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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

Police arrested a Corona man in the fatal shooting of a 31-year-old man inside an Elmhurst bodega last month.

Fabian Dejesus-Garcia, 28, who lives on Northern Boulevard near 106th Street, was arrested and charged with murder and possession of a weapon last Friday, police said, and Gamaliel Desiderio-Sanchez, 28, of the Bronx was arrested last Monday and faces murder and gun charges after Jackson Heights resident Saferino Flores-Pineda, 31, was gunned down inside the Cinco de Mayo Food Market, located at 81-06 Roosevelt Ave.

The two entered the store around 8:15 p.m. Thursday, March 22, according to the NYPD.

Video surveillance shows Desiderio-Sanchez handing Dejesus-Garcia a pistol before engaging Flores-Pineda in conversation as Dejesus-Garcia approached the victim from behind, shooting him three times, according to the criminal complaint. The two men fled the scene.

Police from the 110th Precinct, responding to a 911 call, found Flores-Pineda unconscious and unresponsive with multiple gunshots to the chest, police said. EMS also responded to the scene and rushed the victim to Elmhurst Hospital Center where he was pronounced dead, according to the NYPD.

Dejesus-Garcia is due back in court Wednesday and Desiderio-Sanchez’s next court date is April 19, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.

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 Gina Martinez

TimesLedger Newspapers

New York City attracted a record number of tourists in 2017 despite negative rhetoric from the White House, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

The city welcomed 62.8 million visitors last year, up 2.3 million from 2016, marking an eighth consecutive year of tourism growth, according to the mayor and NYC & Company, the city’s official destination marketing organization.

De Blasio said visitation for 2017 was made up of 49.7 million domestic and 13.1 million international visitors, both record highs.

“We’re keeping our door to the world open,” he said. “Even with all the headwinds from the White House, we attracted a record number of visitors to our city. That’s a testament to the strength of our tourism sector and the values of our city.”

Beginning in 2017, NYC & Company launched two campaigns: “New York City – Welcoming the World” and “True York City.” The campaigns were meant to help position New York as a must-visit destination, despite challenges in the geopolitical climate and changes in travel policies.

The Supreme Court approved the Trump administration’s ban on travel from eight nations in December 2017. Six of the countries – Syria, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Chad and Somalia — are majority Muslim nations, while North Korea and Venezuela are also on the list.

Still, tourism last year grew 3.8 percent overall from 2016, when New York City welcomed 60.5 million visitors. Domestic visitation grew 3.9 percent, from 47.8 million visitors in 2016 to 49.7 million in 2017. International travel increased by 3.4 percent, from 12.7 million visitors in 2016 to 13.1 million in 2017.

NYC & Company President and CEO Fred Dixon said their positive campaigns helped counter the negative political message from Washington and helped solidify New York City as a welcoming and open city.

“Despite geopolitical challenges and a travel ban that made our task of promoting tourism more challenging than ever, we are pleased to see that we overcame these hurdles to realize a consecutive eighth year of tourism growth in New York City,” he said.

According to Dixon, the increase in Asian and South American visitors helped offset drops in the city’s traditional European core markets.

Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside), who also serves as chairman of the Committee on Economic Development, said it was no surprise that the world’s “greatest city” would continue to see growth in tourism year after year.

“However, the reality is that many challenges had to be overcome in order to continue this unparalleled growth,” he said. “The real takeaway here is that our city continues to successfully create countless reasons for visitors to come, and I look forward to working with my colleagues and the Administration to support initiatives and campaigns that will continue to make New York City the premier tourist destination in the world.”

To help boost travel in 2017, NYC & Company signed more international city-to-city tourism partnerships. The new partnerships included popular cities like Cape Town, Toronto, Tokyo, and renewals with Mexico City and Seoul. These partnerships include media exchanges to further promote NYC abroad.

New York has the most active hotel development pipeline in the United States, with 4,000 new rooms added to the city’s hotel inventory last year, bringing the total to almost 116,500 rooms, according to NYC & Company. Last year, the city sold a record 36.4 million hotel room nights, a 4.5 percent rise from 2016.

Business also helped boost tourism, as 6.2 million meetings and convention delegates came to the city in 2017, contributing to the 13 million business travelers who visited.

NYC & Company expects another year of growth, as 2018 is on track to see a 3.7 percent increase of visitors, totaling 65.1 million visitors.

Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmartinez@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

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman joined U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights) at the offices of Woodside on the Move Monday to discuss tenants’ rights with dozens of concerned renters and activists during a roundtable discussion. Participants asked Crowley and Schneiderman about their efforts to combat the practices of predatory landlords and expand access to affordable housing in New York City.

“New York City is facing a housing crisis that has forced the cost of living in Queens and the Bronx to unsustainable heights,” Crowley said. “I will continue fighting for policies in Congress that supports renters and aspiring homeowners and do whatever I can to eliminate the abusive practice of predatory landlords across New York.”

Crowley is advocating for a tax benefit for renters, like the ones given to homeowners in his Rent Relief Act introduced last year.

“We need to ensure the rents are stabilized and they are not increasing at a rate at which is not affordable for our constituents,” he said.

Woodside on the Move has been fighting for tenants residing in Jackson Heights, Woodside, Corona, and Jamaica against the Department of Housing and Community Renewal for its failure to adequately address the high rent increases caused by major capital improvements. Landlords can increase rent to cover changes in an apartment or multiple dwellings.

Schneiderman explained that the current crisis stems from two main causes: the boom in the city’s real estate market that is “unlike anything we’ve seen before” and the federal government’s lack of assistance for tenants.

“This is where Congressman Crowley has really been a leader in New York in calling this out and flagging this for us,” Schneiderman said. “It’s something we have to address.”

Schneiderman left Woodside to meet with several tenants of Astoria properties that were owned by White House adviser Jared Kushner’s real estate company. The attorney general acknowledged there is an investigation into Kushner Companies filing false paperwork with the city Department of Buildings in an effort to skirt rent regulations. The City Council is also investigating whether tenants were driven out of their units.

State Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) called on the DOB to issue an immediate stop work order on all Kushner Companies’ properties until an investigation into their business practices is concluded. An investigation by the Housing Rights Initiative found that Kushner Companies also used construction projects to drive up rents and harass tenants.

“Bad actors should not benefit at the expense of tenants when they flout rules designed to protect residents,” Gianaris said. “I urge DOB to immediately stop any construction taking place on Kushner Companies’ properties until officials get to the bottom of these serious allegations.”

DOB says it is implementing 12 new laws to fight tenant harassment and is hiring 72 new inspectors and other staff dedicated to the effort. The agency’s Tenant Harassment Task Force has been investigating Kushner Companies’ three Astoria buildings since 2016.

“We share Senator Gianaris’s concerns and are investigating this matter,” a DOB spokeswoman said. “We won’t tolerate landlords who use construction to harass tenants — no matter who they are. Landlords have a legal and moral responsibility to keep their buildings safe and we will use every resource to fight bad actors who don’t live up to those obligations.”

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

The city Independent Budget Office is claiming Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s fiscal year 2019 budget proposal will not only provide major setbacks for child services, but also affect its juvenile justice programs.

Not only did the IBO’s new report double down on the Administration for Children’s Services’ statements made in February claiming the city agency would be underfunded by $129 million, but the cuts would also take $31 million from ACS’s Close to Home program, which places juvenile delinquents within the city.

“[Gov.] Cuomo’s 2019 executive budget for New York State contains two proposals that, if enacted, would substantially reduce state aid for the city’s Administration for Children’s Services and a third proposal that excludes the city from funding for a new state initiative,” the IBO report said. “The governor’s executive budget also proposes ending state funding of the city’s juvenile justice Close to Home program, which would cost the city more than $31 million in expected aid. In addition, implementation of the state’s initiative to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18, which was signed into law last year, will also have implications for ACS’s budget. While the governor proposes allocating $100 million for the initiative, it excludes New York City from the funding.”

ACS Commissioner David Hansell’s letter to Cuomo in February called for the $129 million to be reinstated in the budget for programs which have already been slated to receive this funding.

The majority of the $129 million to be slashed in 2019 would eliminate child-protective staff and personnel in preventative programs such as family counseling and substance abuse treatment, according to ACS, and some of the funds to be cut from the budget have been invested in the agency’s investigative staff as well.

“I believe we all share a commitment to safeguarding children and supporting families, and for that reason we find this proposal startling, especially given the lack of any articulated basis for it — other than shifting to the city obligations that have historically been the state’s,” Hansell said in February. “The last time the state made such drastic cuts to New York City’s child welfare system, the results were disastrous.”

Hansell claimed the Family and Children’s Services Block Grant passed by the state in the 1990s imposed an “arbitrary limit” on state support for child welfare at the city level and resulted in a 57 percent spike in foster care admissions.

Case loads also increased by 24 percent, a number Hansell said is double what it is today.

By the early 2000s, the state got rid of the block grant and replaced it with the current shared investment model, which takes 50 percent of its funds from Albany, 40 percent from the city and 10 percent from federal coffers.

State Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) issued a letter to Cuomo in February asking his administration to cooperate with Haskell and ACS in their needs.

“The current reimbursement system has contributed to lower child protective case loads and a decrease in juvenile justice detection and placements,” Peralta said challenging the governor to restore the difference in funds. ‘The proposed $320 million cap runs counter to our shared goal of keeping children out of the foster care and the juvenile justice system. When the state has implemented caps in the past, New York City foster care placements spiked. In 2017, there were 157 more placements than there were in 2016. This is not the time to cut off the very funding that can prevent more children from being institutionalized.”

But Budget Director Robert Mujica claimed the governor’s budget was not a break from precedence set by years prior and that it eliminated unnecessary costs and invested in progressive policies as well as infrastructure.

“The governor’s fiscal policies, which have ended the era of high spending growth and tax increases, are maintained in FY 2019 Budget. For the eighth consecutive year, the budget is balanced and limits spending growth to 2 percent – a record of spending restraint unparalleled in sate history,” Mujica said. “The 2 percent cap, self-imposed by Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature, has been made possible by fundamental reforms to reduce state costs.”

The majority of $129 million to be slashed in 2019 would eliminate child-protective staff and personnel in preventative programs such as family counseling and substance abuse treatment, according to ACS, and some of the funds to be cut from the budget have been invested in the agency’s investigative staff as well.

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

An MTA worker is being hailed as a hero after his quick actions saved the life of a straphanger aboard an F train in Jackson Heights last week.

Conductor Kevin Bartsch was alerted by passengers that a 35-year-old rider was in distress shortly before 6:30 p.m. March 28 as the F train was pulling into the Roosevelt Avenue-74th Street station.

Bartsch raced two cars ahead and found the unconscious passenger slumped over in his seat suffering an apparent heart attack. The conductor, a former volunteer firefighter in Suffolk County and a trained EMT, determined the man did not have a pulse and began administering chest compressions and CPR. An EMT on the platform arrived in the subway car with a defibrillator and was about to use it when the man suddenly regained consciousness.

“I don’t consider myself a hero,” Bartsch told WPIX. “I did what I was trained to do.”

First responders arrived on the scene and transported the passenger to Elmhurst Hospital Center while Bartsch remained on the F train as it resumed its route after a short delay.

“Our personnel are trained to put safety first and deliver the best service possible to our customers, and part of the MTA Subway Action Plan to reduce delays involves pre-positioning EMTs so they can deliver help and resolve situations faster,” MTA spokesman Shams Tarek said. “We’re incredibly proud of our conductor and EMT and so thrilled that they were able to save a life.”

The MTA said it is planning to give Bartsch and award for his life-saving heroics.

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

A 50-year-old man was crushed to death underneath a marble slab at a Long Island City warehouse Friday.

Police from the 108th Precinct responded to a report of a man injured inside the Leadstone USA facility — located at 50-09 27th Ave. — and discovered the victim with severe trauma to the neck, police said. EMS responded and pronounced the worker dead at the scene.

The worker had been using a hoist to move to large slabs of marble inside the “quartz countertops company” when he became trapped beneath one of them, according to authorities.

The Medical Examiners Office were working to determine the cause of death and the investigation was ongoing, police said. The identity of the deceased is pending family notification.

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

Queens lawmakers celebrated Martin Van Buren High School making its way into good financial standing as it was taken out of receivership this month and will no longer be on the list of schools slated for closure after investment in programming, technology, and physical upgrades.

City Councilman Barry Grodenchik (D-Oakland Gardens) acknowledged the Queens Village school’s strong historical track record for excellence by producing two Nobel Laureates, professor Alvin Roth, who received the 2012 prize in economic sciences, and Frank Wilczek, who won the physics prize in 2004, since it was founded in 1955.

“Martin Van Buren High School has produced two Nobel Award winners, and under the leadership of Principal Sam Sochet, we are working together to bring the school back as a strong and vibrant educational institution in our community,” Grodenchik said.

Van Buren received a grant from the state for 2015 through 2018 to launch a program providing tablets to students to complete and turn in homework on a daily basis, obtain large format monitors using Google Classroom as well as providing online texts with Rosetta Stone, myON and Scholastic Read.

Dermot Smyth, Queens’ political action coordinator for the United Federation of Teachers, said the organization had pushed for the school to remain open by bringing in the right resources. According to Smyth, the UFT does not believe in closing schools since investment is the key to making a successful school.

“Today was a good day for our schools in the area. Martin Van Buren High School is now in good standing and is no longer a priority school. It is important to invest in these children to assure that they are given the proper tools and skill set to soar in the next generation. We will continue to make sure that every child thrives and succeeds in this community,” state Assemblyman Clyde Vanel (D-Queens Village) said.

In December, the state Department of Education made the announcement that Van Buren High was also in good academic standing and would be removed from the Priority School List, which gives schools three years to improve in English Language Arts and mathematics. The state also requires schools to have a 60 percent graduation rate.

From 2014-2015 Van Buren’s graduation rate was 55 percent, but as of the 2016-2017 school year, it had risen to 67 percent.

“I want to commend Principal Sam Sochet, the NYC Department of Education and the leadership at Martin Van Buren High School for making the school a top choice for students and parents. I have witnessed Sam Sochet’s dedication and belief in his administration throughout the years since he began his tenure as principal at Van Buren, and I thank all the students and parents who have been in support of the school from the very beginning,” state Assemblyman David I. Weprin 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 Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs presented its first report last week, and despite the upheaval within the city’s immigrant population due to shifting policies from the White House, Queens remains the biggest bastion for immigrants of varying statuses.

In a city that is home to over 3.1 million immigrants, nearly 1.1 million reside in Queens, according to figures in the 2018 MOIA report.

Figures from the report depict Queens as the home to the most naturalized immigrant population, the most undocumented immigrants and the most Green Card holders and individuals of other status.

Brooklyn follows closely behind in terms of immigration population, with nearly 1 million foreign-born residents. The Bronx has a little over 500,000, Manhattan has fewer than 500,000 and Staten Island has the least foreign-born residents with a little over 100,000 in its borough.

Throughout the city, approximately 62 percent of New Yorkers live in a household with at least one immigrant.

The report estimates that there are at least 1 million New Yorkers who live in mixed-status households, where a minimum of one individual is undocumented.

Some 54 percent of the immigrant populations in the city are naturalized citizens. Green Card holders, or those eligible for one, make up 660,000 residents in the city. An estimated 560,000 residents comprise the undocumented population.

The most foreign-born residents in the city are from the Dominican Republic, followed by China, Mexico, Jamaica, Guyana, Ecuador, Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, Bangladesh and India.

More than 150 languages are spoken in the city.

Spanish is the most spoken language of foreign-born residents followed by Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Russian, Haitian Creole, Bengali, Italian, Arabic, Korean, Polish and French.

MOIA’s has 433 interpreters to allow for language access for the city’s diverse population at events throughout the city.

Neighborhood activist groups in Queens like Mujeres en Movimiento and Kollectiv Migrantas help to distribute picture-based materials about MOIA services to the immigration population in the borough.

“This report is great news for our immigrant friends, families, and neighbors,” said Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights), chairman of the Finance Committee. “The data it contains can help NYC agencies improve language access for those learning English, bolster cultural competency training for city staff, and much more. The possibilities are endless.”

Immigrants in the five boroughs help drive the city’s economy and are responsible for $195 billion, or 22 percent, of its GDP. They also own 52 percent of businesses across the city and make up 45 percent of the workforce.

The city is continuing its work to integrate immigrants economically, civically and socially by providing IDNYC cards, guidance to city agencies for refugees, residents with temporary protected status and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and expanding protections for vulnerable immigrant groups through the legislative process.

“Immigrant communities are an integral part of our city and we have worked diligently to protect and strengthen this legacy,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “While others try to play to ugly impulses that cast a shadow over our country’s history, we know that over 3 million immigrant New Yorkers bring strength and vibrancy that help shape our city’s future.

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