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By Mark Hallum

TimesLedger Newspapers

Suraj Patel, an attorney and professor, is challenging 25-year incumbent U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria) in Tuesday’s Democratic primary and hopes to protect immigrants from the policies of the Trump administration and uplift the science community to take on climate change.

Maloney is currently running on her record of bringing $10 billion in federal funds to her district, spanning the east side of Manhattan, western Queens and parts of Brooklyn, that went toward the construction of the 2nd Avenue Subway and the Kosciuszko Bridge linking Long Island City to Greenpoint.

But Patel is also tackling issues of more localized interest in the district, such as problems experienced by those in NYCHA’s Queensbridge housing involving mold and lead, which came up at a town hall June 18 in Long Island City.

“Not a single member of Congress from the city of New York sits on the housing, transportation and infrastructure committee,” Patel said. “You choose your committees when you go to Congress, and none of them, including Carolyn Maloney, who has the largest public housing project in the country, has decided to prioritize fighting for that housing.”

NYCHA has seen a $3 billion cut in its operating budget from the federal government since 2001, according to the city agency.

About 2,500 of Patel’s 6,000 petition signature were collected from Queensbridge Houses.

While Patel, a first-generation American, in a NY1 televised debate advocated for the defunding of ICE to protect the immigrant communities from widespread deportation, Maloney responded to the this view by saying the energy and authority of ICE should be overhauled.

“ We [The Women’s Caucus] have a bill in to reorganize ICE and redirect it to helping people, not deporting people,” Maloney said. “But you do need a Border Patrol and ICE does combat sex trafficking, drugs and guns at the border, which are important things to do. But we need comprehensive immigration reform.”

Maloney is looking to help pass a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals measure in the House. More than 700,000 young people remain in the country under DACA, a program introduced by former President Barack Obama which allowed them to go to college and apply for work permits after having been brought here illegally as children.

The congresswoman is also involved in putting together a hearing about the separation of children from families while crossing the Mexican border into the United States.

Patel attended Stanford University, Cambridge University and NYU, and represented immigrants as an attorney with ACLU after President Donald Trump issued a ban on travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries by executive order.

Patel wants to set a different tone for scientific knowledge than his opponent who for some time questioned whether or not vaccines could cause autism, which he believes lent credence to the same kind of science denial which has led some of the public to disregard climate change science.

The Democratic primary is June 26.

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 Steven Goodstein

TimesLedger Newspapers

The Bayside councilman has delivered what he calls a record-breaking budget once again.

City Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside) has secured a new budget totaling $20 million for District 19, after it was announced last week that the City Council passed an $89.2 billion budget for the fiscal year 2019.

More specifically, Vallone was able to allocate $8.2 million out of the $20 million in funding for schools in his district. Each District 19 school will receive at least $50,000, with Bayside High School receiving $1.9 million for its musical performance space, while more than $1 million will go for the implementation of security camera systems at PS 184, PS 209 and World Journalism High School, $750,000 for PS 32’s gymnasium and $400,000 for PS 41’s playground.

Out of the $20 million budget for District 19, $6 million will be used for parks, including $1 million for Bowne Park in Flushing, with nearly $600,000 going towards MacNeil Park in College Point to fund construction of pathways and granite steps which will lead to the shoreline. Another $400,000 will be set aside for the land acquisition of a parcel in Udalls Cove.

Vallone also cited the creation of a brand new community sports complex in Bay Terrace, a plan he will reveal in more details at a later date. For this particular project he, along with Katz and Johnson, partnered with the Samuel Field Y.

The $20 million budget that Vallone secured also resulted in increases for many council initiatives that provide funding for programs and services in District 19. This includes a 33 percent increase in funding for his Support Our Seniors initiative as well as an increase for the Cultural After-School Adventure, a program that provides students with cultural programs.

“Each year we have proudly reached new records and milestones for northeast Queens,” said Vallone. “We have once again invested in the future of our children, schools, parks and libraries. You can’t hide what you’re passionate about – and defending our quality of life and safety while By making sure our children, families, teachers and principals have every resource they need, have always been my top priorities.”

Vallone said he has also secured more than $1 million to support non-profits in Bayside, Little Neck, College Point, Whitestone, Flushing and other areas within his district. These non-profits include the Bayside Village BID, the Bayside Historical Society, the Greater Whitestone Taxpayers Community Center, the Alley Pond Environmental Center and the New York Junior Tennis League, among others.

In Vallone’s first five years as councilman, District 19 has received nearly $85 million in budget funding – a strong showing after many years of being near the bottom of the City Council list in terms of the amount of funds allocated to the northeast Queens district.

Vallone noted that the fireworks at the Independence Day Celebration to be held June 27 at Fort Totten will be “a clear signal to the rest of the city of how far our district has come and of its equally bright future.”

“With this year’s budget victories and allocation of over $20 million to our district, our communities can continue to stand tall knowing that their priorities are finally being met,” Vallone added.

Reach Steven Goodstein by e-mail at sgoodstein@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4566.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

Starting in September, the majority of New Yorkers caught smoking marijuana in public will be issued criminal summonses instead of being arrested, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner James O’Neill announced Tuesday. According to NYPD projections, the new policy will likely reduce overall marijuana arrests in New York City by nearly 10,000 per year based on 2017 arrest records and patterns.

New Yorkers will still be subject to arrest if they are on probation or parole, if they have existing criminal warrants, don’t have identification, have a recent documented history of violence or their smoking poses an immediate public safety risk — such as while driving a car.

“Nobody’s destiny should hinge on a minor non-violent offense,” de Blasio said. “Neighborhood policing has helped to bring officers and community together, but we still have more work to do to right the wrongs in our criminal justice system. This new policy will help reduce unnecessary arrests, while making our city fairer and safer.”

Patrol officers will receive guidance on how to implement this new policy during the summer.

“We know that it is not productive to arrest people who have no prior criminal history,” O’Neill said. “In fact, it hampers our efforts to build trust and strengthen relationships with the people we serve, and it does nothing to further the NYPD’s mission of ridding our streets of those responsible for violence and disorder. Issuing summonses for marijuana offenses that do not directly affect public safety will allow our officers to do their jobs effectively and safely, and in a way that always promotes public safety and quality of life for all New Yorkers.”

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown called the new policy a wise middle ground.

“By choosing this sensible path, by which only the presence of limited aggravating factors will justify an arrest, the Police Department will continue to have the ability to control the activity without the majority of those committing the offenses being arrested and put through the system.” Brown said.

City Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Hillcrest), chairman of the Committee on the Justice System, was not impressed.

“The mayor’s new marijuana enforcement policy is a marginal improvement, but a real missed opportunity to fundamentally change how the city polices marijuana possession and smoking,” Lancman said. “No one should be arrested for smoking marijuana, period. Further, the mayor’s policy does not attempt to reduce criminal summonses at all, still allows arrests in certain circumstances that cannot be justified by public safety, will likely make marijuana policing even more discriminatory toward people of color, continues to expose noncitizens to deportation, and takes no steps to eliminate the collateral consequences which are in the city’s control.”

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 Carlotta Mohamed

TimesLedger Newspapers

The New York Lawyers for the Public Interest in partnership with Catholic Migration Services reopened their immigration hotline this month to help eligible immigrants receive assistance with their naturalization applications, said Annamaria Santamaria, program associate of Pro Bono Programs at NYLPI.

Interested individuals can call the hotline at (212) 225-4400 until July 20 to be screened by a volunteer and attend a naturalization clinic where they can receive free legal help July 2 at LaGuardia Community College — located at 31-10 Thomson Ave. in Long Island City.

“Typically most of our clients are Brooklyn-based,” said Chloe Moore, coordinator at Catholic Migration Services. “We’re able to help people from all over New York City, but we would like to better serve our Queens population providing assistance at the naturalization clinic at LaGuardia College.”

In partnership with Catholic Migration Services — a not-for-profit that assists immigrants with immigration legal services, housing legal services, and immigrant workers’ rights legal services — and multiple participating law firms, NYLPI has served close to 600 clients over the past three years, according to Santamaria.

NYLPI is a not-for-profit civil rights law firm specializing in the areas of disability rights, access to healthcare and environmental justice. It matches community organizations and non-profits with pro-bono attorneys from law firms and corporate legal departments across New York City, according to its website.

NYLPI and CMS host four naturalization workshops a year. The first workshop this year was held in April, Santamaria said.

“We plan to host a few more workshops before the year is over,” said Santamaria. “And we want to encourage as many folks as possible to come out for the upcoming workshop.”

According to Moore, the most basic requirements include: permanent lawful residents must be at least 18 years old with a green card for at least five years, paying taxes, and living in the state or district where they are applying for at least three months.

At the clinic in July, an attorney will meet with the clients one-on-one and assist them with the application, which will be sent to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to Santamaria. The attorneys can also help clients fill out fee waiver forms and give resources to study for the naturalization test.

Reach reporter Carlotta Mohamed by e-mail at cmohamed@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4526.

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Source: Times Ledger

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TimesLedger Newspapers

At York College, the KASAI’s “The Elite Grappling Championships,” a day-long series of amateur jiu-jitsu matches, showed off the world’s oldest form of hand-to-hand combat. In case you missed it, here’s a look at the scene.

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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

An Astoria man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison Monday for the murder of his friend, who moved from Italy to Astoria only to be conned by the defendant and then shot and killed in Astoria Park in January 2015, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Alexander Bonich, 52, of 42nd Street, was found guilty of shooting 42-year-old William Klinger as they walked in Astoria Park near 19th Street on a Saturday afternoon. A jury needed just two hours to deliberate the case before finding Bonich guilty of second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon and tampering with evidence. Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder, who presided at the trial, sentenced the defendant to 25 years to life in prison.

“The shooter and the victim were friends, but that did not stop the defendant from first scamming the man out of tens of thousands of dollars and then viciously shooting him in the back,” Brown said. “This was a horrible crime committed in broad daylight in one of Queens’ most popular parks. A jury found the defendant guilty and the court has now sentenced him to spend the rest of his days locked behind bars as punishment for this senseless killing.”

According to testimony in the five-week-long jury trial, Bonich and Klinger first met years before in Croatia and maintained a friendship over the years.

The victim was a historian who told Bonich that he wanted to move to the United States. Bonich offered to help and told Klinger he had found a job for him at Hunter College and sold him an Astoria apartment for $85,000. But it was all a lie. There was no job waiting for Klinger and the apartment he had bought was actually rented by the defendant’s elderly mother. On Jan. 31, 2015, the two men walked into Astoria Park and began to argue.

The victim walked away from Bonich, who ordered him to stop, and when Klinger ignored Bonich, the defendant shot him in the back of the head with an antique revolver.

The victim fell to the ground and Bonich shot him again and got rid of the weapon by throwing it in the East River, according to the trial testimony.

Klinger, an expert on the late Yugoslavian dictator Josip Tito and a resident of Italy, was found lying down by two parkgoers with a bullet wound in the head and one in the neck, according to the NYPD. He was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead.

“The defendant in this case spun a web of lies — claiming that the victim had set out to kill him and that shooting the man in the back was self-defense,” Brown said. “The jury, however, weighed all the evidence and found the defendant guilty as charged after just two hours of deliberations. The victim of this violent shooting had trusted the defendant and reached out to him for help in starting a new life in New York City. Sadly, the defendant betrayed that trust and brutally shot and killed the man.”

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 Melinda Katz

TimesLedger Newspapers

President Trump’s immigration policy is dehumanizing individuals, ripping children from the arms of their parents and tearing families apart.

It makes this otherwise-proud American deeply embarrassed of my home country. The future history of the United States will be unkind to this national shame and humanitarian crisis.

We are better than this. We must be better than this.

I could talk about the poem on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.” I could cite that sacred document called the Constitution that lays out basic due process needs by which a government must abide. I could also reference the Four Freedoms that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt espoused and is memorialized in the State of New York by the great Park on Roosevelt Island.

As an attorney by trade, a former professor of Constitutional Law, and as the president of the Borough of Queens, where 48 percent of our 2.3 million residents were born outside the United States, I hold all these principles to be “self-evident.”

Today, however, all of it – including the character of our nation – is being tested.

As a mother, as an American, and as a woman of faith, our nation’s broken immigration laws and policies shake me to my core. It keeps me up at night to imagine having my 7-year-old urgently memorize a phone number, knowing that once he is ripped away from my arms indefinitely into the unknown, his ability to remember those precious 10 digits will be the only lifeline to connect to any family. It wrenches my heart to imagine the horror of my child locked up behind a chain-linked cage, and not having any way to contact or track him, much less know where or how he is.

Even in a Sanctuary City like New York, broad raids and sweeps of immigration enforcement – even of those without a criminal record – have successfully spread fear and imposed a chilling effect on everyday activities and responsibilities.

This is an issue that transcends any debate about immigration or borders. Such cruelty betrays the American narrative. It is a barbaric, xenophobic immigration policy unfitting of the greatest and most powerful nation in the world. Set forth by President Trump, this government-sanctioned nightmare is wreaking terror upon millions of families, including American citizens.

To separate families like this challenges and compromises our humanity. With one action by the president, this horrifying reality can come to a halt. We must not and will not rest until then.

In the meantime, Queens will continue to do everything possible to help counteract the hostility of the current political climate. We are a nation of immigrants, and Queens is about all of our families’ futures. Next week, I am hosting a “Know Your Rights Week” for immigrants in partnership with a host of organizations and colleagues in local government. The legal advice is free and confidential, available at five events across five neighborhoods between June 25-29 designed to connect our various communities to committed legal experts, advocates and other resources. Queens has your back.

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By Zach Gewelb

TimesLedger Newspapers

If you’re a Mets fan, you’ve surely heard the rumors that the team may listen to trade offers for starting pitcher Jacob deGrom. Rather than look to trade him, the Mets should look to extend their ace and make him the face of the franchise for years to come.

A move like that would give deGrom a vote of confidence and show the other players on the roster that superb performance will be rewarded. But in Queens, that’s easier said than done.

The Wilpons — who own the club — are not known for their extravagant spending habits and deGrom isn’t set to be a free agent until after the 2020 season. However, he was paid close to the MLB minimum from 2014-2016 before making $4.05 million in 2017 and $7.4M in 2018. He will also get significant raises in arbitration the next two seasons that could push his salary close to $20 million by 2020.

Assuming the club decides not to trade him this season, the Mets’ ace is going to get paid a hefty salary the next two years anyway, so the team should look to extend him now before his salary rises through arbitration.

He is clearly the best player on the team — he’s been healthier and more consistent that Noah Syndergaard and Yoenis Cespedes — and has proven to be a great clubhouse guy, too. Those are the players that should be locked up long term. It’s easy for the media and fans to argue that as the Mets continue to struggle in 2018, the club should trade off their best players in an effort to replenish a weak farm system and kick off a rebuilding effort. And they wouldn’t be completely wrong in thinking that.

But deGrom, 30, should be the one player the Mets hold on to. They can trade some of their other veterans like Asdrubal Cabrera, Jay Bruce, Todd Frazier and Jeurys Familia. But not deGrom, who is currently the best pitcher in baseball.

The righty has pitched to a 5-2 record and a 1.51 ERA — the best mark in the league among qualified starters — in his first 15 starts of the season. He’s walked just 24 batters and struck out 120 in 95.1 innings pitched.

While deGrom would fetch a ton in a trade, he is more valuable to the Mets if he’s pitching every fifth day. The need him to lead their staff and to try and pitch the club back into playoff contention. And if the Mets crash and burn this year, they can always trade him in the offseason, when he’d still be the best available starter and have two full seasons of control.

His age makes it difficult to peg just what kind of extension the Mets should offer. But a five-year, $100 million would be a great starting point. It’s clear deGrom is a legitimate ace and he deserves to be paid like one. The Mets should hold on to him this season and look to lock him up sooner rather than later. He’s too valuable to let go.

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

The East Elmhurst Library, which is undergoing an expansion, closed its doors Saturday for the second phase of construction of the $8.9 million project, which is expected to be completed this fall, according to a library spokeswoman.

The single-story brick library was built in 1972 and was last renovated in 2009, according to representatives of the branch.

Since then, the community in East Elmhurst has grown, and the library — located at 95-06 Astoria Blvd. — has approximately 83,000 customers a year.

“The branch required more space to accommodate the needs of this growing community,” said spokeswoman Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska.

Funds for the project were put up by the Queens Library System and former City Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copeland (D-Jackson Heights) as far back as 2009.

“Queens Library is a crucial resource for seniors, students, immigrants and families in my district,” said Ferreras-Copeland in 2016. “We not only use the space for its collections, but also as a place to bond with our children, learn new languages and immerse in cultural programming.”

The bid process for the expansion did not start until 2015 and the groundbreaking was not held until 2016. The first phase of construction was completed in 2017.

The library was 5,200 square feet and was expanded to 9,700 square feet during the first phase, according to Kern-Jedrychowska.

The second phase of construction will include upgrades to the older building and a connection to the newer part of the library, which will include new space for a state-of-the-art community room for 120 people, a computer center for teens and adults, and a quiet study room.

The construction project will be sustainable and include solar controls and a natural air ventilation systems in the quiet area’s skylight and another one in the community room. Once the project is done, the library will receive a LEED silver rating, which will certify it as a green building.

“Queens Library prides itself on being a supporter of green initiatives,” said Kern-Jedrychowska. “When new library buildings are being designed, it is our, and the city’s priority to limit the environmental impact.”

Future author talks, civic meetings, and performances will be held at the library’s community room. The teen space will have five computers, while the adult space will have 10, as well as several meeting tables. The study room will feature space for six seats and electrical outlets at each for personal laptop usage, according to the spokesman.

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

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