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By Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

State Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman (D-Springfield Gardens) was at a meet-and-greet Monday with Paul Hendel, a Rosedale McDonald’s owner and operator who also serves as the president of the New York Tri-State McDonald’s Owner/Operators Association.

While Hyndman was learning to make a Filet-o-Fish sandwich at the fast-food joint located at 244-10 Merrick Blvd., Hendel pointed out that all of the McDonald’s restaurants in the city were owned and operated by independent franchisees and that the hundreds of eateries across the city have many changes underway.

The fast food restaurant giant will be transforming 14,000 of its restaurants around the United States, with the most upgrades taking place in New York City, according to spokeswoman Amanda Pisano.

Pisano said that within the five boroughs there are 209 McDonald’s, 52 of which are in Queens.

The enhancements are meant to increase service and convenience and will include self-order kiosks, as well as table service and mobile ordering.

Of the more than 200 restaurants in New York City, 75 have already have been augmented, including 20 in Queens.

Dozens of McDonald’s are slated for improvements later this year and throughout New York City and all of the 14,000 restaurants within the United States will have updates by 2020.

From January through March 2018 the company made several other bold announcements.

The company intends to serve all of its goods in renewable, recyclable or fiber-based packaging from certified sources where no deforestation occurs by 2025. Within that time frame, the fast-food chain plans to finish enhancing all of its menu offerings at all of its restaurants.

In 2022 all Happy Meals at McDonald’s 120 markets with have healthier options with a calorie intake equal to or less than 600.

This will also include making kid-sized fries which have a lower sodium count than the small fries, less sugar in chocolate milk, and more bottled water will be offered.

The company also wants to cut its use of greenhouse gases by 150 million metric tons by 2030.

It plans to do so by responsibly sourcing food, promoting renewable energy and recycling.

This year it will also cut its time frame for awarding tuition assistance its Archways to Opportunity program for staff and managers attending college and increase its scholarship offerings.

Instead of receiving tuition assistance in nine months, employees can receive it in 90 days of working at McDonald’s. Eligible staff will get $2,500 annually instead of $700 and eligible managers have access to $3,000 annually instead of $1,050.

Since 2015, 60 Rosedale employees of Hendel have received $67,000 in tuition assistance.

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

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By Merle Exit

TimesLedger Newspapers

Flushing Town Hall will play host to a dynamic perofrmance as the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company returns to perform Sunday, April 15, at 1 p.m.

Collaborating with Queens College Dance Program, the company will present a lineup for CrossCurrent V, featuring an upcoming work by Yin Mei, the coordinator of the program. The dance will incorporate projection and visual art. Mei will be performing her new work in progress, titled Rhetorical Act.

Mei is a director, choreographer and visual artist known for creating dance theater works that bridge geographic, technological, artistic and cultural differences by presenting a unique brand of theatrical imagination. She is currently at work on a dance theater program joining themes that stem from The Peony Pavilion, culled from her own experiences growing up in China as a young dancer.

The hour-long program also includes choreographer-dancer Huiwang Zhang, and some new works of Nai-Ni Chen.

Zhang, a dancer, choreographer, and screen dance artist, is also a current member of the Bill T. Jones/Annie Zane Company. His work has been presented at the Beijing Dance Festival (2016) and 12 Minutes Max in Salt Lake City (2017).

Zhang also incorporated edited film excerpts taken from Joris Lvens, Jan Svankmajer and CCTV in his new work, titled “About petroleum: Chinese socialism and the postmodern agenda.”

Executive Director Andrew Chiang, along with Chen, co-founded the dance company in 1988. Chen came to the United States from Taiwan more than 30 years ago to obtain her master’s degree here in New York.

“I was so excited about the dancing in New York that I decided to stay rather than teach in Taiwan,” she said.

Chiang spoke to Chen about her success in dancing, at which point they decided to form the company where Chen would both dance and choreograph.

“We are excited to see these amazing dance artists that are rising in Queens, and we feel that Flushing Town Hall should be a place where they can feel at home,” said Ellen Kodadek, the executive and artistic director of Flushing Town Hall.

For the entire company, the ability to collaborate with fellow creative artists makes this event so satisfying.

“We are especially delighted to work with excellent artists of this caliber because it represents the quality and passion immigrant artists can bring to our community, through contemporary dance. This is the reason we established CrossCurrent dance series,” Chen said.

A panel discussion moderated by Kodedak will follow the one-hour performance, which is set to kick off at 2 p.m. Flushing Town Hall is located at 137-35 Northern Blvd.

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By Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

Queens Village’s own Cayla Kumar will receive a resolution on the state Senate floor April 30 by Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) for winning Miss New York’s Outstanding Teen contest last week and for her countless hours of volunteer service.

“Cayla is a remarkable individual who has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to her family, her community, and her passion for making a positive impact on the lives of those suffering from pediatric cancer,” said Comrie. “I was proud to help bring attention to her tremendous accomplishments and advocacy by putting forth a congratulatory resolution in the State Senate.”

Before capturing the title Saturday, Cayla volunteered 4,100 hours in community service over the course of four years and raised $25,000 in cancer research for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as its first youth ambassador (2012).

“I’m very excited and I’m honored,” said Cayla. “It’s a bit overwhelming, because so many people are supporting me now and it’s just an amazing feeling to have a team behind me and my community supporting me,” added the 15-year-old, who was teased for being naturally thin at school.

As the local winner of Miss Bronx’s Outstanding Teen, the contest open to everyone in downstate New York to represent the city, she spent her spare time cooking meals for families with Ronald McDonald House charities, a nonprofit that helps sick children, and raising funds for children’s cancer research with her “Gold Ribbon Project: Curing Pediatric Cancer” platform.

She will have a shot at representing the Big Apple from July 24 to July 26 in the preliminaries for the title of Miss America’s Outstanding Teen at the national finals in Orlando, Florida.

The final night of the competition is July 28.

“Now I will be competing against the other 49 states [and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico],” said Cayla. “I’m even more nervous, because I already set my goal in what I wanted to achieve with my platform, which was to advocate [for childhood cancer] a lot more.”

Miss America’s Outstanding Teen is a scholarship-based sister program to the Miss America Organization, according to missny.org. It encourages scholastic achievement, creative accomplishment, a healthy lifestyle and community involvement.

“I walked into school this morning and everyone was walking around saying ‘Congratulations, Cayla, Congratulations, Cayla, I’m so proud of you!’” said the pageant queen. “Now everyone is asking about volunteering with me.”

Since her win six classmates have approached her to learn more about the organizations that she volunteers with.

“They want to help give back and be apart of [my] journey,” said Cayla.

Cayla won Miss New York’s Outstanding Teen competition after completing a fitness routine, a Bollywood fusion dance, an evening gown segment, an interview section and an onstage question.

As the winner of Miss New York’s Outstanding Teen Cayla won a $1,000 cash scholarship and a $2,000 scholarship from the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. She gets to choose a $12,000 tuition to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy College, or a $2,000 tuition to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy High School Summer Program or accept both tuitions.

Cayla was classically trained in Indian dances from the Sadhanalaya School of Dance and the Natraj Center for the Performing Arts. She hopes to become a dance teacher and to use her passion to pay for medical school at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland to become a pediatric oncologist.

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

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By Gina Martinez

TimesLedger Newspapers

A follow-up report on Rikers Island said the prison complex can be closed before the 10-year timeline Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last year with a few additional amendments to the plan.

Last year the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform released the report, “A More Just New York City,” which outlines a plan to close down the infamous prison within 10 years that was adopted by the mayor. In an updated report, “One Year Forward,” the commission said thanks to changes in policy since its last report, the jail population has dropped by nearly 10 percent, showing that the goal can be accomplished even sooner than originally thought. The commission said with state approval of designs, Rikers can close as soon as 2024.

Former New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, who is chairman of the Independent Commission, said although there have been significant improvements in the last year, that is no reason to be complacent.

“Despite this progress, there is still much work to be done,” he said. “The people affected by our criminal justice system are overwhelmingly black and Latino, and the nine deteriorating and dysfunctional jails on Rikers remain a stain on our city, leaving a permanent mark on everyone they touch. That’s why it’s imperative that we not rest on our laurels, but build on this momentum for closure. By the time the mayor and the City Council speaker leave office, progress should be irreversible.”

The commission, which called the jails on Rikers “brutal and obsolete,” said that to complete a more humane borough system by 2024, the city must continue to cut the number of people in jail and make significant strides in the construction of smaller, modern facilities in the five boroughs. According to the commission, by the end of de Blasio’s second term, construction on at least two sites should be well underway, with design and possibly construction in progress in the others.

The report said transitioning to a borough-based jail system promotes safety, successful re-entry into society, and better access to courts and family members. The report also claims that with design-build authorization from the state government and continued focus from city government, the commission projects that a modern, borough-based system could be constructed in six years. This new timeline would lead to $700 million in cost savings compared to the initial projections, which was an upfront cost of $10.62 billion.

The commission said Albany needs to step up and pass legislation on a state level to limit the use of cash bail. Bail reform legislation that would have limited the use of cash bail was not included in the 2019 state budget, or reforms in the areas of discovery, speedy trial, and parole, the report said. The commission noted that if Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Legislature can enact these reforms by the end of session, it could have a meaningful impact on improving criminal justice and accelerating the time line for closing Rikers.

The report also recommended community engagement in the design process for the borough-based facilities and redesigning the infrastructure on Rikers Island to be potentially used for expansion of LaGuardia Airport. It also suggested interim uses as the jails are phased out, such as developing the solar, energy storage, and composting facilities that are necessary for the city to meet its ambitious clean energy and zero waste goals.

Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Hillcrest), who serves as chairman of the Committee on the Justice System, said this plan can work, but only if de Blasio commits to expanding supervised release, improving the mechanics of paying bail, and investing in the criminal justice reforms proposed by both public defenders and district attorneys.

“As the report spells out, too many people are needlessly run through our court system, predominantly brown and black New Yorkers; too many people are stuck on Rikers, solely because they are too poor to pay bail or cannot pay bail in a timely manner; and too many people are left waiting to have their day in Court,” he said.

Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmartinez@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4566.

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By Zach Gewelb

TimesLedger Newspapers

After a 6-2 start, the St. John’s men’s lacrosse team has dropped three consecutive games, including a closely contested 11-10 overtime loss at home to Marquette last Friday.

The Johhnies (6-5, 0-2 Big East) battled hard in overtime, but John Wagner found the back of the net with 32.9 seconds left in the extra session to clinch the victory for the Golden Eagles (5-4, 2-1 Big East) and hand the Red Storm their first home loss of the season. The goal was Wagner’s third of the game and also his third overtime goal this season.

The match marked the first overtime game at DaSilva Memorial Field since March 3, 2015, which St. John’s also lost, 11-10, to Yale.

Despite the defeat, the Red Storm received a balanced performance on both ends of the field.

Senior Jason DeBenedictis scored three goals — all in the second half — which marks the sixth time this season he has scored at least three in a game.

Senior Corey Haynes also found the net multiple times, scoring a pair of goals for his second multi-goal game of the season. He also tallied two assists in the loss.

Colin Duffy, whose nine-game point streak had just come to an end, responded with two goals and an assist. He scored the Johnnies’ first and last goal of the game, which marks the ninth time this season he has recorded at least two points.

Sophomore Joe Madsen found the back of the net twice on six shots on goal. Dating back to last season, he has now scored in 16 consecutive games.

Fellow sophomore Mike Madsen added one goal on a game-high nine shots. He also tallied an assist.

Despite turning the ball over three times as much as the Johnnies did (15 to 5), the Golden Eagles were able to outshoot St. John’s 40-35, only the second time this season the Red Storm conceeded 40 shots.

While the Johnnies put the ball on net more than Marquette with 26 shots on goal to 22, Marquette goalie Cole Blazer bested his St. John’s counterpart Matt Hanley in net with 16 saves on 26 shots. Hanley was still sharp between the pipes for St. John’s, recording 11 saves on 22 shots on goal. He has posted at least 10 saves in seven of 11 games this season. Blazer shined in overtime, however, making a key save down the stretch that led to Wagner’s game-winning score.

The Golden Eagles’ offense was led by Jack Zerrillo, who matched Wagner with three goals on the day.

Marquette opened the scoring when Connor McClelland tallied his 10th goal of the season at the 13:41 mark of the first period to give the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead. The Johnnies’ evened the score at the 10:09 mark and the teams traded goals later in the period, making the score 2-2 heading into the second.

The teams again traded goals early in the second stanza, but Marquette tallied three consecutive scores to take a 6-3 lead into the third period.

St. John’s rallied for five scores in the third, while limiting the Golden Eagles to just two goals in the period, which left the score tied heading into the fourth.

Each team scored twice in the final regulation period. St. John’s scored the first two goals of the stanza, but two clutch goals — one from Zerrillo and one from McClelland — allowed the Golden Eagles to tie the score. Both teams had opportunities to take the lead late in the period, but stellar goaltending from both sides sent the game into overtime, setting up Wagner’s heroics.

St. John’s will hit the road for the final time in the regular season Saturday with a visit to the Mile High City against Denver. The game is set to begin at 3 p.m. at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.

Reach reporter Zach Gewelb by e-mail at zgewelb@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4539.

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By Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

Mayor Bill de Blasio toured the recently renovated Ocean Bay Bayside Houses Tuesday in Far Rockaway, which featured new kitchens and bathrooms, calling it a model for the rest of the NYCHA repairs that will happen around the city.

Following the tour he also announced the new interim chair of NYCHA, Stan Brezenoff, who will take over after Chairwoman Shola Olatoyez steps down from the position next month. Olatoyez, who the mayor strongly defended, was wrapped up in controversy in a lead paint scandal.

The city Department of Investigation reported that Olatoye falsely certified that NYCHA was in compliance with lead paint inspection requirements. DOI said that since 2012 the authority neglected doing the required annual inspections of apartments that may have lead contamination.

Olatoye said she is not resigning because of the controversy but because she felt she did all she could do during her tenure.

The Ocean Bay upgrades came from the Rental Assistance Demonstration program. That initiative preserves public housing while allowing for private investment in renovations and infrastructure. De Blasio praised Olatoyez’s hard work with the RAD program, which has already reached 14,000 families, and called it a model that works. He plans to apply it more broadly to the other 400,000 residents of NYCHA over the next 10 years.

All 1,400 apartments in the Ocean Bay complex are being renovated with brand new kitchens and bathrooms. De Blasio said the roofs, heating systems, elevators and windows at each of the 24 buildings are being fully replaced, and new rooftop solar arrays and a flood wall are under construction.

De Blasio said for decades, public housing did not get the investment it deserved from the federal and state governments. He said when he first took office, he and Olatoyez began investing in NYCHA.

“There was no law that required it,” he said.” There was no mandate. It was just the right thing to do.”

De Blasio added that the administration ended the practice of NYCHA having to pay the NYPD for police services and put that money into speeding up the repairs that residents needed. De Blasio said his administration added $2.1 billion to NYCHA for major capital initiatives and $1.6 billion for operating funds.

“We know that those investments made a difference,” he said. “That’s a massive investment. The city of New York has never ever made such an investment before in public housing.”

He said one of the main reasons so many investments were made was because of Olatoyez.

“We had a leader at NYCHA who had a plan and vision for how to move the agency forward,” he said. “From the beginning, Olatoye did not say this is an insurmountable problem, this is too tough a job, this is going to be difficult. She didn’t say it’s a dangerous mission — therefore I’m not willing to on it.”

Olatoye said her decision to step down was because she felt she did all she could and was ready to move forward.

“It’s been an honor to serve the one in 14 New Yorkers who call public housing home,” she said. “I leave this role secure in the knowledge that we created a path for a stronger and safer NYCHA in the years ahead as the de Blasio Administration moves forward.”

De Blasio called Olatoye’s replacement “one of the great public servants in the last generation in this City”

Brezenoff has served as first deputy mayor, the head of Port Authority and at Health and Hospitals.

“This is one of the toughest jobs in America,” he said. “Under Mayor de Blasio and Olatoye, NYCHA has faced down enormous challenges, launched an enormous turnaround effort and improved the lives of residents. I’m committed to working with residents, finding new solutions and making progress that people will see and feel in their communities.”

When asked about the lead paint controversy, De blasio said Olatoye and his administration did everything they could and blamed the previous Bloomberg administration.

“My regret is that people who had been a part of NYCHA for a long time did not share the information they should,” he said. “ If we had been given any indication that the inspections were not done the way they were supposed to have been done, that they had stopped during the previous administration we would have acted on it immediately.”

He said there is no question that had they known we would have acted.

“Shola immediately alerted HUD to the fact that the inspections had not been done and that they were now going to be done,” he said. “That’s exactly what she was supposed to do. There was an effort in every way to do the right thing, to be transparent, to be consistent, and in the end under very adverse circumstances I think what Shola did and everyone else of us was try to do the best we could with what we had been presented.”

Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmartinez@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4566.

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By Mark Hallum

TimesLedger Newspapers

Community Board 11 voted unanimously in favor of a resolution to oppose new rules that no longer require the Landmark Preservation Commission to seek the input of advisory boards within the city before making a decision on designating a property or district.

CB11 joins organizations across the city, including Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan), who oppose what the LPC called an overhaul of rules to “increase transparency” in their effort to maintain a public oversight in matters of designation.

Henry Euler, first vice president of the Auburndale Improvement Association, pitched the resolution to the community board at the Monday meeting in which members discussed the advantages of giving input their in these decisions, even as only an advisory board.

“Now the Landmark Preservation Commission has decided they don’t want to have input anymore from community boards and that they want to make all these decisions in-house,” Euler said. “I don’t think that’s correct. I think it’s very important that the community and the community board get an opportunity to weight in on these matter. So I asked [CB11 Chair Christine Haider] if it would be OK to write a resolution calling on the [LPC] to change this new rule [to exclude] the community and the community board to participate in the decision-making”

Johnson issued a letter to LPC Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan praising their efforts to bring changes to comply with other potential needs, such as barrier-free access, energy codes, and resiliency mandates, but asking the city agency to back down from the this rule change.

“The participation of the public adds value to our civic processes and, in the case of LPC, ensures that the commission’s determinations are based upon the best possible information,” Johnson said in the letter. “Contrary to the stated goals of the Statement of Basis and Purpose, the Proposed Rules will not increase transparency, but rather will reduce it. Under the Proposed Rules, there is no provision for any kind of public review of these delegated determinations.”

Part of the LPC’s reasoning for the rule change is to speed the landmarking decision process in light of increased number of applications.

The discussion period revolved around the designation of Douglas Manor, which happened in 1966, and was supported by the community, which wanted to preserve their neighborhood’s appeal and protect it from development.

One CB11 member from Douglas Manor said they would like to continue keeping the community board’s involvement in decisions based on the history of neighborhood support for landmarking of the area.

Bayside Historical Society President Paul DiBenedetto pointed out that even though the community board may have a voice in the matter, it is only an advisory board with no real stake in the decision, but he voted in favor of the resolution anyhow.

An organization known as Human Scale NYC formed a coalition of groups within the city, with Queens Preservation Council among the 24, and expressed doubts about the need for the rule change. But it said if there must be a rule change, the LPC should involve preservation organizations in the best alternative to seeking community support as it currently is.

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

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