4 THE QUEENS COURIER • DECEMBER 22, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM Glen Oaks co-op residents outraged after being without gas service for more than fi ve weeks BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI smonteverdi@qns.com @smont76 Residents in 40 Glen Oaks co-op units have access to gas again aft er being without for more than fi ve weeks, Con Edison confi rmed to Th e Courier on Dec. 16. Th e Con Edison spokesperson said the gas was turned back on at the Glen Oaks Village co-op on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Th e work was completed as of 6:57 p.m. that day. “I’m glad to hear the gas has been turned back on,” said Joseph Concannon, who organized a press conference at the co-op earlier in the week. “Hopefully now Glen Oaks Village can return to normalcy and each of you can enjoy the holiday season.” Unable to cook or dry their clothes in their homes for more than fi ve weeks, residents within the Glen Oaks Village co-op spoke out at the Dec. 13 press conference. Th e situation began on Th ursday, Nov. 3, when a resident in the co-op called Con Edison to report a gas odor, according to co-op president Bob Friedrich. When workers arrived that night and tried to shut off the gas from the sidewalk, the curb valve broke, necessitating a street excavation to access the street gas valve to shut off the gas. By the next day, the gas leak problem was solved but the gas was not turned back on due to “city bureaucracy,” according to Friedrich. Protocol required that they replace the gas valves in all 40 units, which cost the co-op over $12,000, Friedrich said. Photo by Suzanne Monteverdi/THE COURIER Th is work, coupled with backand forth with the Department of Buildings (DOB) to comply with permit and inspection requirements, is what has caused the delay in gas service, according to Friedrich. A DOB spokesperson explained that aft er the DOB inspection, it was up to the building owner to schedule an inspection with Con Edison to restore gas service. Photo by Walter Karling Avella says he’s challenging de Blasio for mayor in 2017 BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI smonteverdi@qns.com/ @smont76 State Senator Tony Avella again has his sights set on Gracie Mansion. The Democratic lawmaker representing Bayside, Flushing, Whitestone, Douglaston and Little Neck announced on Dec. 18 he is throwing his hat into the 2017 mayoral election, challenging incumbent Mayor Bill de Blasio in the primary. Avella previously ran for mayor in 2009 but lost the primary to then- City Comptroller Bill Th ompson. Avella formally announced his entry into next year’s race with a press conference in front of the Holiday Inn Express in Maspeth — a site where homeless men are being housed under the mayor’s current homeless housing plan; in August, the state senator led one in a series of protests against the plan. “I believe we have reached a crossroad in the direction our city should be taking,” Avella said. “Under Mayor de Blasio we have more homeless than ever — our taxes continue to rise and it is more expensive to live here than ever before, all of this, while our quality of life fades away.” Th e state senator cited political corruption, city cost of living and the current state of homelessness as top concerns. “It is time to stop dumping homeless families and individuals in hotels and motels throughout the city without support services and the prospect of stable long-term housing and without community notifi cation or involvement,” Avella said. Avella also demanded an end to what he described as a “fi nancial assault” on the middle class and called for a 2 percent property tax cap and “real aff ordable housing.” He also criticized de Blasio’s traffi c control policies, including the “narrow-minded anti-motorist” bike lanes and pedestrian plazas recently installed, which he said “do little to increase pedestrian safety.” “It is time to stop the failed topdown planning approach in this city and allow every neighborhood, every resident to have a voice — a real say in what happens in their community,” Avella said. Th is past November, Avella won re-election to the 11th state Senate district — a seat he has held since 2010. Prior to that, he served in the City Council. State Senator Tony Avella announces a run for mayor on Dec. 18. Photo courtesy of Flickr/Gabe Shore Long Island City may be the site of a new life sciences campus that could provide 16,000 new jobs. Life sciences campus in LIC may net jobs BY ANGELA MATUA amatua@qns.com @AngelaMatua Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new $500 million initiative on Dec. 13 that would bring 16,000 biotechnology jobs to the city. Th e initiative, called LifeSci NYC, would bring a life sciences campus to Long Island City or the Lower East Side. According to Maria Torres-Springer, president of the Economic Development Corporation, $100 million would be invested to “create a worldclass applied life sciences campus to serve as a new hub for the sector.” Th e campus would focus on “cutting-edge cures, novel technologies” and building new companies. Th ere has been a 16 percent growth in the biotechnology sector since 2009, which has convinced the city to invest in new jobs in that industry, de Blasio said. Jobs would include lab technicians, microbiologists, research scientists, data analysts, medical coders, marketing managers, sales associates and more. About 80 percent of these jobs require a bachelor’s degree or less and the average salary in the sector is $75,000. Approximately 9,000 jobs will be in commercial life sciences and 7,000 “indirect jobs” will be created in other industries such as marketing or construction. “Th is is a sector that could reach 100,000 jobs or more in this city if we make the right investments quickly, if we work with all our partners aggressively and agilely and we maximize our competitive advantage,” de Blasio said. Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents Long Island City, said he will advocate for the campus to be built in the neighborhood. “It is essential that the city remain an attractive place for scientists, engineers and all who work in the life sciences, and I am pleased to work with the administration to bring a life science campus to New York City,” he said. “I can think of no better place to locate this campus than Long Island City, to make these jobs and training opportunities available to Queens residents. I will continue to advocate for this campus to be sited in our neighborhood.” As many as eight existing nonprofi t institutions that focus on research in the life sciences industry will receive $50 million for research and development facilities and more than $300 million in tax incentives will be dolled out to develop new lab space. For more information on LifeSci NYC, visit http:// www.nycedc.com/program/lifesci-nyc#strategic-initiatives.
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