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QC01072016

FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com JANUARY 7, 2016 • The Queens Courier 3 ‘TIME TO PASS THE TORCH’ Congressman Israel won’t seek re-election Nightclub losing its liquor license over community complaints By Angela Mat ua amatua@queenscourier.com @AngelaMatua Just two weeks after Rego Park’s Rumba Nightclub received 40 violations from a number of city agencies, the State Liquor Authority (SLA) will reportedly move to revoke the club’s liquor license. The nightclub, which has received a number of complaints from community members, elected officials and the 112th Precinct, was visited by the NYPD, FDNY, Department of Health and SLA on Dec. 18 and Dec. 19, 2015, when each city agency found several violations. Those violations include unauthorized alterations to the bar; safety violations including a failure to maintain fire extinguishers, an obstructed exit and exposed electrical wiring; and a number of health code violations including no food protection certificate holder and mildew in the ice machine. According to a letter written by Deputy Inspector Judith R. Harrison, commanding officer of the 112th Precinct, between Jan. 1, 2015, and Dec. 27, 2015, there have been 90 complaints about Rumba via the 311 system. “Rumba continues to operate their business in a disorderly manner,” Harrison said in her letter to the SLA that The Courier obtained. “The management and owners have been invited to meetings in my office as well as to the Borough’s Night Life Best Practices meetings in an effort to provide them with information and guidance as to how they should be operating. Things have not gotten better.” Harrison added that the patrons are “loud and disorderly” and that they create “dangerous parking conditions along Woodhaven Boulevard.” At a hearing Tuesday with the SLA, an attorney for Rumba Nightclub voluntarily offered the cancellation of his client’s license. This was done primarily to avoid the stigma that comes with a canceled license and the legal consequences that would proceed, according to a spokesperson for Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, who has written letters to the SLA asking them to revoke the club’s license. Frank Gulluscio, district manager of Community Board 6, said previously that the club has been a problem since it opened about two years ago. “It’s a major nuisance, major problem to the community, particularly to the residents of that block,” Gulluscio said in The Courier’s previous report about Rumba. “From building problems to quality-of-life problems, noise, urination, fights, being cited this weekend for over 40 violations and they just don’t care.” It will take the SLA two to four weeks to process this cancellation request. Once it is processed, the cancellation order will be served upon Rumba and they will not be allowed to sell liquor. “Let today’s event serve as notice upon businesses that they cannot just come into our neighborhood and be a disruptive presence without consequences,” Koslowitz said in a statement issued Jan. 5. THE COURIER/Photo by Angela Matua The State Liquor Authority decided to revoke Rumba Nightclub’s liquor license after receiving many community complaints. File photo Congressman Steve Israel (inset) announced on Jan. 5 he would not run for another term in the U.S. House of Representatives. By Robert Pozarycki rpozarycki@queenscourier.com/@robbpoz Congressman Steve Israel is turning the page on his political career. The Nassau County-based lawmaker whose district includes areas of northeast Queens announced on Jan. 5 that he would leave Congress at the end of his eighth term on Capitol Hill this December. Israel indicated that he would concentrate on his writing career; he published his first novel – “The Global War on Morris,” a political satire – last year. “It has been an incredible and humbling opportunity to serve my community,” he said in the statement. “I am grateful to my family, friends, staff and, most of all, the people of New York. While I will miss this place and the people I have had the privilege to serve, I am looking forward to spending more time home and frequenting my beloved New York diners. Simply put, it’s time to pass on the torch.” Israel was elected to Congress in 2000, succeeding the outgoing Republican Congressman Rick Lazio, who ran for the Senate seat ultimately won by then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton rather than seek re-election. Over his nearly 16 years on Capitol Hill, Israel rose through the ranks of the Democratic Caucus, eventually becoming chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and, later, the chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. Up until 2012, Israel’s district spanned Nassau and Suffolk counties, but when the boundary lines were redrawn that year, several northeast Queens neighborhoods were incorporated into the Third Congressional District that he represents, including parts of Bay Terrace, Bellerose, Douglaston, Floral Park, Glen Oaks, Little Neck and Whitestone. Though much of his constituency is based in Nassau County, Israel has been active in the northeast Queens political scene since redistricting. Last year, he agreed to help Whitestone residents address helicopter noise in their neighborhood and rallied with Councilman Paul Vallone in calling for increased security at Fort Totten and other Army Reserve centers. More recently, he has been working to expand voting access, including introducing legislation to move Election Day to the weekend. While he sided with his Democratic colleagues most of the time, he did break ranks with the New York delegation in November regarding allowing Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the U.S. Israel sided with Republicans on the American SAFE Act of 2015, which bolsters immigration requirements; his fellow New York Democrats voted against the bill. Even so, Congressman Joe Crowley, who chairs the Queens County Democratic Party, praised Israel’s service to the state and nation on Twitter, calling him “a champion for #NY, a fighter for @HouseDemocrats, and, on a personal level, a wonderful friend. I wish him the best!” The race to fill Israel’s Congressional seat figures to be competitive; Israel narrowly defeated a Republican challenger in the 2014 midterm elections, garnering 53 percent of the vote. Desiring that his seat remains on the Democratic side of the aisle, Israel believes “the 2016 presidential turnout will help assure that.” Congressional primaries will be held in June, with the Democratic and Republican nominees facing each other in the November general election.


QC01072016
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