RWD_p006

RT01212016

6 TIMES • JANUARY 21, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com Another Ridgewood store sells $1M Powerball ticket BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport Lady Luck seems to have moved into Ridgewood. Another neighborhood store had a second-place, $1 million Powerball winner in the Jan. 13 drawing, making it the second time in less than a week that a Ridgewood lottery dealer helped make someone a millionaire. Good Lucky Charm Gift Shop Inc., located at 60-50 Myrtle Ave., lived up to its name when it dispensed the lucky ticket in the world record-setting $1.6 billion Powerball drawing that took place on Wednesday night. “I am very happy that a customer won,” said Hannah, the store’s manager. “The winning customer hasn’t come forward yet. We just got our lotto license about a year and a half ago so I was surprised that somebody won. We’ve had people win $10,000 and $50,000, but never $1 million.” Wednesday’s winner, which matched five of the six numbers, missing only the Powerball number, has yet to come forward. The second-prize winner in Ridgewood from last Saturday’s Powerball drawing has yet to cash in their ticket as well. The winning numbers on Wednesday were 8, 27, 34, 4, 19 and the Powerball number was 10. The million-dollar winners will have to pay 25 percent to federal taxes, 8.82 percent in New York State taxes and 3.876 percent in city taxes. Two other locations in Queens had second-place winners on Wednesday. PKG Enterprises Inc., located at 118-17 Liberty Ave. in South Richmond Hill and Plaza South Convenience and Grocery Store, located at 25-08A Queens Plaza South in Long Island City, both dispensed $1 million tickets. Although the odds of winning the $1.6 billion jackpot were 292.2 million to 1, three incredibly lucky players — one from California, one from Tennessee and one from Florida — hit all six numbers and will split the $1.6 billion prize. . RIDGEWOOD TIMES/photo by Anthony Giudice Good Lucky Charm Gift Shop Inc., located at 60-50 Myrtle Ave., dispensed a $1 million second-place Powerball ticket. WOODHAVEN CIVIC TO CITY: Select bus plan is a no-go BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com @ridgewoodtimes Woodhaven residents and their elected offi cials have spoken: the Select Bus Service (SBS) plan for Woodhaven Boulevard needs some serious revision. The proposal highlighted the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association (WRBA) meeting on Saturday afternoon. Attendees raised concerns regarding the plan as it is currently being presented include the placement of pedestrians waiting for the bus on medians; a potential ban on left turns off of Woodhaven Boulevard onto busy venues such as Jamaica Avenue; and an increase in traffi c congestion due to the designation of bus only lanes. “We know we need improved transportation in southern Queens,” said state Senator Joseph Addabbo. “This is a project that I think in the long-term, when we talk about it long term, it’s going to affect our quality of life.” For Addabbo, as well as many other attendees, the root of the issue lies within the DOT’s lack of individualized attention, stating that the department has not taken a personalized approach to its proposed plans for southern Queens streets. “Let’s not kid ourselves. Commissioner Polly Trottenberg from DOT will tell us that the SBS has been accepted in other places and it’s been embraced and people love it, and that may be true,” said Addabbo. “But the areas in the Bronx and where-have-you is not Woodhaven Boulevard. It’s not Woodhaven. It’s not Ozone Park. It’s not Howard Beach. It’s not Myrtle Avenue in Glendale.” City Councilman Eric Ulrich also took time to speak about SBS and his initial feelings toward the project. “I was a very early and vocal supporter of Select Bus Service. I thought that it had tremendous potential to bring meaningful changes to Woodhaven Boulevard,” said Ulrich. After the proposal was revealed, however, Ulrich, like much of the community, arrived at a different conclusion. “The biggest disappointment that I have with SBS is that DOT did not do a very good job of engaging the community and listening to the community,” he remarked. “And, by the way, the partial implementation that they’ve already put on Woodhaven Boulevard, so far, in my opinion, has been a disaster.” “We’re all saying the same thing,” he continued. “But we want to work with the city agencies to come up with a plan that works for everybody. And I do think that we can come up with that plan. But it doesn’t happen from the top down. It has to happen from the bottom up.” Alexander Blenkinsopp, the WRBA’s communication’s director, asked attendees to visit SaveOurStreets.nyc, a website aimed at informing the community on how currently proposed SBS plans would affect the area.


RT01212016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above