8 MARCH 29, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Crime, politics and sanitation at JPCA meeting
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
Local residents packed the cafeteria
of Our Lady of Hope Catholic
Academy in Middle Village on
March 22 for the latest Juniper Park
Civic Association (JPCA) meeting,
which featured members of the NYPD
and the Sanitation Department addressing
residents’ issues.
The March 22 meeting included a
rundown of the local crime statistics
with Captain John Mastronardi of the
104th Precinct, a presentation from
Queens Assistant District Attorney
James Quinn about Rikers Island prisoner
statistics, and visits from Department
of Sanitation (DSNY) offi cials and
former JPCA president — now District
30 Councilman — Robert Holden.
Mastronardi began the meeting by
introducing many of his offi cers to the
crowd and then gave updates about
local crime and fi elded many questions.
For the year to date, crime is down in the
104th Precinct by 21 percent compared
to last year, and crime is also down 16
percent for the current 28-day period,
Mastronardi said.
The captain mentioned the precinct’s
fi rst homicide of the year in Ridgewood,
and acknowledged a burglary problem
in the area that he attributes to the city’s
heroin epidemic.
“Watch your property. Watch
your unattended items. Don’t leave
stuff in your cars. It’s a big problem,”
Mastronardi said. “We have a lot of
people in the area walking around at
night jiggling door handles looking for
doors that are open, and a lot of people
leave a lot of valuables in their cars.”
With that, Mastronardi noted the
string of livery cab break-ins earlier
this year in Ridgewood and said that the
number of incidents in the pattern rose
to more than 100, but police fl ooded the
area and the perpetrator was “pushed
back out to Brooklyn,” he said. The
captain added that “mailbox fi shing”
is an ongoing problem as well, and he
explained that, similar to burglaries, it’s
very diffi cult to catch someone in the act.
One of the most common concerns
raised by residents at the meeting was
the slow response to 311 complaints and
some 911 calls. Mastronardi said that the
104th Precinct receives the most 311
complaints in the entire city: Over the
last 28 days, the precinct answered 1,556
calls to 311. Those complaints included
345 blocked driveways, 192 derelict
vehicles, 668 illegally parked vehicles
and 198 noise complaints.
“I’m not making excuses; this is an
imperfect system that needs to be rectifi
ed,” Mastronardi said, adding that
the only alleviation he can see is when
the Neighborhood Coordination Offi cer
(NCO) program begins in October. “I’m
embarrassed to say that sometimes we
get 311 calls and they don’t even get answered
because the volume is so much.”
The conversation then shifted from
catching criminals to what to do with
them one they’re cuffed when Assistant
Queens ADA James Quinn speaks at the March 22 meeting of the JPCA.
District Attorney James Quinn gave a
presentation about why he thinks Rikers
Island should not be closed. Although
Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to have the
prison closed by 2027 and replaced with
borough-based jails, Quinn showed charts
with statistics that illustrate how the
closure would almost certainly put dangerous
criminals back out onto the streets.
That was followed by a brief presentation
from two DSNY offi cials who
talked about a minor change to the organics
collection program that allows
for the use of “any liner of your choice”
to put in the brown bins. They also distributed
bags of compost and said that
organics are now being collected one
time per week on recycling day, which
allows DSNY to be more effi cient with
bulk pickups.
A few residents expressed frustration
over the lack of electronics disposal,
Photo by Ryan Kelley/The Ridgewood Times
and one offi cial explained that a state
law prevents trucks that have been used
for garbage removal to pick up electronics.
That means DSNY needs new trucks
for electronics removal, which will not
be able to happen in Queens until the
end of 2019.
Holden, who agrees with Quinn’s
case for keeping Rikers open, had
invited Quinn to attend the March 22
meeting. The councilman spoke on
that subject too, while also acknowledging
his meeting with the mayor in
Middle Village the day before. Despite
past criticism of each other from both
parties, Holden insists he wants to
work with de Blasio.
“I want to have a good rapport with
him,” Holden said. “I do, because I think
it helps this area. It helps the district if
we’re talking and we’re trying to solve
the problems and trying to compromise.”
Cops seeking at least 15 people for questioning in Ridgewood stabbing
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
Police have released more images
of the large group of people
wanted in connection to a deadly
stabbing in Ridgewood earlier this
month.
The March 9 incident sent three people
to the hospital with stab wounds;
one of the victims, Glendale resident
Daniel Atkinson, 24, did not survive.
On March 19, police arrested Luis
Paredes, 16, and he was charged with
second-degree murder and robbery.
Detectives, however, are still
searching for more individuals from
the original video released aft er the
stabbing, where there appeared to
be a large group of people moving
around suspiciously on Myrtle
Avenue — a short distance from the
crime scene on Palmetto Street and
St. Nicholas Avenue.
The 911 call that prompted the
initial police response was for
a disorderly group, and a law
enforcement source said it is believed
that there was a large fight
before the stabbing.
On March 25, police released additional
footage and still images from
inside a store near the crime scene that
shows several people wanted for questioning.
There appear to be at least 15
individuals that are wanted, but police
could not confi rm a specifi c number.
Police also provide video footage
of the people of interest walking in
front of a restaurant on Myrtle Avenue
near St. Nicholas Avenue on the
night of the murder.
The murder was the fi rst in 2018
for the 104th Precinct. At the March
22 Juniper Park Civic Association
meeting, Captain John Mastronardi,
the precinct’s commander, said the
stabbing was an “isolated incident,
gang related.”
Anyone with information in
regards to this incident is asked
to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers
Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for
Spanish, 888-57-PISTA (74782). The
public can also submit their tips by
logging onto the Crime Stoppers
website or by texting their tips to
274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
All calls and messages are kept
confi dential.
Photo courtesy of NYPD
Images of just some of the large group of people wanted for questioning
regarding the March 9 fatal stabbing in Ridgewood.
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