FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com january 23, 2014 • The Queens Courier 3 ‘Evening of Fine Food’ will fete Shulman, others The Queens Centers for Progress (QCP) will host an event to celebrate some of the borough’s most influential people. The organization, which provides services to people with developmental disabilities, will have an “Evening of Fine Food,” featuring many people from the Queens business community to network and socialize. Individuals who have significant dedication to making a difference in the community, will be honored as “Chefs of the Year.” This year’s chefs are Joseph Sciame, vice president of community relations at St. John’s University and former Borough President Claire Shulman. The event will be at Terrace on the Park, on Tuesday, January 28 at 6:30 p.m. For tickets, call 718-380-3000. NO SNOW DAY FOR CITY KIDS BY MELIS A CHAN AND MAGGIE HAYES editorial@queenscourier.com Despite the snowstorm, all New York City public schools stayed open Wednesday, dashing BAYSIDE HS STUDENTS TOLD TO . . . TURN AROUND & GO HOME BY MAGGIE HAYES AND MELIS A CHAN editorial@queenscourier.com A shortage of teachers at Bayside High School, after this year’s biggest snowstorm so far, forced students to spend the day in the gym and auditorium. “We just wasted a whole day,” said senior Ibrahim A. “It’s pointless to be here when we’re not doing any work.” After students reported to school W e d n e s d a y , January 22 at 8 a.m., school officials found they didn’t have enough teachers to monitor all of the students, according to parents and students. They were then told to call their parents to pick them right back up again. “There had to be 35, 40 parents on line waiting to get their kids,” said Michele M. who grabbed her 15-year-old daughter around 11 a.m. “What was the point of opening up?” Michele’s daughter and multiple students said at least 40 teachers were absent. “More than half of my teachers didn’t even come, and more than half that did didn’t even get to teach,” said Jane, a freshman. “I just sat in the auditorium and watched ‘Iron Man 2.’ I slept through most of it.” Another freshman said he walked into school around noon and a dean told him to go home. City officials decided to keep school open after getting word the snow would taper off. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the National Weather Service “made clear that just as the snow had intensified earlier, it was slowing very noticeably around 10 p.m.” “It was clear at that point we would have a much better situation by morning,” he said. “We knew we could do a good job overnight of clearing the streets.” Despite de Blasio’s confidence, Ibrahim said there were barely any teachers and students at school the next day. They were kept in the auditorium and “just walked out” before noon. The Department of Education didn’t return request for comment as of press time. city students’ hopes of getting a second snow day this month. Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña made the call on Tuesday, January 21 at about 11:20 p.m., but warned “travel conditions may be difficult.” “Families should exercise their own judgment when taking their children to school,” the chancellor said. Defending the decision, Mayor Bill de Blasio said keeping schools open was “the right thing to do.” “We only close schools when it’s absolutely necessary,” he said. “We judged that we could go forward with school effectively.” School buses and mass transit were functioning “not perfectly, but well enough,” as of Wednesday morning, de Blasio said. All after-school programs, field trips and PSAL games were also operating on a normal schedule, the chancellor announced. The city closed public schools about two weeks ago during “Hercules,” the first major snowstorm of 2014. “We just wasted a whole day.” IBRAHIM A Storm is SNOW JOKE Commuters left stranded, drivers frazzled BY CRIS TABELLE TUMOLA AND MAGGIE HAYES editorial@queenscourier.com Flushing resident Adam Lee usually takes the Q13 bus from Bayside to his apartment after work. During the snowstorm on Tuesday, January 21 he waited at a bus stop on Bell Boulevard for 20 freezing minutes in single-digit temperatures until one showed, but it was so packed he couldn’t fit. Fearing another 20 minutes of trembling in the cold, he made the decision to walk more than three miles through the heavy downpour of snow. “I walked because I knew the next one bus would be packed,” Lee said. “It felt like climbing a mountain in Switzerland.” The second major storm of the year dumped almost a foot of snow on the city, along with a blast of bitter cold that will last for several days. Snowfall escalated around the evening rush hour, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, but “the men and women of sanitation who work for this city intensified their efforts” to clear the streets. “This storm was challenging in its size and intensity but the people who work for the City of New York rose to the occasion,” he said as he updated the city Wednesday morning. In some areas, snow accumulated to 11.5 inches, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). Following the storm, temperature highs remained in the teens, but felt as low as below zero with the wind chill. The New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM) issued a hazardous travel advisory the day following the storm and warned motorists to drive slowly, monitor weather and traffic, use major streets or highways, and have the name and number of at least one local towing service. “There was no driving. It was pretty much sitting in your car and inching along,” said Maria Valencia, who drove from Bayside for more than two-and-a-half hours to her home in Uniondale, Long Island. “All you could do was blast your music and unwind,” she said, “because you weren’t going anywhere.” Express subway service was restored Wednesday morning and buses were running at 80 to 90 percent of normal levels, de Blasio said. Those levels, he said, would increase throughout the day. But on Tuesday night some people experienced bus horror stories. “It was horrible. I left yesterday at 5 p.m. At 5:15 no bus, 5:30 no bus, 6 p.m. no bus, 6:30 p.m. no bus,” said Takiyah Thompson of Jamaica. “This lady looked me in the eye and said, ‘That bus is not coming, sweetie. I’ve been here since 3 p.m.’” THE COURIER/Photo byMike DiBartolomeo Despite schools being open, some parents opted to keep their children home. FOR MORE SNOW PIX, VISIT ww.queensco urier.com EXCLUSIVE
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