Ex-hotel still houses sex offenders near NYC playground after bombshell report — and nearby shelter is now following suit
A converted hotel next to a Chinatown playground is still housing violent sex offenders a full 10 months after The Post blew the whistle — and now a second Manhattan shelter is doing the same thing.
At least two registered sex offenders exposed in a July 5 report — including a level 3 offender, the highest risk — are still calling the former Hotel MB building at 61 Chrystie St. home near the Hester Street Playground, while a third only left because he was sent back to prison time and is now on parole.
Now another Big Apple neighborhood is facing the same fears for local parents, with a half dozen sex offenders holed up at a shelter at 197 Bowery, around the corner from the Rivington Street Playground.
Children play at the Rivington Playground at Sarah Roosevelt Park near a shelter housing sex offenders.
“Our society has become deaf to things that matters,” a 40-year-old mom who lives near the playground with her disabled 4-year-old daughter. “It’s like putting fresh, raw, bleeding meat in front of a shark…
Absurdity at its finest. Not one single word about the number of registrants arrested or suspected of a sex crime since they went there. Probably because the answer is ZERO.
I have a hard time with this one, but I agree with what @Dustin noted. These gents are being used as pawns in fearmongering campaigns without compensation for that and their consent. Given that…
The other side is NY and NYC is such a cesspool of mentally disturbed people who are not taken care of that (as seen in the news with their horrendous incidents) should something happen, it would reach coast to coast in big font. NY and NYC are not taking care of those who need to be taken care of in facilities who can care for them.
I really would like to inform the mother who said minor children in front of these gents is like blood in front of a shark that minor children in front of family members who break their trust in positions of trust are the same thing while point at her. Parents should be pointed out more as being more possible culprits than those in housing around the corner from a park.
Now registrants are sharks looking for fresh bait. Last time I checked I was a human being, not Jaws. That mom must be related to ET because she’s out of this world.
50 States 3244 Counties
Written by Quiet too long 04/22/2026
The mirror’s 3,244 prejudicial shattered shards sparkle bright and far, each one carrying the registry’s taint of stigma — and they represent the only light the public is compelled to follow.
I wonder if NY Post writers even live in NYC. I worked there, and I currently live in a city, and I can tell you that no one in a major city is afraid of people living in apartments nearby parks they go to–the issue is ALWAYS with people who are ALREADY LOITERING IN THE PARK, whether they’re teenagers, drunk old men, or antagonistic cult members. These people are either homeless or often don’t live anywhere near the park and just hop on a subway or bus to go bother people at a park where no one knows them. And you just teach your kids to steer clear of them.
But once again, the problem is with the REGISTRY. Why is the government telling citizens that PFRs in your area are dangerous if that isn’t true? Because the government is LYING. The registry is slander, because it sends a direct message to all Americans that some people are IMMEDIATELY DANGEROUS even when they aren’t by every measure we have.
It is the NY Post which is not above the Enquirer at your cash register when it comes to journalistic integrity of knowing the facts to start.