FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JULY 27, 2017 • THE QUEENS COURIER 19
Mayor de Blasio with the owners of Towers on the Green restaurant
Mayor talks property tax breaks for seniors in Glen Oaks
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
During his time in Queens as part of
“City Hall in Your Borough” week, Mayor
Bill de Blasio took to Glen Oaks to discuss
tax breaks for seniors.
Residents of North Shore Towers, a
gated co-op community near the Queens/
Nassau border, assembled in the Towers
on the Green on July 20 for the mayor’s
remarks. In front of a large board reading
“Still Your City,” de Blasio informed
the full crowd of attendees about funding
recently allocated to provide deeper property
tax breaks for seniors.
“We know all over the city, all over the
country, a lot of folks who reached the
middle class are now fi nding it hard to
stay in the middle class and to live the
kind of lifestyle they deserve,” the mayor
said. “And that’s where we have to come
in and do more and more to help people
out and help make peoples’ lives better.”
Under the current legislation, senior or
disabled homeowners who make up to
$37,400 are eligible for property tax relief.
Under the newly proposed bill, seniors
or disabled individuals who make up to
$58,400 in household income would be
eligible for the tax break.
Th e “pro-Queens legislation,” as de
Blasio called it, will reach 32,000 senior
households, with one-third that number
hailing from Queens. Th e average benefi t
per year is $1,750.
“I’ve heard from seniors … still struggling,
making tough choices between
what they have pay for housing, for medicine,
for food. All the basics. We want to
lighten that burden,” de Blasio said.
Th e bill passed in Albany and is now
awaiting Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signature.
“I’m very hopeful that the governor is
going to sign it because there are thousands
of seniors who will benefi t,” he said.
NYC Department for the Aging
Commissioner Donna Corrado applauded
the move.
“Th is is all about a tax break for middle
class seniors, who have worked hard
their entire lives, to help them remain in
their communities, in their apartments
and help them age in place,” she said. “It’s
putting money back in their pockets.”
Th e mayor, joined by local elected
offi cials including Councilman Barry
Grodenchik, Assemblyman Edward
Braunstein and Assemblyman David
Weprin, also took time to compliment
the North Shore Towers community.
“Th is place is kind of legendary, I have
to tell you, as the epitome of a middle
class community that works,” de
Blasio said. “I know there are people here
who brought up their families here, and
stayed, and have loved every moment of
it. Th is is tight-knit community. Th is is a
wonderful community. And it’s, to me, a
real pleasure to be with you.”
Rita Engel, a resident at North Shore
Towers for 10 years, said she hopes the
mayor sticks to his word on the tax breaks,
as well as his promise to reform the property
tax system, should he be reelected.
“I’d also like to see the city put a priority
on transit,” Engel said. “I have adult children
that use the railroad. I’d like to see
more protection, more police.”
Friend Sandy Rosenblatt, a resident of
four years, agreed with Engel. She said
there also needs to be more transit options
for people with disabilities.
“I have two handicapped children,”
Rosenblatt said. “Nassau County’s transit
is wonderful, but the city hasn’t risen
to the occasion.”
Seven reputed Latin Kings busted for drug & gun deals in south Queens
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
Police dethroned six alleged members
of the Latin Kings gang in south
Queens this week as a result of a threemonth
undercover investigation into
drug and gun deals in the area, prosecutors
announced on Friday.
According to Queens District Attorney
Richard A. Brown, the probe culminated
on the morning of July 18, when
police offi cers raided the home of David
Golden, 21, who was with four alleged
associates at the time: Jesus Merced, 23, of
Hempstead, NY, and Ozone Park’s Janet
Rodriguez, 30, Alberto Santiago, 21 and
Malik Santiago, 16. During the court-authorized
search, police found a defaced
.22-caliber semi-automatic pistol, $1,250
in cash, various quantities of marijuana,
cocaine and heroin, and drug paraphernalia.
Law enforcement sources identifi ed
Golden as the alleged ringleader of the
gun and drug sale operation that involved
members of what’s called the Woodhaven
Mayans, a subset of the Latin Kings.
Between April 11 and June 22 of this year,
authorities said, Golden made repeated
contacts with an undercover offi cer posing
as a buyer and sold the agent various
narcotics and weapons.
Prosecutors said the investigation came
about through the joint eff orts of the
NYPD Queens Gang Unit and the DA’s
Gang Violence and Hate Crimes Bureau.
Th e undercover offi cer allegedly engaged
in 13 diff erent heroin, cocaine and prescription
drug purchases involving
Golden or one of his associates — including
Travis Gonzalez, 16, and Edgardo
Torres, 17, both Queens residents — over
the three-month period.
On May 13, law enforcement sources
noted, Golden allegedly contacted the
undercover offi cer and asked if he was
interested in purchasing fi rearms, which
the suspect called “toys.” He informed the
offi cer that he was awaiting a shipment of
guns from out of state, with the fi rearms
going for between $600 and $800.
Twelve days later, on May 25, Golden
allegedly met with the undercover offi cer
and provided him with 24 grams of a substance
believed to be cocaine in exchange
for $1,300. Prosecutors said that Golden
then made a phone call and told the offi -
cer that the gun shipment arrived, and
that someone was bringing it on a bicycle.
Moments later, according to the
charges, Gonzalez arrived on the scene
and handed the undercover offi cer a black
bag containing a small case which included
a .38-caliber revolver with fi ve rounds
in the cylinder.
Authorities said that the undercover
agent then met with Torres on June 22
paid $500 for what he was told would
be 100 glassine envelopes of heroin.
However, prosecutors said, the envelopes
did not contain the narcotic.
Each of the suspects were variously
charged with criminal sale of a controlled
substance, conspiracy, criminal possession
of a controlled substance, criminal
possession of a weapon, criminal sale of
a fi rearm and unlawful possession of a
weapon. Golden faces up to 8 1/3 to 25
years behind bars if convicted.
Photo via Shutterstock
Members of the North Shore Towers Family, including Board President Mario Carmiciano and
Manager Glen Gutkowski, with Mayor Bill de Blasio