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Council Member Lynn Schulman expresses support for Intro 991-B, citing issues with the Umbrella Hotel in Queens
0:13:52
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3 min
Council Member Lynn Schulman of District 29 in Queens expresses strong support for Intro 991-B, which would require licensing for hotels in New York City. She cites the problematic history of the Umbrella Hotel in her district as a prime example of why this legislation is necessary, detailing its negative impact on the community and the city's inability to effectively address the issues under current regulations.
- Schulman describes numerous problems with the Umbrella Hotel, including drug dealing, violence, and a fatal shooting.
- She emphasizes that the proposed legislation would give the city the ability to inspect and address bad actors in the hotel industry.
- Schulman stresses the importance of listening to community concerns and taking them seriously to prevent future tragedies.
Lynn Schulman
0:13:52
Thank you, Chairman, and good morning, everyone.
0:13:56
I am council member Lynn Shulman.
0:13:58
I represent District 29 in Queens, which includes Forest Hills, Q Gardens, Richmond Hill, and a small pot of Regal Park.
0:14:06
What I will tell you is that I only have one hotel in my district.
0:14:09
That's the umbrella hotel and which has been the poster child for this piece of legislation.
0:14:14
I am here today to express my support for intro 991 that would empower the city to license hotels that operate in New York City.
0:14:22
I want to be give a big thank you to Chairman in for raising this critical issue given the history of bad actor hotels in New York City.
0:14:29
I want to thank my friends in labor, particularly HTC, 32 BJ, CLC, and many others for coming along and supporting this.
0:14:38
My district knows far too well what can go wrong with the bad actor hotel.
0:14:42
The umbrella hotel in Q Gardens opened in 2017 as a luxury hotel located on Queen's Boulevard.
0:14:49
Instead, it became a major quality of life issue in the local community.
0:14:53
Models were thrown from the building on a regular basis.
0:14:56
Parties were ongoing day and night.
0:14:58
In addition, drug dealers were known to frequent a lobby and first responders were frequently called for drug overdoses, and the NYPD was called on numerous occasions for criminal activity.
0:15:09
Over a hundred complaints were filed on this hotel alone.
0:15:12
From issues, including drugs and violence.
0:15:16
There were months and months of complaints from the local community asking for something to be done, to make matters worse.
0:15:23
A shooting took place during the summer of 2020.
0:15:26
No one was killed, but it led to the the local police pre police precinct to be stationed outside of the hotel for months using critical resources that could have been used for other things in the community.
0:15:38
Unfortunately, on January 1 2021, the first murder of New York City took place at the Umbrella Hotel A twenty year old gentleman was killed and 2 other and 2 others were injured.
0:15:49
Immediately after then, Mayor Bill De Blasio then shut down the hotel, but not for long.
0:15:55
Soon after the hotel reopened and months later, permanently closed only because of the owners, not the city's decision, because there was no clear cut license for the hotel.
0:16:05
The tragedy on January 1st could have been avoided had community concerns been seriously treated and valued.
0:16:11
This cannot happen again.
0:16:13
Introduction 991 would finally allow the city the ability to inspect and address the bad actors that have been able to act with impunity in our city.
0:16:22
That is why I am a proud co sponsor and supporter of this legislation.
0:16:27
I look forward to testimony from the QGuard And Civic Association for my district and other constituents that will highlight on the ground experiences with the Umbrella Hotel.
0:16:37
An important lesson then was listening to the community that deals with constant quality of life issues with hotels, and I hope the same is done today.
0:16:46
I wanna thank Chairman and for allowing me to speak.
0:16:48
I wanna thank my staff for their tremendous efforts in trying to resolve the quality of life issues presented by this hotel, which hopefully will finally be put to bed with the passage of intro 991.
0:16:58
Thank you, cheer.