8 The QUEE NS Courier • may 8, 2014 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com Formerly incarcerated moms get new home Formerly incarcerated mothers Alasia Harris and Venita Pinckney, and 15-year-old Orion Bustamante (center) celebrated the grand opening of Hour Children’s Hour Apartment House III in Long Island City Flushing House hosts a special “Open House Week.” Its Open House Week runs from May 12 to May 16, 2 to 4 p.m. each day. There are also evening hours on May 12 and May 16, 6 to 8 p.m. Learn why New York Magazine named Flushing House one of the Top-Rated Senior Communities. Come experience everything that’s new at New York State’s largest, not-for-profit, “Independent Living” retirement community. FREE parking lot available off of 38th Avenue. Refreshments will be served. Seating is limited and attendance is by reservation only. Please call 718-762-3198 or 347-532-3025. Flushing House, 38-20 Bowne St., Flushing. Event is FREE, but as seating is limited, so please RSVP today! BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO [email protected] @aaltamirano28 By the time he was 15, Orion Bustamante had seen the ups and downs of life — his father went to jail, his mother was left without a job and he and his two younger brothers felt the fright of losing their home and going to live in a shelter. After two years of struggle, reuniting with his father and seeing his mom succeed in a job at Goodwill Industries, Orion now has a reason to smile: Wednesday marked the grand opening of a brand-new Long Island City apartment building, erected by the nonprofit Hour Children, and which Orion now calls home. “In my life I have learned some valuable lessons. One of them is that life is much like an arrow,” Orion said. “An arrow can only be fired by shooting it backwards, so when life is dragging you back it only means that you are about to be launched into something great.” The teen’s family is one of 18 that have moved into the Hour Apartment House III (HAHIII), a permanent supportive housing residence which brings together and helps stabilize families of the formerly incarcerated. “The construction of HAHIII represents our commitment to the women of Hour Children who have worked so hard to transform their lives and those of their children,” said Executive Director Sister Tesa Fitzgerald during the HAHIII ribbon-cutting on May 7. “It stands as a testimony to the fact that lasting, positive change is possible when women receive the support needed to rebuild their lives.” The building at 36-11 12th St., made up of twoand BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO [email protected] @aaltamirano28 The wheels on a brand-new free shuttle bus service are taking visitors ‘round and ‘round Long Island City’s art scene on the weekends. Socrates Sculpture Park, The Noguchi Museum, SculptureCenter and MoMA PS1 have partnered up to bring local residents and tourists the LIC Art Bus, which will debut on May 10. This free weekend bus service will be dedicated to promoting the neighborhood’s arts and culture scene taking visitors between the four institutions. “Long Island City is already home to a rich cultural corridor, and the LIC Art Bus – free to all – will make it easier for visitors to experience the art offerings the neighborhood is known for,” said John Hatfield, executive director of Socrates Sculpture Park. The bus will run on Saturday and Sunday, on a first-come, first-served basis, for 19 consecutive weekends until Sept. 14. The first shuttle departs from Socrates Sculpture Park at noon and takes riders door-to-door to The Noguchi Museum, SculptureCenter and MoMA PS1, and then makes its return to Socrates. Departure times are scheduled for noon, 12:45, 1:30, 2:30, 3:15, 4 and 5 p.m. “The arts are booming here in western Queens,” Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer said. “With the addition of the LIC Art Bus, countless New Yorkers will have an easier time getting to some of our borough’s premiere cultural organizations and institutions – all for free.” The LIC Art Bus’s full schedule will be available at each stop and updated at socratessculpturepark.org/bus. three-bedroom apartments and lower-level office space, is Hour Children’s seventh and largest residence in Long Island City. Each apartment was designed to meet the needs and likes of each mother and her children, officials said. Hour Children is a nonprofit agency that provides services, such as mentoring, job training, after-school programs and more, to help over 4,500 incarcerated and formerly jailed women and their children successfully rejoin the community, reunite with families, and build independent and secure lives. The nonprofit provides housing to about 80 families involved in the programs. “It is one thing to provide housing; it is another to provide housing that affords dignity. Dignity is so important,” Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer said. “The apartments are beautiful, the furniture is gorgeous and the mothers and the children are able to experience this transition and gain the power of dignity and that is transformative.” For more information on Hour Children, visit www.hourchildren.org or call 718-433-4724. Art Bus rolls into LIC Flushing House hosts ‘Open House Week’ THE COURIER/Photo by Angy Altamirano Councilman Ruben Wills arrested BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA [email protected] @CristabelleT Councilman Ruben Wills was arrested after a public corruption probe discovered he allegedly stole campaign finance funds and state grant money. The Queens politician, who represents the 28th District, which includes Jamaica, Richmond Hill, Rochdale and South Ozone Park, was indicted on Wednesday, May 7, on charges of grand larceny, scheme to defraud, falsifying business records and offering a false instrument for filing, according to the indictment. Jelani Mills, a relative who works for Wills and allegedly helped him redirect some of the cash, was also indicted Wednesday on charges of grand larceny and falsifying business records. Wills is accused of stealing from both the Campaign Finance Board (CFB) and the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), according to the attorney general. He is charged with redirecting matching funds he received from the CFB during his 2009 City Council campaign — with the help of Mills — to New York 4 Life, a nonprofit he started, and using the money for personal purchases, according to court documents. One of the items allegedly included a $750 Louis Vuitton handbag he bought at Macy’s. The councilman had been under investigation by the attorney general for $33,000 in state funds provided through a grant that was unaccounted for after it was given to New York 4 Life, according to published reports and the attorney general’s office. Those funds were earmarked by former state Sen. Shirley Huntley while Wills was serving as her chief of staff. New York 4 Life signed a contract with OCFS to receive that money, promising to conduct four public service projects, officials said, but the nonprofit allegedly only came through on one program that cost about $14,000. Wills is accused of pocketing the remaining $19,000 and using it for political and personal expenses, including purchases at Nordstrom’s and Century 21. Huntley was arrested in a unrelated case in August 2012 and later pleaded guilty for covering up money funneled through a nonprofit she helped establish. It was revealed last May that Huntley had secretly recorded the conversations of seven elected officials, including Wills, while she was still in office at the request of federal prosecutors. Wills, who was first elected to the Council in a 2010 special election, has been prohibited from doling out member items, or city funds, to his district. The Queens delegation chair and City Council speaker’s office will now designate them for him, reports and a source said. He has also agreed to give up his chairmanship of the Council’s subcommittee on drug abuse, according to published reports. Wills, who did not enter a plea and was released without bail, said Wednesday he had no plans to resign, reports said. THE COURIER/Photo by Liam La Guerre
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