to sources.
Part of the courtyard is tucked between the shelter and the school, right below rows of classroom and office windows.
“It is beyond incomprehensible, it just keeps getting worse and worse,” Kenny Grant, a father of a 4-year-old, said of the plans.
Families and the South Street Seaport community are fighting the plans, which they say have been plowed through by the city with little transparency and community engagement. They are demanding it be made into a family shelter instead of a lax facility with a predominantly male population.
Community Board 1 slammed the decision to notify the community at the end of the school year, right before its August break and while the PTA is off for the summer.
On Tuesday, a man was stabbed and killed at a Breaking Ground shelter in Times Square, according to reports. The group operates more than 4,500 housing units across the city and has over 2,000 more in various stages of development, according to its website.
Breaking Ground did not respond to an inquiry from The Post.
City records state that shelters may designate an authorized area for smoking but must have proper safety measures in place for them.
The city Department of Social Services did not address the smoking issue but in a statement said, “We remain committed to maintaining open lines of communication with the community and working collaboratively to support our vulnerable neighbors.”
It added that the Lower Manhattan area has had a higher rate of homelessness, and such facilities are “instrumental” in getting New Yorkers off the streets and subways and into shelter and permanent housing.