A state of emergency is in effect in Schenectady County until further notice after the arrival of migrants this month.
County Manager Rory Fluman says a housing shortage is being exacerbated by hundreds of asylum seekers staying at the Super 8 Motel in Rotterdam. The County Legislature and Rotterdam Town Board both convened special meetings last week to discuss the situation. Fluman's office tells WAMC the emergency order is an extension of the one signed last week.
Republican Rotterdam town councilman Joe Mastroianni says lack of communication between the town, New York City and the city's contractor, DocGo, has local officials scrambling to maintain order.
"There's still a lot of unanswered questions," according to Mastroianni. "DocGo is uncooperative. At a meeting last week [scheduled] with Superintendent of Mohanesan Shine, County Manager Rory Fluman, they didn't even show up. They're not responsive to phone calls. We don't know if everybody that's been at that hotel is still there. We've heard reports that people have moved, you know, to friends and family in Schenectady County and perhaps even beyond. There's no record of anybody, we we have no indication from DocGo, if this sort of pattern is going to continue. The security detail keeps the perimeter, they don't answer any question. It's it's very frustrating. It feels like they set up an autonomous zone.”
Meanwhile, neighbors are pitching in to help the new folks in town. Bill Sherman with Allies For Justice is concerned about the migrants' well-being.
"The need is great, we found out," said Sherman. "We were originally being told that all of their needs were being met. And that is farthest from the truth, from our personal and direct experience. So last week, we were able to collect donations through word of mouth and Facebook, Allies For Justice, Connect the County, a Facebook group. And now I think we're over 100 members. And so people quickly made donations, and we were able to distribute those donations this past Friday. And we're going to do that again. This Thursday, from 5 to 7p.m. At the Rotterdam Community Center, at 705 Curry Road in Rotterdam. We will be accepting donations, and we will distribute them to the asylum seekers on Friday.”
Migrants were told they'd find employment upstate. Sherman says "jobs" are every migrants’ concern.
"That's the number one request from almost every single person that we talk with," Sherman said. "And after that, they're asking for help with shoes and with clothes, and with toiletries. And so that's the main thing that we hear from them. Also, you know, the families were a bit frightened by what was happening when they first arrived. But now, I believe that our organization has gained their trust."
Protestors demonstrated Sunday night outside the Super8. Sherman says they don't appear to be local.
"When we heard that there was a protest, we went over immediately. We live just a mile away from the hotel. And we saw an organization holding up signs and yelling through a bullhorn. None of those people appeared to be from any of the local area. And in fact, they were yelling,'it's not safe for you to walk downtown,' which to me indicates they have no idea about the town of Rotterdam because we don't have a downtown. And when I looked up their organization on the web, the ADL, anti-Defamation League lists them as a hate group, anti-semite group, that is well known across the country. And so it was clear to us that they were not local people there on Sunday, were not residents of Rotterdam or I don't believe of even the Capital District.
Low-income residents who were living at Super8 were abruptly evicted before the migrants arrived, to the chagrin of local officials. County Manager Rory Fluman was not available for comment.
