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By Tammy Scileppi

TimesLedger Newspapers

If you’re an avid tea drinker, you’re probably aware of tea’s calming effect and are instinctively cognizant of how different having a cup of tea vs. a cup of coffee feels.

Sipping your favorite tea can be a spiritual experience. And it’s no wonder, because there’s a kind of unity between the mighty tea leaf and Zen. That spiritual connection makes sense because tea’s back story is infused with a blend of ancient concepts, myths and legends that swirl around spirituality as well as philosophy.

The history of tea, according to Chinese legend, dates to 2737 B.C.E., when the science-loving emperor Shennong discovered the stuff after a leaf from a wild tea tree in his garden happened to fall into his pot of boiling water. After drinking the infused water, the emperor had an aha moment and started researching the mystery plant. Legend has it, this led to his discovery of tea’s medicinal properties.

It’s possible that the tea plant originated in regions around southwest China, Tibet, and Northern India. Ancient rumor has it that traders encountered people chewing tea leaves as medicine.

Gradually, everybody started sipping this new concoction during the classic age of tea, or the Tang dynasty (618-907), and eventually, it was recognized as China’s national drink.

During that period of tea enlightenment, a creative Buddhist monk imbued his writings with a spiritual aesthetic that reflected Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian religious thoughts of the time. His teachings were centered on a traditional tea ceremony, which served as a metaphor for expressing the harmony and simplicity that not only ordered but also streamed throughout the entire universe.

Fang Gourmet Tea is committed to promoting that spirit of teaism, which is believed to be a part of physical and spiritual wellness in daily life.

You’ll find this exotic gem off the beaten path at 135-25 Roosevelt Ave. in Downtown Flushing, nestled behind a mall. It’s a lovely place to visit if you wish to sample a unique selection of world-renowned exotic teas and, while you’re there, take a gander at the myriad styles of refined tea accessories and pottery. These costly items and teas are so special that finding them elsewhere in the country is nearly impossible.

At the shop’s recent yearly Tea Tasting Expo and tea enthusiasts’ reunion, local devotees and visitors from across the United States gathered to relish Fang’s wonderful and complex tea offerings — like a vintage tea from 1890, which was brought out and enjoyed by guests — as they experienced the unity of tea and Zen while sharing tea-related stories.

Visit Fang Gourmet Tea for tea classes and tea ceremony by appointment, and you too can appreciate the Tao of Tea.

According to Fang’s website: It is an art of living about brewing and drinking tea. With tea as the medium, the Tao of Tea is an etiquette of everyday living, as well as a way of life, cultivating moral character through tea. Tea can purify and clear our minds, purging distracting thoughts; it is interlinked to the Eastern philosophy of promoting “tranquility, simplicity and contentment” and is also in line with Taoism’s idea of “introspective practice.” The core of tea culture lies in the spirit of the Tao of Tea while “confluence of tea and Zen” is considered as the highest realm of it.

Did you know that Indian history attributes the discovery of tea to Prince Bodhidharma, an Indian saint who founded the Zen school of Buddhism? After leaving India in the year 520 to preach Buddhism in China, he made a vow: to meditate for nine years without sleep so as to work out various Zen principles. When he was done meditating, he finally fell asleep. Legend has it the poor saint was so distraught when he awoke, that he cut off his eyelids and threw them to the ground. Amazingly, a tea plant sprung up on the spot to sanctify his sacrifice.

Local artist Hiromi Niizeki, a native from Japan, says she drinks both coffee and tea but has been shifting to more tea recently. “I feel tea is milder for stomach than coffee. I love chai-Indian milk tea with spice which I always get in Jackson Heights. I recently purchased spice, cinnamon, ginger and cardamom at Indian market in Jackson Heights so that I can make chai at home.”

She says her immediate neighborhood, 25th Avenue and Steinway Street in Astoria, is filled with Middle Eastern shops, and she loves their spiced milk teas, as well. “Iced Thai tea is also very tasty. I also drink green tea in Japanese traditional way without sugar or milk.” She explained: “Simply brew with hot water, then slightly lower the temperature so as not to yellow the color green.”

Niizeki added: “I also sprinkle maccha (powdered green tea) over vanilla ice cream, which is my favorite. Recently, I purchased Rooibos tea for evening, with orange vanilla cream flavor … and I love it very much as well.”

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By Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

The second annual Sanctuary for All event, an occasion meant to empower and protect immigrants with social and legal services, was held last week at Legal Hand Jamaica, 149-13 Jamaica Ave.

Legal Hand Jamaica, a nonprofit, assists in civil legal problems for people from low-income communities.

At the event, more than 50 members of nearly 20 groups were there to help provide information, resources and expertise on issues facing immigrants, documented or undocumented.

One of the groups providing legal services for immigrants in an array of areas was the Legal Aid Society.

“We have an army of immigration lawyers, and at Legal Aid, immigration status is not a bar to our services,” said Sateesh Nori, who works on civil cases. “We are not going to ask if you have a green card or what your status is.”

The Legal Aid Society has public defenders, represents juveniles and covers 23 areas of civil practice, including tenants’ rights, foreclosures, benefits, disability, employment and domestic violence.

The Legal Aid Society has a team of about 70 lawyers in its civil practice division in Queens and can be found in Jamaica at 153-01 Jamaica Ave. or in Kew Gardens at 120-46 Queens Blvd.

Virginia Goggin, the director of legal services at the New York City Anti-Violence Project, was at Legal Hand to speak on her work to help people, including immigrants regardless of status, who are in domestic violence situations, especially in the LGBT community.

“We have different support groups for LGBTQ survivors of sexual violence,” Goggin said. “We also have an economic empowerment program … and we offer immigration assistance.”

Not only does AVP help survivors with securing work, it also helps people who need an order of protection or a name change or have housing concerns, according to the director.

Survivors who are uncomfortable about reporting an event because of their sexuality and status can come forward to AVP, or file an online report at avp.org., according to Goggin. AVP is also working on app.

Providing legal clinics for undocumented parents who want to ensure their children’s safety in case they are deported was CUNY Law School Professor Joe Rosenberg and his student Stephanie Deolarte.

“The main documents that we work with are temporary care and custody,” Rosenberg said. He also works with “parental designation and temporary guardian forms.”

In addition, Rosenberg works with power-of-attorney forms, and he warned people to be very careful whom they appoint, because someone could abuse the designation for money. But choosing the right person could provide legal security for a child.

“We think of it as a bridge to a more permanent arrangement, if that is necessary,” Rosenberg said.

For help from the CUNY Law School, individuals can go to http://cuny.is/planningwithparents.

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

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By Nily Rozic

TimesLedger Newspapers

Here in Eastern Queens, we are more than familiar with the term “transit desert.” Look no further than our Assembly district to see the lack of public transit options: without a single subway or train station, transit riders depend on buses as their primary mode of public transit.

But talk to a transit rider from Eastern Queens and the first thing he or she will tell you is how bus service is unreliable. While this is no surprise to nearly every rider accustomed to frequent delays, inconsistent service, and overcrowding, the challenges faced by Queens commuters are surmounted by our dependency on buses. Too often we’re conditioned from early on to hope for the best, but plan for the worst. For example, the slowest bus serving our district is the Q20A at 6.3 mph, and the Q46 comes in as the most bunched-up bus.

The Regional Plan Association recently highlighted transit access in Queens, where “fewer than four in 10 residents can walk to the subway.” An analysis of lines shows that Queens ranks last in subway access, and while the population continues to grow, transit access remains unchanged. Intra- and inter-borough transportation is so lacking that fewer than half of the 3.4 million trips made are made on transit.

Other issues including the LIRR Freedom Ticket proposal, Fair Fares campaign, express bus service improvements, and Bus Rapid Transit are among the many that riders could benefit from if done right.

Though progress has been made to improve our extensive network, these fixes are short-term. Bus Time and countdown clocks have helped riders get data of arrival times, but neither addresses the crumbling infrastructure that prevents our system from running and growing.

Transit riders are making their voices heard loud and clear. We no longer have the luxury of passing the buck or shirking responsibility to fix a historic underfunding of mass transit. Proposals are being presented to solve the crisis that has long plagued the MTA — and that’s where you come in.

I always want to hear from the community when new ideas are suggested. These dialogues are necessary for advocates and legislators alike when they craft and carry out proposals that will affect working families, students, and seniors.

During this legislative session, I urge you to reach out with experiences, concerns, and suggestions as I strive to ensure our voices are represented in Albany. Please email rozicn@nyassembly.gov or call my office!

Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows)

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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

The city’s Department of Homeless Services has come under fire for suddenly moving 54 families out of a temporary shelter at a Long Island City hotel to make room for homeless men.

The families were ordered out of the City View Inn, at 33-17 Greenpoint Ave., after they received letters on Wednesday giving them a few hours to pack and make arrangements to move to facilities in other boroughs. By agency policy, families are supposed to get 48-hours’ written notice of transfers.

“Families at this location were supposed to be transferred to the other sites on Wednesday, so we could use this location to meet immediate capacity needs, but were transferred on Thursday instead,” DHS spokesman Isaac McGinn said. “We apologize for the miscommunication regarding the timing of the move and want to state clearly that no families were displaced from shelter or turned out onto the streets.”

The miscommunication began when staff members of the service provider Childrens Community Services started verbally notifying some of the families on Sunday of the need to transfer. Families received the letters Wednesday, whereas they should have received them Monday, providing the 48 hours’ notice.

“It is an outrage that DHS has acted with such incompetence and cruelty,” said City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside). “To rip these families and children away from their homes at a moment’s notice only serves to traumatize the most vulnerable among us.”

DHS needed to find room for 100 homeless single men after a spike in the adult census earlier this month that increased during the city’s longest stretch of subfreezing temperatures since 1961. That coincided with the unprecedented success of the city’s Home-Stat program, a citywide multi-agency initiative to combat street homelessness that transitioned nearly 1,500 homeless off the street from spring 2016 through last November.

“This new milestone proves that our strategy is working and that the growing partnership between the NYPD and our homeless outreach workers is producing more contacts and more transitions from streets and subways into shelter for homeless New Yorkers,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said last Wednesday, the same day residents at the City View Inn received their letters to transfer out. “The problem wasn’t created overnight and won’t be solved overnight, but we’re headed in the right direction.”

DHS needed to secure additional capacity based on projected needs, but it cannot provide shelter to single adults and families with children at the same location.

DHS began using the City View Inn three months before it told members of Community Board 2 during a raucous meeting in October at which officials explained taking over the Best Western hotel at 38-05 Hunters Point Blvd., which began housing homeless families in late September, also with short notice.

“It is also unacceptable that once again, DHS has acted without notifying community leaders and elected officials,” Van Bramer said. “I am angry at DHS for consistently mismanaging the homeless crisis in New York City and in Queens, and for not being able to move the ball forward on reducing homelessness in our city. The city absolutely must do better.”

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

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By Mark Hallum

TimesLedger Newspapers

Elected officials in Bayside have sounded the alarm about a study being conducted by the city at Fort Totten to possibly expand the footprint of agencies operating there by creating training facilities for the Department of Corrections and the New York Fire Department.

The city and state officials say they are appalled by what they see as a lack of transparency from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration to the community and reluctance to provide information about the proposal going back to 2015.

Assemblyman Edward Braunstein (D-Bayside) issued a joint statement with Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside) on Tuesday saying that there had been no discussion with community members and that the only information they received was from an anonymous tip, mailed to Braunstein’s office, that provided FDNY documents saying a study to redevelop part of the park would be complete this month.

“I strongly oppose the creation of a new DOC training facility at Fort Totten and find it outrageous that the city is secretly considering this proposal which could have a detrimental impact on our parkland,” Braunstein said. “Recently, Community Board 7 notified my office that DOC was considering a facility at Fort Totten. Upon receiving this information, my requests to various city agencies have failed to result in any substantive information. This is despite the fact that the City of New York has been considering this proposal as far back as 2015.”

Braunstein went on: “It is absolutely unacceptable that a proposal of this magnitude was not shared with elected officials and the community board for over two years. Given the lack of transparency and absence of public input, I call on Mayor de Blasio to immediately abandon any plans for a DOC facility at the Fort Totten campus.”

Fort Totten was converted into a park, for the most part, more than 20 years ago, but has remained a government installation with military and other agencies operating at the complex.

Last August, the ribbon was cut on a $12 million upgrade to a U.S. Army building at Fort Totten to help the facility maintain military equipment for installations across the region.

“It is gravely concerning when any of our parks, especially a place as special as Fort Totten, is targeted for development,” Vallone said. “Fort Totten’s location is nestled in a small residential community that lacks the infrastructure, public transportation and accessibility for a development of this magnitude.”

According to the documents: “Over the past two years, the city has moved aggressively to determine not only the overall scope/cost of the agency’s reuse goals but has looked to reuse a portion of the campus to create a permanent home for the city’s Department of Correction (DOC) Training Academy. In 2015, the Fire Department, working with the City’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Design and Construction (DDC), initiated the first of two major consultant studies. With the utility study completed the department, along with OMB, DDC, and DOC, initiated an analysis of classroom requirements to realize the Fire Department’s training goals and to create a new DOC academy.”

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) voiced his concerns the week before to Vallone and Braunstein, stating that he had filed a Freedom of Information request about the proposal and that he had not received a response from any agencies involved.

“What are you hiding? In addition, why has the community been left out of this discussion and when were you going to notify the community of your plans — after the fact?” Avella said in a letter to de Blasio. “Fort Totten is a wonderful park resource for the community. We have been happy that the FDNY and NYPD occupy space in the fort; but plans to expand the footprint of city agencies and the use of the fort by DOC must have the approval/support of the community.”

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

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By Gina Martinez

TimesLedger Newspapers

Foreclosures in the city have hit their highest peak since 2009, according to PropertyShark, a real estate analytic company.

PropertyShark has released its annual foreclosure report, focusing on residential properties scheduled for auction for the first time in 2017. PropertyShark revealed that 3,306 homes were so scheduled in New York City, up 58 percent from the 2016 total. The report also revealed that the number of foreclosures in the city has doubled since 2015, when there were only 1,762 foreclosure auctions.

After having peaked in 2008, new foreclosures in the city dropped yearly until they bottomed out in 2012. According to PropertyShark, after 2012, it traced a slow but steady increase in new auctions until 2017, when new foreclosure auctions exploded. “As a result,” the study said, “the number of homes scheduled for auction is now getting close to the levels seen in the aftermath of the financial crisis.”

Queens continues to have the highest number of foreclosures in the city, rising 40 percent from 2016 with 1,260 homes scheduled in 2017. Southeast Queens, which includes Jamaica, Rochdale and Springfield Gardens, once again had the highest number of auctions, with 114 homes scheduled in 2017. Eastern Queens neighborhoods like Fresh Meadows and Glen Oaks saw the lowest number of foreclosures last year.

Although Queens had the highest number of foreclosure cases in 2017, it did not experience the highest percentage increase year-over-year. That was in Staten Island, with a 134 percent year-over-year increase, with 428 first-time foreclosure auctions scheduled in 2017, compared with 183 in 2016.

Bronx foreclosures rose 44 percent from 2016, with 650 homes scheduled for auction, the highest numbers in the borough in a decade, the study said. Brooklyn doubled its foreclosure auctions in 2017, with 827 homes scheduled. The highest concentration of foreclosures was focused on the Eastern part of the borough, including Canarsie and East New York.

Manhattan has seen very little fluctuation in homes scheduled for auctions, According to PropertyShark, the big ticket auction in the borough was the luxury condo development One57.

In a positive development, PropertyShark said, the number of homes that received lis pendens notices, alerting the owners to property lawsuits, went down 4 percent citywide, down from 12,573 in 2016 to 12,072 in 2017.

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

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By Zach Gewelb

TimesLedger Newspapers

The Tim Tebow experiment will continue in 2018.

In a move that should not surprise anyone, the Mets offered the controversial prospect an invitation back to spring training in a continued effort to squeeze every possible penny out of the hyped former Heisman-winning icon. Tebow is sure to put fannies in the seats in February and March, as well as take away a valuable roster spot from a more deserving player.

Players work their whole lives to earn a spring training invite with an MLB team. Tebow, 30, transitioned from football to baseball just last year. It’s clear he is not as gifted on the field as most of his fellow prospects, yet he gets the nod to attend camp in Port St. Lucie, Fla., because of his reputation, a reputation the Mets are exploiting for monetary gain.

Sure, he’ll draw big crowds, and while he produced a handful of big moments during the minor league season last year, he is still leaps and bounds behind other Mets prospects — and that’s really saying something, given that the Mets have one of the worst farm systems in baseball.

Tebow appeared in 126 games across two minor league levels in 2017. He opened the year with the Mets’ low-Class-A affiliate in Columbia, S.C., putting up a batting line of .220/.311/.336 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) with three home runs, 23 RBI and 69 strikeouts in 214 at-bats.

That subpar line “earned” him a promotion to the Mets’ high-Class-A affiliate in Port. St. Lucie, where he fared a bit better. He slashed .231/.307/.356 with five dingers and 29 RBI while cutting down on his strikeout numbers — 57 in 216 at-bats. While his performance improved ever so slightly, it wasn’t anything close to resembling a legitimate prospect.

Yet the Mets invited him back to spring training for a chance to showcase his “talent.” And while he won’t come close to earning a big league roster spot, expect him to survive the first few rounds of cuts. He’ll stick around just long enough for the organization to make a few extra bucks, and then back to the minors he goes.

But it won’t end there. Though he’ll most likely start the season with Port St. Lucie, it won’t be long before he “earns” another promotion to the next level, Class AA Binghamton, in a league where the top talent in the minors starts to separate itself from the rest of the pack.

If Tebow makes it to Class AA, things will have gone too far. The Mets are entitled to showcase their assets for profit — kudos to them for doing so — but a line needs to be drawn in the sand if the organization ever wants to be taken seriously again. Tebow playing in Binghamton is that line.

Let his play on the field speak for itself. If he improves and actually earns a promotion, that’s great. All the power to him. But the chances of that happening are slim.

With all that being said, I’ll end my rant with a message to the Mets:

Don’t let Tebow take opportunities away from more deserving players. Let the real prospects play.

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

Naquan Hill, a Far Rockaway man who boldly attempted to escape from the Rikers Island Prison Complex last summer, pleaded guilty last week to burglarizing two homes in Queens in 2016, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Hill, 25, is set to be sentenced Wednesday from 16 years to life in prison as a mandatory persistent felon at Queens Criminal Court in Kew Gardens, according to Brown.

“In pleading guilty, the defendant has admitted to burglarizing two homes — violating the sanctity of the victims’ residences — in an attempt to enrich himself by taking another person’s valuables,” the district attorney said.

Hill entered six Queens and Nassau County residences between July 1 and Nov. 28, 2016, according to criminal charges, and took jewelry, electronics and clothing.

Not only did Hill leave DNA evidence at five of the burglarized homes, he also posted photos of the stolen goods on his Facebook account hours after the thefts, and police traced the culprit to his home using the Find My iPhone App, Brown said.

Hill also registered several of the stolen electronics to his own name, phone number and email address, leaving a digital trail strong enough for police to issue a warrant on the burglar’s home and social media account.

Once at his property, police were able to recover items from all six burglaries, and Hill pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree burglary on Jan. 17, according to Judge Barry Kron, the Supreme Court justice who provided over the case.

Family members say that Hill became stir-crazy in jail after already serving an earlier four-year prison stint for burglary, in which he was released in March only to end up in the same position again, hence his attempt to escape in July 2017.

“As a persistent felon, the defendant will find himself incarcerated for a very long time as a result of this criminal act,” Brown said.

Hill was apprehended during his escape while still on the island and has to go to court before the Bronx district attorney on Jan. 29 to face escape charges.

Assistant District Attorney Tara A. DiGregorio of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau prosecuted the case.

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

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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

Several small businesses were flooded in parts of Jackson Heights and Elmhurst on Jan. 12 when an 80-year-old water main broke open at Broadway and 74th Street. Many of the businesses that were not damaged by the flood lost revenue because of street closures, emergency vehicles and repairs during the cleanup effort.

City Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights), Asian Americans for Equality and its affiliate Renaissance Economic Development Corporation announced last week they started office hours at Dromm’s district office to provide emergency loans and small-business technical assistance to support the businesses that were affected.

“These emergency loans are a lifeline to local businesses that were impacted by the recent water main break,” Dromm said. “Many business owners in my district are recent immigrants struggling to make ends meet.

“Store closure, flood damage, and loss of vehicular and foot traffic has resulted in thousands of dollars in repair costs and lost revenue for some businesses. These low-interest loans will help owners overcome these challenges and get their businesses back in operation. I am pleased to work alongside AAFE to support Jackson Heights and Elmhurst entrepreneurs in their time of need.”

The Elmhurst/Jackson Heights Emergency Loan Program was made available for emergency purposes to all small businesses in the boundary area south of Roosevelt Avenue to the north side of 41st Avenue, and the east side of 73rd Street to the west side of 75th Street. Program services will be made in Chinese, Spanish and Korean.

“For a small business, a flood can mean losing everything,” AAFE Interim Executive Director Doris Koo said. “With this new loan program, we can give these businesses an immediate helping hand and get them back on their feet. This program is important for those businesses that were directly damaged by the flood and also businesses in the immediate are that are adversely impacted.

“In a difficult time like this, many immigrant- and minority-owned small business have a hard time finding access to affordable capital, and this program offers very low interest rates and provides support to business owners in their native language.”

The loans include a uniform 2 percent fixed interest rate with amounts up to $30,000, with a three- to six-month deferment of interest and principal available with terms of up to five years, including the deferment period. Loans can be received in as little as 72 hours after paperwork is filed.

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

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