Further service cuts to NYC Ferry, projects
postponed as COVID-19 pandemic continues
BY ZACHARY GEWELB
A Queens Village man
was charged with murder
in the stabbing death of his
22-year-old half-brother, the
Queens District Attorney’s
office announced Monday.
According to charges, 29-
year-old Wkorasky Voltaire,
of 208th Street in Queens
Village, was arguing with
his brother on Thursday,
May 14, at an “uninhabitable
house” where he and his
brother, McKenzie Placide,
previously lived with their
now deceased mother.
Police confirmed that the
two brothers were squatting
in the residence, which one
neighborhood resident said
was vacant ever since a
fire broke out on the second
floor on Oct. 14, 2019, and injured
five people.
Voltaire allegedly
brought two kitchen
knives with him from an
aunt’s house and began arguing
with Placide before
stabbing him with one of
the knives, according to the
charges.
Voltaire then grabbed the
second knife and followed
Placide outside, where he
continued to stab him multiple
times in the chest and
torso, according to the DA’s
office.
Voltaire allegedly left
one knife inside the vacant
house and is accused of disposing
the second knife,
his sneakers and blood-covered
clothes, according to
charges.
Placide told responding
officers that his brother
had stabbed him before he
was taken to a nearby hospital,
where he died of his
injuries.
“This was an alleged
act of fratricide, where a
man grabbed a knife and
violently stabbed his own
half-brother to death. In an
attempt to cover up the violence,
the defendant is also
accused of trying to conceal
TIMESLEDGER | 14 QNS.COM | MAY 22-MAY 28, 2020
his guilt by hiding evidence,”
Queens DA Melinda
Katz said.
An investigation conducted
by the 105th Precinct and
the NYPD’s Queens South
Homicide Squad led to the
May 15 arrest of Voltaire,
who was arraigned on May
15 before Queens Criminal
Court Judge Mary Bejarano
on a complaint charging
him with murder in the second
degree, tampering with
physical evidence and criminal
possession of a weapon
in the fourth degree.
Bejarano remanded Voltaire
without bail and ordered
Voltaire to return to
court on June 15, 2020.
If convicted, Voltaire
faces up to 25 years to life in
prison.
Reach editor Zach Gewelb
by e-mail at zgewelb@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone
at (718) 260–4539.
BY MARK HALLUM
NYC Ferry is taking additional
measures to cut costs
following ridership drops during
the COVID-19 pandemic
through a litany of service cuts
and route rearrangements.
Seth Myers, executive vice
president of the city Economic
Development Corporation,
says an additional 20% reduction
in service on top of the
30% already implemented,
but headways at key landings
could stay at the same level.
This, according to Myers,
will save the city up to $10 million.
“Our service as a result
will be about half of what it
was prior to COVID at this
time last year. That’s a result
of seeing some of the continued
drop off in ridership, but
also expecting to see a recovery
process as well,” Myers
told amNewYork Metro. “The
other change is a is a longer
term efficiency move which
goes back to always trying to
find a savings, is the optimization
of a couple of routes.”
Three of the routes that
intersect while going into
the terminal landing of Wall
Street – Pier 11 – Soundview
and South Brooklyn – will be
serving Stuyvesant Cove and
Corlears Hook landings. This
will help get essential workers
cross the East River with more
efficiency, according to Myers,
as well as provide access to
open space in neighborhoods
such as DUMBO or Red Hook.
“Corlears Hook would be
served by South Brooklyn and
Stuy Cove would be served
by the Soundview route. So
we could maintain service at
a virtually identical level to
those landings while reducing
the overall number of vessel
service hours,” Myers added.
Opening the three new landings
at Coney Island, St. George
and Ferry Point Park will endure
some changes, Myers said,
in that they will all be moved
back to 2021. St. George in the
Bronx will now open in the summer
of 2021 while the other two
were not scheduled for a specific
time that same year.
“The goal of NYC Ferry is
to connect communities and
provide New Yorkers with additional
transit options and
that commitment will never
change,” James Patchett, EDC
president, said. “Through
these modifications to service,
we are able to save the city
money, provide even better
service to our riders, including
essential workers. We are
also happy to reaffirm our
commitment to expansion in
Staten Island, Coney Island,
and Throgs Neck, areas where
New Yorkers have endured notoriously
long commutes.”
Other cost saving measures
to be implemented will be service
stopping at 9 p.m. instead
of the usual 10 p.m. on Monday
as well as the closure of a parking
lot at Rockaway ferry landing.
This, Myers said, is an
underutilized space purchase
by the city in anticipation of
motorists driving to the landing
that never materialized.
According to statistics from
the EDC, NYC Ferry ridership
has declined between 80%
and 90% due to the pandemic,
which is consistent with what
other transit agencies such as
the MTA have experienced.
Myers added that while
NYC Ferry’s expectations for
recovery, or even how summer
will go, are fluid, routes can be
rapidly changed to accommodate
new ridership demands.
Reach reporter Mark Hallum
by e-mail at mhallum@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone
at (718) 260–4564.
A Manhattan-bound NYC Ferry. File photo
Wkorasky Voltairewas charged with murder in the stabbing death of
his 22-year-old half-brother in Queens Village, the Queens District
Attorney’s office announced Monday. Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
Queens Village man charged with
stabbing his half-brother to death
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