Crime-ridden Qns. hotel draws protest

Dozens of local residents and lawmakers took to Queens Borough Hall on Sunday to protest the transformation of a nearby hotel into a “flophouse” that’s a magnet for violence.

“This is a community crisis,” Andrea Crawford, a Kew Gardens resident and member of Community Board 9, said of the decline of the Umbrella Hotel. “This is a health crisis. This is a crime crisis.”

The hotel was meant to be an upscale destination when it opened in 2017, but it has drastically slashed rates amid hard times, turning the place into a hub of drug-dealing, all-night parties and violence, with two shootings documented in two months, locals and officials have alleged.

Crawford was one of about 50 locals to gather on Sunday outside Borough Hall, across Queens Boulevard from the Umbrella Hotel.

She took Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, who is also a former borough president, to task for staying silent as the problem festered just feet away.

“We’re a few blocks from the DA’s Office. Where is Melinda Katz on this?” Crawford said. “She’s doing nothing about this hotel. We have heard nothing from her.”

Councilman Donovan Richards, a Queens Democrat who is vying to be the next borough president, pledged that such conditions wouldn’t continue on his watch.

“I’m not going to allow this to happen across the street from my office,” he said.

Signs carried by protesters read, “This is a family neighborhood, not a shooting gallery,” and “A school is a block away. Are your children safe?” — referring to PS 99.

As the demonstration was going on, a man and woman emerged from the hotel loudly arguing with each other, prompting NYPD cops to step in before the spat could turn physical.

The woman then threatened to spit on journalists gathered to document the demonstration.

Neither Katz’s office nor the Umbrella Hotel immediately responded to requests for comment.