22 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 31, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Security guards will patrol Flushing park after violent incidents
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
A Flushing park will soon see increased
security aft er a recent series of crimes left
the community on edge.
Th ree new security guards will soon
be stationed at Kissena Park and Kissena
Corridor Park, Councilman Peter Koo
announced on Aug. 28. Th e new security
guards will begin in September and
work fi ve days a week until the park’s
closing time.
On July 18 and 19, two women were
assaulted in separate incidents and forced
to perform sexual acts on a male attacker.
On July 24, police identifi ed the alleged
assailant as 29-year-old Charles Tobin of
Kissena Boulevard in Flushing, who faces
charges including fi rst-degree rape and
robbery.
Days later, police were reportedly seen
unloading heavy excavation equipment
at Kissena Park near 164th Street and
Underhill Avenue as they searched for
the bodies of two possible victims of
MS-13, according to the New York Daily
News.
Th e new security offi cers will work
directly with local law enforcement to
enforce park rules and keep the park safe,
according to Koo’s offi ce.
“At the end of the day, it comes down
to presence,” Koo said. “A permanent
presence can act as a deterrent to criminal
activity.”
Kissena Park and Kissena Park Corridor
are 237 and 100 acres, respectively,
Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy
Lewandowski said.
“Th ere have been a few incidents that have
occurred, and the Park Department has
worked very closely with the police department,”
the commissioner said. “We can only
be as strong as we are working together.”
Th e increased security measures were
welcome news for some local community
leaders.
“Th is park is no longer just for daytime
use. It’s also extended in the evening,”
said Dorothy Woo of the Kissena
Corridor Park Conservancy. “Not only
that, but because of the increase in population,
many people are using the park
for passage … And it is very dangerous.”
“We are appreciative of the proactive
approach Councilman Koo is taking
by giving law enforcement resources
to provide safe places for recreation and
the enjoyment of nature,” said Maureen
Reagan, president of the Queensboro Hill
Neighborhood Association and Green
Earth Urban Gardens.
Koo funded the increased security
through the Parks Equity Initiative — the
city agency’s plan for investing in public
parks in neighborhoods that are densely
populated.
Photos by Suzanne Monteverdi/QNS
Western Queens sees a spike in families
entering homeless shelters, report fi nds
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com
Th e Citizens’ Committee for Children
(CCC), a nonprofi t that tracks homelessness
in New York, found that pockets of
western Queens have seen an increase
in the number of families from 2013
through 2015.
In the report, titled “Keeping Track of
Homeless Families,” the CCC examined
trends in four boroughs and track areas
where homelessness has always been an
issue and where the phenomenon is fairly
new.
Th e organization analyzed data such
as the number of families with children
entering DHS-administered shelters and
the change in income and rent from 2008
through 2015. It found that the number of
families entering homeless shelters citywide
increased almost 23 percent from
2012 to 2016.
Researchers said that increase may in
part be due to declining family incomes
and rising rents. According to the report,
“no community district in the city has
experienced as great a diff erence between
declining incomes and rising rents than
Astoria.”
In 2013, 73 families who call Astoria
home entered a homeless shelter. In
2015, that number jumped to 90 families.
During that three-year period, the
median income for families with children
decreased 14 percent (from $59,000
to $51,000) while median rents rose 27
percent.
In Sunnyside and Woodside, where
only 13 families entered a homeless shelter
in 2013, that number more than doubled
in 2015 to 30 families.
Neighborhoods such as Jackson
Heights, Corona and Elmhurst are suffering
from rental overcrowding, which
is defi ned as more than one person living
in one bedroom. In these neighborhoods,
approximately 25 percent of households
were overcrowded compared to 11 percent
citywide.
Th e number of households facing
extreme rent burden — paying more than
50 percent of ones income on rent — also
increased in these areas. In Jackson Heights,
the share of households facing extreme rent
burden rose from 29 to 38 percent, and
in Elmhurst/Corona, that number jumped
from 30 to 37 percent of households.
CCC argues that since the area has not
experienced family homelessness in large
numbers before, it does not include many
homeless prevention services. Th e closest
HomeBase site, a city program to help
low-income New Yorkers stay in their
home, is located in Jamaica. Th e only
other site is located in Far Rockaway.
In June 2017, the CCC along with
New Destiny Housing and Enterprise
Community Partners released a Family
Homelessness Task Force report to
address some solutions to the city’s homelessness
problem.
Recommendations included strengthening
rent stabilization laws to prevent
families from becoming homeless, ensuring
children and families have services
like childcare, quality food and transportation
while they’re in shelters and
increasing the supply of permanent
aff ordable housing.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
A new report found that the number of families entering homeless shelters in western Queens has
increased.