36 The Queens Courier • APRIL 10, 2014 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com PHILLIE’S PIZZERIA II PLANS TO OFFER OUTDOOR SEATING BY SOPHIA ROSENBAUM [email protected] Phillie’s Pizzeria II is hoping to add some outdoor seating to its Middle Village location for customers to enjoy a slice out in the sun. The pizzeria is slated to present an application to the Department of Consumer Affairs at Community Board 5’s monthly meeting that would establish an outdoor sidewalk café along the 74th Street side of the restaurant. Sal Gallina, who co-owns the pizzeria with his brother Phil, said the addition would allow Phillie’s customers to choose to eat outside and wouldn’t affect pedestrians walking on the sidewalk. But the plans for the outdoor café are at a standstill until Community Board 5 approves Gallina’s application, although Gallina thinks he has a good chance. “CB 5 is on my side,” said Gallina, 39. “I have a good relationship with them and the outdoor seating area’s not going to bother anyone.” Right now, Phillie’s can seat 70 people in its dining area and enclosed café. The Gallina brothers have already worked with an architect to figure out the best location for the expansion, which will include four tables and eight to 12 chairs. “It’s just something that I wanted to do to accommodate my customers,” Gallina said. “The more I can do for them, the better it is.” Gallina said the outdoor café will cost a few thousand dollars with most of the expenses going toward the licensing and permit fees. He has already paid $3,000 in paperwork fees alone. If all goes well at the board meeting, Gallina said, he hopes to open the outdoor café by the end of spring. Since the expansion is so small, he will not need to hire another waiter to service the extra tables. Gallina said he is all about providing his customers with the best experience possible. “People are always looking to sit outside in the summertime,” he said. “So we figured, why not let them sit outside and enjoy a nice day with a good slice of pizza?” Photo courtesy of NYPD Beware of Green Dot MoneyPak scam: NYPD BY KATRINA MEDOF [email protected] Police are alerting residents about a scam involving Green Dot MoneyPak cards. In the scam, victims are contacted by a caller who claims to be from a utility company or the IRS and states that money is past due. The caller then informs the victim that they can avoid having their utilities disconnected or being arrested or deported by making an immediate payment. The caller tells the victim to go to a store and purchase a Green Dot MoneyPak Card and place a certain amount of cash on the card. The victim is instructed to call back with the card in hand, scratch off the back of the card and read the serial number to the perpetrator. The scammer then drains the funds from the card. `Scammers may also claim that a relative or friend has been in an accident and that an immediate payment is required or that a relative or friend has been arrested and needs bail money. Green Dot MoneyPak cards themselves are legitimate products; consumers can use them to reload other prepaid cards, add money to a PayPal account without using a bank account or make same-day payments to major companies. These scammers are instructing victims to use MoneyPak cards because, unlike in scams involving wiring money, scammers do not need to show up at an office to claim the funds. Utility companies and government agencies will not contact anyone demanding immediate payment by Green Dot MoneyPak, according to police. People should be suspicious of callers who demand immediate payment for any reason. The NYPD is asking anyone with information about this scam to call 1-800-577-TIPS. Citymeals-on-Wheels delivers kosher for Passover meals BY KATRINA MEDOF [email protected] Citymeals-on-Wheels delivered 1,353 boxes of kosher meals containing a total of 10,824 meals to the elderly in Queens to ensure that needy members of the community have food for Passover. Citymeals-on-Wheels delivered meals in all five boroughs during the final week of March and first week of April. In total, 4,500 Passover boxes of shelf-stable kosher food, or about 36,000 meals, were distributed. Brooklyn and Queens are the boroughs with the highest number of kosher meal recipients for Passover. “We create these boxes to ensure that these meal recipients, who are isolated and alone in these communities, have kosher for Passover food during the holiday that resembles what they’re used to from Seders from long ago,” said Rachel Sherrow, Chief Program Officer of Citymeals-on-Wheels. The Passover boxes were funded by EGL Charitable Foundation and the David Berg Foundation. For more information, visit http://www.citymeals.org. SUPERMARKET TO DONATE KOSHER FOOD FOR PASSOVER BY KATRINA MEDOF [email protected] Stop & Shop Supermarket in Forest Hills will donate one ton of kosher food to the Queens Jewish Community Council’s Passover Food Pantry to meet an extreme need for Passover food. Queens Borough President Melinda Katz; City Councilmembers Karen Koslowitz, Elizabeth Crowley, Mark Weprin and Rory Lancman; state Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky; and Assemblymen David Weprin and Andrew Hevesi will join Stop & Shop officials at 11 a.m. on Thursday, April 10, to talk about issues faced by the chronically unemployed in their communities. Members of the Queens Rabbinic Community will also be present to discuss issues that they are noticing in their congregations and communities. According to the Queens Jewish Community Council, nearly one in five Jewish households is poor today, and 565,000 people living in Jewish households in New York are affected by poverty. “The realities of this economy have had a devastating impact upon many New Yorkers who suddenly find themselves unable to provide basic necessities for their families,” said Warren Hecht, president of the Queens Jewish Community Council. “The requests for assistance from members of the Jewish community as Passover approaches has been overwhelming.” During last year’s Passover season, the Queens Jewish Community Council was able to distribute 3,000 parcels to the Jewish needy, and the council says that this year’s distribution will be even more significant. The Stop & Shop Supermarket is located at 89-89 Union Turnpike, Forest Hills, Queens.
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