Richard Portale, a White Plains attorney representing the hotel owner, said Wednesday that he hopes to reach an amicable resolution to the dispute, one that balances the needs of both the migrant families and Yonkers.
“A Yonkers hotel that has housed migrant families since May is being sued by city officials for more than $200,000 in fines for operating what they describe as an unapproved boarding house.
Yonkers brought the case against the former Ramada by Wyndham — now known as Plaza Esperanza — in state Supreme Court in White Plains in August, three months after New York City placed the asylum seekers there. The suit contends the hotel can house only transient guests and violated its certificate of occupancy and Yonkers’ codes once the migrants had stayed longer than 30 days.
Neither Yonkers nor Westchester County had issued orders or sued to stop New York City from moving asylum seekers to hotels outside its borders, as other counties and municipalities did. New York City began those transfers in May to open space in its own shelters for the steady arrivals of migrants.”
By
New York State Team