The Lucerne Hotel has ten long-term, permanent residents, all senior citizens who’ve lived in the building long before the temporary homeless residents moved in on July 27. Not much attention has been given to them until now.
On September 28, ABC 7 NY published an interview with a tenant named Douglas Rowan, who’s lived in the building for the last three decades.
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HOMELESS LUCERNE HOTEL RESIDENTS MUST LEAVE
“We’re invisible, we don’t have a voice – people don’t even know we’re here,” Rowan said, adding that he and his fellow residents “are just in the apartments, except to walk the dogs – then I come right back.”
While the temporary Lucerne Hotel residents were originally expected to be relocated to a downtown hotel by October 5, the DHS has extended the deadline to at least October 19, according to a Facebook post by Corinne Low of UWS Open Hearts Initiative.
The Facebook post also states that a “Free Store and voter registration is ON for Sunday [October 3] at the Lucerne, 2-4pm! We will also be doing a ‘ribbon of love’ ceremony to embrace the Lucerne in a ribbon held in unity around the entire block–details on that coming soon!”
UWS Open Hearts Initiative also mentions the Sunday event on Twitter:
Recognizing the transformative power of love, so eloquently described by @homeless_hero below, we will be doing a symbolic blockade of The Lucerne on Sunday, wrapping the entire block in a Ribbon of Love, held by the community. Join us at 2pm at our Free Store to assemble. pic.twitter.com/DTUeFikNbh
— UWS Open Hearts Initiative (@UWSOpenHearts) September 30, 2020
Helen great job taking care of the UWS residents. I am curious what are you going to do for a living when we vote you out . Are you going to try for a stimulus check from the government ? Listen to this eyewitness news story again and then go job hunting. Maybe work with Deblasio he will be gone too but we will be here on the UWS ,,,, bye bye
Thank you for this story from ABC 7 which I mentioned in the comments in an earlier story about The Lucerne. Perhaps Corrine Low would be willing to spend a month or so as a resident of The Lucerne & give us a first hand account of her experience there.
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Sorry My thumbs up turned into question marks
@pepper
Yes. I wonder how Ms. Low and residents of her building would like the bi-weekly media circus and sidewalk chalkings. Now, a “symbolic BLOCKADE (?) of the Lucerne”…?!!
They may as well wrap the building in chains.
I can’t believe that the garbage they let in aren’t bounced out immediately. They should be given rosenthal’s address and sent there. Shame on her and the hotel owner
I have lived for 50 years in an apartment building diagonally across the street from the Lucern.I can see the entrance and the corner of the hotel from my windows and have seen no unseemly behavior that has been descibed in so many of the vitriolic comments descibed by some of my neighbors. Homelessness is the crisis our times, so let’s help in some small way and with compassion and decency.
Homeless people are also human beings. It has been very disappointing to see the one-sided, biased and close minded way this site has covered this story. Also very disappointed to read some of the discriminatory and demeaning comments from readers.
I read so comments for the UWS rag and thought many were hurtful one of the statements stood out to be very reasonable to me I forgot to mention that I am a homeless client at the hotel and I don’t recall the name of the person who posted this opinion as follows but I do agree with all my heart and soul if hotel residents can’t keep drug free then they should loose their Free hotel room i for on am a client who has been here since July 29th and I have been clean so what is so hard about complying with what some UWS suggest this is thier stomping grounds so why can’t we at least give them that if not for them then ourselves i been in project renewal for two and a half years and haven’t been offered to look at a window yet alone a studio or for that matter an SRO I have complied with all of the criterias that that they have told me to do and to still no avail about apartment rule as a road studio or what may have you just food for thought I’ve been trying to maintain my composure and I will maintain my composure because I am desperate need of housing I have a 16-year-old son that really needs to be joined with me his dad I did not want it to bring him into the shelter system so therefore I left them with his sister my daughter and he is sidetracking because he needs a dad in his life I am not allowed to bring food to the room or not even a candy bar for that matter but they serve you little black trays of food that is barely enough to feed or for a kindergartener I think I may have said enough so God bless to the upper West side is who I have embraced us and God bless to the upper West side is who have not embraced us for ignorance is terrible housing is a born right by everyone no one should have to live on the street no one no matter raise Creed color or religion may God bless all of you thank you