NYC is receiving a large influx of migrants bused in from Texas, because of what Texas Governor Greg Abbott believes is President Biden’s “irresponsible open border policies.”
A plan is in the workings to convert Row NYC, a hotel in the middle of Times Square, into a migrant intake center and shelter for up to 600 migrant families, a challenge in a city that already has a massive homeless crisis.
The City and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are trying to find a way to deal with the housing and other problems associated with the new migrants.
Row NYC, at 700 Eighth Avenue, is a 28-story building located about three blocks north of the Port Authority Bus Terminal, where the migrants take their first steps into NYC.
Mayor Adams’ office hasn’t said yet what the plan will cost, who is managing it, and other specifics. It’s a work in progress that was born out of an emergency.
“The population served by the selected vendor will be families with children, adult couples and individual adults,” said the DHS’ request to the hotel, describing the people that will be occupying the luxurious shelter.
Migrants are stopped by Border Patrol agents at the Mexican border, but are released into the United States in order to seek asylum in the courts. They may enter at border crossings or illegally. Texas and Arizona have been receiving most of the migrants, and thus, most of the burden.
Mayor Adams said last month that the NYC shelter system was filled to capacity due to the migrants sent by the governors of Texas and Arizona.
Some of the migrants have no ties here and nowhere to go or to take them in.
The hotel, The Row, used to be called Milford Plaza, and was famous during the 1980’s because of a popular TV commercial. People who pay attention to commercials may remember actors dressed as hotel workers singing to the tune of “Lullaby of Broadway.”
It used to cost $43-a-night per person, in the “olden days,” in the 80’s. That included two meals. They advertised themselves as the “LullaBUY of Broadway,” referring, of course, to a good buy.
After the hotel was sold in 2010 and opened in 2014, it became renamed Row NYC, and tried to drum up business. During the COVID-19 pandemic it was used to house homeless people.
Now, unless you find a coupon or other discount, it costs $400-a-night to stay there. Forget about dinner.
Guests at the hotel responded with mixed opinions. Some said they would not stay in a hotel that housed migrants. Others said they were glad that the city was helping the unfortunate asylum seekers.
