Fight over Billionaires Row shelter heats up with Giuliani aide

Crain's New York Business reports:

In their battle against Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to put a costly homeless shelter near Manhattan’s Billionaires Row, neighborhood residents have summoned help from an earlier administration.

The West 58th Street Coalition, a group of residents and business owners opposed to the city’s proposal to convert a tired Midtown hotel into a men’s shelter, is exploring legal action and has hired lawyer Randy Mastro, a former deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani. The group aims to raise at least $300,000 to mount a possible court challenge based on New York state’s Article 78, which allows citizens to appeal an action taken by a government agency.

“Who better to know when government screws up than a former deputy mayor who also litigates?” Mastro, now a partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, said in an interview. “To locate the facility at this venue is just out of whack, it’s inexplicable.”

The coalition complains that the city would be paying a premium to shelter the homeless near one of Manhattan’s priciest real estate corridors, where a penthouse sold for a record $100.5 million and more condo towers aimed at the globe-trotting elite are under construction. The residents opposing the proposal lived in the area well before the billionaires’ boom, and argue the shelter poses security concerns in a neighborhood where they run small businesses, push strollers and go out for evening walks.

A big New York city problem...