16 MARCH 21, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Ridgewood activist fi ghts for ‘Erin’s Law’ passage
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Connie Altamirano’s advocacy
on behalf of young victims of
sexual abuse didn’t end with a
“bittersweet victory” in February when
Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the
Child Victims Act (CVA) into law.
The 45-year-old Ridgewood activist,
a single mother of two who suff ers
from PTSD and other complications
following her own sexual abuse as
a child, was back in Albany Monday
fi ghting for Erin’s Law, which would
mandate age-appropriate education
in all public schools, from pre-K to
12, regarding inappropriate touching
and reporting.
“Yes, the CVA passed and it was not
enough. It was just a step in the right
direction,” Altamirano said. “My whole
thing is this should have been part of
the CVA but it was left out. If they had
taught me the diff erence between a
safe touch and a not safe touch I would
have raised my hand and told my story.
That could have saved me from being
raped and my attacker would have
been jailed.”
Altamirano traveled to the state
capitol to stand with Assemblywoman
Catalina Cruz and Erin Merryn, the
author and activist against child
Activist Connie Altamirano (second from right) joins Erin Merryn (at podium)
to advocate for Erin’s Law that would mandate education to help fi ght child
sex abuse. Photo courtesy of Connie Altamirano
sexual abuse and the founder of Erin’s
Law. Though the law has passed in 35
states, New York has yet to vote on the
measure. Merryn tried to make New
York one of the fi rst to pass the bill,
but was met with resistance when she
tried to introduce it in Albany seven
years ago.
“I have returned to New York to see that
it happens this time,” Merryn said. “We
must educate children on personal body
safety, protecting them and empowering
them against abusers, and helping to root
our systemic abusers by exposing and
prosecuting them, potentially saving
hundreds of lives per abuser. Spending
just one hour out of a school year to
teach these important lessons could be
the diff erence between a child reporting
their abuse, or being abused for years
and not reporting until late adulthood,
if reporting it at all.”
She said federal funds were available
thanks to the passage of a similar bill by
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
“I have been in communication with
Erin for fi ve years, and have urged
lawmakers to introduce and pass
Erin’s Law in New York state while I was
advocating for the CVA,” Altamirano
said. “Kids need to know how to
recognize abuse, and how to report
it. As a survivor, I know that if such
a law was implemented and enforced
in public schools decades ago, I would
have known to tell someone.”
Cruz agreed while choking
back tears.
“It could have changed my life,” Cruz
said, herself a child abuse survivor who
suff ered with trauma for years.
Erin’s Law is not expected to be taken
up by the Legislation until aft er the
state budget is passed, but Altamirano
and other activists will keep the
pressure on.
“It is my obligation to help the children
of New York state because no one helped
me. The CVA should have covered
prevention and awareness,” Altamirano
said. “Erin’s Law will provide a tool for
a child to protect themselves, to know
the diff erence between safe and unsafe
touches and safe and unsafe secrets.
It gives a lifeline to children letting
them know it’s alright to talk about
what happened to them. It could save
them from years of rape abuse and the
trauma it causes survivors.”
Queens rallies at Bklyn. commish’s home against shelter plans
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Councilman Eric Ulrich and a
coalition of 40 residents from
across Queens took their protest
against homeless shelters in their
neighborhoods to the front door of
city Department of Homeless Services
Commissioner Steve Banks’ house in
Windsor Terrace on Monday.
The crowd echoed Ulrich’s
sentiment that the de Blasio
administration needs to support
Section 8 and other housing
subsidies to bring meaningful and
long-term relief the city’s poorest,
but said shelters in neighborhoods
like Ozone Park, the Rockaways
and College Point are not doing the
homeless any favors apart from
taking them off the streets.
But some views expressed
veered farther off course, and
they demanded Banks’ resignation
as a result.
“We have a record-high homeless
population in the city and the
mayor is jet-setting all over the
country because he wants to run
for president,” Ulrich said. “De
Blasio picked Steve Banks to run
the agency that’s supposed to help
homeless people and Steve Banks has
not put forward a coherent homeless
preventative strategy. He has not
done a good job of transitioning
people out of the shelter system and
into permanent and stable housing.
He’s doing a terrible job.”
Others carried signs that read
“Protect our families before they
get hurt” and “Women have the
right to feel safe,” with the children
of protestors joining the rally on
Sherman Street in Brooklyn.
But DHS has denied claims
that residents in shelters are
unsupervised during the day and
said those in the system check in
and out of facilities during the day
to go to work, attend programs in
community rooms in the facility
while rooms are cleaned by staff and
are able to access all medical care
including mental health services
on-site with nonprofit providers.
The crowd called for more
affordable housing instead of
shelters for the estimated 63,000 to
70,000 homeless people across the
city. De Blasio previously deemed
the rising homeless population
to be a crisis, and he launched the
Turning of the Tide on Homelessness
initiative to establish shelters in
communities where the individual
can receive services near the
communities from where they
originated.
“The problem under Steve
Banks is getting worse it’s not
getting better, so Banks has to go,”
Ulrich continued.
De Blasio, on NY1’s “Inside City
Hall with Errol Louis” on Monday,
said that while the administration
may be willing to negotiate with
communities to find better locations
within their area, his is not willing
to budge on housing people near
where they may have family or
connections and slammed Ulrich for
use of the term “poverty pimps” in
a CBS interview to describe shelter
service providers and Banks.
The mayor claimed that the
long-game in shelter programs is
to help those in shelter finally find
affordable housing.
Read more on QNS.com.
City Councilman Eric Ulrich (center) leads a shelter protest at DHS
Commissioner Steve Banks’ house in Brooklyn
Photo: Mark Hallum/RIDGEWOOD TIMES
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