Cheektowaga, N.Y. (WBEN) - A long and contentious meeting played out inside the Cheektowaga Town Council Chambers on Tuesday, as citizens, the town board and Erie County officials continue to grapple with issues resulting from hundreds of asylum seekers being housed in multiple Cheektowaga hotels.
Before citizens aired their grievances ranging from lack of coordination, planning between government officials and the costs associated with migrant children coming to Maryvale Schools, Cheektowaga Supervisor Diane Benczkowski announced a plan of action, communicated to her by Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, for asylum seekers being housed at a hotel on Dingens Street.
"I had a conversation today with County Executive Mark Poloncarz. He told me the following: The Dingens Street facility is still going to be closed down as a homeless shelter for migrants. They have identified a hotel outside of Cheektowaga to transfer the migrants. They are moving them, hopefully this week, to a hotel in Amherst in the Sweet Home School District. The Dingens facility will be closed to migrants and can operate as a regular hotel again."
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Meanwhile, residents are voicing concerns with the 66 school-aged asylum seekers coming to Maryvale School District.
"I am concerned with the safety of our residents and our students," says Debbie Kohler, Surfside Parkway resident. "We already have two ELS (English as a Second Language) teachers, they're going to have to hire a third one. The class sizes are going to be bigger, our teachers are already under stress. Some of the kindergarten teachers do not have aides. These teachers are going to have to take time away from our student to help the other kids who are coming in and I'm worried that these kids are not properly immunized."
Supervisor Benczkowski says they have reached out to our state elected officials in hopes of providing some financial assistance to the Maryvale School District.
In addition, the town board passed a resolution that gives them the green light to "Retain Outside Legal Counsel Relating to the New York City Asylum-Seeker Program."
"I wanted to let the residents who sent me emails related to Town Law Section 262, asking the town to enforce the town zoning provisions with regard to the transformation of hotels to homeless shelters, that I received them all. I think the whole board received all those emails. The town board is looking to proceed with action, but we are currently in the early stages," said Benczkowski. "We can not make any further comments about the situation due to attorney/client privilege and the preparation of our case. We want it to be as strong as possible. We are in the early stages now in working with the new attorney. So we're just asking for your patience but we are doing something about it."
It is important to note that Erie County has temporarily halted the flow of asylum seekers coming into our area, following a series of two asylum seekers committing sexual assaults.
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