FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JANUARY 4, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Astoria tenants still
in limbo in eviction
battle
Astoria tenants who were abruptly told to
move out of their apartments last November
are in limbo more than a year aft er receiving
their fi rst eviction notices.
Th e building at 31-10 47th St. is managed
by the nonprofi t New York School of Urban
Ministry (NYSUM). Th e 39-unit apartment
features single-room dorms occupied by residents
with referrals by clergy.
In November 2016, the tenants discovered
that they were being forced to move
out aft er NYSUM allegedly signed a contract
with a service provider to turn the building
into a homeless shelter. Th e Department of
Homeless Services vehemently denied any
such agreement was signed.
In a Nov. 16 court date, a Queens Supreme
Court judge granted an injunction, which
means the landlord cannot take any action
to remove the tenants until a fi nal verdict is
announced.
Th e case was adjourned until Jan. 9. But
on Dec. 27, the lawyer for NYSUM asked to
reschedule the date in order to have more
time to respond.
“We’re somewhat surprised that they aren’t
pushing this case more,” he said. “NYSUM
is extremely lax about fi ghting the case and
that’s benefi cial to our clients because they’re
the ones remaining in their apartments.”
Angela Matua
Clemency for Jackson
Heights resident
facing deportation
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced
on Dec. 27 that he would pardon 61 New
Yorkers including those facing deportation
or barriers to becoming citizens.
Th e governor pardoned 18 immigrants
with previous criminal records, handed out
39 conditional pardons to people who were
charged with misdemeanors or non-violent
off enses when they were 16 or 17 years old
and commuted the sentences of two people
“who have demonstrated a substantial evidence
of rehabilitation and dedicated their
eff orts to the work of violence interruption.”
One of the New Yorker’s pardoned is
Lorena Borjas, a 57-year-old Jackson Heights
resident. Borjas was convicted of fourth-degree
criminal facilitation in 1994 when she
was 23 years old and a victim of human traffi
cking, according to the governor.
Borjas moved to the United States when
she was 21. She currently works as an educator
at community health centers citywide.
Borjas also runs HIV testing programs
for transgender sex workers and syringe
exchange programs for transgender women
taking hormone injections.
“With this pardon granted, I will no longer
have to go to sleep at night worrying that
I will be deported back to a country that is no
longer home,” Borjas told the Transgender
Law Center. “I will be able to live my life
without stress and fear of immigration and
I will be able to continue doing the work I
do and help more vulnerable transgender
women.”
Angela Matua
Photo via Twitter/@nycimmigrants
NYC’s fi rst baby of 2018
delivered in Flushing
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
mother are well, offi cials at the hospital
Day, accounting for around 3 percent
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
said.
of all births globally that day. Babies
Flushing Hospital posted a photo of
born in the U.S. this year have an estimated
Th e city’s fi rst baby of 2018 was
the baby and new mom to its Twitter
life expectancy of 80 years.
delivered at a Flushing hospital
account.
Next month, the organization will
moments aft er midnight.
Father Imran Nazir, 28, told the
launch the “Every Child Alive” campaign,
Baby Kazi Ariana Shirin was born at
Daily News that the birth was “a big
which will begin eff orts to
the Flushing Hospital Medical Center
celebration,” with doctors and nurses
reduce instances of preventable newborn
at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1 to fi rst-time
stopping by to cheer on and congratulate
deaths worldwide.
mom and Jamaica resident Tania
the happy couple.
Flushing Hospital, located at 45-00
Shirin, a 25-year-old Bangladeshi
According to UNICEF, more than
Parsons Blvd., has off ered primary
immigrant, according to the New
11,000 babies were expected to be born
and specialty healthcare services to
York Daily News. Both the baby and
in the United States on New Year’s
Queens residents since 1884.
Baby Kazi Ariana Shirin