14 MAY 9, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Long-time Queens DA Brown dead at 86
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@ROBBPOZ
Leaders from across the city
and county gathered in Forest
Hills on May 7 to pay respects
to, Richard A. Brown, who served
Queens for close to 28 years as its top
law enforcement official and died on
May 3 at the age of 86.
Brown had been battling from
complications of Parkinson’s disease
in recent years and announced in
March that he was taking a leave of
absence until June 1, when he planned
to formally resign the office.
He handed over his duties in an
interim capacity to Chief Assistant
District Attorney John Ryan, his top
deputy, who announced Brown’s
death on May 4.
“Judge Brown — as he has long been
affectionately called — was a public
servant like no other,” Ryan said. “He
topped a spectacular judicial career
and was appointed the district
attorney of Queens County in 1991
by then-Governor Mario Cuomo. He
was proud to serve the millions of
people of Queens for nearly 28 years
and was re-elected to seven terms in
office.”
Prior to his appointment as Queens
DA, Brown had been in the judiciary
Queens District Attorney Richard
A. Brown at his desk in this 2016
photo. File photo/QNS
for nearly 20 years. First appointed
to the bench in 1973, he would be
appointed to the New York State
Supreme Court and the Supreme
Court in Queens. He departed the
bench in 1977 to serve as chief head
counsel to then-Governor Hugh
Carey, then later returned to serve
on the New York State Supreme Court
and was later elevated to Associate
Justice of the Appellate Division.
Governor Mario Cuomo tapped
Brown to serve as Queens DA in
1991 following the retirement of John
Santucci. From the beginning, Ryan
said, Brown’s goal “was to elevate the
standard of professionalism by hiring
on merit, not political connections”
and “made it a priority to have the
most talented, capable and dedicated
professionals imaginable.”
Working with local law
enforcement, Brown’s era saw crime
across Queens plunge from record
highs in the early 1990s to record lows
toward the end of his tenure. Brown
would often tout the staggering
drops in crime rates at meetings of
local precinct community councils
and community events across
the borough.
Ryan added that Brown established
various programs designed to protect
the most vulnerable and give minor
offenders a chance at redemption.
After being elected seven times,
often running on both major party
lines, Brown announced in January
that he would not seek re-election,
largely due to his failing health.
Seven candidates are now in the
Democratic primary battle to succeed
him. Ryan, meanwhile, remains
as the acting district attorney of
Queens County.
Queens Borough President
Melinda Katz, in an official statement,
said the entire borough “mourns the
loss of a lifelong public servant” and
honors his “extraordinary devotion
and distinguished service to the
people of Queens.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo
called Brown “a giant of the legal
community and dedicated public
servant who spent six decades
serving the people of New York.”
State Attorney General Letitia James
said she was “saddened” to learn of
Brown’s passing, remarking that he
“was a dedicated public servant who
was deeply devoted to the people
of Queens.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted that
the city “mourns a dedicated public
servant” who “was committed to
making this city safer and brought
hundreds of men and women into
law enforcement.”
The New York Post reported
that Brown died while under care
at a health facility in Reading,
Connecticut, where he had
been staying after taking a fall
in his home.
Brown is survived by his wife
Rhoda, their three children Karen,
Todd and Lynn, daughter-in-law
Monica, son-in-law Bruce, and two
granddaughters, Leah and Alana,
both of whom are members of the
U.S. Military Academy at West Point
(Leah is entering her final year,
while Alana is entering her first in
September).
Stringer points to ‘stark disparities’ in city playgrounds
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Corona and Richmond Hill are two
Queens neighborhoods with a
vast shortage of playground
space, and City Comptroller Stringer
wants to do something to help give
kids a place to have fun.
In releasing a citywide analysis of
playground space last week, Stringer
called for more playgrounds in an
urban landscape he claims is severely
lacking compared to the amount of
schoolchildren who depend on them.
Stringer not only wants up to 200
new play spaces created in the next fi ve
years to address the shortfall, but he
also wants the city’s Parks Department
to make things safer in existing
playgrounds. His report found that too
many playgrounds were not meeting
safety standards, putting children at
risk of serious injury.
“Playgrounds are essential public
spaces, off ering children a place to
socialize, learn, be active and exercise
their imaginations. They are also
spaces for children and families to
meet their neighbors and develop
strong bonds. But our fi ndings reveal
stark disparities in access to these
critical public spaces in New York
City,” Stringer said. “That’s why our
city needs to overhaul the planning,
construction and maintenance of our
playground system.”
The existing parks citywide all
had at least one hazard that required
“immediate attention,” according to
Stringer who cited 2018 inspections.
Over 800 other playgrounds
had Priority 2 Hazards, features that
could infl ict “slight to moderate injury,”
and 29 others were shown present
the chance of “life-threatening or
debilitating injury.”
In response to the report, the Parks
Department maintained that it’s
committed to building for the future
while also keeping all existing parks
safe for everyone.
“By investing in playgrounds, we are
investing in the future of our children.
This administration is reconstructing
10 playgrounds in Queens that
haven’t seen repairs in more than two
decades — part of the mayor’s robust
playground reconstruction program,
the Community Parks Initiative, a
$318M investment citywide,” a Parks
spokeswoman said. “Our Parks
Inspection Program (PIP) is in place to
ensure that our parks are safe, clean
and hazard free.”
The Parks Department went on to note
that if a feature is deemed hazardous
and cannot be addressed immediately,
it is taped off from the rest of the facility
for public awareness.
But one bad feature does not count
against the overall safety of the
playground, in the eyes of the agency.
“Hazards, as identifi ed by our PIP
inspectors, are specifi c to conditions
found in the park, they do not broadly
categorize the park as a hazardous site —
the cited issues range from plant thorns
to cracks in pavement to hanging tree
limbs,” the Parks spokeswoman said.
If a playground presents for of a
broad hazardous condition, Parks
says they close the site and inform
community stakeholders.
The department currently has
a program in place to bring more
parks to city dwellers with the $318
million Community Parks Initiative
which will construct 67 new sites.
New parks completed in Queens
under this program are Astoria
Heights Playground, Astoria
Heights Comfort Station, Bowne
Playground, Bowne Comfort
Station, Conch Playground, Grassmere
Playground, Louis Simeone Park, Van
Alst Playground and Astoria Health
Playground.
Currently under construction
is Playground 35 in Long Island City
and in procurement are Almeda
Playground and Chappetto Square,
Parks said.
Photo: Susan Watts/NYC Comptroller’s Offi ce
/WWW.QNS.COM
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