FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARCH 17, 2022 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Leaders’ visit to Queensbridge Houses sheds light on environmental injustice
BY JULIA MORO
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
visited the Queensbridge Houses Friday,
March 11, to discuss New York’s implementation
of President Joe Biden’s climate
justice executive order and assess the
impacts of pollution from surrounding
fossil fuel plants.
As part of a two-day series of environmental
programming, elected offi cials and
leaders visited Queens to receive community
input and speak about legislation
related to environmental justice. Maloney
called for environmental justice in her
district outside the largest housing development
in the country: the Queensbridge
Houses.
“We are only a few blocks away from the
most polluting fossil fuel plant in New York
state,” Maloney said. “It’s no accident that
Queensbridge and Big Allis, the polluting
power plant, are so close together. It’s no
accident that there are 10 peaker plants
within one mile of Queensbridge residents.
And it’s no accident that so many of our
children have asthma.”
Maloney argued that the overwhelming
amount of peaker plants in the area had
been strategically placed near Queensbridge
Houses, Ravenswood Houses and
other public housing, perpetuating systemic
racism and the disenfranchisement
of communities of color.
Members of Congress and activists
mentioned that a big step in environmental
justice was reached with the
Biden-Harris Justice40 Initiative, which
will deliver at least 40% of the benefi ts
of climate and clean energy spending to
communities most impacted by pollution
and disinvestments.
Queens Borough President Donovan
Richards came out as well to voice his support
for environmental justice in Queens
County.
“Here in the ‘World’s Borough,’ we
know the impacts of climate change and
how catastrophic it can be,” Richards said.
“Th ink back to just the last 10 years where
our people have lived through two of the
deadliest and damaging storms our city
has ever seen.”
Richards mentioned his experience witnessing
fi rsthand the devastation caused by
Superstorm Sandy when he was a council
member representing southern Queens.
“I still carry that pain with me today,”
Richards said. “That same pain that
northeast families in Queens felt last
summer when Hurricane Ida fl ooded
communities that had never experienced
fl ooding before. Th at same pain so many
of us felt as we heard the stories of how our
neighbors drowned right in their basement
apartments.”
Richards said he is deeply proud of
the eff orts to ramp up infrastructure but
recognized more needs to be done in communities
like Asthma Alley in Astoria.
“Th ere is so much more work that needs
to be done, and it starts right here in our
public housing,” Richards said. “Where
the needs of countless families have been
ignored and overlooked. Too many of
our public housing families are suff ering
from disinvestment and if you don’t think
climate change plays a whole role in this
issue, you are simply mistaken. We don’t
have more time to waste. Th e time to act
is now.”
Th e borough president applauded the
Biden-Harris Justice40 Initiative but said
we need to think even bigger, noting that
Queens communities have suff ered losses
worth more than 40%.
Aft er the press conference outside the
Queensbridge Houses, leaders visited the
Ravenswood Generating Station to examine
ongoing eff orts to convert the plant to
renewable energy.
Photo courtesy of Richards’ offi ce
As part of a two-day series of environmental programming, elected offi cials and leaders visited Queens to receive community input and speak about
legislation related to environmental justice.
Queens Trump supporter arrested for blindsiding police offi cer during Capitol riot: Feds
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Federal agents raided the Broad
Channel home of 54-year-old Ralph
Joseph Celentano early Wednesday
morning, March 9, and charged him in
the assault of a police officer during the
Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building.
The FBI identif ied Celentano
through a 2018 photo that investigators
discovered on Facebook that shows him
attending a fundraiser for the Jenny
Albert Sea Turtle Foundation in Broad
Channel.
Agents continued to search his home
while Celentano was awaiting arraignment
in Brooklyn federal court. He has
been charged in a criminal complaint
filed in the District of Columbia with
assaulting, resisting or impeding officers,
civil disorder, engaging in physical
violence in a restricted building or
grounds and entering and other crimes,
according to federal prosecutors.
Celentano was captured on video and
security cameras during the riot and his
long hair, a blue Donald Trump baseball
cap, a two-toned jacket, f lag and
folding chair attached to his backpack,
made him distinctive in the crowd
that swarmed the Capitol Building,
according to court documents.
E-ZPass records showed Celentano
and a passenger traveled from Broad
Channel to Washington, D.C., on the
morning of Jan. 6, 2020, and returned
to Broad Channel the following the
riot. Video surveillance of the Capitol
breach shows Celentano on the west
terrace approaching a Capitol Police
Officer from behind, making physical
contact that caused the officer to fall
over a ledge.
The officer, identified by his initials
K.E., later recalled being “blind-sided”
from behind in a “football-type tackle”
without warning, causing him to fall
over the ledge to a terrace below.
The officer stated his main concern
was getting up so he would not be
“stomped on.” He went on to say that he
was frightened and no longer felt safe
on the lower terrace amongst such a
large crowd. The officer added that he
probably sustained injuries during the
fall, but he had so much adrenaline at
the time that he could not be sure. The
officer did find bumps and bruises on
his body but did not seek medical attention.
The officer is an Iraq war veteran
who recalled thinking, “I didn’t survive
a war to go out like this,” according to
federal prosecutors.
Body-worn camera footage obtained
from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department
provided additional evidence
of Celentano engaging in several physical
altercations with uniformed law
enforcement personnel on the Capitol
grounds, according to court documents.
In the 14 months since the Capitol
riot, more than 775 people have been
arrested in nearly all 50 states for
crimes related to the breach while
Congress was attempting to certify the
presidential election.
More than 245 people have been
charged with assaulting or impeding
law enforcement and the investigation
remains ongoing.
Photos courtesy of the U.S. Attorney’s Offi ce for the Eastern District of New York
Ralph Joseph Celentano
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