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RT03182015

4 TIMES • MARCH 19 - mARCH 25, 2015 Cops honored for Bushwick gun arrest By ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com, @A_GiudiceReport During the 83rd Precinct Commu nity Council meeting that took place at the 83rd Precinct on Tuesday, March 17, two officers were honored with the Cop of the Month Award for arresting a gun-toting individual. On Jan. 3, Police Officers Oscar Lopez and Gisela Moreno apprehended one individual who was carrying a firearm. “They took one gun off the streets,” the precinct’s commanding officer, Deputy Inspector Maximo Tolentino, said. “So that’s one less gun out in Bushwick. That’s one gun that’s not going to be used near our kids.” The plaques the officers received were donated by the Times Newsweekly. Tolentino also gave his crime report for the precinct. During the 28-day period, the precinct is down three total crimes. Year-to-date, the 83rd is down one homicide; up two rapes, five to three; down 56 robberies compared to 76; there were 52 assaults compared to 66; there was an increase in burglaries, 96 to 93. There was only one shooting compared to five from last year, a decrease of 80 percent. “One thing that I do attribute that to is the seventeen guns we have taken off the streets of Bushwick this year,” Tolentino said of the shootings. Tolentino alerted the community council to three crime patterns taking place in Bushwick. One is a grand larceny pattern where five vehicles have been broken in to. “That’s one area that we’re going to concentrate on, going forward,” Tolentino said. He told those in attendance not to leave valuables visible in their car since that could entice a criminal to try and break in. “The more stuff you leave visible, the more of an opportunity that presents,” Tolentino warned. The other two patterns are both robbery patterns. The first pattern involves two black males who displayed a firearm and demanded property from the victims near Halsey Street, Gates Avenue and Central Avenue. The second involves two male, blacks, age 23 to 26, asking for the time, and when the victim takes out their cell phone the thief grabs their belongings and runs off. These incidents are taking place on Broadway and Jefferson Avenue and Broadway and Hancock Street. Tolentino announced that the 83rd Precinct will soon be getting ShotSpotter, a detection system that can pinpoint the location of gunfire. “Basically, these sensors will automatically tell us where the shots are coming from out in the street,” Tolentino explained. These sensors should be in place and available for the precinct’s use within the next few weeks. CB 5 wants barges not trains to cross harbor BY ANTHONY GIUDICE a.giudice@timesnewsweekly.com @A_GiudiceReport Despite a presentation from Port Authority (PANYNJ) representatives at its Wednesday meeting, Community Board 5 members remained steadfast in supporting water transportation over new rail infrastructure as part of the proposed Cross Harbor Freight Program. Mark Hoffer, director of New Port Initiatives for PANYNJ, spoke to attendees at Christ the King Regional High School on the proposed options set forth by the Cross Harbor Freight Program to relieve the congestion and the region’s dependence on freight trucks. “We’re looking to improve the movement of goods in the greater New York/New Jersey region by enhancing, improving the transportation of freight across New York Harbor,” Hoffer explained. The PANYNJ released its Tier I Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) last November and has presented 10 options, with an 11th “no build” option. Of the 10 current options, five would be waterborne options and five would be rail tunnel alternatives. The “no build” option would only continue building projects that are already in the pipeline to be constructed, nothing new would be added. The program is currently in the public hearing and comment stage and PANYNJ is seeking the public’s input. “No decisions have been made to build anything,” Hoffer said. “It’s important, obviously, for us to hear from the public about how they feel, and which alternatives they think might be better than others or if there are options that you think we missed, what those might be.” Board 5 members voiced their opinions on the proposed options of the Cross Harbor Freight Program during the meeting’s public forum. Bob Holden, Board 5 Public Safety Committee chairperson, believes that creating an intermodal rail station in Maspeth would bring more truck traffic “in the heart of our neighborhoods in Queens.” A representative for Assemblywoman Margaret Markey presented a statement by Markey on the Cross Harbor Freight Program. “Community Board 5 already faces a severe impact from current operations on rail lines that pass through many of our communities,” according to Markey’s statement. “I will focus my formal DEIS comments on the heightened threat that we will face as this program proceeds. Our neighborhoods must not be unfairly forced to pay the price to achieve the laudable goal of reducing cross harbor truck freight traffic.” Board 5 Chairperson Vincent Arcuri thought back to the days when freight was shipped through New York without all of today’s roadways and bridges. “How did we do it without these bridges, without the thruways, without the expressways and why can’t we do it now?” he asked. Hoffer answered Arcuri’s question by saying, “the world changed.” “We’ve made some bad decisions in the past, the government made some bad decisions in the past,” Hoffer said. “We let a lot of our transportation infrastructure go to pieces and we fell in love with the internal combustion engine.” All these factors and more have lead to the current situation of a “truck-centric” system. Hoffer assured those in attendance that PANYNJ are looking at waterborne options. Following the presentation, the board adopted a resolution from its Transportation Services Committee to submit official comment in opposition to the Cross Harbor Freight Project. The resolution indicated the board believes “the current options of the Cross Harbor DEIS are inadequate for a variety of reasons.” The panel urged that waterborne alternatives be considered. The public can submit official comment to the Port Authority by email at feedback@crossharborstudy. com through Friday, March 20. Photo by Anthony Giudice Mark Hoffer of the Port Authority explaining the Cross Harbor Freight Program to Community Board 5 at their meeting on Wednesday, March 11. TIMES NEWSWEEKLY (USPS 465-940) is published weekly by Schneps NY Media LLC, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. Periodicals postage paid at Flushing, NY. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Times Newsweekly/Ridgewood Times, P.O. Box 863299, Ridgewood, N.Y. 11386-0299. Photo by Anthony Giudice Caption: Cop of the Month, Gisela Moreno (center) with (from left to right), Commanding Officer of the 83rd Precinct, Deputy Inspector Maximo Tolentino; Executive Officer, Capt. Joseph Profeta; Special Operations Coordinator, Lt. David Poggioli; and 83rd Precinct Community Council president, Barbara Smith.


RT03182015
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