WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES APRIL 12, 2018 17
Ridgewood activist continues her
fi ght for the Child Victims Act
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
One day before the state budget
was sealed for the fi scal year
2019, Ridgewood native Connie
Altamirano could be found doing
what she does best: advocating for the
Child Victims Act (CVA) at a town hall
meeting with Mayor Bill de Blasio in
Jackson Heights.
Altamirano, 44, raised her hand and
patiently waited to be called on, then delivered
a statement about the importance
of the CVA passing in New York. She was
met with a round of applause and the
mayor’s commendation, and aft er the
meeting ended she waited for a chance
to shake the mayor’s hand and ask him
if he supports the bill, Altamirano said.
She has spent the past three years
traveling to other districts in the city
and as far north as the Capitol building
in Albany to advocate for the CVA, but
when the state budget was approved in
the early morning hours of March 31,
Altamirano was crushed.
The CVA was not included in the
budget.
“I’ve been literally depressed, and it
was the same weekend as my daughter’s
birthday,” Altamirano said when she
met with the Ridgewood Times on
April 5. “I kept crying all day and my
daughter asked what’s wrong, I said,
‘Allergies, these freaking allergies.’”
Altamirano is a survivor of sexual
abuse, and for decades she held that
secret close. Her grandmother’s second
husband repeatedly abused and
sexually assaulted Altamirano at their
home on Himrod Street from the time
she was a toddler until age 9, and the
man would threaten to hurt her mother
if she spoke up, she claims.
Altamirano previously shared her
story with the Ridgewood Times anonymously,
but has since gone public
with her mission to raise awareness
about the CVA and hold politicians
accountable for not passing it.
The CVA was fi rst proposed in 2006
by former Assemblywoman Margaret
Markey and has been carried on by
Senator Brad Hoylman. The most
recent version of the bill calls for the
elimination of the statute of limitations
for prosecuting child sexual abuse
crimes and fi ling civil lawsuits against
individuals or institutions related to
that sexual abuse.
The act also creates a one-year
revival period of abuse that was
previously barred by the statute of
limitations, which would allow people
like Altamirano to seek justice for the
abusers from their childhood. The
current statute of limitations for child
sexual abuse is fi ve years aft er the the
victim turns 18.
“I never thought about me because
I’m fi ghting for the CVA to protect
children in general, and because I feel
that no one protected me,” Altamirano
said. “I see my fellow survivors crying
just like me. Why wouldn’t I fi ght for
them?”
On the evening of April 5, Altamirano
attended a Ridgewood Property
Owners and Civic Association meeting
where Senator Michael Gianaris spoke
about the state budget. As a supporter
of the CVA, Gianaris has met Altamirano
many times in the past and he
greeted her with a hug before the
meeting started.
Gianaris explained that when it
comes to diffi cult decisions like the
CVA, the leaders of the state Senate
oft en choose not to address them at all.
In fact, the CVA was never brought to
the fl oor for a vote during the budget
negotiations, he said.
“CVA has overwhelming public
support, but people don’t even want
Photo courtesy of Connie Altamirano
to consider it,” Gianaris said. “What
ends up happening is communities
don’t know how their representative
voted because we don’t get to vote on it.”
The CVA could still get passed in the
current state legislative session, but
Gianaris added that the best chance for
most big issues to pass is when they’re
tied to the budget.
Yet, Altamirano plans to keep
fi ghting. April is observed as Sexual
Assault Awareness Month, and Altamirano
has at least three upcoming
events that she plans to attend in the
next two weeks.
She still struggles with Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder caused by her
abuse and is emotionally triggered by
crowded places, germs and the slightest
unwelcome touch from a stranger.
When she was 41, she suff ered a stroke
and has been on disability ever since.
It never gets easier, she said, but her
own two children are what keep her
going, and all she wants is to make
them and her community proud.
“I’ve given too much of my life and
I’ve always done right by children,” Altamirano
said. “If not, I wouldn’t have
something to stand on. To me, that’s
what’s making me be here on this earth
and this is how I give back to society.”
Connie Altamirano (second from right) and a group of protesters at the Capitol building in Albany.
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