4 THE QUEENS COURIER • JANUARY 19, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM Flushing driver found with illegal meds BY ROBERT POZARYCKI rpozarycki@qns.com @robbpoz He should have found a legal parking spot. A driver who was caught blocking a Flushing driveway on the aft ernoon of Th ursday, Jan. 12, was also found to have a large number of prescription drugs in his possession illegally, according to police. Law enforcement sources said Sheng Lin, 35, was observed sitting in a white Audi vehicle that blocked a residential driveway in front of an apartment house on Union Street near 45th Avenue at 1:45 p.m. on Jan. 12. Offi cers from the NYPD Queens Narcotics Squad approached Lin’s vehicle and found inside it in plain view a large quantity of controlled substances, including hundreds of alprazolam (Xanax) and oxycodone pills. Lin was subsequently taken into custody on charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal use of drug paraphernalia, sources said. He was ordered held on $50,000 bail during arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on Friday, Jan. 13, according to court records. Deputy Inspector Judith Harrison, commanding offi - cer of the 109th Precinct based in Flushing, took to Twitter to commend the squad for making the bust: “Great work by Queens Narcotics for taking these illegal pills off the streets of the #109pct #SafeStreets #SafeCity.” Astoria & LIC among 10 NYC neighborhoods in high demand BY ANGELA MATUA amatua@qns.com/@ AngelaMatua Queens residents have increasingly witnessed their neighborhoods make headlines for become the next “it” place for renters and buyers, and three borough neighborhoods are on a new list. PropertyShark interviewed real estate professionals to gauge which neighborhoods would see an influx of interest from buyers and investors and compiled a list of the 12 hottest neighborhoods in New York City this year. There were 203 respondents who are residential brokers, investors and appraisers. Long Island City and Astoria were numbers 8 and 9 on the list, respectively. Th e median sales price for a home in Long Island City in 2016 was $825,000, making it the second most expensive neighborhood on the list next to the Upper East Side. In Astoria, the median sales price in 2016 for a home was $620,000. Astoria made another list of hottest neighborhoods in NYC in 2017. StreetEasy featured Astoria 10th on its list of top 10 neighborhoods this year. Real Estate professionals also recommended that fi rst-time home buyers head to Jamaica. According to Trulia, the median sales price for a home in Jamaica in 2016 was $418,500. At a real estate conference hosted by QNS in 2016, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz cited the neighborhood as one of the areas that has seen an infl ux of development in the last few years. About 74 percent of responders said it’s a smarter choice to purchase a home rather than rent in 2017. “Th e market is poised for another record-breaking year for buyers – investors as well as fi rst-timers,” said Dennis Cotto, salesperson at Keller Williams NYC. Queens’ roads are in relatively good shape: city report BY EMILY DAVENPORT edavenport@qns.com/@QNS Turns out the roads in Queens might not be as bad as many people think. The Department of Transportation, who repairs and maintains roads throughout New York City, performs an ongoing street quality assessment of every street in the city over an 18-month period. The Independent Budget Office recently released a report based on the Transportation Department’s ratings from 2014 and 2015. Roads are rated on a 1 to 10 scale; “poor” streets score from 1 to 3, “fair” streets score from 4 to 7 and “good” streets score from 8 to 10. Th e exception to the scale is that neighborhood streets that receive a score of 7 are classifi ed as “good.” According to the report, 70.2 percent of roads citywide were found to be in good condition, 29.2 percent were in fair condition, and 0.6 percent were in poor condition. The roads that are in the best shape, rated at 75.1 percent of roads in good shape, can be found in Brooklyn, with Queens following close behind with 71.0 percent of the roads in good condition. Following Queens is the Bronx with 68.5 percent, Manhattan with 66.3 percent and Staten Island with 59.6 percent of roads in good condition. When broken down even further, the ratings found that the neighborhood in Queens that had the best ratings for their roads is in Laurelton, with 84.9 percent of the roads in good condition. The worst neighborhood roads, according to ratings, are found in Kew Gardens, with 28.2 percent of the roads in good condition. Photo via Twitter/@NYPD109Pct Bags of prescription pills and wads of cash seized from a Flushing driver on Jan. 12.
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