Author: metanet

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By Mark Hallum

TimesLedger Newspapers

One Bay Terrace resident raised concerns about the gas infrastructure in her neighborhood as the Fire Department and ConEd were at work repairing the gas main near her home Tuesday for the second time in 12 months.

Maryanne McGowan said she has lived in her World War II-era home at 205th Street and 23rd Avenue for most her life, and she said the infrastructure surrounding the home may be aging faster than the energy service can repair or replace the main.

“This morning, I could smell gas in the house and started venting windows,” McGowan said. “I had this problem last year; January to April, I had to call them six times. The Fire Department had to break into four houses. … I can’t just keep hoping that when I wake up I don’t smell gas, and I can’t leave the house because I have to open all the windows.”

According to a ConEd spokesman, a citywide capital program is in place to replace gas mains that show signs of decline or have repeated issues. But a common reason for gas leaks is not old, cast-iron pipes, as McGowan believed, but shifting soil around the mains, the spokesman explained.

“If there’s been water main breaks or something like that and the ground underneath the main has become less stable, that can make it more susceptible to either fissures, breakage, ruptures,” the spokesman said, adding: “You can have a brand-new plastic main, and if the ground around it had shifted because of street work for whatever reason, that main would be at more risk than a main that’s been sitting with solid ground around it for 100 years.

“If there are areas that seem to be problem areas, we target them for replacement.”

ConEd could not provide background on the specific issues in Bay Terrace before press time, but two FDNY trucks were at the scene Tuesday afternoon along with three ConEd vehicles all going door to door to work with residents to resolve the issue.

As McGowan stood in front of her house, the smell of gas was present.

“I don’t think they’re doing their job,” she said. “I think they’re digging little holes here and there where it’s a 70-year-old main.”

She said that as many as six houses may have been affected by Tuesday’s leak. “It happens when the temperature goes up and the draw from the high-pressure mains slows down. The gas backs up.”

Reach reporter Mark Hallum by e-mail at mhallum@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4564.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

Jackson Heights resident Jessica Ramos officially launched her campaign to challenge state Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) in the Democratic primary next fall.

Ramos announced her candidacy on the one-year anniversary of Peralta’s defection to the Independent Democratic Conference in an alliance with Senate Republicans allowing the GOP to maintain a majority and block progressive legislation such as the DREAM Act and the Reproductive Health Act.

“One year ago today, the bigot in the White House announced a travel ban on majority Muslim countries, targeting our fellow Queens residents and making them feel unsafe,” Ramos said. “That same day, our senator — who calls himself a Democrat — joined the conference that concedes control of our senate to Republicans. The Senate Republicans have the power because they have his vote. Today, we say it is time for a real Democrat to represent us in the state Senate.”

Ramos, 32, a married mother of two, resigned as Director of Latino Media at City Hall last month to launch her campaign. She is a strong labor advocate with deep experience championing union rights having worked with Build Up NYC to fight for construction, building, hotel and maintenance workers in New York City and served as a Democratic District leader from 2010 to 2014.

“As a mother of two, Queens native, and MTA rider, I know our community needs a real Democrat in Albany to fight for stronger schools, affordable health care, and a subway system that actually works,” Ramos said, surrounded by several dozen supporters in sub-freezing temperatures across from PS 69, where her sons go to school. “Now more than ever, state government should be our defensive line against the Trump White House — but instead, our state senator is siding with Republicans to block single-payer health care, the DREAM Act, and more. I am a real Democrat, and I will vote with my party.”

Meanwhile, Peralta marked the anniversary of his switch to the IDC by calling it a “successful year” in which he secured more than $5 million in state funds for local schools and community based organizations; answered nearly 2,000 constituent calls; and had bills signed into law to combat lead paint chips falling from the 7 train and the alienation of parkland to build a 300-seat pre-K school in Flushing Meadow Corona Park. He also delivered a $10 million legal defense fund to protect immigrants.

“Since I decided to join the Independent Democratic Conference exactly one year ago, I now have a seat at the table that allows me to deliver more and better services for my community,” Peralta said. “Clearly, this was an extremely effective year, both in terms of legislation and bringing much-needed resources to my constituents. My focus is on delivering for my community, whether it’s by bringing state funding for our schools and local organizations, or by passing crucial legislation.”

Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4538.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

Police from the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights were searching for a 64-year-old North Corona man who has been missing since Wednesday.

Bernard Fickens was last seen at his home at 32-11 98th Ave., at 12:45 p.m., according to the NYPD.

Police describe him as black with black hair and brown eyes, 5 feet, 6 inches tall and 160 pounds. Fickens was wearing a black sweater, blue jeans and black socks but he was not wearing sneakers, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.

Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4538.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Mark Hallum

TimesLedger Newspapers

Train service was suspended on the Port Washington line for over two hours on early Thursday morning after a woman was fatally struck by a train.

MTA police are investigating the nature of the incident, but a Long Island Rail Road spokesman said a white female was at the Bayside train station, located at 41st Avenue and Bell Boulevard, at around 12:30 a.m. when she was hit by a Penn Station-bound train, which was not carrying passengers.

The LIRR identified the woman as Courtney Shayna Lee, 27, from Bayside.

Service did not resume until 3:09 a.m., the LIRR spokesman said.

Reach reporter Mark Hallum by e-mail at mhallum@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4564.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Mark Hallum

TimesLedger Newspapers

The recently released Fix NYC panel report to enact Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s congestion-pricing proposal calls for sweeping change to how cars are charged to enter Manhattan’s most gridlocked sections while keeping historically toll-free East River bridge crossings gratis.

But while many are praising the effort to create a dedicated funding stream for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to bring the ailing subways into the 21st century, some Queens elected officials stand by their opposition to the EZPass charge of $11.52 for cars entering Manhattan during peak hours. A $25.34 fee would be placed on trucks to encourage overnight deliveries to businesses.

“Tolls must be more fair,” Cuomo said as the plan was unveiled last Friday. “Trips to and from New Jersey can be less expensive than trips from New York City’s outer boroughs. Tolls vary widely, and they must be rationalized so costs are fair to all.

“But, as a born and raised Queens boy, I have outer-borough blood in my veins, and it is my priority that we keep costs down for hardworking New Yorkers, and encourage use of mass transit. We must also find a way to reduce the costs for outer-borough bridges in any plan ultimately passed.”

Other attempts for similar plans have not been so successful. In 2008, Mayor Michael Bloomberg called for a congestion-pricing plan, but it proved to be an unpopular notion and was killed at the state level.

After the system-wide transit meltdown of 2017, though, state government is intent on creating a dedicated revenue stream for the MTA, historically funded through the state budget every year.

Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Fresh Meadows), Councilman Barry Grodenchik (D-Oakland Gardens) and state Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) protested the Fix NYC proposal on the Sunday following the release of the report, contending that outer-borough residents would be disadvantaged by the premium.

“Congestion pricing would be disastrous for Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island residents,” Weprin said. “The tolls would inadvertently place a tax [on] middle-class communities and small businesses in these areas and raise the cost of goods and services from these areas while also limiting the competitive ability of local businesses.

“On top of that, private drivers who rely on the free bridges would have to pay each and every time they travel into the city, in addition to the vehicle registration fees, fuel taxes and other garage fees charged to New York City drivers. New York cannot afford to break the backs and empty the wallets of its outer-borough locals to ‘Fix NYC.’”

After Cuomo’s budget address, Weprin praised the governor’s explicit intention to keep East River bridges, such as the Queensborough Bridge, toll-free. The Fix NYC proposal did not specify whether these crossings will continue to be exempt, but it defined the Commercial Business District, which will be the target of congestion pricing, as all of Manhattan below 60th Street.

Riders Alliance campaign manager Rebecca Bailin accused Weprin and those opposed to the proposal of “grandstanding” and defending people with enough money to own a car over the average city commuter.

“David Weprin is standing up for the few people who are rich enough to drive and park in Manhattan, and he is ignoring the needs of the vast number of working and middle-class New Yorkers who rely on the subway and buses,” Bailin said. “The congestion-pricing plan outlined by the Fix NYC panel is a progressive way to fund urgent repairs to the transit system so that working people can get to their jobs, pick up their kids and keep their medical appointments.

“Today, we’re demanding that Assembly Member Weprin stop grandstanding at the expense of struggling New Yorkers and be part of the solution instead. Our elected officials represent millions of transit riders, and they’d better start acting like they care about our needs.”

Only about 4 percent of drivers are expected to have to pay this fee, according to the report. But Grodenchik argued on Twitter that when you take into account a population in the millions, the numbers have a wider impact than expected.

“I will fervently oppose any congestion pricing plan,” Grodenchik said. “For too long our government has chosen to underfund our mass transit system. Now, to make up for its lack of investment, the State of New York is proposing a regressive tax that will fall squarely on the shoulders of hardworking New Yorkers. If this wrong-headed plan is implemented and ‘successful,’ traffic speed in the core area of Manhattan will still be less than 6 mph, which is a bill of goods I am not interested in buying.”

The Fix NYC proposal supported the governor’s recommendation during the previous week’s budget address to dedicate funds levied from the Payroll Mobility Tax, an annual $1.6 billion, to the MTA for its use updating infrastructure developed around the turn of the 20th century.

“Our transit system is at the breaking point,” said Toby Sheppard Bloch, a Riders Alliance member from Glendale. “Last week a ride that should have taken 20 minutes stretched over two hours. New Yorkers and the economy are suffering lost wages and lower productivity because elected officials have failed to commit sufficient resources to our transportation system. The time has long past to take action, and failure to establish a robust and ongoing funding stream to invest in mass transit will have crushing effects on our city.”

Reach reporter Mark Hallum by email at mhallum@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4564.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

With the government shutdown having come to an end on Monday for at least three weeks, Congress has until Feb. 8 to decide the fate of about 689,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival recipients, undocumented immigrants who entered the country as children and remain temporarily protected from deportation. The Trump administration has said that the protection from DACA will expire on March 5.

If New York loses its approximately 152,000 DACA recipients, it will be at an exorbitant cost to the city, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio. DACA recipients, also known as Dreamers, contributed $4.7 billion to the city’s gross domestic product last year and earned $2 billion, according to the mayor’s office.

There are 55,000 Dreamers in Queens, 46,000 in Brooklyn, 29,000 in the Bronx 18,000 in Manhattan and 4,000 in Staten Island, according to the mayor’s office. About 15 percent of Dreamers are professionals and 33 percent have occupations as service workers, according to Matt Dhaiti, a spokesman for the Mayor’s Office of Immigration Affairs.

They work in varying industries like education and health services (10 percent), construction, manufacturing and wholesale trade (20 percent) and hotel and food services (24 percent), Dhaiti said.

Dreamers have a 69 percent participation rate in the labor force, which is higher than the general population’s 65 percent in the five boroughs, MOIA said.

More than 20,000 Dreamers are homeowners or contribute to their families’ mortgage, and nearly one-third are attending college, have graduated or attended some college, according to MOIA.

The DREAM Act, a longstanding bill from which the Dreamers name is taken, would grant lawful status to immigrants brought here as children without documentation. If Congress were to pass it, 150,000 residents in the city would benefit from it, including the 110,000 people who would gain a path to citizenship. An additional 39,000 could be granted status if they meet an education requirement, according to MOIA.

More than 16,000 elementary school students and middle-schoolers are among the 150,000 who would gain immediate status if the bill went through by Feb. 8.

Democrats, who are in the minority in Congress and are fighting for the bill, have an uphill battle. Until Monday, Republicans in Congress held funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program hostage in order to get their way in receiving funding for a border wall, canceling visa lotteries, and a host of other measures that continue to grow without action on DACA, according to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

CHIP, a mostly federally funded program, provides 9 million children from low- to moderate-income families with low-cost health insurance.

If Republicans continued to hold CHIP hostage to get Democrats to concede on DACA, children in New York and 26 other states would have lost out on the program by March 2018, around the time DACA is set to expire.

Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by e-mail at nrose@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4573.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Tammy Scileppi

TimesLedger Newspapers

“I’m lucky to have worked in theater all over the world, but there’s something magical about Broadway. The audiences are smart, they’re educated. They go in ready and they’re up for it, they’re up for the party.” — Hugh Jackman

There’s something extra-magical when Broadway comes to Queens, especially when local theatergoers have an opportunity to watch a unique show that features a stellar cast of wonderfully talented actors performing at Queens Theatre — actors who are real-life Broadway couples.

With musical direction by Eugene Gwozdz, “Broadway Valentine” promises an evening or afternoon filled with an entertaining mix of lively music and singing across the spectrum of Broadway, pop, the American songbook and country, punctuated with personal stories from the cast and a question-and-answer session with the audience. Performances are at 8 p.m. Feb. 17 and 3 p.m. Feb. 18 at the theater, 14 United Nations Avenue South in Flushing Meadows Corona Park,

“It’ll be a great date night for theater lovers,” said executive director Taryn Sacramone. “Many of Queens Theatre’s audience members are big fans of Broadway and musical theater. Presenting this show is my way of sending a love letter to them.”

The three performing couples are Tony nominee Erin Dilly (“A Christmas Story,” “Nice Work if You Can Get It,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”) and Stephen Buntrock (“Evita,” “A Little Night Music,” “Grease”); Kyle Dean Massey (“Nashville,” “Pippin,” “Next to Normal,” “Wicked”) and Taylor Frey (“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” “Finian’s Rainbow”); and Alysha Umphress (“On the Town,” “Bring It On,” “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”) and Cody Williams (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “On the Town,” “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella”).

Whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day or not, chances are you’ll be feeling the love in spades, because these three couples love what they do and love making their audiences happy.

“I think that we feel a connectedness with each other when we experience live performances together – seeing and feeling that happen is very exciting to me,” said Sacramone, who decided to feature married couples — some married longer than others — because she thought there would be “something particularly fun about knowing that the couples who you are watching onstage are real-life couples, with their own love stories.”

“It certainly guarantees that the cast will have chemistry,” she said.

Since coming aboard in August 2013, Sacramone said, she wanted to continue to support and offer some of the programming that Queens Theatre audiences had appreciated for more than two decades: world-class dance companies, theater that was both presented and produced in-house, performances highlighting and celebrating cultural diversity, and the development of plays by emerging writers from diverse backgrounds.

In addition, she wanted to introduce new shows and performers that exemplified the values behind those programming decisions — what is exciting now, in 2018.

She also wanted to make use of all three spaces at Queens Theatre, inviting Titan Theatre Company, a young company that produces classical plays, to make its home in the Studio Theater, for example, and bringing the play-reading series New American Voices to the intimate cabaret space.

“What I aim to do is to provide shared experiences for a diverse audience,” Sacramone said. “I love seeing people from all over this exceptionally diverse borough in particular, in the theater together, being moved by an extraordinary dance performance or a thought-provoking play.”

Sacramone lives with her husband (a Queens native and restaurateur) and two children in Whitestone. “Both of us love this borough,” she said.

A local resident who once lived just across from Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Stephen DeAngelis said he’s “thrilled” to be producing (and hosting) his first concert exclusively for Queens Theatre. “The most fulfilling part of producing a concert like ‘Broadway Valentine,’ ” he said, “is being able to create something truly unique for the audience, utilizing the full range of the cast’s talents and connecting with the audience.

“These combinations of performers have never worked together previously, so I anticipate multiple ‘lightning in a bottle moments’ coupled with the energy of an opening night.”

Mark your calendars. DeAngelis will be returning to the theater with an all-new concert, “Broadway Kids,” set for March 24 and March 25.

Ideal for audience members of all ages, this original musical revue will feature young actors who were child performers in Broadway shows. Audiences are sure to enjoy talkbacks with the cast after each performance.

The talented producer has also served as casting director for the theater’s productions of “The Miracle Worker,” “In the Car with Blossom and Len” and “Jimmy and Carolyn.”

In addition, he has produced more than 250 Broadway concerts at venues in New York and across the United States. featuring a multitude of Broadway stars, including many Tony Award and Drama Desk Award winners and nominees, stars from hit television series and films whose roots are on stage, and Broadway’s fastest-rising young performers.

“We are fortunate to be working with Stephen DeAngelis, who has produced many musical revues in the past, and always works with top talent,” Sacramone said.

Over the years, he has cast more than 3,600 network television and radio commercials for Manhattan’s leading advertising agencies, for clients including Olive Garden, Cover Girl and Advil. DeAngelis has also cast the six-time Emmy-Award-nominated Playhouse Disney series “Johnny and the Sprites,” starring Tony Award nominee John Tartaglia, which was seen on the Disney Channel.

His work has been seen in New York and regionally in 300-plus theatrical productions. Coming productions include the New York premiere of the new musical “Unexpected Joy,” by two-time Tony Award nominee Bill Russell and Janet Hood, and the Off-Broadway production of “Texas in Paris.”

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Source: Times Ledger