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QUEENS WEEKLY, APRIL 14, 2019
‘The aspirational lights are here in Queens’
Optimism spreads at affordable housing groundbreaking in Hunters Point South
TF Cornerstone principal Jeremy Shell, Congresswoman Grace Meng, Asspemblywoman
Catherine Nolan and Selfhelp’s Stuart Kaplan where among many who got the project off the
ground. Photo by Mark Hallum
Simotas bill would protect sex assault victims
BY BILL PARRY
Astoria Assemblywoman
Aravella Simotas
introduced legislation
to strengthen
protections against sexually
motivated violence.
Simotas announced
the measure Monday that
would correct a deficit
in the law that Nassau
District Attorney Madeline
Singas identified
during her investigation
into abuse allegations
against former
state Attorney General
Eric Schneiderman.
The Simotas bill,
known as A.7082, would
combat intimate partner
violence by ensuring
abusers can be held accountable
for physical violence
committed for the
purpose of sexual arousal
or gratification where
the conduct doesn’t cause
injury or the injuries do
not rise to the legal definition
of physical injury.
The limitations in current
state law fail to recognize
the lasting emotional and
psychological harm these
acts can cause.
“I want to thank District
Attorney Singas for
bringing this loophole in
the law to my attention,”
Simotas said. “This legislation
is a way to protect
survivors of intimate partner
violence by holding
the abusers accountable. It
is shocking that New York
District Attorneys do not
have the legal means to
bring justice to survivors
of violence committed for
sexual gratification unless
the violence rises to
extreme levels. When a
survivor has the courage
to come forward and report
this type of abuse, it
is unconscionable that the
perpetrator would be able
to evade all consequences
for their actions.”
Schneiderman resigned
in disgrace in May
2018 after he was accused
of physically abusing four
former girlfriends. Cuomo
appointed Singas as special
prosecutor to review
the allegations and she
announced he would not
face criminal charges due
to “legal impediments”
including statutes of
limitations.
“Victims of intimate
partner violence deserve
stronger legal protections,
and I’m grateful to
Assemblmember Simotas
for carrying this important
legislation,” Singas
said. “This legalization
criminalizes non-consensual
violence that is inadequately
addressed by
existing law.”
The Simotas bill would
create a new protection
against non-consensual
violence, defined thus: “A
person is guilty of sexual
harassment when, with
the purpose of sexual
arousal or gratification,
and without consent, he or
she slaps, strikes, shoves
or kicks another person.”
The offense would
have a two-year statute of
limitations.
“The law as it currently
stands is not providing
the legal protections victims
of intimate partner
violence need,” National
Organization for Women
New York President Sonia
Ossorio said. “It shocks
the conscience. This new
statute would make nonconsensual
slapping and
hitting for sexual gratification
a crime. It’s a
straightforward proposal
everyone should be able to
get behind.”
Simotas has been the
prime sponsor of several
new laws to protect and
enhance the rights of
sexual assault survivors.
These include ending the
rape kit backlog, outlawing
the premature disposal
of forensic evidence
kits and creating a sexual
assault survivors bill of
rights which would let
crime victims know that
they can be accompanied
by a trained counselor
during a forensic exam
and that they are entitled
to free appropriate health
care services including
the forensic exam, among
other rights.
Reach reporter Bill Parry
by e-mail at bparry@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4538.
BY MARK HALLUM
While some discussed the
difficulties of building affordable
housing at any level
of government, others marveled
at the fact that while
Queens once looked to Manhattan
for inspiration, residents
of the borough nowadays
are looking inward.
At least this was the attitude
of lawmakers and
socially conscious execs at
the groundbreaking ceremony
for the over 1,100
units of affordable housing
in Hunters Point South on
Friday morning.
“Newspaper columnist
Jimmy Breslin always
said that Queens was the
most romantic borough
because we could look out
at the aspirational lights
of Manhattan, but what’s
happened in the last few
years is that the aspirational
lights are here in
Queens,” Assemblywoman
Catherine Nolan said. “It’s
in Queens where people are
getting the chance to build
their lives and families.”
About 60 percent of the
studios, one-bedroom and
two-bedroom units in the
highrise – adding to skyline
and Long Island City
rise to prominence – will
be affordable to lower income
brackets. TF Cornerstone
and city Department
of Housing Preservation
and Development, however,
could not provide income
brackets for the affordable
units at this time.
Both Nolan and Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney
looked at the optimism
behind the opportunities
of the development as a palate
cleanser to the conflict
experienced in the community
by Amazon’s retreat,
taking 25,000 to 40,000 jobs
with it.
“Really one of the biggest
challenges that we
have in government is affordable
housing, it’s so, so
difficult to build,” Maloney
said. “I don’t know if any
other project like this in
the whole city or the whole
country that is setting
aside that many units of
affordable housing.”
But although it is not
quite clear how affordable
the units will be yet, Stuart
Kaplan, CEO of Selfhelp
Community Services
which was a partner in the
development, approved of
the $129 million project.
“Selfhelp learned long
ago that a house or an apartment
is more than just four
walls,” Kaplan said. “This
project that we are embarking
on today epitomizes
that because it recognizes
the people, the community
and the services that enable
people particularly who are
low income to live independently
with dignity.”
Kaplan, whose organization
helps Holocaust
survivors and other elderly
people age through key services,
said the development
symbolized the growth of
“community equity.”
Residents who call the
development home will
have some of the most
sought after views of the
East River and Manhattan,
as well as access to the new
Hunters Point South Park.
The building will be just
a stone throw to the NYC
Ferry landing.
Reach reporter Mark
Hallum by e-mail at mhallum@
schnepsmedia.com or
by phone at (718) 260–4564.
Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas introduces a bill that
would make non-consensual violence committed for sexual
gratification a crime. Courtesy of Simotas’ office
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