14 APRIL 4, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Council resolution condemns TPS revoke
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
In mid March, Councilman Costa
Constantinides stood with the
borough’s Nepali community as it
was honored with a street co-naming
in Jackson Heights.
Now Constantinides is fighting for
that same community as the Trump
administration is threatening to end
temporary protected status later
this year for thousands of Nepalese
immigrants, many of whom have
settled in western Queens.
Constantinides and Councilman
Donovan Richards introduced a
resolution condemning the action
and calling on the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security to keep the
TPS designation for eligible Nepalese,
which will allow them to live and
work without fear of deportation.
“The Nepalese are vital to New York
City’s growth, especially in western
Queens,” Constantinides said. “They
have come here to seek a better life
amid turmoil back home, and they
chose the greatest in the world
because we welcome the tired, the
poor, and the huddled masses. We
will not tolerate ICE agents menacing
around schools and courthouses.
Courtesy of Councilman Costa Constantinides’ offi ce
This is the opposite of what America
is supposed to embody. I want the
Trump administration to know his
aggressive hate policies have no
place here.”
TPS gives certain protection to
immigrant communities fleeing a
natural disaster or civil unrest in
their respective homeland. Nepal has
endured both since a 7.9-magnitude
earthquake in April 2015 that killed
early 9,000 people and destroyed
some 600,000 homes. The event
sparked Homeland Security to grant
TPS for Nepalese in the U.S., as civil
unrest, rampant crime and political
uncertainty followed the natural
disaster.
“Our diverse neighborhoods in
Queens are our overwhelming
strength and the Nepalese community
has become a critical part of the
‘World’s Borough,’” Richards said.
“It is completely unacceptable to end
their temporary protective status
only four years after an earthquake
devastated their homeland and
left about 15,000 Nepalese in need
of safety and security within our
borders. I am proud to stand with
Council member Constantinides to
condemn the federal government’s
inhumane immigration policies.”
The resolution now before the City
Council “condemns” the DHS decision,
and argues the nation “continues to
meet the criteria of a country entitled
to TPS due to slow recovery efforts
related to extensive damage to
infrastructure and regular monsoon
rains.” More than 10,000 have settled
in the city, with most of them living
in Jackson Heights, Woodside and
East Elmhurst.
“Nepal is still under construction.
Those who are here from Nepal work
hard, pay government tax, and send
whatever money is leftover back
home,” Community Board 5 member
Mohan Gyawali Chhetri said. “Also,
they are honest people looking for a
better future. Most of their children
can’t speak Nepali because they were
born and raised with a U.S. education.
All the while, they are supporting
this country’s rules and regulations.
We should respect each other in a
humanitarian way.”
F.H. activists seek bike lane fi nish for Queens Boulevard
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Although it may no longer be
called the “Boulevard of Death”
aft er numerous redesigns over
the years, families held up photos of
loved ones as they called on the city
to go the full distance with bike lanes
along Queens Boulevard.
Lizi Rahman, who lost her son Asif
in 2008, and Debbie Kahn who also
lost her son Seth, were both unhappy
with the lack of completion from
the city who told activists the fi nal
phase was tied up in the Office of
Intergovernmental Aff airs.
A rally at MacDonald Park in
Forest Hills on March 31 illustrated
this, with more than two dozen
people calling for the bike
lane’s completion.
The last quarter of the bike lane
implementation will take cyclists
from Yellowstone Boulevard to Union
Turnpike with as little interference
from cars as possible, but although
the city Department of Transportation
scheduled the work, it has yet to begin.
“For the last five years I’ve been
wanting to come to Queens Boulevard
and celebrate, not protest or complain,”
Rahman said. “De Blasio has
completed three quarters of the work
on Queens Boulevard and the last
part – phase four – was supposed to be
fi nished last year. My son, Asif Rahman,
gave his life 11 years ago on Queens
Boulevard. He was hit by a trucker and
died instantly.”
What started in 2015 at Roosevelt
Avenue has come to a halt at
Yellowstone Boulevard when it was
slated for completion all the way to
Union Turnpike. The city, however,
claims they are powering through a
challenging section of roadway.
“We are moving forward with
the redesign and working with the
community,” Seth Stein, a mayoral
spokesman said. “We’ve completed four
miles of redesign on Queens Boulevard,
driving fatalities to a record low, and
will continue working through this
last, challenging section.”
Kahn said her family has been in
the community for generations and
she has always been weary of traffi c
on Queens Boulevard in concern for
her parents and grandparents; Then,
nine years ago, her son Seth died when
he was struck by car.
“Our lives are not political
bargaining chips,” Laura Shepard from
Transportation Alternatives said. “We
want them to do what they promised.
We use this bike lane to get around
the neighborhood from work to school
to doctors appointments, shops to
restaurants. We struggle when we cross
Yellowstone because there are parked
cars and we’re endanger of getting
doored or getting hit by somebody
pulling in and out of a spot.”
Some speakers fought against the
notion that bike lanes damage business
by pointing out that eateries have long
benefi tted from the installments by
offering deliveries on two wheels.
Bicyclists also have no need to seek
parking and patronize businesses
along the corridor.
One cyclist speaking at the rally in
the rain made the case that the city has
come to represent the seedier days
of the 1980s and 1990s when public
spaces were dominated by dangerous
individuals armed with guns and
knives. But the bullies of modern day
New York come in the form of drivers
in 2,000 pound vehicles.
Photo: Mark Hallum/RIDGEWOOD TIMES
/WWW.QNS.COM
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