Laura
05-28-2008, 05:54 PM
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CB3's full board votes for home for developmentally disabled
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
By KIAWANA RICH
ADVANCE STAFF WRITER
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Community Board 3's full board voted overwhelmingly in favor last night of a home for the developmentally disabled.
The vote of 19-2-1 came during a meeting in the CYO/MIV Center, Pleasant Plains.
Prior to the vote, speaker Laura Bonamo became emotional while addressing the board and the 50-plus residents who showed up; her developmentally disabled son, Joseph, 17, stood by her side.
"People will come up with all kinds of reasons for opposing group homes in their neighborhood: Parking, safety and property values, to name a few," she said. "I believe it is the fear of the unknown and anyone who is different that drives them to protest group homes," she said to applause.
The controversy centered on a community residence to be established by the Staten Island Developmental Disabilities Services Office at 277 Darlington Ave., Huguenot. The home's first and second floors would house as many as 10 adults, 25 and older, who are ambulatory and have mild to severe mental retardation. There would be 24-hour supervision under the auspices of the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.
Huguenot resident Joseph Percoco averred that OMRDD's record is a poor one.
Percoco pleaded with the board: "Vote no and stand up to OMRDD," garnering applause.
Jim Stanley of SIDDSO said, "No agency is foolproof." He noted that his agency "is audited every year, which is part and parcel to what we do."
In the end, people like board member Frank Contrero noted the bottom line for his supporting the proposal was this: "No one can regulate where you live."
In other business, Borough President James Molinaro addressed the board and provided a presentation on proposed roads within the Fresh Kills Landfill.
The Department of Transportation provided a presentation of a $6.3 million renovation project for a pedestrian bridge at Annadale Road.
The board voted in favor of a Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) application to build a two-story, one-family house at 205 Wolverine St., Richmond, and an application by the Department of City Planning to develop 20 units on Bradford Avenue, Prince's Bay.
They voted against a BSA application for three-story, one-family requirements at 102 Drumgoole Rd., Greenridge.
Kiawana Rich is a news reporter for the Advance. © 2008 Staten Island Advance
CB3's full board votes for home for developmentally disabled
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
By KIAWANA RICH
ADVANCE STAFF WRITER
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Community Board 3's full board voted overwhelmingly in favor last night of a home for the developmentally disabled.
The vote of 19-2-1 came during a meeting in the CYO/MIV Center, Pleasant Plains.
Prior to the vote, speaker Laura Bonamo became emotional while addressing the board and the 50-plus residents who showed up; her developmentally disabled son, Joseph, 17, stood by her side.
"People will come up with all kinds of reasons for opposing group homes in their neighborhood: Parking, safety and property values, to name a few," she said. "I believe it is the fear of the unknown and anyone who is different that drives them to protest group homes," she said to applause.
The controversy centered on a community residence to be established by the Staten Island Developmental Disabilities Services Office at 277 Darlington Ave., Huguenot. The home's first and second floors would house as many as 10 adults, 25 and older, who are ambulatory and have mild to severe mental retardation. There would be 24-hour supervision under the auspices of the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.
Huguenot resident Joseph Percoco averred that OMRDD's record is a poor one.
Percoco pleaded with the board: "Vote no and stand up to OMRDD," garnering applause.
Jim Stanley of SIDDSO said, "No agency is foolproof." He noted that his agency "is audited every year, which is part and parcel to what we do."
In the end, people like board member Frank Contrero noted the bottom line for his supporting the proposal was this: "No one can regulate where you live."
In other business, Borough President James Molinaro addressed the board and provided a presentation on proposed roads within the Fresh Kills Landfill.
The Department of Transportation provided a presentation of a $6.3 million renovation project for a pedestrian bridge at Annadale Road.
The board voted in favor of a Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) application to build a two-story, one-family house at 205 Wolverine St., Richmond, and an application by the Department of City Planning to develop 20 units on Bradford Avenue, Prince's Bay.
They voted against a BSA application for three-story, one-family requirements at 102 Drumgoole Rd., Greenridge.
Kiawana Rich is a news reporter for the Advance. © 2008 Staten Island Advance