TIMES, THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2014 • 64 Bushwick Housing Rally Calls For City Action Against Bad Landlords City Hall Rally To Save Maspeth UPS Drivers’ Jobs participates in that allows the company to pay millions less in reduced penalties. “We cannot stand by idly by when New York City workers are being mistreated,” James said. Teamsters Local 804, Teamsters Joint Council 16 and at least three dozen laid-off drivers joined Comptroller Scott Stringer, City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley and State Sen. Tony Avella to denounce the terminations. “We’re asking UPS to do right by the workers who have built this company and to do right by the customers who depend on these workers every day. This will not stand,” Tim Sylvester, president of Teamsters Loca 804 said. One recently terminated employee at the rally—Dominick DeDomenico returned to work in January following a car accident that put him in a coma for 10 days—was fired for not meeting the same package delivery quota he had set before his injuries. “I stand with Teamsters Local 804 and call on UPS to do the right thing and immediately reinstate the employment of these hardworking men and women.” Avella said. City Council Member I. Daneek Miller had scheduled a hearing for Wednesday, Apr. 9, but that date has been pushed to the end of the month. Miller, who is a former president of the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union has offered to use his labor background to mediate and said of the situation, “it’s something the council is looking at.” He added, “I remain hopeful they will take me up on the offer to mediate. This certainly is something I am familiar with.” The company participates in the fleet program run through the city Department of Finance. This allows the company a penalty-free period of 45 days to pay a ticket. When that period ends, unpaid tickets begin to accrue penalties in 45 day segments. Companies that have not resolved outstanding tickets after 135 days, will be issued a default judgment. Businesses that accumulate more than $350 in fines are removed from the program, according to the department. Two other finance arrangements the company participates in, the stipulated fine program and the NYC Delivery Solutions Program allow UPS to pay a set, reduced fine amount for each violation, while businesses waive the right to challenge the parking tickets. -CONTINUED FROM PG. 12- St. “Since then, my family has had to use the neighbor’s bathroom and kitchen. This is no way to live and I am urging our city to crackdown on ‘bad actor’ landlords so that more families don't have to go through what we are going through.” “We must work to protect tenant’s rights and preserve affordable housing,” Reynoso stated. “The city needs to address the displacement of low-income families across North Brooklyn by landlords who purposely demolish units in an effort to convert them into marketrate apartments.” During the march, tenants, community leaders, and elected officials referenced a recent report by Make the Road New York called “The Roof Over Our Heads: The Case for Stronger Enforcement of New York City’s Housing Maintenance Code,” which pointed out that “neighborhoods where landlords allow their buildings to fall Alleged Graffiti Vandal Nabbed provided by the Queens District Attorney’s office, the three-letter tag which Mestric allegedly scrawled was found painted in black, red and white along retaining walls of the Grand Central Parkway and Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Astoria in Woodside. The tag—painted in blue, white, yellow and red—was also observed by police painted in multiple spots on the pedestrian overpass above the Long Island Expressway near Mazeau Street in Maspeth. Police said the tag was also scrawled onto a street tree on Mazeau Street and the roll-down metal gates of several Grand Avenue storefronts. Upon further investigation, police noted, the same tag was found at 11 different locations in Astoria, including on traffic control boxes, Fire Department call boxes, walls and garages. Based on information obtained by the NYPD Citywide Vandals Task Force and the 104th and 114th precincts—and the anonymous tip provided to Crowley’s office— Mestric was taken into custody last Tuesday. He was additionally charged with criminal contempt for allegedly contacting his former significant other in Maspeth, in violation of a court order of protection. During his arraignment in Queens Criminal Court last Thursday, Judge Michele Armstrong ordered Mestric held on $4,000 bail and to return to court on Apr. 17. -CONTINUED FROM PG. 20- into disrepair are often the same neighborhoods experiencing rapid gentrification and high-levels of displacement.” The report recommended that more effective enforcement of the Housing Maintenance Code should include stronger incentives for landlords to make repairs; tougher penalties for landlords who do not comply with the code; and greater protections to ensure that tenants with noncompliant landlords are not forced to endure dangerous and unsanitary conditions. “The great vision of a city with affordable housing must be coupled with a determined will to preserve all units of affordable housing,” said City Council Member Rafael Espinal, who wasn’t able to attend the march but offered support for the cause in a statement. “We cannot talk of building new units of affordable housing without doing the work of preserving existing units of affordable housing.” -CONTINUED FROM PG. 21- City Council Member Antonio Reynoso joined other elected officials and civic activists at a protest on Sunday, Apr. 6, against Bushwick landlords with a history of violations on their properties. Protestors called on the city to take greater enforcement action. (photo courtesy of Make the Road New York) Union members and elected officials held a rally in support of recently terminated UPS workers on the steps of City Hall with Public Advocate Letitia James who has called on the company to rehire the employees Thursday, Apr. 3. (photo: Noah Zuss) SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS MEANS MORE THAN WAVING FLAGS. Help Returning Soldiers By Donating To Local Veterans Organizations.
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