West Village residents blast church's plans to build mission for junkies, vagrants: ‘We're losing the Village'

Yahoo

25-05-2025

West Villagers are up in arms over a church's plan to build a new $11 million mission at a historic NYC street corner, arguing it would lure even more junkies and vagrants to the already besieged area.
The Church of St. Luke in the Field's plans to erect a 4,400-square-foot building on the iconic corner of Christopher and Hudson streets — on the same block as a swanky school — complete with Narcan kits and free meals, to serve up to 300 hobos and drug addicts.
Residents were not feeling charitable towards the scheme, which still needs to go in front of Manhattan's community board, who'll issue a recommendation to the city whether to green-light construction.
Some fear the mission will devolve into a shooting gallery for junkies in broad daylight.
'There is absolutely no way to justify a safe injection site within blocks of three schools,' raged West Village resident Kathleen Walters.
Not only is there a school on the church's grounds — St Luke's elementary and middle school — but there are two other schools around the corner — PS3 Charrette school across the street on Hudson and the West Village Community School one block away.
And that's got parents fuming.
'What's been frustrating is that multiple parent groups and neighbors have tried to open a dialogue with the church about safety, scale, and transparency — especially given the proximity to several schools —and those efforts have been met with silence,' said Cameron Neilson.
Neilson called a petition, which has garnered more than 500 signatures, a 'last resort to get heard' given the church's silence.
Crime in the West Village skyrocketed 80% in 2022, continuing to climb through 2024, when major felonies surged to 1,789, up 16% from 2019. Residents have since begged for more cops from the 6th Precinct to patrol the streets.
The church plans to have Narcan — used to reverse opioid overdoses — readily available for potential overdoses, train staff on dealing with addicts and give out free lunches.
It currently serves about 40 people a week, most of them vagrants and junkies.
'It would greatly enhance our service to these weekday guests if there was a dedicated outreach space with a direct street-level entrance and space to wait beyond the stoop,' rector Mother Caroline Stacey said in a letter to parishioners
'Could this statement serve as an invitation to 'weekday guests,' when schools are in session, to shoot up near St. Luke in the Fields because along with Narcan, the church states elsewhere in the letter that it also provides 'a sandwich, two snacks, bottled water along with some food for later and often individualized clothing …?' ' concerned neighbors said in the petition.
The planned space could potentially hold up to 300 people.
Vanessa Warren, president of the Washington Place Block Association, said the mission helps create an environment that 'welcomes addicts.'
'To help addicts, you don't provide an abundance of resources that make it easy for them to continue using. However, the point of St. Luke's new mission is exactly that.'
She continued: 'The village is going to become an enclave of enablers if we don't stop confusing compassion with enabling. Anyone who has real experience with friends or family in active drug addiction knows that this is the absolute opposite way to behave, it is alien to common sense.'
The church did not respond to The Post's request for comment.