By Jonann Brady
The Association for the Help of Retarded Children (AHRC), which runs three group homes for developmentally disabled adults in Baldwin, intends to open another group home for six adults at 1206 Hicks Place. Members of the Baldwin Oaks Civic Association are upset by the proposal and have asked the Town of Hempstead to help them halt AHRC's plans.
Last week, about 50 communityresidents, who recently received a letter detailing the proposal, held at meeting at Coes Park and presented their concerns to Councilman Anthony Santino.
"Residents of this community do not want this in their neighborhood," said Jacqueline Bell, president of the Baldwin Oaks Civic Association. Bell says that with four other group homes in Baldwin, BOCA believes the area is saturated.
"It's not that I personally am opposed to the residents, I am opposed to the concentration. Soon we'll be overwhelmed with group homes and our property values will go down," said Bell.
According to Merik Aaron, the Town of Hempstead's deputy attorney, the town has until Feb. 2 to either approve the
site, suggest an alternative or object to the facility. If the town were to object, legal papers would be filed to stop the project. If not, AHRC will move ahead with purchasing the property. Aaron said at this point the town has no grounds to object to the site.
The main challenge to group homes is on grounds of oversaturation, and both Aaron and Santino say that there has never been an instance where a challenge has been upheld.
That is little comfort to BOCA members, who are gathering signatures to protest the site in the hopes the town might reconsider.
AHRC runs 55 group homes in Nassau County, and Santino said that proposals for group homes typically engender community opposition, but once the residents move in, neighbors' fears prove unfounded. Santino said he was unaware of any major problems involving residents of group homes and their neighbors.
"These are developmentally disabled adults and they have a right to live somewhere," said Santino. "There's a pattern. They come in and people worry, then they turn out to be good neighbors."
subhead: The house on Elizabeth Street
Before the 1970s people with mental retardation lived lives of isolation for the most part. Many lived at home with their families and attended special schools. Others were warehoused in places like Willowbrook, the Queens institution made infamous in Geraldo Rivera's shocking 1972 television report that showed unsupervised, naked children in filthy, prison-like conditions.
Post-Willowbrook, the state pushed to shut down these institutions and integrate people with disabilities into schools and communities. While people with disabilities have become far more visible, many people hang on to fears and misperceptions, says Norman Rothleder, the director of community living services for AHRC.
Rothleder has worked with developmentally disabled adults for more than a decade and has seen cases of community opposition and then acceptance again and again. People worry about litter, noise and property values declining, but also that people with disabilities are dangerous and pose a threat to others.
"There's a higher standard," said Rothleder. "We're very aware and sensitive to that."
Open for seven months now, 1055 Elizabeth Street is the newest of AHRC's group homes in Baldwin. An AHRC home at 1500 Grand Ave. has been open 20 years and another on Washington Street has been open for five years. Another group home, not run by AHRC, is also located on Grand Avenue.
The neat, two-story Elizabeth Street home looks much like the other houses on the street. Photos of the residents line a hallway at the entrance. Hot dogs boil on the stove for dinner, and a group of three men sit on fluffy sofas, watching television.
Michael Kaminsky, a quiet 45-year-old, likes to put on his cowboy boots and go out dancing with his girl Patty, maybe drink an O'Doul's non-alcoholic beer or two.
Forty-year-old John Cassidy, Jr., whose friends call him Jack, is a die-hard Mets fan and calls his mother on the phone every night.
Tommy Brady, 35, is a smooth talker and has been known to tell people it's his birthday even when it's not, hoping for an extra party.
The men keep busy, spending their days either volunteering or working in supervised workshops. Sometimes they spend quiet evenings at home doing arts or crafts; other times they take group trips to the movies or the bowling alley.
For these residents, all over 35, moving to Elizabeth Street has meant living away from their parents for the first time, and the first steps towards more independent lives.
Jack Cassidy said that at 40 years old he knew it was time to move from his parents' house. "I'm getting old. I gotta get out," said Cassidy, recalling his feelings before moving.
Jack's mother Harriet, who is in her early 70s, said the move was harder on her and her husband than it was on Jack. "But it's worked out beautifully," she said. "He's with all these great people."
As people with disabilities live longer, their aging parents worry about what will happen to their children once they can no longer care for them.
Tommy Brady's father Jim, also in his 70s, said that that fear hit home when a friend of Tommy's, also an AHRC client, had his elderly parents die in succession recently.
"Ultimately, what's going to happen when we're gone?" said Brady. Living among friends has also kept the high-energy Tommy active and engaged. "He does things here that we couldn't do at home," he said.
sub: Neighbors worry about 'block busting'
People in the Baldwin Oaks community say that despite assurances from AHRC about round-the-clock supervision of residents, they are afraid that these newcomers will change the fabric of their tight-knit neighborhood.
Calvin Powell, who has lived on Village Avenue for 18 years, called the proposal "block busting."
"I think the property values will tumble to the ground," said Powell, who added that once the neighborhood becomes "destabilized," people will flee. "People are already saying, 'I'm ready to move.' They are up in arms."
Neighbors also worry about the mental stability of the residents.
"What happens when someone misses their medication? What happens if there's supervision missing?" asked Powell.
Sabrina Mitchell, a three-year resident of the community who lives adjacent to 1206 Hicks Place, said her number one concern is for the safety of her two young children, ages four months and three years.
"I'm not totally insensitive to people with disablities; everybody's entitled to a place to live," said Mitchell. "But with mental health issues, you cannot always be certain of their stability day to day."
Hugette Innocent, the live-in house manager at the Elizabeth Street home, said that neighbors there were initially wary of the residents, but that her job is not only to supervise house residents but build relationships with neighbors.
"In the beginning, they [neighbors] were not very friendly," said Innocent. "Now they are nice. One sent us a Christmas card thanking us for doing a beautiful job here."
Most Elizabeth Street neighbors interviewed said their initial fears about the group home have not panned out. One man who declined to give his name said, "We've had no problems with the kids. We were worried about the bus traffic and cars parked there. Actually, we haven't had too many problems."
Another neighbor, Dave Kalos, said that because he has an autistic child who lives in a group home, he was sympathetic to the residents and had no objection to the home. But, he added, "If it was for a drug rehab or something, it would be a concern."
Though it is likely that AHRC will move ahead with purchasing the Hicks Place property, neighbors say they will do whatever it takes to stop the group home.
"I'm willing to take it as far as it needs to go when it concerns my children," said Mitchell.
