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By Tammy Scileppi

TimesLedger Newspapers

They crossed over the Queensboro Bridge from the World’s Borough bearing gifts.

Their destination? New York City’s center for urban folk culture, City Lore Gallery, located at 56 E 1st St. on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

The 10 Queens-based artists who made the trek to Manhattan are excited about sharing a variety of unique “gifts’ from their homelands with the public, as are the other 21 creatives from New York City’s immigrant communities. Representing 25 countries, these musicians, poets, dancers, chefs, and storytellers are all participants in a special exhibition spotlighting their contributions, called What We Bring: New Immigrant Gifts, on view through Sept. 16.

“There are precious objects, texts, ingredients, tools and musical instruments that originated in their home countries – many (or all) that have now become part of the American patchwork,” said Manhattan resident and local advocate Carol Klenfner, who enjoyed the exhibit and wanted to let TimesLedger readers know about it.

“City Lore is committed to the idea that all cultures matter, especially in this city that has been defined by waves of new immigrants,” said Steve Zeitlin, founder and co-curator of City Lore. “I wanted to remind our city and our nation of the cultural gifts that immigrants bring, focusing on groups who came to this country during the past 50 years as a result the immigration reform act put into law in 1968.

“That is the impetus behind What We Bring: New Immigrant Gifts, an exhibit both of photographs and the precious objects brought by immigrants, who are also New York City-based artists, when they first came to America.”

Each of the artists has enriched our city, and each has a fascinating story to share. A couple of local creatives are highlighted here.

Indian dancer Malini Srinivasan from Sunnyside will feature a pair of leather ankle bells from India in the exhibit.

“This is a symbol of the dance [Bharatanatyam] that me, my (late) mom and my (late) grandma all practiced. It is this object that connects the dancer with the rhythm and music,” she said. “When I practice my art, people see me as an individual practicing a beautiful dance form. But I feel like my work has so much to do with what my mother and grandmother brought with them as teachers and as people. This exhibit puts my art practice into the bigger context of my family history and this country’s history.”

Queens-based Indo-Guyanese dancer Pritha Singh, shared her “gift” of mala prayer beads. While mala beads have traditionally been used in prayer and meditation, anyone can adorn their bodies with these beautiful pieces, which are thought to protect and guide people in their daily lives.

Mexican educator, musician and dancer Paula Sanchez-Kucukozer, from Bayside, brought a Day of the Dead paper mache skull.

“I specialize in Mexican folk traditions, particularly son jarocho, a style of music and dance mainly from the state of Veracruz in the Gulf of Mexico,” Sanchez-Kucukozer said. “Son jarocho represents a blend of musical and cultural elements of indigenous Spanish and African origins. I organize monthly and annual events that educate and entertain audiences on this folk art.”

Describing Queens’ arts community, Sanchez-Kucukozer said she believes it is “the most incredibly inspiring and creative community in New York City.”

“With so many cultures sharing their traditions, with so many artists of different backgrounds expressing themselves in so many different artistic styles, and with so many organizations and groups supporting artistic work, Queens is a fantastic place to explore art and thrive. It is indeed a community that I am proud to be but a small part of it,” she said.

The exhibit is free to attend and open for viewing Fridays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on weekends from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

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By Ed Konecnik

TimesLedger Newspapers

America is not just a place but an idea and an ideal and a way of life.

It is a place where immigrants did not renounce their heritage, but celebrated and shared their diverse cultures, protected by the Constitution and inspired by the American ideal of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” This goal and a common language defined the American character and linked our diverse cultures.

The idea that is America, its goodwill and its benevolence has attracted countless refugees and has become a kind of “soup kitchen” for the world. Increased calls for a borderless world, the rise of sanctuary cities and an obsession for diversity is redefining what it means to be an American.

In many neighborhoods, storefronts, signs, and ads are now in a language other than English.

Recently I stood at a once familiar street corner and looked around at the indecipherable signs and posters and I felt excommunicated. A once familiar environment was now alien to me. This is not multiculturalization but multicolonization. Will it be necessary to learn the languages of all the “colonies” in order to communicate with neighbors? If the designation “American” has lost its significance and meaning, then who are we?

My perception of this indecipherable and alien environment is that some of its inhabitants reject the ideals, customs, and traditions we have come to identify as American and which I have come to cherish. It is becoming increasingly unpopular and sometimes even dangerous to identify oneself as “American.” The designation has all but disappeared from our official documents. When responding to questionnaires, we are compelled to select an identity from a plethora of hyphenated subcategories.

It is ironic that I am able to communicate more easily, read more signs, posters, and advertisements in my ancestral homeland than in the beloved land of my birth. Must I emigrate to somewhere else to be finally recognized and accepted simply as an American?

Ed Konecnik

Flushing

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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

Calling it one step closer to a “concrete way to give back to those who have given of themselves in service to our nation,” state Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) announced committee approval of his legislation, S.3675, which would enable New Yorkers to check off a box on their personal income tax returns to assist veterans’ service organizations.

Under the bill, the contributions would be held in a fund maintained by the state comptroller and the state Division of Taxation and Finance, and monies would be provided to veterans’ service organizations to enable them to better assist former military members in assessing necessary benefits and programs. The contributions would be gifts and not reduce the amount of tax owed by check-off program participants.

“My proposal would establish a veterans’ service organization fund, which would be supported through the generosity of New York residents who decide that they want to contribute to veterans’ groups when they file their state personal income tax returns,” Addabbo, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs, said. “I am grateful my colleagues on the Senate Veterans Committee have joined me in advancing this initiative.”

Other check-off programs in New York state include those that support breast cancer research, prostate cancer research, wildlife and conservation efforts, Alzheimer’s disease services, and state veteran’ cemeteries.

“I think it’s fitting that New York taxpayers be provided with the opportunity to voluntarily support brave and selfless men and women who have put their lives on hold at home and their lives at risk overseas — all in service to our country,” Addabbo said. “By helping veterans’ service organizations expand their programs, we will be thanking our veterans in a truly meaningful manner.”

The bill’s next step towards full Senate passage is consideration by the Senate Finance Committee. In the Assembly, the legislation is under review by the Ways and Means Committee.

“Veterans are often in need of a variety of services when they return home, but do not always know where to turn to find out about an array of programs that exist to help them,” Addabbo said. “Veterans’ service organizations serve as the key liaison between veterans and appropriate government agencies, and their efforts are vital to ensuring that our returning servicemen and women gain access to the health, employment, education and other services available to them.”

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

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By Mark Hallum

TimesLedger Newspapers

Mayor Bill de Blasio released a fiscal 2019 executive budget of $89 billion with clear animosity toward Albany for its mandate in the state budget requiring the city to pay half of the more than $836 million tab for the Subway Action Plan to repair the failing public transit system.,

Not only did de Blasio call for full accounting on the funds put toward the Subway Action Plan, the administration did not answer the call of many for the city to include Fair Fares, government-funded, half-priced MetroCard swipes for low-income New Yorkers, in the 2019 budget. The new fiscal year begins July 1.

The Mayor’s office did not respond to inquiries regarding when the budget would be enacted before press time.

“What does it mean if the city pays for another MTA expense that should be covered by the MTA? And this has happened over and over again, including most recently with the ‘Subway Action Plan,’ which cost us over $400 million,” de Blasio said on the Brian Lehrer Show Friday of his refusal to earmark the $212 million for Fair Fares.

De Blasio turned some of his criticism toward the East Side Access Project, giving the LIRR riders from Queens and Long Island the ability to commute into Grand Central instead of Penn Station.

“When we give money to the MTA as we just did, we need full accounting of what is being done with the money,” de Blasio continued. “We just saw this ludicrous story on the ‘East Side Access Project’ (about) the MTA having a billion-dollar cost overrun. This is yet another cost overrun, yet another delay in a project that seems to just take up money all the time, but yet the state is asking the city to give money to an agency that clearly does not know how to use its money properly and on the right things.”

De Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have dueled over how much, if any, the city would contribute to the Subway Action Plan since it was unveiled in July as a short-term approach to stabilize the meltdown-prone city transit system, which is operated by the state.

But de Blasio was defiant about committing funds until the state budget, passed in April, requiring the city pay up.

Riders Alliance, a transit advocacy group, called on de Blasio to stand with other city leaders and adopt Fair Fares in the budget by pointing out the $212 million initiative would only be a small portion of the “nearly $90 billion budget” de Blasio claimed was driven by the desire to make New York the “fairest big city in America.”

“Speaker Corey Johnson and the City Council made Fair Fares the centerpiece of their response to the mayor’s preliminary budget, but Mayor de Blasio has yet to embrace the idea. The mayor is ignoring the needs of hundreds of thousands of his constituents and the recommendations of several dozens of elected officials, representing hundreds of diverse New York City neighborhoods, who are united for half-price MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers,” the Riders Alliance said in a statement. “In the coming weeks, as we look toward adoption of the budget, the coalition looks forward to working side-by-side with Speaker Corey Johnson and his colleagues to push Fair Fares across the finish line.”

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

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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

The de Blasio administration is pushing forward with its plan to build a deck over much of the 180-acre Sunnyside Yard in order to construct as many as 24,000 apartments with parkland, schools, commercial, retail and cultural venues at a cost of $19 billion.

Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen and Amtrak Chairman Anthony Coscia announced Wednesday an agreement that master planning for Sunnyside Yard will begin this summer, after the city and Amtrak, which owns much of the land in the rail yard, signed a letter of intent to formalize collaboration on the process.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for civic groups, public officials and residents to create a vision for their borough, one that delivers on the central challenges Queens faces like affordable housing, open space, more school seats and better public transit,” Glen said. “We are ready to listen and to work with all our partners to develop a plan that Queens can be proud of.”

Over the next 20 years, New York City is expected to add more than a half million people — including over 80,000 in Queens alone — growth that will put additional strain on schools, parks, mass transit and housing that current residents rely upon, according to city officials. The master planning process will help create a vision for building an innovative, equitable and tech-enabled neighborhood from the ground up. The city and Amtrak selected the Practice for Architecture and Urbanism as the lead consultant to develop the plan.

“The Sunnyside Yard project has long been a priority for Amtrak as it represents a great opportunity to invest in our rail infrastructure, as well as the local and state economies and the quality of life in Western Queens,” Coscia said. “We will continue to work closely with the NYCEDC, Deputy Mayor Glen, other members of the Steering Committee and other key stakeholders and elected officials to evaluate the potential for future development at Sunnyside Yard.”

In February 2017, the city Economic Development Corporation released the Sunnyside Yard Feasibility Study, which found that building a deck is feasible in 80 percent to 85 percent of the 180-acre site, with potential for up to 24,000 homes, up to 19 schools, 52 acres of public parks and open space and other much-needed community amenities.

“Sunnyside Yard represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring good jobs, affordable homes, open space and improved public transit to western Queens,” NYCEDC President and CEO James Patchett said. “We look forward to working closely with Amtrak, the Sunnyside Yard Steering Committee and community leaders to deliver this transformational investment.”

The Steering Committee will represent the neighborhoods surrounding the Yard which includes Long Island City, Sunnyside and Astoria. Notable community leaders include April Simpson, the president of the Queensbridge Houses Tenants Association; Dr. Gail Mellow, the president of LaGuardia Community College; Community Board 2 Chairwoman Denise Keehan-Smith; and Elizabeth Lusskin, the president of the Long Island City Partnership.

“Sunnyside Yard is an untapped resource, situated within and across LIC, the geographic center of New York City,” Lusskin said. “The yard has great potential as a regional and locally significant transportation hub. This planning effort provides an opportunity to provide employment, recreational, educational and housing prospects for the next century for the people of Sunnyside, LIC, the borough of Queens and New York City.”

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

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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

The Port Authority is considering a new route for the proposed LaGuardia AirTrain after listening to complaints about the project during three meetings in one week last month with Community Board 3 members and civic associations from neighborhoods surrounding the airport, state Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry (D-Corona) said.

Aubry told the CB 3 monthly meeting that officials from the Port Authority and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office are preparing a new plan that would move the route away from the Grand Central Parkway closer to Flushing Bay and away from residential neighborhoods.

“They’re working on that new route and they’ll get back to us on it and show us what that means,” Aubry said.

State Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) said the community groups should have been involved in the process before Cuomo announced the proposal in January 2015.

“When planning for a major project, in this case the construction of an airtrain between LaGuardia Airport and Willets Point, having the community’s input is vital for it to succeed,” Peralta said. “It is always necessary to listen to the concerns and ideas of the neighbors because, at the end of the day, the project will affect their daily lives. East Elmhurst residents are already suffering from the consequences of heavy traffic, air noise and pollution, and the redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport. Clearly, the community said that they don’t want the airlink on the Grand Central Parkway, and this is why the proposal along the promenade or over Flushing Bay makes sense. I applaud the Port Authority for taking the necessary time and translating the input they received into results.”

The Port Authority was asked to comment but did not reply by press time. Meanwhile, the agency announced new procedures at JFK International Airport during winter storms to avoid the chaos that occurred in early January when incoming flights were unable to get to gates during the “bomb cyclone” known as Grayson.

“We are committed to strengthening JFK airport’s operating procedures during winter storms so that breakdowns experienced last January never happen again,” Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said. “In our continued and ongoing effort to ensure the airport handles winter storms far more effectively, these new measures build on those we announced last January.”

The most significant change will require that during a weather emergency, airlines must certify in advance that a gate will be available when the plane lands. As planes backed up on the runways and taxiways during the storm, the Port Authority was forced to halt all incoming flights, causing thousands of passenger delays.

In the confusion during the storm, airlines lost track of thousands of pieces of luggage. Now every airline serving JFK is required to have in place a baggage service office that meets international best practice standards.

The airport also “will acquire additional high-speed snow removal equipment to improve its performance in future storms,” the Port Authority said.

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

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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

Street safety activists from Make Queens Safer and Transportation Alternative Queens Committee have organized a vigil Saturday to honor Giovanni Ampuero, a 9-year-old Fresh Meadows boy who was struck and killed last Saturday by an elderly hit-and-run driver in Jackson Heights.

Ampuero was visiting his mother, Karen Manrique, at her home on 70th Street when both were struck in a crosswalk while trying to cross Northern Boulevard.

The driver, Juan Jimenez, 86, of Manhattan, was traveling northbound on 70th Street in his red Jeep Compass, around 1:20 p.m., when he made a left hand turn onto Northern Boulevard and struck Giovanni Ampuero and his mother, Karen Manrique, in the crosswalk before he drove off only to be located a short distance away where the driver was taken into custody, police said.

Police from the 115th Precinct found Ampuero with severe trauma to the head. EMS transported the boy to Elmhurst Hospital Center where he was pronounced dead, according to the NYPD. Manrique was not seriously injured.

“I’m sorry I hit the kid, I didn’t see him. I was driving home to Manhattan from the casino. I made a left turn onto Northern Boulevard two blocks away from here,” Jimenez told police, according to the criminal complaint. “When I made the turn, a woman jumped in front of my car, but I did not hit her. I kept driving and a cab driver waved me down and told me I hit someone. It was an accident.”

Jimenez was arrested and charged with leaving the scene of and accident, failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care. He was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court and ordered held on $20,000 bond.

When asked why he fled the scene, Jimenez told police “I was scared, some cab driver was threatening me,” according to the criminal complaint.

Jimenez is due back in court May 11.

A rally in honor of Ampuero was slated to begin at 5 p.m. Saturday at IS 230, located at 73-10 34th Ave. to be followed with a march to the boy’s makeshift memorial at the northwest corner of 70th Street and Northern Boulevard for a vigil.

“From where Giovanni was killed, I can see flags waving at IS 145 where Miguel Torres was killed and at PS 152 where Noshat Nahian was killed,” Make Queens Safer Co-founder Cristina Furlong said. “We have lobbied hard for piecemeal fixes that have saved lives — Queens Boulevard is an example. People are alive today because of the design standard that was implemented, sometimes against community board support, but that doesn’t negate the tremendous and endless pain of carrying on through such a tragedy for these parents and loved ones.They have no choice but to brave life with an unbearable loss, but the burden and obligation, if not mandate, should be put on the city, state and DMV to stop the killing of children, which in every case on Northern Boulevard involved a reckless driver and a deadly street design.”

Furlong and fellow Jackson Heights mother Dr. Laura Newman started Make Queens Safer in 2013 after what they called the “street carnage” on Northern Boulevard that took the lives of three children in less than 10 month.

“It pains and infuriates our community that Northern Boulevard may aptly be named ‘Boulevard of Children’s Deaths,” she said. “We insist that our electeds implement the proper infrastructure and enforcement to change that now. We need speed cameras in every school zone, We need immediate crossing light re-engineering so that pedestrians and drivers do not both get the green light simultaneously. And we demand a complete redesign of Northern Boulevard.”

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

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By Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance rallied at City Hall last week, pushing for a policy that would solve the crisis of poverty that they said has led to the suicides of four drivers in four months.

The alliance said its plan would stop the financial emergency hurting yellow taxi, green cab, black car, livery and app-dispatched drivers. Following a March protest, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Gov. Cuomo, and Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) acknowledged that it was time to look into capping the number of for-hire vehicles that has led to too many drivers flooding the streets. While NYTWA said capping vehicles is an important first step, it is still not enough to solve the crisis FIX drivers are facing. They believe more has to be done to protect full-time incomes and create fair labor standards across the industry.

Earlier in the day, drivers met with individual City Council members to educate them about the policy proposals, which include capping the number of vehicles clogging New York City streets, setting the yellow and green cab meter as the minimum fare rate across the industry in order to establish a wage floor, raising fare rates so drivers have a chance at economic recovery after five years of straight losses and establishing labor standards like caps on driver expenses to end predatory lending in this new market, which has been unregulated for five years and is setting all drivers off on a race to the bottom.

Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the alliance, said this crisis is a result of political failure to regulate Wall Street. “We are demanding immediate changes in legislation and Taxi and Limousine Commission rules to protect NYC’s professional drivers from all sectors,” he said. “Our focus is on protecting full-time work and creating livable incomes. Any changes must be driven by labor standards and the interests of workers not a corporate sector given free reign for five years to enrich themselves from the sweat of drivers and disruption on city streets.”

Four city drivers committed suicide in four months: Queens resident Nicanor Ochisor, a yellow taxi owner-driver; Danilo Corporan Castillo and Alfredo Perez, Bronx livery drivers; and Douglas Schifter, a black car driver.

Ochisor, 64, was the most recent driver pushed to suicide. The father of one emigrated from Romania in 1986 and began working as a yellow taxi cab driver in 1989, when he purchased a NYC taxicab medallion.

According to his GoFundMe page, Ochisor started to help pay off his medallion so his wife can retire, he had hoped to use the medallion to finance their home and retirement, but over the past five years the taxi industry weakened and his income fell nearly 30 percent, making it nearly impossible for him to keep up with operating expenses, let alone medical bills or time to rest. Ochisor’s medallion value dropped from $1 million to $180,000, and he struggled to keep up with cab expenses, with no retirement or relief in sight.

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

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