New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced this week that the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center on Randall’s Island will close at the end of February.

The decision follows a 14-week decline in the number of asylum seekers in city shelters, which has reached its lowest level in over a year, City Hall said.

The city has already reduced capacity at the Randall’s Island facility, which opened in August 2023, by dismantling the largest residential tent structure that housed more than 750 cots and returning one of the athletic fields to community use. The facility had the capacity to house 3,000 single men.

In the coming months, the Adams administration said it will gradually decrease the on-site population. After the center’s closure in February, the city will invest in restoring the remaining impacted athletic fields and parkland.

“We’re not out of the woods yet, but make no mistake, thanks in large part to our smart management strategies and successful advocacy, we have turned the corner on this crisis,” Adams said in a statement.

“We’re not scrambling every day to open new shelters — we’re talking about closing them. We’re not talking about how much we’re spending — we’re talking about how much we’ve saved. And thanks to today’s announcement, in a few months, we’ll be talking about how much we’re investing in restoring Randall’s Island’s incredible fields and parks for community use.”

Since the arrival of the first buses of asylum seekers in 2022, the city’s Asylum Application Help Center has completed more than 72,000 applications for work authorization, temporary protected status and asylum, according to a press release from City Hall.

City officials also reported that the city has purchased 47,000 tickets to help migrants reach their preferred destinations, and staff has conducted more than 630,000 case management sessions with migrants.

As a result, about 158,000 migrants who requested services from the city “have taken their next steps in their journeys towards self-sufficiency,” City Hall said.

A former New York City Hall official was charged Tuesday with witness tampering and destruction of evidence, according to federal prosecutors.

Mohamed Bahi, who served in the community affairs unit of the Adams administration, is accused of asking witnesses to lie to investigators and destroying evidence linked to a federal investigation into illegal contributions to a 2021 mayoral campaign, Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced.

Bahi’s resignation from the Adams administration was confirmed by City Hall on Monday.

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What You Need To Know

• Mohamed Bahi is accused of asking witnesses to lie to investigators and destroying evidence linked to a federal investigation into illegal contributions to a 2021 mayoral campaign
• Bahi allegedly took steps to obstruct an FBI’s investigation into straw donations made to a mayoral campaign in 2021
• Bahi’s resignation from the Adams administration was confirmed by City Hall on Monday

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“The charges unsealed today should leave no doubt about the seriousness of any effort to interfere with a federal investigation, particularly when undertaken by a government employee. Our commitment to uncovering the truth and following the facts wherever they may lead is unwavering,” Williams said in a statement.

 Investigators allege Bahi was involved in organizing a fundraiser for an unnamed city official during their campaign for New York City mayor. At the event, investigators allege four employees of an unnamed construction company contributed in their own names, but the funds were actually provided by the company’s CEO. Such contributions are often referred to as straw contributions.

 “The knowing solicitation and acceptance of straw contributions can violate federal law when, for example, a political campaign makes false statements about straw contributions to a public entity to fraudulently obtain public matching funds based on the contributions, or when the straw contributions are used to smuggle foreign money into a campaign,” prosecutors said.

 Bahi allegedly took steps to obstruct the FBI’s ongoing investigation into these straw donations by tampering with multiple witnesses and destroying evidence, according to prosecutors.

 Specifically, prosecutors allege that after FBI agents executed a search warrant at the construction company’s CEO’s home and served subpoenas to him and the donors, Bahi reportedly met with them privately, instructing them to lie to federal investigators.

 Additionally, when FBI agents executed a search warrant at Bahi’s home and seized his cellphone, he is accused of deleting the encrypted messaging application Signal, which he allegedly used to communicate with city officials.

The city next week will kick off the planning process for a greenway that will close the gaps in bike and pedestrian pathways along the Queens waterfront, officials said Monday.

The Queens Waterfront Greenway is one of six new greenways the city is developing as part of a plan it unveiled last year, the Department of Transportation said.

The DOT said the 16-mile greenway will run along the East River and the Long Island Sound, connecting Gantry Plaza State Park with Fort Totten Park.

“A waterfront Greenway in Queens will better connect residents to the East River and Long Island Sound through new bike paths and pedestrian space and create a critical commuting corridor for riders,” DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a statement. “We look forward to developing our historic greenway expansion hand-in-hand with local residents.”

As part of the planning process, the DOT, the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation and the city’s Economic Development Corporation will host a series of public workshops throughout October. At the workshops, local residents will be encouraged to share comments, suggestions and concerns about the greenway.

Workshops are scheduled as follows:

• Gantry Plaza State Park to Bowery Bay (Section 1): Tuesday, Oct. 8, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden in Astoria.
• Bowery Bay to Willets Point (Section 2): Wednesday, Oct. 16, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Glow Cultural Center in Flushing.
• Willets Point to Fort Totten (Section 3): Thursday, Oct. 24, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Alley Pond Park and Environmental Center in Douglaston.
• Virtual Workshop (All sections): Tuesday, Oct. 29, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Zoom.

Residents can sign up for the workshops online.