8 The Queens Courier • SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com Video released of masked suspect in Jackson Heights rape BY ROBERT POZARYCKI rpozarycki@queenscourier.com/@robbpoz The NYPD released security camera footage on Sept. 5 of a man who allegedly raped a 35-year-old woman in a Jackson Heights alleyway earlier this month. Police said the incident occurred at 4:30 a.m. on Sept. 2 in the rear of an apartment house on 84th Street between 34th and 35th avenues. Moments prior to the assault, authorities said, the suspect was filmed putting on a mask and waiting for the victim, who was walking home from work, to pass by. Once she did, the perpetrator followed her in the vicinity of 84th Street and 35th Avenue, then grabbed her, demanded money and put a sharp object against her throat, according to police. Authorities said the suspect then dragged the woman to an alleyway near two apartment buildings, where he raped her. Following the attack, the suspect ran down the alley, climbed over a fence leading to 83rd Street and fled in an unknown direction. The case was reported to the 115th Precinct; the victim was treated for related injuries. Police describe the suspect as a Hispanic male with a slim build, standing 5 feet 4 inches tall and last observed wearing a mask, dark-colored shirt and blue jeans. Anyone with information regarding the rape or the suspect’s whereabouts is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS, visit their website or send a text message to 274637 (CRIMES), then enter TIP577. All calls and messages are kept confidential. To view the footage of the suspect, visit queenscourier. com. Woodside 52nd Street station among 16 Queens subway stops in poor shape: report BY ROBERT POZARYCKI rpozarycki@queenscourier.com @robbpoz More than a dozen subway stations across Queens are falling apart, according to a report from the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission (CBC). The 52nd Street stop on the 7 line in Woodside leads the list, as 79 percent of the components within the station itself were rated by the MTA as not being in a state of good repair. It was one of 16 Queens train stations which had 50 percent or more of its components — such as painting, tile, stairwells and platform edges — in a deteriorated condition, the CBC found. The report, titled “Sisyphus and Subway Stations,” examined conditions at subway stations across the city and recommended ways to improve the conditions, as described by the MTA. The report included data from the MTA’s own station evaluations conducted upon completion of its 2010- 14 capital plan, in which individual components are rated 1 through 5, with the higher scores indicating worse conditions. At 52nd Street, according to report author Jameson Dague, eight components had ratings between 4 and 5; conditions with a rating at or close to 5 require the MTA to make immediate improvements. Along with 52nd Street, three other stops on the 7 line ranked in the top 10 of crumbling Queens train stations: 103rd Street-Corona Plaza (with 68 percent of components not in a state of good repair), 111th Street (66 percent) and Woodside-61st Street (64 percent). Four stops on the N and Q lines in Astoria also ranked among the worst in Queens: 30th Avenue (72 percent), 36th Avenue (67 percent), Astoria Boulevard (66 percent) and 39th Avenue (64 percent). Two stations on the J/Z line in Woodhaven — 85th Street-Forest Parkway (74 percent) and Woodhaven Boulevard (67 percent) — rounded out the top 10 list. During the last capital plan, the MTA embarked on a “station renewal” program that brought much-needed aesthetic and structural improvements to some of the most deteriorated stations in the subway system. The program included repairs at the Fresh Pond Road, Forest Avenue and Seneca Avenue stations on the M line in Ridgewood and the 88th Street, Rockaway Boulevard, 104th Street and 111th Street stations on the A line in Ozone Park. But the MTA currently repairs 280 station components per year, a pace that the commission claims is not keeping up with the rate of depreciation and causing a work backlog. Further complicating matters, the report noted, is the yet-to-be resolved $15 billion budget gap in the MTA’s 2015-19 capital plan. According to the MTA, $3 billion of the total $32 billion capital plan is devoted to station improvements. The commission offered a list of recommendations to expedite station improvements, such as shifting resources away from more ambitious expansion projects outlined in the capital plan, instituting greater oversight on projects to prevent cost overruns and exploring partnerships with the private sector to inject additional capital toward station repairs. An MTA spokesperson told The Courier in a statement that, while the CBC’s analysis is appreciated, the authority disagrees with the commission’s “recommendation to reduce spending on expansion projects.” “We are pursuing opportunities to squeeze costs from our 2015-19 capital program by using negotiated and other innovative procurement methods,” the spokesperson said. “At a time when growing ridership is leading to crowding and delays, we must pursue expansion projects that will accommodate more customers as well as provide new connections and opportunities for our customers.” The MTA added that it is in the process of completing “design work” for improving stations on the N and Q line in Astoria. Photo via Wikimedia Commons Woodside’s 52nd Street station on the 7 line had nearly 80 percent of its components in disrepair, according to a report from the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission. Screenshot courtesy of NYPD Footage was released of the suspect in the rape of a 35-year-old woman in Jackson Heights on Sept. 2.
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