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QUEENS WEEKLY, MAY 19, 2019
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
The Brooklyn man accused
of attempting to lure
a 12-year-old girl into his
car in Corona earlier this
week has been linked to a
similar incident in Flushing
last month, prosecutors
announced on May 10.
Eddie Rodriguez, 42, of
Crown Heights was picked
up on May 9 three days
after he allegedly tried
to pick up the young girl
from his car on Van Cleef
Street in Corona, then exposed
his penis to her and
began masturbating.
Following his arrest,
detectives learned that Rodriguez
allegedly did the
same thing to a 14-year-old
girl walking in the area of
156th Street and 43rd Avenue
on April 4. Police now
believe there may be more
victims, and are asking
anyone who may have been
approached by Rodriguez to
come forward.
“This week there was
a Queens man arrested
for masturbating in front
of young girls,” Assistant
Chief Martin Morales of
NYPD Patrol Borough
Queens North tweeted.
“There may be more victims…
if you or someone
you know were a victim,
please call our rape hotline
at 212-267-RAPE.”
Rodriguez currently faces
charges on two criminal
complaints of endangering
the welfare of a child, public
lewdness, fourth-degree
grand larceny and three
counts of second-degree
harassment. He faces up to
a year behind bars if convicted,
according to acting
Queens District Attorney
John Ryan.
“Every single person
— especially children —
should feel safe and secure
walking alone in our neighborhoods,”
Ryan said in a
May 10 statement. “But the
defendant in this case is alleged
to have pursued the
girls in his car, asked for directions
all while fondling
his exposed genitals. This
kind of lewd and abhorrent
behavior is unacceptable
and caused the youngsters
real fear. The defendant is
in custody and faces jail
time for his alleged deviant
actions.”
Regarding the April 4
incident in Flushing, law
enforcement sources said,
Rodriguez drove up to the
location and asked the
14-year-old victim to use her
phone. When she attempted
to help him, he allegedly
grabbed the phone out of
her hand.
The victim tried to get
the phone back and saw Rodriguez
allegedly stroking
his exposed genitalia. He
refused to give her phone
back, stating, “when I finished.”
Authorities said
he continued the lewd act,
then returned the phone to
the teenager.
The Corona incident occurred
at around 6:30 p.m.
on May 6, when Rodriguez
— while behind the wheel
of a gray Nissan — approached
the 12-year-old
girl and asked her for directions
to a nearby hospital.
During a conversation, he
allegedly asked to use the
girl’s cellphone, claiming
that his own phone did not
work.
After the girl handed
over her phone, law enforcement
sources said, Rodriguez
allegedly ordered the
girl to get into his car, but
she refused to do so. When
she went to take her phone
back, the suspect allegedly
began manipulating his exposed
penis in front of her.
The 110th Precinct
learned of the incident and
obtained an image of the vehicle
from a nearby security
camera. Rodriguez was arrested
on May 9 after police
disseminated the picture
through media outlets and
on Twitter.
Members of the NYPD
Queens Special Victims
Squad conducted
the investigation.
‘Climate gentrifi cation’ could
hit western and central Queens
Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
BY MARK HALLUM
As if a growing lack of
affordability was not bad
enough, organizations
are hard at work in western
and central Queens
to prepare residents for
the worst in the face of
climate change.
After studying how residents
in Jackson Heights,
Corona and Elmhurst
currently battle weather
events, the Regional Plan
Association (RPA) and
Make the Road NY are
anticipating possible displacement
through worsening
heat waves, flooding
and older buildings that
will make it more difficult
for residents to cope.
Robert Freudenberg
from the RPA told QNS
that 20 percent of people
in these communities do
not have air conditioning
and already combat mold,
flooding and transit-related
stress. But the RPA is
not sounding the alarm
without also providing
tips on how residents can
stay in place while taking
on the coming challenges.
“As heat waves happen,
the quote-unquote luxury
of air conditioning could
become an issue of life
or death,” Freudenberg
said. “Buildings are going
to need more repairs
and attention and this
brought about the idea
that as we make buildings
better and prepare them
for climate change, could
that lead to a new wave of
climate gentrification?”
Freudenberg argues
that while the research for
the new study, “Equitable
Adaptation,” illustrates the
emergency that will be felt
by lower income brackets,
it also puts a human face
to the struggle that will be
climate change.
The distinction between
these communities
and the others, Freudenberg
said, is a high concentration
of older buildings.
“There are a few ways
that people are starting
to look at climate gentrification
as a thing,”
Freudenberg said. “As
we make areas safe from
flooding, will that then
raise the property values
or raise the rents and push
people out, make it more
desirable for people to
live there? That’s one side
of it.”
As early as 2020, the
city can start to expect 26
to 31 days of over 90 degree
weather compared
to the 18-day average
recorded between 1970
and 2000.
“If programs or building
managers adapt their
buildings to climate
change, that could be
borne by the rent-payer,”
Freudenberg said. “As we
consider improvement
to things, as we adapt
them we have to make
sure things aren’t out of
reach for the people that
live there.”
While central Queens
may not be beyond redemption
from climate
change, many waterfront
communities may see displacement
from rising sea
levels no matter how well
residents prepare.
Transit may also be
presented with challenges
as many New
Yorkers have seen since
Superstorm Sandy
and the subway crisis,
and it could impact people
economically.
One way Freudenberg
said the city could prepare
for climate change
better is through green
infrastructure such as
rain gardens, which help
minimize storm sewers
draining untreated
water into the sea and
contributing to pollution.
But the real point
of green infrastructure
is that more vegetation
means less heat
in communities.
More vegetation mean
cleaner waterways and
cooler communities.
Another suggestion
from the RPA is manage
homes better, such as closing
blinds during the day
in the summer or monitoring
mold to mitigate
growth before it becomes
a problem requiring
professional help.
Reach reporter Mark
Hallum by email at mhallum@
schnepsmedia.com
or by phone at (718) 260–
4564.
Alleged Corona creep committed lewd
sex act in front of Flushing teen
Eddie Rodriguez
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