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Mayor to Order Comptroller to Approve Homeless Shelter Contract

NEW YORK CITY-After city comptroller Alan G. Hevesi denounced a deal to buy a former industrial building from a real estate speculator with a record, Mayor Giuliani's staff says he'll force the comptroller's hand.

By Amy Vaughn | Updated on October 02, 2000

NEW YORK CITY-Mayor Giuliani’s staff confirms that the mayor will order city comptroller Alan G. Hevesi to approve a deal for the city’s Department of Homeless Services to fund the purchase of an industrial building. Hevesi decried the deal, saying publicly that the city should not fund a sale that would benefit a criminal. At issue is the ownership of the property by Jay Weiss, who pled guilty last year to manipulating bids submitted at real estate auctions of foreclosed Brooklyn properties.

The building would be purchased by the Doe Fund, which operates the Ready Willing and Able program, providing shelter and employment opportunities to homeless men with histories of drug abuse and criminal records. While the Doe Fund is not under fire by Hevesi, neighbors living by the proposed shelter site oppose the project. The building in question is a former knitting factory at 89-111 Porter Ave. in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Residents oppose putting in a 400-bed shelter for chronically homeless men with drug addiction issues and histories of incarceration.

The focus of Hevesi’s opposition stems from the criminal past of the building’s current owner, Jay Weiss, who Hevesi argues should not benefit from a sale. Weiss paid only $12,000 last year to buy the building, which will reportedly be bought by the Doe Fund with city funding for $2.5 million. Weiss would actually never see $1.6 million of it, as that will go directly to pay for back taxes he still owes the city. The rest, about $900,000 would be divided up between other fees and Weiss.

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