#Mayor de Blasio’s plan to move UWS homeless to Fidi hotel approved

A group of Lower Manhattan residents lost an emergency bid to block Mayor de Blasio from moving 240 homeless men from an Upper West Side hotel to a Radisson in their neighborhood next week.

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Debra James ruled Friday that the relocation, scheduled for Monday, would not cause any “immediate and irreparable harm” to a neighborhood group called Downtown New Yorkers Inc.

“This move is the right thing to do,” a city Law Department spokesman told The Post.

“We welcome the court’s decision not to interfere with the judgment of the city to move forward. Now residents can get services onsite and be closer to medical care,” the spokesman said.

But Judge James allowed the suit to continue and set a court hearing for Nov. 16.

The group had argued in their pending lawsuit that the homeless men could cause safety problems because of substance abuse and mental health issues.

“The city has repeatedly moved these men from shelter to shelter, disrupting their lives without any plan,” said Christopher Brown of Downtown New Yorkers.

The homeless men were first put in the Lucerne Hotel on W. 79th Street during the height of the coronavirus pandemic as their usual congregate shelters lacked the needed space for social distancing.

But then a group of Upper West Siders hired a powerful attorney to lobby the mayor to move the men, arguing that the Lucerne residents accosted passersby on the street, openly used drugs, and caused other quality-of-life issues.

The mayor announced his plan to close the Lucerne and transfer its occupants last month after the lawyer Randy Mastro, a former deputy mayor to Rudy Giuliani, threatened to sue the city.

Lower Manhattan residents say they were blindsided when they learned just recently that city officials panned to use a shuttered Radisson Hotel on William Street to house the former Lucerne residents.

Brown’s group filed suit over the relocation last week. Friday, he vowed to continue fighting in court despite the setback.

“It would be unconscionable for the city to move the men into 52 William Street knowing that they might be forced to move again in several weeks. The neighborhood is committed to its ongoing legal strategy on this matter.”