AMHERST, N.Y. — As the question of where to house some asylum seekers in Erie County continues, there is apparently a major disconnect between leaders of two of the largest communities. 2 On Your Side pushed to get more answers Wednesday.
The pending move of asylum seekers from a Dingens Street hotel in a residential Cheektowaga neighborhood following an allegation of sexual assault and a tuberculosis case was a work in progress, according to the County Executive last Thursday.
Mark Poloncarz told Channel 2 last week, "The conversations I've had from the state and others indicate that they will close that Dingens Street hotel, which is in a residential neighborhood. But they also have to move the individuals elsewhere so that is still ongoing."
But Tuesday night during a packed town board meeting, Cheektowaga town supervisor Diane Benczkowski had an update based on her discussion with Poloncarz. She told other town leaders and residents about the Dingens Street hotel shelter site.
"It is going to be closed," she said. "They have identified a hotel outside of Cheektowaga to transfer migrants. They are moving them to, hopefully, this week to a hotel in Amherst in the Sweet Home School District."
So then another turn came in a morning WBEN radio interview with Amherst Town Supervisor Brian Kulpa, who said there's a lot of "misinformation" out there. He told the station hosts, "I'm sorry the supervisor from my neighboring town decided to speak out of turn about it, but she obviously didn't know exactly what was going on."
Kulpa added: "We were asked to be ready for that to happen. But if it was going to happen, there is a certainty that as municipal leaders we would be told when it was happening, and where, and how, and what, and it didn't, hasn't happened, and not sure if it will happen yet."
Kulpa also said of Benczkowski's announcement, "Other municipal leaders probably ought to just stop speculating or even taking partial information that they were told and talking about. If and when you know there's a decision that New York City is coordinating something in Amherst, I'll know about it. It did not happen yesterday. There's not even a certainty that it will happen."
Then what you might compounded community confusion Wednesday as a spokesperson for the Erie County Executive texted WGRZ. His text stated that New York City and its relocation subcontractor, DOC GO, said families with small children will probably be moving as of Friday from the Dingens Street hotel to a recently repaired Amherst hotel, and that while it may have been misunderstood, the Amherst supervisor's office is aware.
The text message did not indicate where single adult males from the soon to be closed Dingens site will be sent.
Supervisor Kulpa was not at Amherst Town Hall as 2 On Your Side stopped by Wednesday afternoon. His spokesperson said "there will be no further comment from him at this time."