The Quality Inn is one of the hotels used by the county Department of Social Services to house the homeless. Todd Beckerink, Falconer Central School district safety advisor, said he hopes to see some sort of action taken to better address this as a community problem, rather than just a problem for the school district, town of Ellicott and village of Falconer..

Beckerink said the school district has had a growing number of problems occur since the homeless began being housed in the Quality Inn. Beckerink noted that one of the most serious occurrences happened recently and involved a man who entered a bus that was loaded with elementary aged children. The man made verbal threats toward the bus driver and was later arrested by the Ellicott Police Department, according to Beckerink.

“That is pretty threatening to me. As a parent, if I had a young child, I would be extremely upset,” said Beckerink.

This is far from the first, or only, occurrence of problems for the district it seems. Beckerink mentioned that problems have become a daily occurrence for the district, with some days having numerous instances.

The loading area, located at the rear of the building.

Beckerink made note of countless instances of homeless individuals trespassing on school property, as well as one instance of two people from the hotel having sexual intercourse on the school playground. Beckerink also noted that needles have been found at various spots around the school grounds recently.

While Beckerink noted he cannot fully confirm this to be the fault of the homeless individuals, he did state that the problem began around the time of the Quality Inn taking in the homeless. Beckerink also noted a recent instance in which a student’s bike was observed being stolen by individuals from the Quality Inn.

In another scenario, an individual was arrested for refusing to leave the property and later made a secondhand threat toward the school, prompting a police investigation, according to Beckerink.

A meeting was held in May, facilitated in part by the Falconer School District, to discuss problems being caused by the homeless individuals near the school. The meeting contained officials from the town of Ellicott, officials from the village of Falconer, Ellicott Police Chief Daniel Ingrao, Falconer Fire Chief Keith Babcock, and a representative from the county Social Services office.

Beckerink stated a plan was developed at the meeting and that it would be put into effect by all who attended the meeting. While the issues did slow after the meeting, the district continues to see many problems, said Beckerink. Beckerink feels that the local municipalities and school district took the necessary actions discussed at the meeting, but feels that DSS has done very little to try to better the situation. At the meeting DSS agreed to have the housed individuals sign a contract with rules pertaining to staying off of school grounds, and agreed to have the hotel hire additional private security to aid workers from the school and police, according to Beckerink. Beckerink, Ingrao and Janet Bowman, Ellicott town supervisor, all said no additional security has been hired by the hotel since that meeting, to their knowledge.

A cat walking around an entrance to the hotel.

Beckerink’s report isn’t the first time Ellicott and Falconer officials have raised concerns about the effect the homeless are having in Falconer. But it’s one of the first time issues near the school have been raised.

The district has taken many additional measures to ensure children’s safety at the schools. Beckerink noted that, since the meeting, the district has put up numerous trespassing signs, painted school markings around the property, added security cameras, installed a chain link fence where the school property meets the Quality Inn’s property, hired additional safety officers, and installed a new alarm system on school buildings. All of these costs are put onto taxpayers, which would be avoidable had a different location been chosen for the housing, said Beckerink.

Beckerink told school board members he wants to see more help from County Executive PJ Wendel and the Chautauqua County Legislature.

The Quality Inn located in Falconer. P-J photo by Owen Reed