A plan to transform the Kingsbridge Armory annex buildings into schools is in jeopardy as Bronx activists and Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. once again find themselves at odds with the mayor’s office over a development project.

Last week, in protest of the city’s plan to turn a vacant army reserve center into a homeless shelter, Diaz did not attend a scheduled meeting with city officials, setting up a showdown reminiscent of Diaz’s battle with Mayor Bloomberg over the fate of the Kingsbridge Armory.

Diaz, along with Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs and Tokumbo Shobowale, the chief of staff for Deputy Mayor Robert Steel, make up the three members of the Muller Local Redevelopment Authority (LRA), a group tasked with finding a new use for the Sgt. Joseph A. Muller Army Reserve Center in Wakefield. The Department of Defense closed the center this year as part of its Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) effort.

For the past several months, Diaz and other elected officials have advocated for using the building to house the National Guard units that occupy two annex buildings attached to the north side of the Kingsbridge Armory on 195th Street.  The removal of the guard units from the Armory’s annex buildings would free them up to become schools, which activists have long advocated for and overcrowded School District 10 badly needs.

But lately, it had become increasingly clear that the other two members didn’t share this plan. Instead, according to Diaz and others involved with negotiations, they wanted to recommend that the Muller Center be turned into a 200-bed homeless shelter for men. (The Department of Defense has final say.)

Two weeks ago, in a final effort to sway his fellow authority members, Diaz sent a letter to the offices of the two deputy mayors explicitly opposing the shelter plan.

“Local elected officials at all levels, including my office, have expressed support for relocating the National Guard units from the Kingsbridge Armory to the ARC [Army Reserve Center], and are opposed to the homeless shelter proposal,” Diaz wrote in the letter.

The letter had little effect. Last week, Diaz became convinced the deputy mayors were going to vote on the homeless shelter recommendation, putting his voice in the minority. In a strategic move, Diaz decided not to attend a scheduled meeting of the authority at the downtown offices of the Economic Development Corporation (EDC, which is handling administration for the project), leaving the authority without a quorum to make an official vote.

“I do not feel that the concerns of the Bronx have been taken into consideration on this matter,” Diaz said in a statement, “and I feel that we need more time to negotiate the proper use of the Muller space which, in my opinion, should be the next home for the National Guard units currently located at the Kingsbridge Armory.”

Some believe the deputy mayors might be pushing the shelter recommendation as payback for Diaz’s effort last fall to kill the city’s plan to turn the Armory into a shopping mall.

“In what decidedly is the most disgraceful act of revenge and disregard for his duty as Mayor, King Bloomberg has decided to ignore the educational needs, security and will of the people of the Bronx,” said Desire Pilgrim-Hunter, an activist with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, in a statement.

Father Richard Gorman, the chairman of Community Board 12 where the Muller Center is located, has also criticized the mayor for seeking revenge for the Armory vote. More homeless shelters, he said, were unwarranted and amounted to overkill.
Diaz spokesman John DeSio said he doesn’t think it’s a case of payback. “The mayor’s office is above those types of petty games,” he said.

“I can’t blame [the mayor’s office] for wanting more homeless housing,” said Councilman Oliver Koppell, who has been trying for years to put schools into the Armory. “But in this instance, the [Wakefield] community has already had to accept a significant number of homeless shelters.”

As part of BRAC, local redevelopment authorities are required to look at the needs of the homeless in the community and determine if a homeless facility makes sense.

“Look at the federal guidelines: it’s pretty clear,” said Julie Wood, a spokesperson for the EDC. “Rules are rules.”

But Diaz and other activists in the community argue that the BRAC guidelines are not as cut-and-dried as the EDC and mayor’s office make them out to be. 

They argue that although the homeless population should be considered, this particular part of Wakefield is already inundated with shelters and other transitional facilities. Some 160 beds for homeless are already in the works within a three-block radius of the Muller Center. Another 200 beds would damage the community, Diaz argued in his letter.

“Bringing 360 units/beds online at the same time within a three-block radius will have a tremendous impact on a low-rise, middle-class, homeowner community that currently plays host to the largest number of group homes in the borough,” Diaz wrote.

In a paper about BRAC for the Congressional Research Service, which provides nonpartisan research and analysis for the federal government, lawyer R. Chuck Mason writes that a local development authority has several options for appropriate usage, including looking at homeless shelters.

“Screening of the property must be performed to determine if a homeless assistance use would be appropriate,” Mason writes. “There are also a variety of ‘public benefit transfers,’ under which the property may be conveyed for various specified public purposes.”

Last week, on the day Diaz strategically skipped his scheduled meeting with the deputy mayors, the Bronx Borough Board, which is made up of the borough’s community board chairs and City Council delegation, voted to back Diaz’s stance on opposing the homeless shelter idea and support the guard relocation plan.

At the meeting, Adolfo Abreu, a youth leader with Sistas and Brothas United, said the relocation of Armory guard units is a priority for everyone except the mayor.  “Community Board 12 and Wakefield residents want the Guard to move to their community. Elected officials are in support,” he said. “Our barrier is still that our mayor has an entirely different agenda.”