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By Mark Hallum

TimesLedger Newspapers

Thousands of students at high schools across Queens joined a national 17-minute walkout protesting inaction from government officials on gun control in response to the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Fla. that killed 14 teenagers and three adults.

More than 1,000 students at Benjamin Cardozo High School in Bayside stepped out of the classroom Wednesday and were joined in protest by counterparts at Bayside High School, the Al-Iman School for Islamic students in Jamaica, and the World Journalism Preparatory School in Flushing.

Mackenzie Mattone, a junior, organized the walkout at Cardozo and was joined by Borough President Melinda Katz, who praised the efforts of students like Mattone for taking action and urging fellow students to register to vote.

“As students in high school, we should not have to worry about getting shot while sitting at our desk or walking through our halls,” Mackenzie said. “I cannot imagine the moment where I witness my own best friends being killed before me and know there is nothing I can do. But what if there is something we can all do? We can make our voices heard, we can make a difference, we can force legislators to listen to the demands of students who want to live another day, we can register to vote.”

Katz got behind the #enough movement by saying the country cannot wait for the next mass shooting to pass “meaningful” gun control laws.

“These are kids asking adults to do what we should be doing, which is to protect them. They need to be protected here in New York, but also in Washington where the laws have to change,” Katz said.

Ruben Frischeisen, 16, said the government has been setting its priorities wrong and disregarding the well-being of it citizens for too long.

“It’s absolutely disgraceful what the NRA and government are doing, I think change is long overdue, stemming back to the ‘90s with Columbine,” Ruben said, referring to the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine, Colo., High School, where 15 were killed, including the two gunmen. “It’s 2018 and we’re still dealing with the same issue of gun violence.

Sean Friedman, a junior at Bayside High School, said he was disappointed in the school administration’s perceived opposition to the demonstration.

According to Sean, 400 students took part in the walkout but they were rushed in and out of the building without the chance to share their thoughts publicly.

“We never got a chance to speak our mind. Kids had signs. Kids stood out in the cold. Parents stood there with signs. Everyone had something to say. We weren’t heard. It was unsuccessful. To me this is only the beginning of something bigger. I want to make a bigger demonstration,” Sean said. “I had a meeting with the principal yesterday and it seemed like they just wanted nothing to do with this. They got us in and then out. It was sad how little time we got. Not enough was said. Not enough of us were heard.”

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

The borough’s tourism industry received a boost when travel guide publisher Lonely Planet named Queens the No. 1 tourist destination in the United States in 2015 and legislation is making its way through Albany to provide funding that would further promote the brand.

The state Senate passed a bill authored by Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) last week which would reallocate four percent of the Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue, up to an annual maximum of $300,000, to each borough to further tourism development.

In 2017, New York City received a record-breaking 61.8 million visitors, nearly a two percent increase from the 60.5 million tourists who visited the city the year before, according to NYC & Company.

“Simply put, my bill will foster the growth of New York City’s tourism industry, which is a key economic engine for our city,” Peralta said. “Tourism is a great source of job creation, and if the bill becomes law, each borough will be able to further promote their particular gems and attractions, from Flushing Meadows Corona Park here in the district to the Bronx Zoo. A visit to New York City in incomplete if visitors skipped the boroughs.”

The funding will allow each borough to support its own tourism attractions. The tax revenue, which can be used to promote local nonprofit venues, will go to each borough’s tourism council.

“I’m not sure of the politics of this bill, but I am absolutely positive that I could do some great things with the extra funding,” Queens Tourism Council Director Rob MacKay said. “First of all, I would attend some travel industry conferences to educate travel agents on Queens. We are seeing more and more tourists from Brazil, Canada, China and France these days. I’d love to go to these countries and preach Queens. It would be great for business.”

Peralta hopes the Assembly follows suit and approves his measure.

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

The need for senior affordable housing in Astoria is so great that City Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria) is willing to give up one of the neighborhood’s most precious resources: a public parking lot.

Noting that there are nearly 20,000 seniors on a waiting list for housing in his 22nd Council District — the highest number in the city and almost double the number in the second-highest district — Constantinides unveiled his proposal to convert the Broadway Municipal Parking Field into a residential building for 100 percent affordable senior housing units. Given the urgent need for senior housing, Constantinides recently proposed to build at least 500 new units of senior affordable housing before the end of his term in office in 2021.

“Our city is undergoing an affordable housing crisis, with rents rising and many unable to stay in their neighborhoods,” Constantinides said. “Our senior citizens are perhaps the most vulnerable group in the midst of out affordability crisis. We must make sure that we foster inclusive community development and keep our neighborhood affordable for seniors who want to stay in the neighborhood they call home by actively seeking opportunities to build more affordable housing units. This site is in a bustling area with many transit and local shopping amenities that offer a robust quality of life — a perfect environment to add new units of senior affordable housing.”

The parking field is more than 20,000 square feet large, which could fit between 100 and 150 affordable housing units. The lot is located along the medium-density 31st Street corridor and is less than 100 feet from the Broadway stop on the N/W subway line.

“Giving seniors the opportunity to afford to live in their neighborhoods creates inclusive communities and addresses our city’s affordability crisis,” Hellenic American Neighborhood Action Committee Executive Director John Kaiteris said. “Astoria is in desperate need of new affordable senior housing units. Councilman Constantinides’ proposal to build these new units in an area near transit and local shopping will improve quality of life for our seniors.”

Constantinides drafted a letter to Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Alicia Glen last week to outline his proposal. Converting the site into senior affordable housing would require going through the city’s Unified Land-Use Review Process, which includes input from the community and City Council. This change in land-use would conform with the City Council’s Zoning for Quality and Affordability agreement passed in 2016 which encourages the growth of senior affordable housing.

“We are only at the beginning of this long process,” Constantinides said. “As we move forward, I will continue to take feedback from community stakeholders and partners in government.”

The Very Rev. Patrick Keating, deputy chief executive officer of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens and affiliate agencies, said nearly 20,000 seniors are on the waiting list in the district.

“The need for affordable housing in New York City is overwhelming and must be addressed,” he said. “It is our obligation to do whatever we can do to provide affordable homes for a generation of aging New Yorkers in need who already gave so much to our great city.”

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

The city has asked Queens residents to reduce their water use during rainstorms in an effort to cut down on pollution in Newtown Creek, Bowery Bay, Flushing Creek and Flushing Bay. This is a first-in-the nation undertaking.

Homeowners and tenants are requested to voluntarily wait to engage in water-intensive activities, such as doing laundry, washing dishes or even flushing the toilet during inclement weather in order to create additional capacity in the combined sewers system, reducing the likelihood of a sewer overflow into nearby water bodies, according to the city’s Department of Environmental Protection.

“While we invest hundreds of millions of dollars every year to build infrastructure that protects the health of local waterways, the Wait Program engages citizens and allows them to directly contribute to the protection of our environment,” DEP Commissioner Vincent Sapienza said. “New York Harbor is cleaner today than it has been in more than a century and with the help of all New Yorkers we can continue to build on this important progress.”

The Wait Program will utilize real-time data and alert participants by text message when overflow events are expected, especially during heavy rainfalls when the amount of stormwater and wastewater can be discharged into area waterways.

“The pilot Wait Program will help reduce pollution in our city’s greatest resource — our waterways,” City Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria), the chairman of the Environmental Protection Committee, said. “Volunteering to wait to perform chores like laundry and dish washing reduces the likelihood of sewage overflow into water bodies, including Bowery Bay.”

DEP is the first water utility in the nation to pilot this type of program, which is modeled on a successful initiative administered by the Newtown Creek Alliance, a community-based organization dedicated to restoring the polluted body of water that separates western Queens and northern Brooklyn.

“There is an immediate opportunity for residents to reduce pollution by being aware of when sewage treatment plants hit capacity during rain events and overflow into local waterways, and then taking action to not create additional wastewater during these crucial periods,” Newtown Creek Alliance Program Director Willis Elkins said. “While we seek continued investment from the city to improve long-term sewer infrastructure and stormwater collection, educating the public about the impacts of our own wastewater, especially during rain events, is one of the few options that can be implemented today.”

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 Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

The Queens Public Library System will stop offering plastic bags to readers at all 63 of its branches throughout the borough on June 30, according to its Chief Executive Officer Dennis Walcott.

“We appreciate that plastic bags are convenient, but the consequences of convenience are too great,” Walcott said. “Plastic bags harm the health of wildlife, humans and marine life, litter our streets, sidewalks, trees, parks, yards and beaches and are costly to produce.”

According to Walcott, the library system was prompted to stop distributing plastic bags by some of its customers.

The library’s complete phase-out of plastic bags will come a little over a month after the April 22 Earth Day Network 2018 campaign to reduce plastic pollution around the world.

The Earth Day Network is a nonprofit that partners with local, state, national, and global organizations that want to protect the most vulnerable citizens of the world from the impact of climate change on people’s health and communities.

More than one billion people from 195 countries participate each year in Earth Day activities, according to earthday.org.

Helping to preserve the environment in New York is the Sierra Club’s Atlantic Chapter for the state.

“Plastic bags are an environmental menace – littering our parks, despoiling our communities and clogging our waterways, all with the potential to strangle and poison wildlife,” said Roger Downs, the director of the Sierra Club for New York.

Environmental advocate groups, the New York League of Conservation Voters and the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, were delighted by Queens Library’s actions to eliminate plastic bags from its dozens of branches.

“While we continue to push for statewide action on carryout bags from our leaders in Albany, the Queens Library will immediately make a huge difference by taking 24 tons of plastic out of the waste stream,” said President Marcia Bystryn of the Conservation Voters. “This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, litter, truck traffic, and most importantly, it will help encourage its millions of patrons to make a positive change in their own behavior to benefit the environment.”

Eddie Bautista, the executive director of NYCEJA, shared Bystryn’s sentiments.

“We need more organizations like the Library and leaders like Dennis Walcott at the local level to continue to counteract what’s happening in Washington,” Bautista said.

Queens Library will be encouraging its customers to bring reusable bags going forward.

“Together we can ensure that public libraries remain the greenest way to read,” said Walcott.

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

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Mark Hallum

TimesLedger Newspapers

Elected officials are calling for the MTA to backtrack on a revision to the Freedom Ticket proposal, a reduced rate for LIRR commuters at select south Queens stations, to include both Atlantic Terminal and Penn Station as a final destination.

First proposed by the New York City Transit Riders Council in 2015, Freedom Ticket was designed to make the transit deserts of south Queens more accessible to the rest of the city by allowing residents to get tickets to key transfer hubs for $6.50, as opposed to the usual $10.25.

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz addressed the issue in a joint letter to MTA Chairman Joe Lhota with seven other electeds calling for the state agency to bring Penn Station back into the proposal since the commute would be cost-prohibitive for many of their constituents and increase their travel time by a half hour if forced to transfer from Atlantic Terminal.

“As you know, we have been avid supporters of the ‘Freedom Ticket’ plan put forward by the New York City Transit Riders Council (NYCTRC) in 2015,” the elected officials wrote in the joint letter, warning against the transfer that would lengthen commuting time. “Given this significant limitation, without the option of Penn Station, I expect few southeast Queens residents would use Freedom Tickets if the pilot program is implemented in its current state. The pilot is therefore being set up for failure, an outcome that is unacceptable, as it will not properly serve SEQ residents, allow for sufficient outreach in the community nor gauge their use of a long term program.”

U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica), state Sens. Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) and James Sanders (D-South Ozone Park), Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman (D-Springfield Gardens), Assemblyman Clyde Vanel (D-Queens Village), Councilwoman Adrienne Adams (D-Jamaica) and Councilman I. Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) also signed the letter.

The 37 percent discounted fare on the peak hour commuter train tickets could boost the local economy in south Queens, the officials said, but the pilot program, which only includes Atlantic Terminal, could be a burden on straphangers making their way into Manhattan by requiring them to transfer to the subway in Brooklyn.

The average commute time on the LIRR from Rosedale, Laurelton, Locust Manor, St. Albans, Hollis and Queens Village stations to Penn Station is roughly a half hour and the Freedom Ticket proposal includes a free transfer to subways and buses.

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

One of the most celebrated photographs in New York City history will be recreated here in Queens this spring.

It was on Aug. 12, 1958, when Art Kane, a freelance photographer on assignment for Esquire magazine, snapped the photo of 57 jazz musicians in front of a Harlem brownstone.

Dubbed “A Great Day in Harlem,” the black-and-white image of Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and other legends symbolized the genre of the neighborhood. Now, Kane’s son Jonathan is planning to honor the 60th anniversary of his father’s iconic photo by taking his own portrait of Queens residents in front of the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

The younger Kane is himself a photographer and musician who lives in Jackson Heights, and the image he will capture this May will depict the borough’s unprecedented ethnic diversity. The wearing of traditional garments of their heritages will be encouraged, but not required.

“It’s long been a dream of mine to recreate the image, but with a social and conceptual twist,” Kane said. “Queens is the most diverse county on the planet. We speak more than 100 languages, we profess countless faiths and creeds, and best of all, we all get along.”

Kane, who has been shooting location photography and producing video for automotive and trucking industries since 2008, is working with the Queens Tourism Council on assembling dozens of Queens residents for the three-hour shoot the morning of Saturday, May 19. They will enjoy each other’s company over breakfast in the park before posing in the same basic T formation as seen in “A Great Day in Harlem.”

The image will then be used for any number of purposes, including education, tourism, fund-raising, decoration, and even branding, according to Kane. All participants will receive an enlarged copy, while he plans to create and distribute a poster to interested parties. There is also a plan to create a video documentary of the event.

“We are living and celebrating everything that’s great about America every day,” Kane said. “And it’s time to share that with the world in a bold and dynamic way.”

Queens Tourism Council Director Rob MacKay is currently recruiting people for the photo and organizing the event in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Anyone interested in participating in the shoot can contact MacKay at (718)-263-0546 or by e-mail at rmackay@queensny.org.

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

Public transit advocacy group Riders Alliance launched a campaign for straphangers to hold Gov. Andrew Cuomo responsible for the state of the city’s subways, which continue to suffer a high number of delays from antiquated infrastructure.

An event at Queensboro Plaza kicked off the campaign on Feb. 28, at which the group spoke with commuters about holding Cuomo and the MTA accountable for the state of the city’s transit system and to call on the state to include MTA funding in the FY 2019 budget.

The event came a week after the launch of a contest by the organization, which handed out a chocolate MetroCard to riders with the worst commute stories.

“Subway riders are racking up #WorstCommutes with no end in sight,” Rebecca Bailin, Riders Alliance Campaign Manager, said. “New Yorkers are experiencing a transit crisis born of a lack of accountability. Subway civics lets riders know who to hold accountable for better, more reliable service. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislators must lead this year on the funding we need for several million New Yorkers to once again get to work — and school — on time.”

MTA spokesman Shams Tarek issued the same statement the agency prepared for the launch of the “Worst Commute” contest two weeks earlier in response to the event at Queensboro Plaza.

“Today, 50,000 New York City Transit employees moved nearly 6 million people on the subway and 2.5 million bus riders. They operated trains, fixed signals and switches, repaired track, navigated the clogged streets of New York City and helped customers find their way – that’s what we’re focused on.”

The first winner of the “Worst Commute” was Forest Hills resident Jennifer Tang, who put off using the rest room before embarking on her usual half-hour journey home. Her fate was to spend two hours on a stalled R train just feet from her home station at 71st Street.

Cuomo is working to enact congestion pricing for traffic entering Manhattan south of 60th Street, with tolls of $11.52 for cars, in order to establish a dedicated funding stream for the MTA.

But while the state prepares for the possible launch of the congestion pricing proposal, commuters are suffering with persistent delays during critical hours of the day.

Riders Alliance Executive Director John Raskin issued a statement Monday, March 5, about a slew of train delays during the morning rush along 16 lines, including the F, E, J and N which run through Queens, stemming from mechanical and signal failures.

“Yet again this first Monday morning in March, commuters had their lives upended by signal and mechanical problems throughout the subway system. Clearly, no short-term duct tape solution is going to solve the transit crisis; we need a real plan to invest in modern signals and new subway cars,” the head of the straphangers’ advocate group said. “Nine months after Gov. Cuomo declared a state of emergency, there is still no plan and still no money to invest in long-term upgrades to our transit system. Riders want to know: Is the governor serious about fixing the subway?”

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