Queens Chronicle South Edition 11-17-2022

PHOTOS BY PETER C. MASTROSIMONE AND, INSET, DAVID RUSSELL

Adams makes Willets Pt. soccer arena official

Home for NYCFC, and 1,400 more affordable ones, opposite Citi Field

by Sophie Krichevsky Associate Editor

It’s official: The New York City Football Club will find a home in Willets Point.

After countless previous attempts to build in the area, months of rumors and closeddoor meetings, Mayor Adams announced Wednesday that a new stadium for NYCFC will be built in Willets Point, in addition to 1,400 more units of affordable housing.

The project is the result of a joint effort between NYCFC and the Queens Development Group, the latter of which is composed of Related Companies LLC and former Mets owner Sterling Equities. Though the plan, which represents Phase 2 of the city’s Willets Point redevelopment effort, is slated for the 23-acre, city-owned portion of Willets Point’s 61 acres east of Citi Field, the 25,000-seat arena will be privately financed.

A source familiar with the matter told the Chronicle the affordable housing will be subsidized by the city’s Housing Development Corp. and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The plan also includes 40,000 square feet of open space, retail space and a 250-room hotel.

“It’s a rare opportunity to create a complete neighborhood with homes, schools and economic opportunities,” Adams said Wednesday. “This is a public-private partnership at its best,

Willets Point will be home to a 25,000-seat NYCFC

Wednesday. The plan also includes 1,400 more units of affordable housing.

this is what it means to build in New York City and this is what it means to get stuff done.”

“The work of ensuring surrounding neighborhoods like Corona and Flushing — locations that have long felt the sting of disinvestment — benefit the most in terms of local hiring and community benefits is just beginning, and I will stop at nothing to accomplish that mission,” Borough President Donovan Richards stated.

Councilman Francisco Moya (D-Corona) was a chief broker of the deal with NYCFC, as the Chronicle previously reported. “This is an investment that will support neighborhood kids’ futures, fuel our local economy, create a pipeline for local hires and support our brothers and sisters in labor who have been the backbone of building this city,” he said in a statement.

Moya had also led the campaign for the 1,100 units of affordable housing promised in Phase 1

of the redevelopment plan, making for 2,500 total with Wednesday’s announcement. All 2,500 units, which will be spread across seven buildings, will be “100 percent affordable,” Adams said; 220 of them will be dedicated to low-income seniors.

Phase 1 also included environmental remediation in the area and the construction of a 650-seat K-8 school. Despite more units of housing being proposed, the number of seats has not changed. Asked about that, Adams told reporters, “We are going to shift and adjust it, adjust as needed.”

Queens Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Grech was thrilled by the news, which the city says will spur $6.1 billion in economic activity and create 16,000 jobs, 1,550 of which will be permanent.

“It’s a fantastic shot in the arm, not only for Queens and New York City, but the entire state and region, further solidifying Queens as the World’s Borough,” Grech told the Chronicle. He added that it presents “a great opportunity for more transportation.”

The announcement comes after years of pitches for the area, such as a shopping mall, a casino and a previous soccer stadium plan.

When, this summer, the soccer stadium began to seem more like a reality, community members, longtime organizer Bertha Lewis and

VEGETABLES:

BROILED

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soccer arena, Mayor Adams announced

NYC EDC RENDERING

Call for recount questions integrity of votes; Sullivan questions process Pheffer Amato files suit in close race

by Deirdre Bardolf Associate Editor

Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Rockaway Park) is suing for a recount in the general election for Assembly District 23 against Tom Sullivan.

The race, which has remained officially undecided with 246 votes separating the candidates and Sullivan in the lead with 94 percent of the vote counted, has yet to be called.

Last week, Pheffer Amato said in a statement, “It is important for EVERY vote to be counted. The Board of Elections is currently awaiting absentee, military, overseas and affidavit ballots to be received. While it may take some time, we must embrace the rules and laws in order to have an official result.”

Sullivan, a small business owner and Army Reserve colonel from Breezy Point, was notified of the lawsuit via an email from the Queens Board of Elections office just before 11 p.m. Monday night, he told the Chronicle.

Late last week, he received one informing him that Pheffer Amato was being represented by Sweeney, Reich & Bolz, LLP, Long Island-based attorneys who are mainstays in the Queens Democratic Party. Pheffer Amato and Frank Bolz signed the lawsuit, which lists both Sullivan and the city BOE as respondents.

It calls for the court to order an issue to determine the validity of all ballots cast in the general election, for an accurate tally to be determined under a recanvass of the votes cast and for all ballots to

be recanvassed by hand, according to the documents, which were obtained by the Chronicle.

“As we continue to count mailin ballots and in-person ballots from Election Day, we are committed to making sure every valid vote is counted,” Pheffer Amato said in a statement. “That is our responsibility as Americans, and as participants in our democracy.”

The lawsuit states that more than 1,000 absentee and affidavit ballots are left to be counted and that the absentees are done on a rolling basis and the affidavits were scheduled to be canvassed on Wednesday, Nov. 16.

It states that “unopened and/or non-scanned ballots and/or misscanned ballots remain uncanvassed or uncounted, and the canvass of or counting of such ballots may determine the outcome” of

the election.

Sullivan was reached out to by the Republican Assembly Committee to provide him with legal counsel.

He saw the suit as questioning “abnormally high voter turnout in certain ZIP codes,” such as Breezy Point and Belle Harbor, as well as signature matches. Breezy Point had the highest voter turnout by percentage in the city, according to voting data.

“There are a large number of Paper Ballots cast in the General Election causing a disproportionate number of ballots to be cast by mail in relation to past general elections,” the suit states, including that “the final result of the General Election may be determined by the canvass of the various types of Paper Ballots mentioned.”

But to Sullivan, that wasn’t surprising.

“For a community of middleincome, single-family homes in a safe neighborhood, they vote ... But I wouldn’t attribute that to me. I would attribute that to, for the first time in a long time, we’ve had a legitimate candidate run for Congress and he happened to be from Belle Harbor,” he said, referring to Paul King, who challenged and lost to incumbent Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Queens, Nassau) of Congressional District 5.

“So people came out to support him and me,” said Sullivan.

He said he was informed by a representative from the state Assembly that Pheffer Amato’s attorneys have filed for the thumb drives of the voting machines to be recalculated and for a manual count to be performed.

“This is supposedly the party that wants every vote to count, right?” he said.

“She said it and put it in capitals, that every vote should be counted, when she made her statement shortly after the election. And so now she’s hired a legal firm to disqualify ballots.”

He said that sows distrust in the process no matter which party one is a part of. “If it doesn’t go your way, no matter who you are, you now can question it,” he said.

In Pheffer Amato’s statement, however, she said, “My opponent

would like to stop counting votes before all votes are tallied. That’s shameful. Our brave men and women serving our nation overseas, older New Yorkers, homebound individuals, and anyone who could not get to the polls on Election Day still deserve to have their vote counted and their voice heard.”

The suit says the BOE has not complied with election law that requires it to provide absentee voters the opportunity to cure deficiencies in their ballots.

“Our country is deeply divided, and we’ve suffered greatly from repeated attempts to stop valid votes from being counted by those who seek to subvert our democracy for their own benefit,” Pheffer Amato continued.

The lawsuit also alleges that “votes were cast by persons who signed the polling place registration book but were not, in fact, the duly enrolled voter whose name they signed” and that “votes were cast by absentee ballots by persons who signed the absentee ballot but were not, in fact, the duly enrolled voter whose name they signed,” all of which is “unlawful and fraudulent.”

Tom Sullivan

“My team and I are committed to using every tool at our disposal to protect every valid vote and the rights of every voter to have their voice heard,” Pheffer Amato said. Q

Job fair, career day at Resorts World Friday

by Deirdre Bardolf Associate Editor

The annual job fair at Resorts World New York City is back in person this Friday, Nov. 18, and will feature around 60 different employers from the tri-state area.

The event, hosted by state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) in partnership with the Queens Chamber of Commerce, will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Organizations that will be in attendance include NYC Health + Hospitals, Good Temps, the U.S. Army, World Financial Group, Charter Spectrum, Con Edison, NY

Helmets to Hardhats and many more.

“As we continue to make our way back from the worst of the Covid pandemic, there are still plenty of people looking for work, and companies in need of employees. My Job Fair is the perfect place to bring those two groups together,” said Addabbo in a statement.

“This is an exciting opportunity for businesses to come discover the bright, eager workers this Job Fair has to offer,” he said. “By bringing together these job seekers and employers we hope to create an even stronger workforce and economy.”

Candidates should bring copies of their resumes and dress in business attire. Resorts World has a free parking lot for prospective job seekers directly across from the casino entrance, and the building is wheelchair-accessible.

For more information about the event or for a complete list of vendors, contact Addabbo’s office at (718) 738-1111.

In addition to the job fair, Resorts World is holding a Career Day Friday at 11:30 a.m. for college students. They can learn about casino and hotel operations from top casino executives as well as operations, open positions,

academic scholarships and more.

College students who are interested in attending should RSVP at rsvp@newyork. com and include their full name, college or university, major and phone number.

“This event provides college students with the chance to have real conversations about today’s job market and garner support and empowerment from the RWNYC team,” said Michelle Stoddart, vice president of Community Development for Resorts World, in a statement.

“We look forward to one day working alongside some of them.”

Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato, left, and Tom Sullivan. PHOTOS COURTESY NYS ASSEMBLY, LEFT, AND TOM SULLIVAN / FILE

“This is supposedly the party that wants every vote to count, right?”

—

Board also favors investigation into library delays and honors veterans Carshare and parking loss a topic for CB 9

by Deirdre Bardolf Associate Editor

News of a city Department of Transportation Carshare program is spreading among community boards in South Queens.

Earlier this month, Community Board 10 voted in favor of sending a letter to the DOT opposing the program, and members expressed concerns over losing parking.

At Community Board 9’s monthly meeting last Thursday, Chair Sherry Algredo said the Woodhaven Residents Block Association was asking for support in opposing the plan. Algredo said it would be discussed at an upcoming committee meeting.

A DOT spokesperson said the agency is willing to meet with boards to further discuss the initiative and receive community input.

The Carshare program has expanded citywide from a 14-neighborhood pilot program using 230 parking spaces.

According to the agency, it is in the site review and outreach process of the program launch and anticipates having cars on the street soon.

There is no set number of spaces in any community and sites have been requested throughout the five boroughs.

The DOT will take feedback from residents and community board members into account for final site selection.

“Convenient car share service can provide New Yorkers a cheaper alternative to car ownership and help reduce congestion on our streets,” agency spokesperson Vin Barone said in an emailed statement. “We look forward to working with the private sector to build on the success of our pilot and invite interested companies to register to participate in the permanent program.”

BY DEIRDRE BARDOLF

Also during the meeting, the board voted to request an investigation from the city Comptroller’s Office into construction delays at the Richmond Hill Library, which the board has been vocal about for years.

The board voted all in favor except for one abstention.

District Manager James McClelland thanked board members who provided sugges-

Residents opposing hot spot

CB 9 favors SLA revoking Blend’s liquor license

by Deirdre Bardolf Associate Editor

Capt. Jeremy Kivlin, commading officer of the 102nd Precinct, gave Community Board 9 an update last Thursday on what he called a “significant incident.”

Last month, a double shooting occurred outside of Blend Lounge on Atlantic Avenue in South Richmond Hill. The incident, Kivlin said, possibly stemmed from a parking dispute outside the club and police now have a person of interest.

Just after 4 a.m. on Oct. 17, police responded to a 911 call and found two people shot, a 23-year-old man who was pronounced dead and a 27-year-old man shot who was in stable condition. Kivlin said the latter is recovering.

Residents of the area attended the community board meeting to speak out against the issues they say are ongoing near Blend.

“With the Blend nightclub, there’s been so many problems in the neighborhood since that has opened,” said Juliet Ganpat, who has lived in the area for 25 years.

“Whatever happens in there spills outside and then we also have issues with parking, we have people urinating. We have all this coming from the crowd there ... it has not been safe. It’s such a bad idea putting a club into a residential neighborhood,” Gan-

pat said.

She said she spoke up during the public comment period because the board has a “moral obligation” to the people in her community. In the past year, there have been repeated assaults as well as another

shooting there, she said.

Ganpat hopes to see the lounge’s liquor license revoked and that the owners pack up and move to a commercial district, she told the Chronicle.

Blend representatives could not be reached for comment.

Another resident, Bill Knight, at the board meeting said, “I’d also like to recommend that, going forward, considering the safety and quality of life of the residents of Richmond Hill, that consideration be given a little more carefully in granting liquor licenses.”

The board voted in favor of sending a letter to the State Liquor Authority to have the spot’s liquor license revoked, with just one no vote and one abstention.

The no vote came from board member Dianne Ramoutar, who also lives near Blend but said she would like to see the police investigation wrapped up before pinning the blame on the lounge, especially after Kivlin said it stemmed from a parking dispute.

Her concern is Phil Rizzuto “Smokey Oval” Park, where she notices crime and homeless people sleeping all hours of the day, unrelated to the nightclub activity.

“I’m more concerned about the homelessness in the park,” she said.

tions for the board’s budget requests and said those are just the first step in the process.

“This is what we submit to [the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget],” he said.

“OMB usually says ‘there’s no money for this project, go seek money from your elected officials.’” The chance to do that will come in February so members can make suggestions then.

The meeting took place on the eve of Veterans Day and two members of the board as well as McClelland were honored for their service in the Armed Forces in a surprise ceremony, which included the singing of the national anthem by Gennaro Kravitz Filosa.

In addition to McClelland, who served in the U.S. Army from 1988 to 1992, board members Joe Iaboni and J. Richard Smith were recognized by state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach), Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar (D-Woodhaven), Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park) and representatives from the offices of other elected officials.

“When veterans retire from service, they’re a little different than civilians when we retire ... they stay active,” Addabbo said.

“I have been around the communities for a number of years now, and I see all these three at different meetings, functions and community boards.”

He continued, “A veteran will always be looking to serve their community.” Q

Willets Point

continued from page 2

activists with Nos Quedamos Queens and the Black Leadership Action Coalition made their opposition to a stadium loud and clear, holding a protest outside the construction site. As Lewis told the Chronicle at the time, she and others felt the housing plan falls far short of the 5,500 agreed upon prior to the construction of Citi Field.

Accordingly, Lewis is still not satisfied. “Either you care about New Yorkers that actually need decent housing [or] you’re going to be run by the real estate industry, and big developers and millionaires and billionaires,” she told the Chronicle. Later, she added, “These are Democrats that have all of this rhetoric about being for the people. No, you’re not — you’re for the money class. You’re for the billionaires and millionaires and corporate interests.”

The Mayor’s Office said the stadium is slated for a 2027 opening, after the 2026 FIFA World Cup. However, all elements of the Phase 2 plan will have to go through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, which Community Board 7 is set to begin at the end of 2023.

Asked how the board may advise on the ULURP, CB 7 Chair Gene Kelty told the Chronicle, “We’ll go through the process that we do with all our applications.”

Blend Lounge on Atlantic Avenue in South Richmond Hill. SCREENSHOT VIA GOOGLE MAPS

Community Board 9 First Vice Chair Kenny Wilson, left, and Chair Sherry Algrego join veterans James McClelland, Joe Iaboni and J. Richard Smith as Gennaro Kravitz Filosa sings the national anthem to honor their service.

PHOTO

Veterans honored at Southside site

Preserving the cemetery where pre-Civil War soldiers were buried

by Deirdre Bardolf Associate Editor

Many people were under the misconception that the plot of land at the corner of Redding Street and 149th Avenue was an ancient Native American burial ground.

But over the years, thanks to the efforts of residents spanning generations, the Southside Burial Ground has been preserved and honors those who were buried there, including Civil War veterans who were recognized in a wreath laying at the site last Thursday ahead of Veterans Day.

“In a cemetery, if you lose the tombstones, you lose it all,” said Dan Grieve, a Richmond Hill resident and member of Community Board 9 who has worked to draw attention and improvements to the burial ground.

With the help of Sam Esposito and the Ozone Park Residents Block Association and the Ozone Park Howard Beach Woodhaven Lions Club, the first wreath-laying ceremony was held at the site. In attendance was Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach), Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar (D-Woodhaven) and Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park).

Over the years, Grieves has petitioned to improve the site with official signage and a new fence. Now, with support from the block

association and elected officials, he plans to erect a flagpole and eventually a memorial wall listing the names of those known to be buried there.

Over the decades, as the nearby roads were laid and houses were built, the gravestones and markers were destroyed and lost.

a father and son duo salvaged the tombstone of the Munroe brothers from a private residence’s yard and returned it to the cemetery.

The Munroe brothers served in the U.S. Army and Navy and died a year apart in

1872 and 1873.

Charles Munroe served in the Navy and shares his tombstone with his brother Leander, who died while serving in the Army and was buried at Fort Omaha in Nebraska.

According to city and online records, the burial ground was established around 1681 on the land of the Van Wicklen family, and neighboring families were allotted a share.

For 200 years, it was a final resting ground for the region’s oldest farming families, including the Van Wicklens, Durlands, Remsens, Ryders, Smiths and Stoothoffs, many of whom served in the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

Historians believe that soldiers fleeing British forces buried their comrades from the Battle of Brooklyn at the site during the Revolutionary War, according to the city Parks Department.

The final burial at the cemetery occurred in 1919, according to records and a survey of site that year counted 79 graves.

In the 1930s, the cemetery was split by the extension of 149th Avenue. A portion of it lies in Vito Locascio Field across the street.

Volunteers committed to the area worked to document and preserve the history of the area over the years. In 2003, the Southside Burial Ground was transferred to NYC Parks.

Elected officials and community leaders at the historic Southside Burial Ground to honor the veterans buried there. Efforts to preserve the site continue.

PHOTO BY DEIRDRE BARDOLF

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EDITORIAL AGEP Soccer stadium a great score

If there’s any development proposal that’s a perfect fit for Willets Point, it has to be a soccer stadium, and Queens got a big boost Wednesday when the mayor announced that the New York City Football Club will make its home there.

Construction can’t begin soon enough. The plan released Wednesday entails not just a 25,000-seat arena but an entire new neighborhood including 1,400 units of housing deemed affordable under the law, 220 of them set aside for senior citizens, schools, open space, a hotel and more. The plan represents Phase 2 in the redevelopment of the Iron Triangle, and we hope its very announcement also will help speed up work on Phase 1. A soccer stadium has been sought after in the area for many years, and makes perfect sense, as a complementary asset to Citi Field and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. And this plan is for Willets Point proper, for the 23 acres of land there that the city owns, not for the suspiciously named “Willets West,” which is part of Flushing Meadows Corona Park and thus cannot be built upon. Civic leaders and preservationists do not have to fear going to court again to maintain the integrity

of the park. That battle was won.

Broadly speaking, the plan appears to be beneficial all around. The city says it will create 16,000 jobs, 1,550 of which will be permanent, and spur $6.1 billion in economic activity. Of course Willets Point needs to be redeveloped; it’s just a matter of how and by whom. This project is to be handled by the Queens Development Group, the joint venture of the Related Companies and Sterling Equities, the firm that formerly owned the Mets.

Perhaps best of all, the stadium will be privately financed. That news is a breath of fresh air in an era when cities are compelled to cover the cost of arenas with bond issuances. Also, with a stadium in the mix, there’s no need for a casino to anchor development in Willets Point. It always made sense that one of the downstate casino licenses Albany intends to provide would go to Queens — but it should go to Resorts World in South Ozone Park for all the obvious reasons. The racino has been great.

A new Willets Point complete with fútbol, a fullfledged casino in South Queens — these are two goals for the sports and entertainment side of our economy that sound like a win. Let’s move the ball downfield on both.

Stop the battery fires

No one’s going to do anything about the scourge of illegal e-mopeds on our streets, since they’re so vital to our economy and our leaders’ goals for transportation, but the least we can do is make their batteries less likely to burst into flame and kill people than they are now.

The city has seen nearly 200 fires caused by lithium-ion batteries such as those in e-mobility devices this year, with six corpses left behind. One of the dead was an 8-year-old girl in College Point, Stephanie Villa Torres. Enough already.

The main problems, officials say, are people mismatching batteries and chargers and the use of rebuilt products that are not up to snuff. So several bills are before the City Council, which held a hearing on the crisis Monday. They would require the Fire Department to educate people about the risks; require the same of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection vis-a-vis delivery workers in particular; ban the sale of batteries that are not certified for safety, e.g., “UL-listed”; and ban the sale of rebuilt ones.

All these must pass. These are not pointless, make-work, red tape regulations but the kind that are necessary for public safety. The Council and mayor must act on them quickly.

LETTERSTO THE EDITOR

Step up, Santos

avoid accuracy.

MARK WEIDLER

SUSAN & STANLEY MERZON Founders

Dear Editor:

(An open letter to U.S. Rep.-elect George Santos)

Congratulations on your election victory. You’re still young enough that, as a retired, 40-year NYC public veteran high school English teacher, I can see your success as an extension of the success that I wished for all my students. Thank you for venturing into public service.

I am one of your future Bay Terrace constituents. Perhaps we’ve crossed paths in Little Bay Park. I hope for your success and that your special expertise will lead to your designing innovative solutions to problems that plague all your constituents.

During your campaign I discovered the video where you are present on a lawn during the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol/ insurrection/riot. I can imagine that at that moment you did not know about the violence that was transpiring. Perhaps you did.

Your metaphor about the moment, however, deeply disturbs me. You compare the unfolding events to people entering their own house, which could never be described “as breaking and entering.” This misleading comment is exactly the danger that George Orwell describes in “Politics of the English Language.” You casually used an idiom to

Even if I had misplaced by house key, I would never smash multiple windows of my home to gain entry, defecate on the floor or terrorize people who were there. You were glib, inaccurate, perhaps uninformed, perhaps dishonest; you endangered democracy. You demonstrated support for an illegal action by promising to write a big check. I’ve seen your resume; you know better.

I want to have a thoughtful discussion with you about your election results denial. Your district needs you to do better. It would be a good epilogue if you could, in the light of 60 legal decisions that ruled that 2020 election provided a legitimate result, publicly state that you were wrong. You are no longer a private citizen.

Debra Michlewitz

Bayside

Enough race, Richards

Dear Editor:

I was very disappointed to see the article in the Chronicle about Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and his white supremacy comment in a tweet about Councilman Robert Holden (“Race, alcohol charge heat up Twitter spat,” Nov. 10, multiple editions). This is not the first time that Richards has brought up race.

When he beat Elizabeth Crowley to win the borough presidency his comment was “we beat her racist ass.” In addition to that, back in July, three black teenage girls attacked and beat up a white grandmother on the Q52 bus. Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar held a meeting at the scene of the incident. Many of our local politicians were there with community groups to talk about it.

Office:

$25 per year.

Periodicals Postage Paid (USPS0013-572) at Flushing, N.Y.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mark I Publications, Inc., 71-19 80th St., Suite 8-201, Glendale, NY 11385.

LETTERSTO THE EDITOR

However, our borough president was not there, nor anyone else from his office. That’s a very bad look.

The bottom line is this has to stop. The borough president does not have the right to talk like this and bring up race. If he hasn’t already, Mayor Adams has to get in touch with him and tell him to stop it.

John Lynch Middle Village

Block bike battery blazes

Dear Editor:

“Fires are real,” stated City Councilmember Gail Brewer on November 14, 2022, shortly after the Committee on Fire and Emergency Management had concluded its public hearing on her proposed e-bike safety bills.

Testimony of vitally interested parties was taken including an FDNY report that, from Jan. 1 to Nov. 11, 2022, there have been in New York City 188 fires associated with lithium-ion batteries and six deaths. It’s long overdue to criminalize the behavior that leads to this when warranted. The public health and safety crisis is both in plain sight and equally ignored.

On Saturday, Nov. 5, the reality was brutally (and heroically) unmasked at 429 East 52 St., in a 20th-floor apartment containing at least five lithium-ion batteries associated with micromobility devices (“bikes”) being repaired.

Was it because a co-op in a fireproofed building was not seemingly being used for the function intended? A tony area, Beekman/Sutton Place is not where one might anticipate 43 people injured on an otherwise quiet, Manhattan cul-de-sac. The building is diagonally across from The Campanile, where Greta Garbo, who famously wanted to be let alone, quietly and graciously lived for thirty-six years.

Brewer’s recommendations are Intro. 656, mandating a major PSA campaign by the FDNY regarding e-bike hazards; Intro. 663, banning batteries that haven’t been certified as safe by a national testing lab (UL); and Intro. 752, prohibiting sale and assembly of second-use lithium-ion batteries. The language will be negotiated for a Council vote, hopefully no later than February.

This is the moment for the Queens County Delegation to demonstrate unequivocal leadership by ensuring an equitable balance that safeguards the overall public interest while preserving worker livelihoods. Safe alternatives such as lithium-ion-sulfide/phosphate batteries must be considered.

The Guy Fawkes Day anniversary bonfire set off by lithium-ion batteries on Nov. 5 must mark the last of this nightmare.

Frances Scanlon Flushing

ERs need geriatric docs

Dear Editor:

For three years I have been requesting my senator to sponsor a bill that would require a geriatric doctor in all emergency rooms. Our hospitals have a one-protocol-for-all policy, which requires the same treatment regardless of a patient’s age. What may be good for a

40-year-old male could undermine the life of a 90-year-old woman, and segue into euthanasia, which I have witnessed. Such a bill would be beneficial to every senior citizen of every race, creed and nationality.

As an example, some procedures such as an IV should be administered at a slower pace, so as to not shock the system. A geriatric doctor is more apt to understand this and administer accordingly. I have witnessed a simple hydration procedure within a matter of hours turn into a path toward hospice, and the young attending physician couldn’t care less, saying, “This sometimes happens to old people.” This is what we all have to look forward to if we don’t act now.

What do you do when after three years of unreturned phone calls, three personal visits, numerous messages and promises, months go by and nothing is the result? You write to the Queens Chronicle, hoping to find someone with the compassion, intellect and ethics to help save our most vulnerable citizens. Not to act now would be to condone euthanasia.

I’m asking for your help to bring this to the attention of our senior population, to be the voice of the people, to act on this unconscionable practice and to notify your elderly readership of this uncivilized protocol. Call or write to Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. and demand he represent his senior constitutents and sponsor the bill that I have been requesting for three years, a bill that would require a geriatric doctor in every emergency room.

Rick Quenzer Rego Park

A president’s place

Dear Editor:

My investigative senses are piqued by the picture on TV of President Biden emerging from stage left to greet Chinese President Xi Jinping. Did Biden forget his cue or get stage fright?

I would think Biden would want to stand center stage and have Xi walk to greet him.

Ray Hackinson Ozone Park

You sank my babble-ship

Dear Editor:

It appears the majestic flagship, SS Trump, while sailing over the mighty red waves, was severely damaged by a torpedo from an old World War II sub called Joe Biden.

The big question Americans want to know: Will the admiral try again in 2024 to sail his flagship?

Anthony G. Pilla Forest Hills

THANKSGIVING EARLY DEADLINES

Monday, Nov. 21 — 3 p.m.

Multi-agency plan will take on trash

Adams administration initiative to focus on ‘No Man’s Land’ areas

by Sophie Krichevsky Associate Editor

Mayor Adams announced last Thursday a $14.5 million, multi-agency initiative to keep the city’s streets clean.

The plan aims to attend to nearly 1,500 “No Man’s Land” areas throughout the city that tend to raise questions about agency jurisdiction, and therefore have gone unkempt for extended periods of time.

Under the initiative, the DSNY will hire 200 new employees for the new “Targeted Neighborhood Taskforce,” which will focus on those neglected areas. The so-called “Get Stuff Clean” initiative also includes funding for more cameras to enforce illegal dumping, regular cleanings of highway on-and offramps, rat mitigation efforts and the second phase of the city’s litter basket servicing plan for high-traffic areas, Phase 1 of which was announced earlier this year. The Department of Environmental Protection also pledged to speed up hiring of 50 personnel dedicated to cleaning catch basins.

The funding was made available by the city’s November Financial Plan Update for Fiscal Year 2023, which the Mayor’s Office released Tuesday.

“New Yorkers are tired of seeing overflowing litter baskets and trash under overpasses, so our administration intends to

deliver a more functional and more well-kept city for all,” Adams said in a statement.

Numerous members of the Queens delegation applauded the plan, including Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-South Ozone Park), Councilman Bob Holden (D-Maspeth) and Councilman Jim Gennaro (D-Hillcrest).

Asked for examples of the “No Man’s

Land” sites in Queens, a spokesperson for the Department of Sanitation pointed to the 35th Avenue Grand Central Parkway overpass in Astoria, Junction Boulevard under the Long Island Expressway in Corona and space along the Van Wyck Expressway service road.

The department did not say which sites are

in Southeast and Eastern Queens, where illegal dumping has been a persistent problem.

That was concerning to Angela Miskis, whose group, Abuela Neighborhood Maintainance, has led cleanup efforts in Hollis and throughout Southeast Queens.

Still, Councilmember Linda Lee (D-Oakland Gardens) applauded the announcement.

“It’s always discouraging to walk around the neighborhood only to see garbage bags and litter piled up on the side of the road impacting our quality of life,” Lee said in a statement.

Councilmember Nantasha Williams (D-St. Albans) was cautiously optimistic about the initiative.

“I’m happy to see a targeted effort,” she told the Chronicle.

“For many years, it’s been such a challenge for our community to address this issue in a robust way,” she continued. “So I’m so excited and very thankful to the administration for taking on this charge ... But I want to make sure that my community, which is experiencing illegal dumping at higher rates, is properly prioritized.”

A handful of cameras designed to crack down on illegal dumping have already been installed in Williams’ district; she noted that while effective, those cameras ought to be bolstered with signage. Q

High School Highlights

Mayor Adams announced last week a multi-agency initiative to increase sanitation efforts in the city’s “No Man’s Land” areas that tend to be neglected. PHOTO BY MICHAEL APPLETON / NYC MAYOR’S OFFICE

CB 5: Park entrance, JRP ramp unsafe

City says it is examining requests for guardrails, lighting upgrades

by Michael Gannon Senior News Editor

City agencies tell the Chronicle that they are ready and willing to discuss safety upgrades with Community Board 5 where an on-ramp to the Jackie Robinson Parkway shares an approach to an entrance to Forest Park in Glendale.

The board can even expect the main streetlights to be repaired at a place where drivers and park-users cannot afford to have a car miss the turn.

The entrance, at 86th Street and Myrtle Avenue, takes drivers parallel to a pedestrian/bike path that leads into and from the park before requiring them to take a left turn onto the ramp to the eastbound JRP.

But the design of the site — and the fact that street lights there have been out of order for an undetermined length of time — was the topic of an extended discussion at CB 5’s monthly meeting Nov. 10.

“It’s beautiful. It’s renovated. It’s a new entrance to the park,” District Manager Gary Giordano said. “ ... But it seems we have two issues here. There is no guardrail here whatsoever to protect pedestrians.”

The second, he said, is nonfunctioning street lamps.

“So it is pitch black at night,” Giordano said. On top of that, he continued, at the point where the road turns to the on ramp, a set of park benches, with the backs to the street, is

separated from the pavement by a low earthen berm and a few tree saplings.

Giordano, who said one car already has missed that turn, said there needs to be a metal guardrail at the curve between the pavement and the benches.

The board also wants a wooden rail along the pedestrian bike path, similar to others throughout the park.

“When it was first designed, we were on top of it,” Parks Committee Chairman Steven Fiedler said. “Nobody listened ... This curve and where those seats are — something definitely has to be done before somebody gets killed.”

The city Departments of Transportation and Parks and Recreation, in emails to the Chronicle, said they are working together, starting with fixing the street lights.

“We hear the concerns of Community Board 5, and are working to address [them,” said a Parks and Recreation spokesman. “We support better pedestrian/cyclist safety in this area, and are working with DOT to explore additional means to increase safety.”

The DOT is reviewing CB 5’s requests.

“Ensuring cyclist and pedestrian safety is a top priority for this administration,” Deputy Press Secretary Mona Bruno said in an email. “We are carefully reviewing the recommendations from Community Board 5 as we collaborate with Parks to explore potential safety enhancements.” Q

A left turn here takes drivers to the eastbound Jackie Robinson Parkway, while the pedestrian/ bike path at right leads to and from Forest Park. Just at the other side of the foliage beneath the road sign are park benches with no railing protecting them from an inattentive driver, a missed turn or a car that skids on wet pavement. Neither street lamp in these photos was working last Friday night when the Chronicle visited the site in a rainstorm, above.

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL GANNON

Two views of the curve, looking north through tree saplings toward Myrtle Avenue from a set of park benches.

The berm separating park benches from the pavement during daylight, left, and on a dark, rainy night with a nonfunctioning street light.

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Mismatching equipment can lead to fires; committee discusses five bills Council considering e-bike battery regs

by Sean Okula Associate Editor

Some city councilmembers spent the start of their week discussing ways to stop the spark.

The Committee on Fire and Emergency Management held a hearing on five pieces of legislation related to management and sale of lithium-ion batteries for e-mobility devices on Monday.

Committee Chair Councilmember Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park) said the FDNY has investigated more than 175 fires related to e-mobility devices and their batteries. Earlier this month, more than 40 people were injured when a lithium-ion battery caused a fire at a Manhattan high-rise apartment building.

Earlier this fall in College Point, 8-year-old Stephanie Villa Torres died in a house fire determined to have been started by a lithiumion battery from an e-mobility device.

Three pieces of the legislation relate to reporting and awareness of the dangers of battery misuse. Councilmember Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) is sponsoring a bill that would require the Fire Department to launch an informational campaign around the fire risks posed by e-mobility devices, an effort FDNY Chief Thomas Currao says is already underway.

Councilmember Bob Holden (D-Maspeth)

second-use, reassembled lithium-ion batteries.

Currao and FDNY counsel Julian Bazel say the biggest fire risk is posed by operators partnering batteries, chargers and devices that aren’t designed to go together.

“These systems have to be designed to work together,” Bazel said. “The battery has to be designed for the particular device and it has to mesh with the charging system.

“Where it appears we’re having significant safety issues is that charging batteries that may charge at different power levels, different amperage, [the chargers] may not know, if they’re not meshed, that the battery is fully charged. So it continues to overcharge and cause overheating.”

NYC COUNCIL SCREENSHOT VIA ZOOM

The City Council Committee on Fire and Emergency Management held a hearing related to lithium-ion batteries used to power e-mobility devices, at which FDNY Chief Thomas Currao, left, and counsel Julian Bazel, center left, said the batteries can overheat when partnered with incompatible equipment.

introduced legislation that would require the Fire Department to submit a detailed report on efforts taken to mitigate the fire risk associated with e-mobility devices, and Councilmember Alexa Avilés (D-Brooklyn) is sponsoring a measure that would require the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to provide delivery workers, who often use

e-bikes and mopeds, with information related to the fire risks posed by the devices.

In addition, Councilmember Oswald Feliz (D-Bronx) introduced a bill that would ban the sale of batteries for e-mobility devices that have not been certified by a recognized testing laboratory, and Brewer introduced another piece of legislation that would ban the sale of

The 2022 Fire Code allows for the storage of no more than five e-mobility devices in any one- or two-family home or dwelling in an apartment building. The FDNY does not have a private residence inspection program, making enforcement of those regulations difficult, Bazel said.

Hildalyn Colon, director of policy and strategic partnerships for the delivery workers advocacy group Los Deliveristas Unidos, said in her public testimony the organization has taken it upon itself to educate workers about the fire dangers of e-mobility devices and urges the Council to keep in mind the difficul-

Celebrating those who answered the call

The Queens Veterans Day Parade brought the crowds out to Metropolitan Avenue in Middle Village on Sunday, Nov. 13, to honor all those who have served in the country’s armed forces.

In the top row, at left, Vietnam veteran and Grand Marshal Paul Schottenhamel and his wife, Deborah, greet attendees. Next to them are Arthur Grabiner, who served in the Pacific in World War II, along with members of Cub Scout Pack 106 — and their moms.

Row two at left features the NYPD Marching Band, while Sophie, Marco and Kerri Filetto were among those lining the parade route. At

right, Girl Scout Troop 4455 marches along Metropolitan Avenue.

In the third row, the Patriot Guard Riders, left, join in the march, along with students from IS/PS 49 in Middle Village. Next to them, the Junior ROTC cadets from Franklin K. Lane High School in Brooklyn carry the colors, while at far right, Michelle Lopez and Barbara Pagan wave their flags.

At right, Joe Serraga and Tony and Angie Cospito wave flags of their own. At far right, soldiers from the United States Army Reserve were among those marching in tribute and being honored themselves.

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL SHAIN

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DSS takes heat on immig. shelters

District managers cite poor notification,

by Michael Gannon Senior News Editor

Representatives of the city’s Department of Social Services got an earful from some community leaders Tuesday morning.

Hailey Nolasco, assistant deputy commissioner of intergovernmental affairs, and Samuel Clarke, one of the agency’s Queens representatives, spoke at a meeting of the Borough Cabinet, which includes all 14 community district managers.

The topic of the day was how the city is continuing to deal with asylum seekers who are sent to New York after crossing the southern border.

Nolasco acknowledged that the relocation of asylum seekers has not always run as smoothly as the city would like when it comes to things like providing notice to community district leaders.

But she also said the DSS itself often has been forced to address the problems under less than optimal conditions.

“This is a crisis we are dealing with,” Nolasco said, referring to the estimated 16,500 people whose first stop in the Big Apple was the shelter system.

“We have 58 emergency shelters in New York City to respond to that,” she added. “We have a legal and moral commitment to house everyone in New York City.”

Nolasco said some have found housing with family or friends; through social service networks; or on their own. Many remain in the emergency shelter system, straining the department’s resources.

“We also have New Yorkers who are seeking shelter,” she said. “As a result, we needed to have enough capacity.”

While sympathizing with the new immigrants and their needs, some district managers said they have been getting slammed with little or even no advance notice.

“In Community Board 12 we have many homeless shelters, hotels and asylum seekers,” District Manager Yvonne Reddick said. “But they are placed before we are even notified. As of today we have a new drop-in center. I have no paperwork in it whatsoever.”

Reddick said in September, when an immigrant mother killed herself in a shelter, “we didn’t know there were asylum seekers in that shelter until we heard it on the news.”

Nolasco said the emergency nature of the influx often has not allowed the DSS to go through the normal process.

“We may not be able to give a 30-day window,” she said. “When we’re getting eight to 10 buses a day we often don’t have a full day or a full week when people are arriving at the Port Authority.”

Nolasco said the CB 12 office should have

no public input Outdoor dining vote pending?

received the first notification about the dropin center about a year ago, and that she would follow up on it.

After explaining that the woman who killed herself likely was just sent there because it had a room for her and her children, Nolasco asked if she had addressed Reddick’s concerns.

“No, but I’m listening,” she said, reminding the group that District 12 has borne the brunt of the Queens shelter system since long before the border crisis.

Lynnette Barfield, representing Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Jamaica), said the notification process must improve.

“This cannot remain on the back burner,” Barfield said.

Florence Koulouris, district manager for Community Board 1, said her district has 47 hotels that have been inundated. She said there is almost a complete lack of public discourse on the part of the city and shelter operators.

She said as few as two of the shelters in her district have community advisory boards and even with them, meetings are infrequent.

Clarke said calls to mandate CAB meetings at specific intervals could cause serious logistical problems for the DSS, citing only Koulouris’ 47 shelters and 10 in CB 11.

“That’s 57,” he said. Q

Opponents of making open restaurants a permanent part of the city’s streetscape took to the streets in Manhattan Tuesday as the City Council eyes long-term legislation.

Intro. 31 would codify changes made to certain restaurant, zoning and traffic laws that went unenforced during the Covid-19 pandemic as a way to keep restaurants from closing down. The move has been credited with saving 10,000 jobs, though opponents say making it permanent clutters streets and sidewalks, creates unsanitary conditions that foster rats and other vermin, and is a giveaway of public space to businesses.

The Department of Transportation is the lead agency on the redo. Changes to various laws are required as the city has emerged from emergency conditions.

In an email this week announcing Tuesday’s protest, the group Humanscale NYC said a vote on Intro. 31, which Mayor Adams supports, was scheduled for Nov. 22, just before the Thanksgiving break.

Published reports on Wednesday quoted a City Council spokesperson as saying no vote has been scheduled, and it was not posted on the meeting’s agenda. Q

— Michael Gannon

HOCHUL HAMMERED IN

by Sophie Krichevsky and Sean Okula Associate Editors

“There’s something happening in Queens County.”

That’s how Brian Browne, a political analyst and professor of government at St. John’s University, described the borough’s tendencies in last week’s midterm elections.

Despite her win over Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Suffolk), Gov. Hochul did not fare well in the World’s Borough in last Tuesday’s election compared to her Democratic Queens counterparts.

Though Hochul won Queens County with upwards of 10,000 more votes than Zeldin, a closer look at more contested areas of the borough suggests the situation was more fraught. An analysis by the Chronicle shows Hochul underperformed Democratic candidates by more than 9,000 votes in seven competitive state Assembly races. Zeldin secured 17,156 more votes than the Republican candidates in the same seven races, according to the New York City Board of Elections’ unofficial results.

In total, Zeldin received 92,926 votes over the sampled districts, compared to 85,760 for Hochul. Democratic candidates in the Assembly races secured 94,958 votes, compared to 77,802 for their Republican opponents.

Across the seven Assembly districts in the Chronicle’s analysis, plus two state Senate races and the race for New York’s third congressional district, not a single election district — which are the smaller sectors that make up Assembly districts — had more votes for Hochul while also voting in favor of a Republican candidate for Assembly. Fifty-seven election districts, however, went for Zeldin while also going for the Democratic Assembly candidate.

For down-ballot candidates to receive more votes than the top of the ticket is unusual; Queens College professor emeritus of political science Michael Krasner said there was “a definite pattern” in the rebuke of Hochul in the borough’s competitive districts.

Analysts: Zeldin’s performance gives

Browne agreed, noting that the coattail effect suggests that success at the top of the ticket extends down the ballot. That was not the case in Queens.

“Clearly, Hochul did not have coattails in a lot of pockets of Queens County,” Browne said. “You really saw people split their tickets, which is a little unusual, particularly the kind of people who come out in midterm elections.”

Krasner, who is now the co-director of the Taft Institute for Government and Civic Education, suspected that Hochul’s underperformance and other Democrats’ overperformance is two-pronged.

“She hasn’t been governor for very long, and she’s never run statewide before,” he said. Later, he added, “[The Hochul campaign] just didn’t have that great a ground game in general. They didn’t really do the kind of grassroots organizing that other campaigns have done.” He noted that Hochul particularly struggled to mobilize Latino voters.

“She did not run a great campaign,” Browne agreed. “She really kind of had this Rose Garden strategy up until the last two weeks of the campaign, when she started bringing in all the big hitters and star power from the Democratic Party.”

Both Krasner and Browne suggested that sexism may have contributed to Hochul’s poor showing in Queens. “There is political science literature which says that sexism plays a much bigger role in people’s voting choices when it’s an executive position, as opposed to a legislative position,” Krasner said.

Conversely, down-ballot Queens Democrats had much less to worry about when it came to being a known presence in their communities, as almost all of them were incumbents.

“If the incumbent has done constituent services, if the incumbent is good about hitting the high school graduations and sending people letters of congratulations ... that builds connections and garners votes,” Krasner said.

An example of where an incumbency advantage may have helped a downballot candidate is in Assembly District 23, where a Pheffer has been on the ticket for most of the past 35 years.

In the easternmost portion of Far Rockaway in the district, encompassing Election Districts 27 through 30, Republican Zeldin outperformed Democrat Hochul by more than 1,300 votes. In the same four election dis-

tricts, Democrat Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Howard Beach) outperformed Republican challenger Thomas Sullivan by more than 1,400 votes. In Election District 27 alone, Zeldin beat Hochul by 686 votes, while Pheffer Amato beat Sullivan by 578 votes.

A similar trend follows in Howard Beach. Though Pheffer Amato did not win any of the neighborhood’s seven election districts, EDs 33 through 38 plus 59, she picked up 414 more votes than the governor in the area. Republican Sullivan picked up 424 fewer votes than Zeldin in the same region.

In total, Hochul managed 11,579 votes in AD 23 to Zeldin’s 19,190 as of print time, good for a nearly 7,500-vote difference. The race between Pheffer Amato and Sullivan in the same district has yet to be decided, with the Democrat and the Republican, who is leading, separated by less than 250 votes. Pheffer Amato filed a lawsuit to force a recount earlier this week.

The race for state Senate District 15, where state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) was looking to win re-election in a district that had lost most of his Howard Beach base in redistricting, saw a similarly split result. While Hochul managed to win the district, she only did so by 146 votes. Addabbo took the district with an 8,385-vote margin.

Addabbo picked up 2,705 more votes than Hochul in the district, 11 percent of the gubernatorial voters for which came from Assembly District 23, while Republican state Senate challenger Danniel Maio secured 5,534 fewer votes than Zeldin.

Hochul was perhaps most upstaged in parts of Kew Gardens Hills and the areas surrounding Queens College, where Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal (D-Flushing) won Election

Districts 20 through 30 by 2,741 votes, total, and Hochul lost to Zeldin by 2,070. The area is a predominantly Orthodox Jewish enclave, which Browne and Krasner said may have helped Rosenthal, an Orthodox Jew himself, run up such a big margin compared to Hochul. The most stark difference in performance is in ED 27, where Hochul lost by 644 and Rosenthal won by 557. That holds up in ED 29, as well; though Rosenthal won the district by 312 votes, Hochul lost by 453..

While some of the discrepancy can be explained by incumbency, it does not tell the whole story. Though perhaps to a lesser extent, even in Assembly District 30 — where there was no incumbent — Steven Raga, the Democratic candidate, outperformed Gov. Hochul. District-wide, Raga secured 10,972 votes to Hochul’s 10,880. An analysis of individual election districts in AD 30 shows that in areas where both Hochul and Raga lost, Raga lost by a smaller margin. In Middle Village’s ED 2, for example, both lost by several hundred votes, but Hochul lost by 410 and Raga by 340. Near PS 229 in Maspeth, ED 10 follows that trend as Hochul fell to Zeldin by 136 votes, but Raga lost to Republican Sean Lally by 90 votes. Districtwide, Zeldin outperformed Lally by 1,160 votes.

But even in districts Hochul won — or at the very least, kept competitive — her Democratic colleagues outperformed her. In Assembly District 25, Zeldin beat Hochul by 312 votes. Democratic Assemblymember Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows) fended off her Republican challenger, Seth Breland, by more than 2,500 votes. Nearby in AD 26, Hochul narrowly fell to Zeldin by 115 votes, but Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside)

defeated his Republican challenger, Robert

Gov. Hochul, center, may have secured more votes than Republican challenger Lee Zeldin borough-wide, but lost to him by 7,166 votes in seven competitive Assembly districts analyzed by the Chronicle and underperformed Democratic Assembly candidates by 9,198 votes in those same seven districts. GOV. HOCHUL PHOTO / TWITTER

Rep. Lee Zeldin beat Governor Hochul by more than 7,000 votes in the seven Assembly districts analyzed by the Chronicle. In AD 26, encompassing parts of Whitestone, above, Zeldin beat Hochul by 115 votes, while Democrat Ed Braunstein beat Republican challenger Robert Speranza by 2,572 votes.

LEE ZELDIN PHOTO / TWITTER

COMPETITIVE QNS. RACES

GOP hope in the borough

Speranza, by 2,572 votes. In AD 28, Hochul won by 2,777 votes, but Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) won the district by 5,118 votes.

Browne believes Hochul’s weaker showings in those areas only helped to solidify the inroads the Republican Party has made in parts of Queens. He thinks two things resonated with borough voters to put Zeldin in a position to upstage Hochul: the campaign’s ground game and its crime-focused messaging. He says he saw Zeldin signs in areas where he would not typically see support for a Republican candidate.

“Almost all of [Hochul’s] campaign was about linking Zeldin to Trump, and abortion, and January 6 and all that, but I don’t know if there was a real fear in New York that people’s access to abortion was going to be changed,” Browne said. “In other states it was on the ballot, and that was a clear delineation.”

“I think you have to find issues that resonate with the majority of voters,” he added. “I think, to Zeldin’s credit, he seized on crime as that issue, and it resonated.”

“Anybody who emphasizes crime in their campaign gets a boost from the 11 o’clock news ... They present crime as a terrible, constant threat, whether it’s going up or going

down getting worse or getting better,” Krasner agreed. “There’s a kind of built-in advantage for anybody who makes crime an issue.”

Browne and Krasner reasoned that Zeldin’s tough-on-crime approach took hold with the borough’s Asian-American and Orthodox Jewish enclaves — like in Douglaston and Little Neck and, for the latter, in Kew Gardens Hills. “Asians have been victims of some particular heinous hate crimes over the years,” Browne said. In addition to concerns regarding high school admissions and small businesses, he continued, “I think that crime message resonated with them.”

Due to years of persecution on account of their faith, Krasner said, the Orthodox community is “a group that is going to be particularly concerned with physical safety.”

Zeldin’s emphasis on crime not only galvanized some Republicans, Browne said, but Democrats as well. At the same time, Browne did not think communities’ appetite for Zeldin’s message was a one-off. He suspects that Northern Queens is an area to watch as Republicans aim to build a stronghold in the borough.

“Particularly with Asian Americans, with Latinos, with the Jewish vote, there seems to be some cracks showing in the traditional

foundation of the Democratic Party, and particularly the foundation of the Queens County Democratic Party,” Browne said.

He points to Republican Curtis Sliwa’s performance in Northeast Queens in last year’s mayoral race as a sign the tide may be turning.

“If you compare some of the ADs that Zeldin did very well and then what Curtis Sliwa did, the signs were there, and that’s where I think you’re beginning to see a trend,” he said. “Chinese voters came out in force for Sliwa last year in places like Sunset Park and Elmhurst and Flushing. And where did you see some of the closest elections this time around — it’s the same Assembly districts.”

Indeed, in AD 40, Assemblymember Ron Kim (D-Flushing) won re-election by only 550 votes; Zeldin won the district by 512 votes.

In wake of the results in 2021 and 2022, Browne thinks the City Council races in 2023 will be telling in determining just how much support Republicans have drummed up in the area.

“Do you start seeing Republican primaries for New York City Council seats, or do they rally around placing singular candidates in each district and waiting for the general?” he said. “Certainly there is some degree of momentum there. There’s something happening.”

Above are the disparities between Hochul and Zeldin across the seven Queens Assembly districts sampled by the Chronicle, and the performance of the Assembly candidates in the same seven districts.

GRAPH BY SEAN OKULA AND SOPHIE KRICHEVSKY

Mets keep Carrasco

by Lloyd Carroll Chronicle Contributor

The Mets exercised their option to bring back pitcher Carlos Carrasco for the 2023 season. In 2022, at a salary of $14 million, Carrasco posted a 15-7 won-lost record with a 3.97 earned run average.

Carrasco had good statistics, and clearly improved on his disastrous 2021, when he missed the first half of the season. Most Mets fans wished he had missed the second half as well. He was routinely shellacked, as his 1-5 record, to go along with a 6.04 ERA, would indicate.

My guess is if Mets executives had their druthers, they would have cut ties with Carrasco with a $3 million contractual buyout. Carrasco is 35 years old, and an argument can be made his 2022 record may have been misleading. He pitched well against second-division teams but was pummeled by top-tier squads as the Atlanta Braves. He did not start in the three-game Wild Card Series against the San Diego Padres, and there were doubts he would pitch even in a bestof-seven playoff series.

Mets General Manager Billy Eppler should have told Carrasco to buy fancy Christmas presents for fellow Mets starting pitchers Jacob deGrom, Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker when Eppler informed Carrasco he would be back in Flushing in 2023. The trio became free agents last week, which strengthened Carrasco’s position.

The Brooklyn Nets have been a public relations nightmare the first month of the NBA season, but they may have finally lucked out in finding a replacement for Steve Nash, who quit as the team’s head coach two weeks ago.

Jacque Vaughn, who had a 12-year NBA playing career, including a pair of stints with the Nets, was named the interim head coach when Nash resigned. The Nets shockingly started playing winning basketball with Vaughn pacing the sidelines, even though mercurial superstar Kyrie Irving was serving a suspension for promoting an anti-Semitic documentary on social media.

Vaughn, a bench player throughout his career, wisely believes you must earn your minutes on the floor. He has had Ben Simmons, a one-time All-Star who no longer has a big game, come off the bench for short spurts despite his hefty salary. He also seems to have brightened the spirits of Kevin Durant, who has been more upbeat in his postgame press conferences than he was when Nash was the coach. KD reportedly told Nets owner Joe Tsai he wanted Nash, and General Manager Sean Marks, fired over the summer.

Asked about how he had been passed over for the Nets job in the past, Vaughn displayed his keen sense of humor. “This is nothing new for me. Look, I wasn’t my wife’s first choice, yet we have been married for 20 years!” Q

See the extended version of Sports Beat every week at qchron.com

25 years in Gaal’s killing

The man who killed a Forest Hills woman in a grisly stabbing attack in her home was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Wednesday.

David Bonola, 44, of South Richmond Hill killed Orsolya Gaal, 51, during an argument in her home on April 16, stabbing her more than 50 times and slashing her throat. He pleaded guilty to firstdegree manslaughter on Nov. 1.

Bonola had worked at the home as a handyman. He put her body in a hockey equipment bag belonging to her sons and dragged her to Metropolitan Avenue near

Forest Park. Police followed a trail of blood to her house.

“This was a brutal killing, and no amount of prison time can bring the victim back to her loved ones,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “Today’s sentencing, however, provides a measure of justice and I hope the victim’s family can rest easier knowing that the person responsible was held fully accountable.” Q

Orsolya Gaal

FILE PHOTO

LIJ Forest Hills is expanding outreach

Community event discusses area needs and current cases in hospital

by Deirdre Bardolf Associate Editor

Leaders from Northwell’s Long Island Jewish Forest Hills gathered at the Queens Museum on Tuesday night for an inaugural Community Connection panel to discuss the healthcare system’s efforts to expand its footprint in the neighborhood, what it is doing in Queens and give updates on what is happening inside the hospital.

“I think we’re not as present as we need to be in Queens, to be honest with you,” Dr. John D’Angelo, senior vice president and regional executive director for Northwell Health’s Central Region, told the crowd of about 60 people.

“And we have a good footprint. We need to be much more present, especially given the population here and the density. So there’s a lot of investment going on there. We need to have a strategy that’s very local in all of the markets that we serve.”

One barrier to overcome, hospital executives explained, was making the Forest Hills location known to the community and ensuring that it is differentiated from the past hospitals that occupied the site, including the infamous LaGuardia Hospital, which had a poor reputation.

“Please make sure that you invest in Forest Hills LIJ,” said Councilmember Lynn Schulman (D-Forest Hills).

The LIJ Forest Hills panel included Dr. Christopher Calandrella, left, chair of emergency medicine; Dr. Mitchell Jacobs, medical director; Dr. John Raimo, chair of medicine; Dr. Armando Castro, chair of surgery; and Lorraine Chambers Lewis, executive director.

“It’s really important. I grew up in Forest Hills and I was around when LaGuardia Hospital was here and it was a terrible hospital. My family had very bad experiences there,” she said.

Schulman praised a community advisory board that officials said is in the works.

“I’m so excited to hear about the outreach to

the community and the diversity and the various ethnic communities,” said Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Fresh Meadows).

LIJ Forest Hills recently performed outreach at the Sikh Cultural Society gurdwara and distributed flu shots there.

Lorraine Chambers Lewis, executive director of LIJ Forest Hills, discussed further

efforts to get into communities including Little Guyana and the Jewish neighborhoods in the area.

At LIJ Forest Hills, doctors are still seeing an ongoing, steady state of Covid pateints, said Dr. John Raimo, chair of medicine at the hospital, and cases of the flu are rising sharply.

During the first wave of the Covid pandemic, it was common for the hospital to see 260 to 280 patients when on Tuesday it had only 179. In the emergency department, which typically sees roughly 100 patients a day, there were up to 400 during the wave.

Cases of RSV, a common respiratory virus that the Centers for Disease Control says has shown an increase across the country, is making its way into hospitals, mainly among children at Cohens Children’s Medical Center but also among elderly patients and those with weakened immune systems, said Raimo.

“We want to make sure we’re getting out there and our responsibilities are not just to take care of the sick, but to keep people from becoming sick,” said Chambers Lewis.

She said she is excited for the opportunities presented by Northshore LIJ, which saw nearly 2,000 births, over 50,000 emergency visits, and 5,000 ambulatory surgeries a year.

“Queens is on the lips of local executives every single day and I’m excited to be in the center of it,” she said.

PHOTO BY DEIRDRE BARDOLF

SUPER REHAB I HAD A TEAM!

Asian students under attack, again, by DOE OPINION

by Yiatin Chu and Jean Hahn

On Nov. 4, a working group appointed by the city Department of Education released its recommendations for revising the formula for funding NYC’s public schools. This funding formula known as “Fair Student Funding” accounts for about 65 percent of what school principals receive to cover teacher salaries and other expenses. The formula is designed so that a high-needs student (e.g., low state test score, English language learner or student with disability, etc.) would bring more funding to a school as he or she typically requires more resources for support.

Education “equity” advocates made the case to Chancellor David Banks that this funding formula needed to be adjusted to reflect contemporary priorities and refused to pass the DOE budget until assurances were made by Banks that it would be reformed. In good faith, Banks had the DOE assemble a working group to hear out their concerns. Sounds reasonable, right?

The current formula allocates more than half of NYC’s 700 high school programs additional funding under the “Portfolio School” designation. This designation includes 300 CTE (Career Technical Education) programs, 25 Specialized Audition programs and only 13 Specialized Academic programs.

When the working group made recommendations in its final report for updating the funding formula, four were to increase funding, and the sole cut was to defund the 13 Specialized Academic programs. Those include the eight specialized high schools and in-demand schools in Queens — Townsend Harris High School, which ranks No. 1 in New York State and No. 19 in the country, and Bard High School Early College. In other words, they want to defund advanced academics.

The DOE-appointed working group consists of members selected in an opaque process. Almost all are activists who have been very vocal and aggressive in their attempts to eliminate the Specialized High School Admissions Test, remove screened admissions to middle and high schools, and eliminate the Gifted and Talented programs with the premise that these programs are not “equitable.” While this may be a worthwhile consideration, this argument falls flat when you realize that lowincome Asian students are the most impacted demographic and make up 61 percent of the SHSAT schools. With

unsuccessful attempts to repeal the SHSAT, and reinstatement of merit-based admissions, this latest tactic to defund advanced academic programs is a cynical way to instigate a death spiral by strangling funding and forcing cuts for teachers.

Out of the 1,800 public schools in NYC, these 13 schools were already receiving the lowest funding levels yet they are the only schools explicitly targeted for defunding by the working group. Brooklyn Tech stands to lose $6.2 million and Townsend Harris would lose $1.5 million, 15 percent and 11 percent, respectively, of their entire FSF budget.

So is it a coincidence that the majority of the students attending these schools are Asian and low-income? It doesn’t seem so, not even on the face of it — of the 20,000 students who attend these 13 schools, 11,100 are Asian; that’s 56 percent compared to the 17 percent citywide average.

It is also worth noting that the 25 audition specialized high schools receive 40 percent more funding per student ($1,430 vs. $1,021) than the 13 academic specialized schools with this designation. So if the goal is to cut funding for the highestfunded portfolio schools, it is peculiar that there were no recommended cuts for the 25 audition schools. However, if the goal is to take public resources from academically high-achieving low-income Asian students, then the working group could do no better than to target these 13 specialized academic schools.

One reply to a tweet about these targeted cuts was “not everything is anti-Asian.” Yes, we know. But when the working group’s only recommendation for cuts is to defund majority-Asian schools, then we need to call this out for what it is, antiadvanced academic, anti-Asian discrimination.

Yiatin Chu and Jean Hahn are public school parents and co-founders of the Asian Wave Alliance, who reside in Whitestone and Forest Hills, respectively.

A Department of Education working group looks to defund advanced academics.

Citi bikes coming to mid-Queens streets

Officials slam DOT over lack of input and loss of parking spaces

by Michael Gannon Senior News Editor

The city’s Department of Transportation has approved a plan that will result in more than 50 Citi Bike docks coming to Community District 5, with construction beginning as early as December.

The reception from officials representing the Maspeth-Glendale-Middle Village area was about what might have been anticipated, particularly with the anticipated loss of parking.

Information obtained from Community Board 5 on Monday said about 40 of the docking stations would be on the street, with the others on sidewalks — this in spite of numerous requests to preserve parking.

“The one-size fits all approach of DOT with Citi Bike is nonsensical and ought to be reconsidered,” said Councilman Bob Holden (D-Maspeth). “Time and time again, the DOT pretends to engage the community and waste their time garnering input, only to move forward with a widely unpopular project. The community devised an alternate proposal that made sense and mitigated any issues of losing much-needed parking. The local community board did not approve this project. The community will not accept it.”

Holden said he intends to fight the DOT “until they listen to the community and stop

pandering to special interest groups who monopolize public space.”

In a press release sent out Monday evening, District Manager Gary Giordano said the DOT had not given Community Board 5 definitive

lar

ing since the pandemic,” DOT Spokesman Vin Barone said in an email. “DOT has thoughtfully incorporated, and continues to incorporate, community feedback into our final proposal in a way that ensures convenient and reliable access to Citi Bike. We look forward to expanding this vital service to help offer Queens residents safe, sustainable, and efficient ways to get around.”

The alternative proposal Holden referenced was a 31-page study researched and prepared by Christina Wilkinson of the Juniper Park Civic Association. Last spring, after the DOT first spoke with CB 5 officials, Wilkinson compiled a 31-page counterproposal that located 45 sites, many on sidewalks near DOT-proposed street docks, that would result in fewer parking spaces lost.

In an email shared with the Chronicle, she expressed belief that the number of roadways docks had been negotiated down to 27.

The DOT throughout the process has said it conducted extensive outreach on plans for District 5 and elsewhere, collecting feedback from hundreds of respondents.

The agency also contends that while trying to manage the increasing demand for parking spaces, Citi Bike docks, with multiple vehicles, are an efficient use of space with more trips than the average parking space.

Citi Bike docking stations, like this one on 31st Street in Astoria, are coming to Community District 5, with area officials stating that the city is running roughshod over the targeted communities, particularly when it comes to the potential loss of street parking. PHOTO BY MICHAEL GANNON

Citi Bikes

CB 5’s press release, based on the most recent DOT proposals, estimated Ridgewood locations are in the area bordered by Metropolitan Avenue in the north; bordered by Metropolitan Avenue in the north; Grandview Avenue into Forest Avenue to Summerfield Street to Wyckoff Avenue to Cooper Avenue on the west and south; and Fresh Pond Road into Traffic Avenue, to 65th Place, to Shaler Avenue on the east.

There are approximately seven Glendale locations in the area bordered by Myrtle Avenue into Central Avenue and Otto Road on the north; Cooper Avenue on the south; 66 Street on the east and the LIRR Freight Rail Line, from Wyckoff Avenue to the Myrtle Avenue/Fresh Pond Road intersection on the west.

Maspeth sites are in the area bordered by Maurice Avenue on the north and west; Metropolitan Avenue at Flushing Avenue, to Eliot Avenue to 64th Street on the south; 65th Place into Hamilton Place to Grand Avenue, to 64th Street on the east; and Page Place to Grand Avenue to 54th Street on the west.

There are approximately four locations planned for the Middle Village area along Metropolitan Avenue, from Fresh Pond Road to the M Train Station; and one location at the Eliot Avenue/ Fresh Pond Road intersection. Q

E-bike battery hearing

continued from page 16

ties for delivery workers in actually determining which batteries are safe.

“Nobody today can identify what the secondhand equipment is,” she said. “If I put two batteries in front of you, you would not even be able to tell me.”

“The biggest fears we have is to make sure [we remember] that the person in possession will be the worker,” she added. “We cannot go back to the days where workers were being arrested for utilizing the e-bike.”

Colon says there needs to be a greater effort to regulate the sale of batteries. She says some stores are selling them without providing the name of the manufacturer, and that some delivery workers have been able to purchase equipment from unusual sources, such as clothing and computer stores.

“The first thing to approach in order to have commonsense legislation is have a license,” she said.

A representative from Propel Electric Bikes, based in Brooklyn and California, echoed those sentiments, saying their bikes are so expensive in part because the batteries they use are approved by Underwriter Laboratories, a science safety company.

“It’s very hard in this country to sell an iron or a toaster that’s not UL-listed,” the Propel rep said. “Why is it possible to sell these mobility devices that are not UL-listed?

“The responsibility needs to be pushed back on the manufacturers so much, because at Propel, we say it’s like selling a car without seatbelts.”

Holden, who was present at the meeting via Zoom, blames the actions of the Council for legalizing the vehicles without proper regulation and agrees with the assessment that battery certification needs to be tackled.

“We must pass common-sense legislation, consider an all-out prohibition of charging these devices indoors, and prevent the sale of non-certified batteries,” he said in a statement.

Ariola says the city is exploring strategies to involve the city and commercial establishments in the procurement of batteries to ease the burden on delivery workers.

“One of the strategies we’re exploring to remove secondhand batteries from our streets is a safety incentive program, which would encourage commercial establishments to provide branded, certified batteries and see the city establish public charging stations throughout the five boroughs,” she said in a statement. “These charging stations would allow employees to charge their equipment safely and away from their homes, while employer-provided certified batteries would ensure that drivers don’t need to turn to refurbished or unsafe devices to power their vehicles.” Q

Best in biz gala set for Dec. 6

The Queens Chamber of Commerce will honor seven key players in the borough economy at its Business Person of the Year Awards Gala on Dec. 6.

Set to run from 6 to 11 p.m., the event will be held at Terrace on the Park in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and will include an open bar, dinner and dancing, as well as a toy drive for the less fortunate.

“This year, we again have honorees who exemplify business acumen, street smarts, hard work, success and doing well by doing good,” the chamber says online.

The honorees are Kevin O’Connor, CEO at Dime Community Bank; Serge Abergel, chief operating officer of Hydro-Quebec Energy Services; Rachelle Antoine, manager of external affairs and community outreach for the John F. Kennedy International Redevelopment Program; Loycent Gordon, owner of Neir’s Tavern; Peter Kapsalis, CEO of Cine Magic LIC Studios; Stacie NC Grant, community advisory council facilitator for the JFK Redevelopment Program; and Dr. Edwin Simpser, president and CEO of St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children. For tickets or more information, visit queenschamber.org or call (718) 898-8500. Q

Most people only have until December 7 th to enroll in a plan

not discriminate on the basis of ra ce, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. ATTENTION: If you speak a non-English language or require assistance in ASL, language assistance services, free of charge, are available to you. Call 1-800-353-3765 (TTY: 711). Elderplan/HomeFirst cumple con las leyes federales de derechos civiles aplicables y no discrimina por motivos de raza, color, nacionalidad, edad, discapacidad o s exo. ATENCIÓN: si habla español, tiene a su disposición servicios gratuitos de asistencia lingüística. Llame al 1-800-353-3765 [TTY: 711]. Elderplan/HomeFirst 1-800-353-3765 [TTY: 711] H3347_EP17357_M

PUBLIC NOTICE

Application of Queensboro Development, LLC for a Certifi cate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need to Construct, Operate and Maintain Approximately 18.5 miles of Transmission Lines from the Boundary of New York State Waters to Points of Interconnection in Queens, New York and Associated Equipment.

Pursuant to Article VII of the New York Public Service Law, Queensboro Development, LLC (the “Applicant”) is providing public notice of its intent to fi le an application for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need (“Certifi cate”) for the proposed construction, operation and maintenance of the portions of the Queensboro Renewable Express offshore transmission system (the “Queensboro Renewable Express”) that are located in New York State.

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE THAT on or about December 2, 2022, the Applicant will file an application (the “Application”) in the above-entitled matter with the New York State Public Service Commission (the “Commission”) for a Certificate pursuant to Article VII of the Public Service Law for the portion of the Queensboro Renewable Express that is located in New York State, which includes approximately 18.5 miles of submarine transmission lines from the boundary of New York State Waters to points of interconnection in Queens, New York and as sociated onshore equipment (the “Project”). The Project is necessary to as sist New York State in achieving its clean energy goals and mandates under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in that it will transmit wind energy from offshore wind facilities in feder al waters into New York Independent System Operator (“NYISO”) Load Zone J in New York City and will facilitate the ultimate retirement of existing fossil fuel generating facilities.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT: The Project will consist of two discrete high voltage direct current (“HVDC”) symmetric monopole circuits, each capable of delivering approximately 1,150 megawatts to 1,310 megawatts (“MW”) into NYISO Zone J at the site of t he existing Ravenswood generating facility (the “Ravenswood Site”). Each of the two Project circuits, defined as “Queensboro Circuit A” and “Queensboro Circuit B,” will consist of: (i) a submarine HVDC conductor cable assembly with a fi ber optic communications cable, buried in its own discrete trench within a single submarine cable corridor approxim ately 18.5 miles (16.1 nautical miles) long from the boundary of New York state waters to a cable landfall location at the Ravenswood Site in Queens, New York and (ii) an HVDC converter station, a new substation and underground cables to be located on the Ravenswood Site and that will interconnect to the NYISO bulk electric system at the adjacent Rainey and Vernon substations owned and operated by Con Edison.

The portions of the Queensboro Renewable Express located outside of New York, and which are not subject to Public Service Law Article VII, include offshore infrastructure comprised of: (i) platform(s) to be located in a host BOEM lease area located in the federal waters of the Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”), consisting of either a combined or separate HVDC converter and alternating current (“AC”) collector mesh-ready platform, and (ii) an HVDC conductor cable assembly bundled with a fi ber optic communications cable, installed in a discrete trench within an HVDC submarine cable corridor and traversing from the offshore platform(s) through the federal waters of the OCS, then into New Jersey State Waters for approximately 6.1 miles (5.3 nautical miles), to the boundary of New York State Waters, with an additional 3.6mile (3.2 nautical mile) segment within New Jersey State waters in the Upper New York Bay.

DATES AND COPIES OF THE ARTICLE VII FILING: The Applicant expects to file the Application with the Commission on or about December 2, 2022. A copy of the Application will be filed with the Commission and will be available on the Department of Public Service website (www.dps.ny.gov) once the Commission assigns a case number to the Project. Additional information can be found on the Project website at https://www.queensbororenewableexpress.com. A copy of the Application will also be served upon the Mayor of the City of New York, the Queens Borough President, the Brooklyn Borough President, the Manhattan Borough President, the Staten Island Borough President, and other statutorily-required parties, and will be available for pu blic inspection in the local public libraries set forth below, including branches of the New York Public Library (“NYPL”):

Queens Public Library at Long Island City 37-44 21st Street Long Island City, NY 11101

Brooklyn Public Library at Williamsburg 240 Division Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11211

NYPL, Tompkins Square Library 331 East 10th Street New York, NY 10009

Brooklyn Public Library at Coney Island 1901 Mermaid Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11224

NYPL, New Amsterdam Library 9 Murray Street New York, NY 10007

NYPL, St. George Library Center 5 Central Avenue Staten Island, NY 10301

ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE: For further information concerning the Project, interested persons may contact the following:

Michelle L. Phillips

Secretary to the Commission

New York Public Service Commission

Empire State Plaza, Agency Building 3 Albany, New York 12223-1350

Phone: (518) 474-6530, Fax: (518) 474-9842 Email: secretary@dps.ny.gov

Wil Fisher

Queensboro Development, LLC

Phone: (718) 706-2002

Email: Queensboro@riselight.com

Bright is the night ht B i i g n

by Kristen Guglielmo

Step into an illuminated wonderland and be amazed by the sights of over one thousand handmade traditional Chinese lanterns inspired by theme parks and Chinese myths and legends. The New York City Winter Lantern Festival’s “Illuminate the Farm” event is back in Queens for the second year at the Queens County Farm Museum, promising an immersive luminescent experience for the entire family.

The art and tradition of Chinese lantern making dates as far back to 25 AD, starting from the Eastern Han Dynasty and then being passed down through generations. The culture of lantern making is still appreciated today, especially through events such as this one.

The festival’s website pays tribute to the art by detailing the process. In planning the displays, designers based out of New York City drafted their ideas and then created steel frames and wiring to provide a base. They added LED lights and then covered those frames with traditional Chinese silk cloth, which provides a visibly smooth finish. Finally, they added intricate detailing through paint. The awe-inspiring results of their labor is on display for all to see at the Queens Farm, creating six acres worth of fun and photo opportunities that families will surely enjoy.

While it is the festival’s second year at the Floral Park farm, the event promises to be better than last year’s, with new and bigger lantern displays. In addition to the lanterns, guests can explore various illuminated tunnels and

walkways, and children can play on lighted swings and see-saws. There are even moving displays, including animals that move their heads and bodies, and clam shells that open and close.

“I appreciate there being a local event where my kid is fully entertained, and I can admire it, too,”

said one Queens mother, Rhonda Foley, while her child was preparing to pose for a photo inside of a giant illuminated Christmas tree ornament.

“It’s kind of special having this lantern festival take place here,” said another attendee,

I HAVE OFTEN WALKED

Pitcher Turk Lown never mailed it in from Ridgewood

by Ron Marzlock Chronicle Contributor

Omar Joseph Lown Jr. was born May 30, 1924, in Brooklyn, the firstborn of three children to Omar Sr. and May Lown. Omar Sr. was a truck driver for Sheffield Milk and May worked in a laundry. They moved to 60-28 68 Ave. in Ridgewood.

Omar Jr. — who became known as Turk due to his love of turkey — went to Brooklyn Tech High School. He also loved baseball and was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1942 at age 18 and sent to their farm team to prep for the major leagues.

But World War II was on and Lown served, being wounded at the Battle of the Bulge and receiving the Purple Heart. He later resumed his baseball career for the Newport News and then the Pueblo Dodgers farm team in Pueblo, Colo., where he met and married Violet May Krizman in September 1948.

Lown broke into the majors in 1951 and gained fame with the Chicago White Sox as their star reliever in 1959, the year they won the American League Pennant. Children who collected his baseball card may have

The home of pitcher Turk Lown at 60-28 68 Ave. in Ridgewood, when he was a boy in the 1930s. INSET VIA WIKIPEDIA / BOWMAN GUM

assumed he was Turkish, but he was of German descent.

Lown retired after 11 seasons in 1962 and became a USPS letter carrier for 23 years. He was a modest man who loved baseball for the game, not the money. He passed away in Pueblo on July 8, 2016, at age 92. Q

Long before ‘real wives,’ the ‘Merry Wives’ schemed

by Mark Lord qboro contributor

Replete with sexual innuendo, sarcasm and misunderstandings, William Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” is being given a rare mounting courtesy of The Gingerbread Players of Saint Luke’s Church in Forest Hills, with remaining performances scheduled for Nov. 19 and 20.

The most purely farcical of all of Shakespeare’s plays, it focuses on one Sir John Falstaff (a courtier played here by veteran Jim Haines, in his Gingerbread debut), who finds himself in financial difficulties. To improve his lot, he decides to woo the two title characters, wellto-do ladies who are married to merchants. The women catch on and decide to teach Falstaff a lesson, setting about to concoct various schemes to embarrass him.

The play began rehearsals in August in preparation for last Saturday night’s opening, according to its director, Bernard Bosio. Written in five acts, it has been somewhat streamlined for this incarnation, both in running time and in its

casting, with some actors playing more than one role.

“The audiences have been very responsive,” Bosio said in a telephone interview, “very into it.”

There is “a lot of physical humor that I incorporated into it,” he said. “People love that.”

The director admitted that “some people find the language obtuse,” so he made sure that “the visual goes along with the language,” making it easier to follow.

“I’ve done a lot of little things to make the play more accessible,” he said, adding, “I’ve got some great performances, some great bits.”

Bosio also indicated that, at times, the action surrounds the audience. And he has incorporated no fewer than three different levels of playing areas. “So much of the show relies on physicality and moving around,” he said.

And the play’s many themes are sure to keep audiences involved: love and marriage, jealousy, revenge, social class and wealth, among others.

Portraying the wives are two local favorites, Lauren Snyder (Mis-

tress Page) and Shelia Spencer (Mistress Ford).

“I play the sexy one,” Spencer said. “We have the best time on stage.”

She put a lot of time into researching the role, she said, watching videos of “so many different interpretations. I located as many different variations as I could.” She was delighted to find

“a wealth of information” about the play.

Spencer said she has “loved this play for many years” and calls this her “favorite theater experience ever.”

Among the other recognizable faces onstage are Gingerbread mainstays Andrew Dinan as a parson and, in a gender-bending performance, Louise Guinther as Mas-

ter Fenton, the town’s most eligible bachelor.

Bosio had one of his earliest encounters with The Bard while a student at Queens College. A computer science major, he happened to take a class in Shakespeare in which the students were asked to stage various scenes. He has appeared on the Gingerbread stage in its productions of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Macbeth.”

While most community theater groups tend to shy away from Shakespeare, Gingerbread embraces his works, as well as those of other writers all-too-rarely tackled, including, recently, Moliere.

And with the approach taken to this latest undertaking, Spencer is certain that “even a child could enjoy it.”

Performances at Saint Luke’s Church (85 Greenway South in Forest Hills) are on Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 20 at 2:30 p.m.

The suggested donation is $15, or $12 each for groups of six or more. Call (718) 268-7772 or visit gingerbreadplayers.org. Q

For the holidays, brightness at the edge of town

Adam Donovan. “I’m an LA transplant, so I didn’t know that there was a farm within a bus ride from me until I saw my friends post about this festival online. It’s nice that they engage with the community through events like this.”

Donovan was attending with a group of friends from Queens College, where he studies art and photography. “I’m here for the photos, but I’m having a good time see-

ing the art of it all, too,” he said.

Concessions include various Taiwanese foods, as well as snacks and warm beverages like hot chocolate to keep from getting too cold on frigid nights. The gift shop sells light-up toys and artisan holiday souvenirs, including the Winter Lantern Festival’s signature Wish Jars — star-shaped glass containers decorated with mini fairy lights, perfect for bringing the holiday spirit home. These can be ordered in advance for a discounted price online with the purchase of a ticket and picked up at the event, or purchased on-site.

The NYC Winter Lantern Festival’s Illuminate the Farm event at the Queens County Farm Museum shines through Jan. 8. Currently, it runs Friday through Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m., with free on-site parking available. From Dec. 23 to Jan. 1, it will be open daily from 5 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $26.99 plus a $2 service fee for adults, and $17.99 plus the service fee for youth. Attendance is free for children under 2 years of age. For more information on the event and tickets, visit winterlanternfestival.com. For more information on the Queens County Farm Museum, visit queensfarm.org. Q

Fantastical beasts, shapes that evoke trees, mushrooms, vases and floor lamps all at once — these are just some of what you’ll see at “Illuminate the Farm,” with its castle-like entrance, right. On the cover: A walkway near the entrance to the six-acre display at the Queens County Farm Museum.

David Ezra Stein, left, Andrew Dinan, Mike Miller and Joey Dinas in the Gingerbread Players’ production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” which wraps up this weekend.

PHOTO BY JEAN TESSIER

PHOTOS BY KRISTEN GUGLIELMO

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BEST SATELLITE

101 11 MARTENSE LLC, Arts. of Org. fi led with the SSNY on 10/27/2022. Offi ce loc: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Surinderpal Singh, 101-11 Martense Ave, Corona, NY 11368. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

Notice of Qualifi cation of 1066 ZEREGA AVENUE INDUSTRIAL LLC Appl. for Auth. fi led with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/30/22. Offi ce location: Queens County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/28/22. Princ. offi ce of LLC: 20-18 Steinway St., Astoria, NY 11103. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543.

DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. fi led with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

2396 LORILLARD NY LLC. Arts. of Org. fi led with the SSNY on 01/24/22. Offi ce: Queens County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 144-20 69th Ave, Flushing, NY 11367. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice is hereby given that an On-Premises Restaurant Wine license, Serial #TBA has been applied for by Almost Ezra Corporation d/b/a Fuzi Pasta Co to sell beer, wine and cider at retail in a Restaurant. For on-premises consumption under the ABC Law at 68-26 Fresh Meadow Lane, Fresh Meadows, NY 11365.

Notice is hereby given that an on-premises Tavern wine license, Serial #TBA has been applied for by Birdies and Bogeys LLC d/b/a Birdies & Bogeys to sell beer, wine and cider at retail in a Tavern. For on-premises consumption under the ABC Law at 128-16 14th Avenue College Point NY 11356.

Legal Notices

LEGAL NOTICE To: ROOPRAM BALOOP, a/k/a ROOPRAM BALROOP, and/or THE ESTATE OF ROOPRAM BALOOP or THE ESTATE OF ROOPRAM BALROOP, Deceased YOU HAVE BEEN SUED IN COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA at Docket No. GD 22-13028. If you wish to defend against the claims set forth in the Amended Complaint, you must take action within twenty (20) days of the date of this Notice by entering a written appearance personally or by attorney and fi ling in writing with the Court your defenses or objections to the claims set forth against you. If you fail to do so the case may proceed without you and a judgment may be entered against you by the Court without further notice for any money claimed in the Amended Complaint or for any other claim requested by the plaintiff. You may lose money or property or other rights important to you.

YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LAWYER AT ONCE. IF YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO HIRE A LAWYER, THE FOLLOWING OFFICE MAY BE ABLE TO PROVIDE YOU WITH INFORMATION ABOUT AGENCIES THAT MAY OFFER LEGAL SERVICES TO ELIBLE PERSONS AT A REDUCED FEE OR NO FEE. Lawyer Referral Service Allegheny County Bar Assoc. Koppers Bldg., Suite 400 Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Tel: (412) 261-5555 To obtain a copy of the Amended Complaint against you, contact Robert Goldman, Esq., 300 Mt. Lebanon Blvd., Suite 212, Pittsburgh, PA 15234. Tel: (412) 531-6879

Notice of Formation of 13419 NORTHERN BLVD LLC Articles of Organization were fi led with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 06/09/2022. Offi ce location: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: 13419 NORTHERN BLVD LLC, 134-19 NORTHERN BLVD, QUEENS, NY 11354. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

Legal Notices

2528 LUCC LLC, Arts. of Org. fi led with the SSNY on 09/30/2020. Offi ce loc: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 18-33 41st Street, Astoria, NY 11105. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

310312 STOCKHOLM STREET LLC fi led Arts. of Org. with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/25/2022. Offi ce: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: The LLC, c/o Rosa Paneduro, 6262 Dry Harbor Rd., Middle Village, NY, 11379. Purpose: any lawful act.

Notice of Qualifi cation of 60 SOUTH MACQUESTEN PARKWAY INDUSTRIAL LLC Appl. for Auth. fi led with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/30/22. Offi ce location: Queens County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/28/22. Princ. offi ce of LLC: 28-18 Steinway St., Astoria, NY 11103. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. fi led with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of Andre Vilarinho LMFT LLC Articles of Organization were fi led with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 08/21/2022. Offi ce location: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: ANDRE VILARINHO, 56-20 CLOVERDALE BLVD, #2, BAYSIDE, NY 11364. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

NOTICE OF FORMATION of limited liability company (LLC).

Name: AVEENA HOME CARE LLC. Articles of Organization fi led with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 09/29/2022. Offi ce Location: Queens County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to: The LLC, 214-19 Jamaica Ave, Queens Village, NY 11428, USA. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Legal Notices

Notice of Formation of BETTER BEATS LLC Articles of Organization were fi led with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 10/15/2022. Offi ce location: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: BETTER BEATS LLC, 2945 215TH PL BAYSIDE, NY 11360. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of CG&J MEZZ LLC Articles of Organization were fi led with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 04/21/2022. Offi ce location: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: GEORGE XU, 3366 FARRINGTON STREET, SUITE 200, FLUSHING, NY 11354. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of DDSL LLC Articles of Organization were fi led with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 07/16/2022. Offi ce location: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: DAVID MLINARICH, 87-40 259TH STREET, FLORAL PARK, NY 11001. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of ELDERT BK LLC. Arts. of Org. fi led with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/4/22. Offi ce location: Queens County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o The LLC, 27-28 Thomson Ave, Unit 326, Long Island City, NY 11101. Purpose: any lawful activity.

GRG Hoyt Ave Realty LLC, Arts of Org. fi led with Sec. of State of NY (SSNY) 1/4/2019. Cty: Queens. SSNY desig. as agent upon whom process against may be served & shall mail process to 28-21 Astoria Blvd., Astoria, NY 11102.

General Purpose

Real Estate

EQUAL HOUSING. Federal, New York State and local laws prohibit discrimination because of race, color, sex, religion, age, national origin, marital status, familial status or disability in connection with the sale or rental of residential real estate. Queens Chronicle does not knowingly accept advertising in violation of these laws. When you suspect housing discrimination call the Open Housing Center (the Fair Housing Agency for the five boroughs of New York) at 212-941-6101, or the New York City Commission of Human Rights Hotline at 718722-3131. The Queens Chronicle reserves the right to alter wording in ads to conform with Federal Fair Housing regulations.

Apts.For Rent

Greenpoint, 203 Engert Ave, #2. 1 BR/1 bath w/office. $2,700/mo. Avail NOW. Heat & hot water inc. Office space, updated kit countertops, new flrs, queen-sized BR. Call Francesco Belviso, 718-570-4564. Capri Jet Realty.

Williamsburg, 216 Devoe St, #1. 1 BR/1 bath, $2,600/mo. Charming Apt, open spacious kitchen. Lg LR, HWF, heat & hot water incl. avail Dec 1. Michael Bifalco, 917-704-5147. Capri Jet Realty

Williamsburg, 971 Metropolitan Ave, #1. 2 BR loft, $4,650/mo. 1 MO FREE on 14 MO lease. Newly renov, new kitchen w/SS & dishwasher, double door grand entrance, virtual CAC, 1,000 SF, W/D, new flrs, backyard, 13’ ceilings. Heat & hot water inc. Avail NOW. Call Stellina Napolitano, 646-372-7145, Capri Jet Realty

Houses For Sale

Howard Beach/Rockwood Park, Mint (Brookfield Style) Hi-Ranch, open flr plan. Custom kit w/wine fridge, custom cabinets, SS appli, lg island w/storage, tray ceiling, granite countertops. Hi-hats, lg LR w/vaulted ceilings & gas FP. HW fls thruout, lg family rm w/sliding doors to party yard / 1/2 inground pool w/deck. Full walk-in, 4 BR, 3 full baths. Call for appt. Connexion Real Estate, 718-845-1136

Open House

Flushing, Sun 11/20, 12pm-3pm, 85-19 156 St. Lg det 1 fam on 50x100 lot. Lots of potential. Zone R1-2A Duplex, 7 BRs, 3 full baths,1 half bath, full bsmnt, attic, lg wraparound porch, fenced-in yard. Quiet block. Call for appt! Reduced to $1.2M. Connexion Real Estate, 718-845-1136

Howard Beach/Lindenwood, Sat 11/19, 1pm-2:30pm, 151-14 80 St. Brick attached 2 fam, great investment property. Walk-in fin bsmnt w/door to yard. 1st fl has 2 BR, 1 bath apt w/terr. 2nd fl has 1 BR, 1 bath apt w/terr. A must see! Call for appt. Asking $1,148,000. Connexion Real Estate, 718-845-1136

Old Howard Beach, Sun 11/20, 2pm-3:30pm, 95-05 165 Ave. Legal 2 fam. 5 BR, 3 full baths, 2 EIK, 40x100 lot. Reduced $999,000. Call Brina, 917-257-1584, Sovereign Realty of NY, Inc.

Store For Rent

Howard Beach, Store for rent, 1,200 sq ft. CrossBay Blvd. $5,000/mo. Call Connexion Real Estate, 718-845-1136

SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS Supreme Court of New York, Queens County. U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, NOT IN ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY BUT SOLELY AS TRUSTEE FOR THE NRZ PASS-THROUGH TRUST XVIII, Plaintiff- against- THE HEIRS AT LARGE OF HILBERT LAYNE, DECEASED, AND ALL PERSONS WHO ARE HUSBANDS, WIDOWS, GRANTEES, MORTGAGEES, LIENORS, HEIRS, DEVISEES, DISTRIBUTEES, SUCCESSORS IN INTEREST OF SUCH OF THEM AS MAY BE DEAD, AND THEIR HUSBANDS AND WIVES, HEIRS, DEVISEES, DISTRIBUTEES AND SUCCESSORS OF INTEREST OF ALL OF WHOM AND WHOSE NAMES AND PLACES ARE UNKNOWN TO PLAINTIFF; DEBORAH A. CHASTEN; SANDRA LAYNE COLE; KEVIN ANTHONY LANE; BRYAN M. LAYNE; SEAN MCDONALD LAYNE; CHENELLE GBAJUMO; CITY OF NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE PARKING VIOLATIONS BUREAU PAYMENT AND ADJUDICATION CENTER OF QUEENS; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION AND FINANCE; DANIEL RODRIGUEZ; SELINA RODRIGUEZ; MANUEL LACARA; JESSICA RODRIGUES; MELANIA LACARA; JUAN RODRIGUEZ, Defendants. Index No. 700098/2017. Mortgaged Premises: 122-17 Nellis Street Springfield Gardens, New York 11413 Block: 12702 Lot: 30. To The Above Named Defendant(s): YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the Complaint in the above entitled action and to serve a copy of your Answer on the Plaintiff’s attorney within twenty (20) days of the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service, or within thirty (30) days after service of the same is complete where service is made in any manner other than by personal delivery within the State. The United States of America, if designated as a Defendant in this action, may answer or appear within sixty (60) days of service. If you fail to appear or to answer within the aforementioned time frame, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint. NOTICE OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT THE OBJECTIVE of the above captioned action is to foreclose on a CEMA Mortgage to secure $271,000.00 and interest, recorded in the Queens County Clerk’s Office on November 21, 2005 in CRFN 2005000647670, covering the premises known as 122-17 Nellis Street, Springfield Gardens, New York 11413. The relief sought herein is a final judgment directing sale of the premises described above to satisfy the debt secured by the mortgage described above. Plaintiff designates Queens County as the place of trial. Venue is based upon the County in which the mortgaged premises is located. NOTICE YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME If you do not respond to this summons and complaint by serving a copy of the answer on the attorney for the mortgage company who filed this foreclosure proceeding against you and filing the answer with the court, a default judgment may be entered and you can lose your home. Speak to an attorney or go to the court where your case is pending for further information on how to answer the summons and protect your property. Sending a payment to your mortgage company will not stop this foreclosure action. YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT. FRIEDMAN VARTOLO, LLP 85 Broad Street, Suite 501, New York, New York 10004, (212) 471-5100, Attorneys for Plaintiff.

Notice of Formation of SOUCIANT LLC Articles of Organization were fi led with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 09/07/2022. Offi ce location: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: SOUCIANT LLC, 119-42 179TH STREET, SAINT ALBANS, NY 11434. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of STEPHEN INDUSTRIES LLC Articles of Organization were fi led with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 08/13/2021. Offi ce location: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: STEPHEN INDUSTRIES LLC, 147-16 110TH AVE, APT#2F, JAMAICA, NY 11435. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

Legal Notices Legal Notices

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF QUEENS CITIMORTGAGE, INC., Plaintiff -against- MITCHELL EDWARDS, KARLENE EDWARDS, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered herein and dated September 24, 2019, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction on the courthouse steps of the Queens Supreme Court, located at 88-11 Sutphin Boulevard, Jamaica, NY on December 2, 2022 at 10:30 a.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Queens, City and State of New York, bounded and described as follows: BEGINNING at a point on the Easterly side of Mexico Street, distant 40 feet Southerly from the corner formed by the intersection of the Easterly side of Mexico Street with the Southerly side of Turn Drive; being a plot 100 feet by 40 feet by 100 feet by 40 feet. Block: 10383 Lot: 41 All bidders must wear a face mask/shield at all times and social distancing must be observed by all bidders at all times. Bidders who do not comply with the face mask and/or the social distancing mandate will be removed from the auction. Said premises known as 116-33 MEXICO STREET, SAINT ALBANS, NY Approximate amount of lien $581,767.59 plus interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of fi led Judgment and Terms of Sale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee or the Mortgagee’s attorney. Index Number 16841/2014 Converted Index Number 727623/2021 JOSEPH MISK, ESQ., Referee, David A. Gallo & Associates LLP, Attorney(s) for Plaintiff, 47 Hillside Avenue, 2nd Floor, Manhasset, NY 11030 File# 4722.1305 {* JAMAICA TI, QUEENS CHR*}

SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS IN TAX LIEN FORECLOSURE–SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, COUNTY OF QUEENS – NYCTL 1998-2 TRUST AND THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON AS COLLATERAL AGENT AND CUSTODIAN FOR THE NYCTL 1998-2 TRUST, Plaintiffs, against BETTINA CONTRACTING CORP., et. al., Defendants. Index No. 707298/18.

To the above-named Defendants –YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the complaint in this action within twenty days after the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of service or within thirty days after service is completed if the summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York. In case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the complaint. Plaintiffs designate Queens County as the place of trial. Venue is based upon the county in which the property a lien upon which is being foreclosed is situated. The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to the Order of the Hon. Robert J. McDonald, J.S.C., entered October 26, 2022. The object of this action is to foreclose a New York City Tax Lien covering the premises located at Block 13067 Lot 263 on the Tax Map of Queens County and is also known as (No#) 223rd Street, Queens, New York. Dated: October 31, 2022. BRONSTER LLP, Attorney for Plaintiffs, NYCTL 1998-2 TRUST AND THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON AS COLLATERAL AGENT AND CUSTODIAN FOR THE NYCTL 1998-2 TRUST, By: Josef F. Abt, Esq. 156 West 56th Street, Suite 902, New York, NY 10019 (347) 246-4776

NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that Defendant Joseph Justin is a defendant in a commercial foreclosure lawsuit that seeks to foreclose on real property with an address of 119-44 155th Street, Jamaica, New York 11434. A description of the real property follows. ALL that certain plot piece or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in the Borough and County of Queens, City and State of New York, being more particularly bounded and described as follows: BEGINNING at the corner formed by the intersection of the northerly side of 120th Avenue (Cooper Street), 60 feet wide plus 5 foot courtyards on both sides for a total of 70 feet wide and the westerly side of 155th Street (Lakeview Boulevard), 70 feet wide; RUNNING THENCE westerly along the northerly side of 120th Avenue, 84 feet; THENCE northerly parallel with the westerly side of 155th Street, 30.04 feet; THENCE easterly parallel with the northerly side of 120th Avenue, 84 feet to the westerly side of 155th Street; and THENCE southerly along the westerly side of 155th Street, 30.04 feet to the corner, at the point or place of BEGINNING.

FOR INFORMATION ONLY: Said premises being more commonly known and designated by the street address 119-44 155th Street, Jamaica, New York; tax map designation Block 12214; Lot 31.

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF QUEENS AMENDED SUMMONS Index No. 700118/2021 Date Index No. Purchased: January 4, 2021 BANTAM FUNDING II, LLC, Plaintiff, -against- 119-44 155 ST. INC.; RAVEENA S. RAMOTAR; JOSEPH JUSTIN; THE CITY OF NEW YORK ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL BOARD; PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK; THE CITY OF NEW YORK; and JOHN DOE NO. I THROUGH JOHN DOE NO. XXX, inclusive, the last thirty names being fi ctitious and unknown to plaintiff, the persons or parties intended being the tenants, occupants, persons or corporations, if any, having or claiming an interest in or lien upon the premises described in the complaint, Defendants. To the above named Defendant(s) (See Attached Service List) You are hereby summoned to answer the complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your answer, or, if the complaint is not served with this summons, to serve a notice of appearance, on the Plaintiff’s attorney within 20 days after the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within 30 days after the service is complete if this summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York); and in case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the complaint. The basis of venue is location of subject property, which is Queens County, New York. Date: Kansas City, Missouri June 30, 2022 Polsinelli PC By: /s/ Amy E. Hatch Attorneys for Plaintiff. 600 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10016 (816) 753-1000 Service List 119-44 155 St. Inc. – 104-32 94th Avenue, Ozone Park, New York 11416, Raveena S. Ramotar – 104-32 94th Avenue, Ozone Park, New York 11416, Joseph Justin – 119-44 155th Street, Jamaica, New York 11434, The City of New York Environmental Control Board – c/o Corporation Counsel, 100 Church Street, New York, New York 10007, People of the State of New York – c/o Offi ce of the Attorney General, 28 Liberty Street, 16th Floor, New York, New York 10005, The City of New York – c/o Corporation Counsel, 100 Church Street, New York, New York 10007

Three Sons Express LLC, Arts of Org. fi led with Sec. of State of NY (SSNY) 10/25/2022. Cty: Queens. SSNY desig. as agent upon whom process against may be served & shall mail process to 89-47 204th St., Hollis, NY 11423. General Purpose

VALISA REALTY LLC. Arts. of Org. fi led with the SSNY on 08/11/22. Offi ce: Queens County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, c/o Frances Joseph, 41-40 47th Street, Astoria, NY 11105. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Lindenwood

Welcome to this beautiful 3 BR, 2 bath condo w/2 balconies & a garage. The apt has a gorgeous cathedral ceiling, sky lights, hardwood fl oors & plenty of closets. Washer & dryer in the unit, brand-new SS appliances, new windows, new water heater & boiler. The complex offers beautiful & tranquil outdoor area.

Convenient location near JFK airport, shopping, school, public transportation & many restaurants. Only a 15-minute drive to Rockaway Beach!!! Must see!!!

• OPEN HOUSE • Saturday, Nov. 19th 1:00 - 2:30 pm 153-25 88th Street, 1K

•

Broad Channel

•

Beautiful open fl oor plan: living room, kit w/granite countertops, cherrywood cabinets & center island, 1/2 bath, larger master BR with 1/2 bath, sliding doors to balcony. 2 more BR, 1 with 1/2 bath & 1 w/large deck. Hardwood floors & tiled fl oors thru out. Upper & lower decks, pool, hot tub, new pavers, sunset awning, large basement w/play room, laundry room, split unit AC, & lots of closets. Flood insurance yearly premium is $1,639.00.

• OPEN HOUSE • Saturday, Nov. 19th 11am - 12:30 pm 159-12 97th Street

• Lindenwood •

2 BR, 2 bath Co-op in the Ardsley. SS appliances, move-in ready. Clean & spacious unit. Base maint: $1030.43, 3 AC’s: $25/each, Dishwasher: $10.00= $1,115.43. Parking is $25 (outdoor) and $35 (garage). Waitlist for both. 330 shares, $30/ share fl ip tax.

HOUSE

• Old Howard Beach •

• Lindenwood

• Howard Beach • 50x100 Ranch style home. This home features a formal living with lots of natural light. A formal dining room for entertaining; an eat-in kitchen with a lot of counter space (granite). There are 3 BRs; the primary has an ensuite bathroom and its own split heating/cooling unit. Additionally there are two other baths in this home. The basement is full & fi n with a sep side entrance. Plenty of room for hosting in the backyard; det 1 car garage & long driveway.