16 THE QUEENS COURIER • FEBRUARY 1, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
File photo/QNS
Latimer Gardens
polling place in
Flushing will be
restored
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Residents at a Flushing housing
complex will again be able to vote at
a polling place on their campus this
year, a lawmaker announced.
Latimer Gardens, a New York City
Housing Authority (NYCHA) residence
at 137th Street and Latimer
Place, will have its polling place
restored within the complex’s gymnasium,
according to Congresswoman
Grace Meng. Th e Board of Elections
(BOE) is expected to restore the site
in time for this year’s elections. It will
be the polling place for approximately
2,000 voters.
Th e polling place was originally
established in 2006 and set up in the
complex’s community room, but was
removed in 2012 due to the room’s
lack of accessibility for those with disabilities.
Aft er the Latimer Gardens polling
place was closed in 2012, complex tenants
and surrounding residents looking
to vote had to travel to P.S. 214,
which is about a half-mile away. Th e
distance made it diffi cult for residents
to vote — especially the complex’s
dense senior population, according
to Meng.
In response, the representative sent
a letters to the BOE and NYCHA
Chair and Chief Executive Offi cer
Shola Olatoyein in November 2017,
urging both parties to work to reinstate
a polling site at the complex.
Th e new polling site at Latimer
Gardens is ADA-accessible, and the
BOE will inform residents by mail
about their new voting location.
Meng called DOE’s move to restore
the site “great news.”
“It will make it much easier for these
voters to access the ballot box and it
knocks down the barriers that residents
faced in exercising their right to
vote,” she said. “I thank the BOE for
listening to the concerns I raised about
this problem and for working with me
to fi x it. I look forward to this restored
voting location benefi ting the Latimer
Gardens community, and the area surrounding
it, for many years to come.”
These Queens areas had most
alarm noise complaints
BY MADELINE NELSON
editorial@qns.com / @QNS
According to a new report released
by State Comptroller Th omas DiNapoli,
noise complaints in New York City
almost doubled between 2010 and 2015,
and such gripes logged in Queens rose in
every category of the study.
Th e 48-page report released on Jan.
29 maps and explains noise trends from
six years’ worth of 311 complaints and
complaints received by other government
organizations across the fi ve boroughs.
Out of all 59 Community Districts
in the city, Community District 11 in
Queens had the least amount of noise
complaints per year, averaging 10 complaints
per 1,000 adults.
Th e largest amount of complaints in
Queens came from Community District 8.
Th is includes Briarwood, Fresh Meadows,
Hillcrest, Holliswood, Jamaica, Jamaica
Estates, Jamaica Hills, Kew Gardens Hills,
Pomonok and Utopia. According to the
2010 census, 151,100 people live in the
district, but the population is now estimated
to be 160,000. Th e noise complaints
in Queens were mostly air traffi c
and alarm-related.
In 2015, the Port Authority of New
York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) received
32,238 complaints about John F. Kennedy
International Airport’s air traffi c from 1,107
households and 18,694 complaints about
LaGuardia Airport from 1,442 households.
Respondents from Queens were twice as
likely to report disturbances by air traffi c
than those from other boroughs.
Th e OSC Noise Survey found that 32
percent of all the complainants surveyed
were bothered by air traffi c noise. Survey
respondents felt that their complaints had
no impact.
Sirens and alarms make up the majority
of noise complaints. District 8 complained
the most about the alarms, with a
rate of nine complaints per 1,000 adults in
2015. Most other districts that did complain
in 2015 had rates between zero and
one per 1,000.
Th e Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) and NYPD handle
alarm complaints, but 311 alone received
Photo via Shutterstock
almost 12,000 alarm-related complaints.
About 3,000 noise complaints were canceled
or considered duplicates. Only 23
complaints were confi rmed by the DEP,
according to the report.
“Noise in New York City is a signifi cant
quality of life and public health concern
... Th e city has a model noise code and
should be commended for taking steps to
better enforce local law, but there is more
that city agencies can do to control noise
disruptions,” DiNapoli said. “We hope
our reports on noise provide useful information
that enables city and state agencies
to improve the quality of life for residents
of the fi ve boroughs.”
One dead, two injured in early morning
shooting in South Ozone Park
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
Police are investigating a shooting that
left one man dead and two others injured
in South Ozone Park.
At 5:19 a.m. on Jan. 28, three victims with
gunshot wounds arrived at the 69th Precinct
stationhouse in Brooklyn. Paramedics
responded to the precinct and immediately
transported the victims to Brookdale Hospital.
A preliminary investigation found that
the victims were shot while they were sitting
File photo/QNS
in a vehicle in the vicinity of Van
Wyck Expressway service road and North
Conduit Avenue.
Sherwood Beverly, 51, sustained a gunshot
wound to the head and was pronounced
dead at the hospital. Th e other two
victims, a 50-year-old female with a gunshot
wound to the left shoulder and a 50-yearold
male with a gunshot graze wound to
the neck, are both listed in stable condition.
No arrests have been made at this time.
Th e investigation is ongoing.