Department of Homeless Services

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Bushwick Task Force Aims to ‘Clean Up’ (Literally) Area Plagued By K2

The intersection at Myrtle-Broadway is K2 central (Photo: Nicole Disser)

The intersection at Myrtle-Broadway in Bushwick is K2 central (Photo: Nicole Disser)

“I have a really high tolerance for people doing stuff on the street,” said G Lucas Crane, a member of the Silent Barn collective. “I’m from Brooklyn, I just wanna see people do their thing, I don’t want to call anybody out– but when it gets to this level of saturation, the community needs to do something about it.”

The Silent Barn sits just a block from the intersection of Myrtle-Broadway, a hotbed for K2 and other synthetic cannabinoids that have been targeted by city officials. Now, a coalition led by Council Member Antonio Reynoso is bringing a new kind of attention and care to this bustling but problematic corner.

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Doe Fund Fights to Keep Sex Offenders Out of Bushwick Shelter, But City Presses On

The Porter Street Shelter, operated by the Doe Fund (Photo via Doe Fund Facebook)

The Porter Avenue Shelter, operated by the Doe Fund (Photo via Doe Fund Facebook)

A fight is brewing between the City and the Doe Fund, a non-profit dedicated to helping provide the homeless with shelter, temporary jobs, and vocational training. The Department of Homeless services has moved to place a number of sex offenders at the organization’s Bushwick facility, but the Doe Fund claims it lacks the resources for what it says is a fundamentally different type of homeless person. After filing a lawsuit against the city, the non-profit is now appealing to the community by way of a petition and a “town hall meeting” held yesterday at its Porter Avenue shelter. But City officials, including local Council Member Antionio Reynoso and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, are pushing back.

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