‘MIA’ Shea is to blame, Sliwa says
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa slammed “missing-in-action” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea on Saturday, claiming the “oblivious” top cop had let the West Side run wild and vowing to do his job if he doesn’t put a lid on the crime and chaos.
“It is mind boggling what is happening to our city. We are here to fill the void,” Sliwa said on Saturday, calling the indifference “an FU to the city.”
The Republican mayoral candidate also ripped Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal, calling her a “puppet” for not objecting to the three new homeless shelters jammed with junkies and sex offenders into her district.
Sliwa said he planned to step up safety patrols by his volunteer group starting on Sunday.
“The most ironic thing is the police commissioner, Dermot Shea, lives right on West 73rd between Columbus and Amsterdam,” he fumed.
“He does nothing! People have gone to his apartment and complained. Nothing! You call the cops and they don’t respond, so we have to try to contain the problem.”
The activist’s plan calls for assigning 60 people to patrol the Upper West Side in shifts.
“That’s a hell of a lot more than the NYPD has assigned here,” Sliwa said.
“I’ll go to the precinct. I’ll even go to Dermot Shea’s apartment and say, ‘Hey, you live here in the neighborhood. I live in the neighborhood. Why do we have to do this? This should be an NYPD responsibility.’ But it’s not.”
At a gathering of 75 residents at West 72nd Street and Central Park West Saturday afternoon, Sliwa railed that the homelessness complaints should be a “perpetual hemorrhoid” to city agencies and Shea.
The NYPD and Rosenthal (D) did not immediately respond to messages.
The Lucerne Hotel, on West 79th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, the Hotel Belleclaire, on West 76th Street and Broadway, and the Belnord Hotel, on West 87th Street, were recently converted into homeless shelters, with nearly 300 vagrants between them.
Among the residents are six pedophiles, including convicted rapists and child molesters.