4 MARCH 8, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Maspeth
gas station
plan tops
next Board 5
meeting
Proposed changes to a Maspeth
gas station and a presentation
on the rights of
persons with disabilities top the
agenda of the next Community
Board 5 meeting on March 14 in
Middle Village.
As announced by District
Manager Gary Giordano, the
session takes place at 7:30 p.m.
on Wednesday night, March 14,
in the cafeteria of Christ the King
Regional High School, located at
68-02 Metropolitan Ave.
The agenda includes a public
hearing on a Board of Standards
and Appeals Application (No. 867-
55 BZ) fi led on behalf of Manny
Kumar, owner of a gas station at
66-15 Borden Ave. (at Perry Avenue)
in Maspeth.
The application seeks a 10-year
extension of a variance allowing
the gas station to operate there.
Kumar has proposed enlarging
the existing building on the site,
and converting the auto repair
shop into a convenience store.
A representative from the city’s
Human Rights Commission is also
expected to provide a presentation
about the rights of persons
with disabilities.
The remainder of the meeting
agenda includes the public forum;
reports by Board 5 Chairperson
Vincent Arcuri and District Manager
Giordano; a review of demolition
notices and liquor license applications;
and committee reports.
For more information, or to
register to speak in advance, call
Board 5 at 718-366-1834.
Nancy Pelosi talks Trump tax law in Woodhaven
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
Throughout most of 2017,
Woodhaven resident Allan
Smith received physical therapy
for severe nerve damage in his right
arm aft er a fall in his apartment left
him lying on the fl oor, wedged between
his bed and dresser for two days.
When he reached the cap on what
his Medicare would pay for, Smith was
told to take a break from the therapy
until the new year began.
Smith, 79, is still barely able to move
his arm, and aft er one month of therapy
in 2018, his cap for the year has
already been reached. The new federal
tax bill led to budget cuts for Medicare,
and on March 3, Smith walked
into All Saints Episcopal Church in
Woodhaven to voice his case to House
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and a
group of Queens representatives and
tax experts.
“I can’t do certain things. I can’t open
my fi ngers. I can’t raise my arm above
my head, and I want to get better,”
Smith told QNS aft er the meeting. “If
this is considered severe, and it is, then
there should be some means of taking
that into account.”
The panel discussion that Congresswoman
Nydia Velazquez hosted
included Pelosi, Lieutenant Governor
Kathy Hochul, Congressman Joe
Crowley, Charles Khan from the
Strong Economy for All Coalition,
Jonas Shaende from the Fiscal Policy
Institute, and Tracey Kavanagh, a
registered nurse who serves on the
board of directors of the New York
State Nurses Association.
The tax bill signed into law on Dec.
22, 2017, leads to automatic federal
funding cuts of $400 billion over the
next decade. In the fi scal year 2018,
$136 billion of those cuts will come
into play, and $25 billion is required
to come from Medicare. Pelosi’s fundamental
message to the audience
was that these cuts, which also spread
Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez introduces Democratic Leader Nancy
Pelosi to the audience at All Saints Episcopal Church in Woodhaven on
March 3.
to public education, food stamps and
public housing, do not resonate with
American values.
“We have a moral responsibility to
do the right thing by the budget for
our country, for our strength, and
most importantly for our children,”
said Pelosi, who served as the nation’s
first female Speaker of the House
between 2007 and 2011. “It’s all about
the future. This is a budget that takes
us backwards. It is not a statement of
values.”
Pelosi and Crowley emphasized that
if the Democrats regain the majority in
the House of Representatives, they will
repeal and replace the tax bill.
In total, the tax law will create a defi -
cit of at least $1.5 trillion that will be
made up by cutting budgets to federal
programs. According to Khan, these
cuts will be seen in the form of grandparents
getting kicked out of nursing
homes, people dying from preventable
diseases, bigger classroom sizes in
schools and more people going hungry.
Khan also pointed out that New
Yorkers will be particularly aff ected
Photo by Ryan Kelley/QNS
by a provision in the law that limits
the amount of deductible property
taxes to $10,000. That means that
every penny over that $10,000 limit
will essentially be taxed twice, Khan
said. According to Hochul, there are
approximately 3.3 million people in
New York who pay higher property
taxes than that.
“In eff ect, you now make it more
expensive to own a house in the state
of New York, and you have now created
incentive to drive people from
our state,” Hochul said. “With that
fell swoop, they’ve undone all of our
eff orts to control costs in the state of
New York, reduce taxes and make it a
better place to live and work.”
For Smith, his only option to receive
more treatment for his arm in 2018
will be to pay for it privately. As the
sun shined through the stained glass
windows around the church, Smith
began to talk about its long history
and pointed to where he was baptized
only a few feet away from the pew.
Where his life practically began, he
was now fi ghting for his future.
Burglar arrested after failed break-in attempts
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
Police arrested a man in Ridgewood
last week aft er the suspect
spent the evening allegedly
trying to break into multiple residences
— but got caught red-handed
by witnesses and ran away every time,
according to criminal complaints.
The suspect, 63-year-old Mitchell
Solieri, started his failed spree at a
residence on 71st Place near Myrtle
Avenue in Glendale.
According to the complaint from
the Queens District Attorney’s
office, Solieri allegedly entered
the screened-in back porch of the
residence sometime between 7:39
p.m. and 7:45 p.m. on March 2, and a
resident of the home witnessed him
banging and kicking multiple doors
in an attempt to gain entry. Solieri
then fled the location, police said.
Minutes later, Solieri was allegedly
witnessed trying to open the gate of
another property on the same block
within the same time frame. The witness,
who is the resident of the home,
also reviewed surveillance video
from the home and observed Solieri
allegedly pulling on the handles and
trunk of his car parked in front of the
residence, according to the criminal
complaint.
A few hours later, Solieri allegedly
gained entry to a second-fl oor residence
on Myrtle Avenue near 61st
Street between 10:10 and 10:20 p.m.
Solieri allegedly broke the glass
front door of the residence to get
inside, and police said a resident of
the building was asleep inside at
the time.
Offi cers from the 104th Precinct
responded to the scene and arrested
Solieri on site, police said.
Solieri has been arraigned and
charged with criminal trespassing in
the third degree, two counts of burglary
in the second degree, attempted
criminal trespassing in the third degree,
unauthorized use of a vehicle without
the owner’s consent and criminal mischief
with intent to damage property.
Solieri is currently being held on
$31,500 bond or $33,000 cash bail,
and he is due to appear in court on
March 8.
