Members of the 112th Precinct responded to the incident. The victim suffered minor injuries and refused medical attention, law enforcement sources stated. Various police units canvassed the surrounding area for the suspects, but no immediate arrests were made, sources stated. The 112th Precinct Detective Squad’s investigation is ongoing, police said. Anyone with information regarding the stickup that could prove helpful is asked to call the 112th Precinct Detective Squad at 1- 718-520-9303; all calls will be kept confidential. TIMES, THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014 • 24 Deliveryman In F.H. Holdup -CONTINUED FROM PG. 1- Reckless Driving Crackdown Eyed At UFCA Meet Capt. Richard Hellman, executive officer of the 108th Precinct came to the United Forties Civic Association meeting Thursday, May 8, to update the group on crime in the precinct’s confines. (photo: Bob Burch) Superfund For Ridgewood Site earth metals from monazite sand through a process that led to the production of a sludge containing thorium, a radioactive element used during the Atomic Age in the development of nuclear weapons and reactors. For years, workers dumped the radioactive sludge into nearby sewers, a practice halted in 1947 at the order of the federal Atomic Energy Commission. The agency purchased the thorium sludge for its own purposes for the next seven years until Wolff-Alport shut down in 1954. Six decades have passed since its closure, but the radioactive reminder of Wolff-Alport’s operations remains present in the soil, sewers and sidewalks near the location, extending to other properties immediately adjacent to the company’s former address. The contamination was the focus of a New Yorker magazine story and online video published last week titled “The Most Radioactive Place in New York City.” Though the radiation levels are far below those in nuclear wastelands such as Chernobyl or Fukushima, those exposed to the Wolff-Alport contamination for years—including workers or nearby residents—may face health problems in the years to come, including an elevated risk of certain types of cancer. In the last several years, the EPA—acting in conjunction with city and state agencies—conducted initial cleanup efforts, and the Superfund declaration will enable the federal agency to take further steps to prevent long-term exposure. “By placing the Wolff-Alport Chemical Company site on the Superfund list, the EPA can address the contamination to protect people’s health in the long-term,” EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck said in announcing the Superfund status last Thursday. The EPA previously took the following measures to reduce the risk of radioactive exposure in and around the Wolff-Alport site: • A hole in the wall of an unused storage area within nearby I.S. 384 where radioactive gas was detected has since been sealed with concrete. Recent tests found safe levels within the school. • A mitigation system was installed at the Terra Nova Construction Company, located at 1129 Irving Ave.; • Shielding material including lead, steel and concrete were placed beneath building floors and the sidewalk. • A security fence was installed around a vacant contaminated parcel of land adjacent to the former factory and an unused rail spur connecting to the Long Island Rail Road’s Bay Ridge branch. The EPA will fund further cleanup methods while simultaneously seeking the parties legally responsible for the contamination and holding them responsible for all costs incurred. So far, the EPA spent $2 million in remedial efforts at Wolff- Alport, which joins the Newtown Creek and Gowanus Canal as the city’s active Superfund locations. -CONTINUED FROM PG. 1- -CONTINUED FROM PG. 1- hazardous driving summonses (in te 08).”H ellman said the Police Department, through Vision Zero is targeting enforcement against signal violations, improper turns, failure to yield to pedestrians, talking on the phone or texting while driving and speeding as hazardous driving violations. The 108 has also increased traffic stops for all lesser traffic violations as well, shown in the moving violations numbers reported for March, with a reported 1,019 offenses. For the month, there were 180 summonses for disobeying street signs, 121 for using cell phones and 127 for improper turns while driving, police officials reported. The 108th Precinct is responsible for the neighborhoods of Woodside, Sunnyside and Long Island City. Though enforcement has increased, according to Hellman, Liz Taylor, an UFCA member asked the Capt. why there weren’t more redlight cameras along stretches of Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside and Woodside, and observed she doesn’t often see motorists stopped for violations by police officers. “There are speeders being caught,” Hellman said, in reply, and added, “I’m all for this camera program.” Community Board 2 Chairperson, Joe Conley attended last Thursday’s meeting and related that allocations for red-light cameras are controlled by the state, not the city. “They just increased the allocation of cameras,” Conley said in reply to the speculation that speeding drivers aren’t being deterred or pulled over and traffic enforcement for lesser violations like blocking the crosswalk at an intersection aren’t being enforced in the area. “I got one for blocking the box,” Conley said. Hellman read aloud the accident prone locations in the precinct, intersections where the 108 has received reports of traffic accidents and related injuries in the precinct’s confines in the last 28-day period. At the intersection of Queens Boulevard and Van Dam Street, there were 14 accident injuries and at Borden Avenue and Van Dam Street, there were eight in the 28-day period, Hellman reported. Other accident prone locations included; Queens Boulevard and Thomson Avenue, Borden Avenue and Greenpoint Avenue, 48th Avenue and 30th Place and Queens Boulevard and 39th Street. . “Those are my accident prone locations,” Hellman said. Hellman was asked at the meeting if Traffic Enforcement Agents can stop vehicles for hazardous driving and give out summonses, not just for parking violations. Some agents, depending on their rank can give out moving violations for trucks, and the NYPD does operate a truck enforcement unit, but they are not allowed to give summonses for speeding, red light violations, or stop cars. “No, cause they are not armed,” Hellman said in response. Hellman is recently returned to the 108, and was promoted to his current rank in 2010 at the precinct. He worked the four years in-between at the NYPD office of the chief of transportation. “I am newly assigned, but not new to the 108,” he said. “Here I am, full circle, where I started,” he added. Grand larcenies continue to plague the precinct, Hellman also told the group, specifically “Green Dot” Money Card scams. There are several varieties of this scam, but all generated from the same premise: a person calls on the phone, supposedly in an official capacity from a governmental agency like the IRS, or from a utility company and demands a payment immediately through a money card, with the threat included of cut-off services, or higher tax penalties if none is made. Scammers have called and said “(the) IRS fees will quadruple if they don’t pay by a certain hour,” Hellman said.T here have also been reports of residents receiving calls from purported police officials, informing family members that a loved one has been in an accident, arrested or in some other form of need and that a payment must be received, according to the Capt. “The grand larcenies, they are hitting with the scams,” Hellman said. The IRS and police varieties tend to target new immigrants, according to Hellman. “(The perpetrators) they are very convincing,” said Hellman. “They’re so convincing, they don’t even call their relatives. Be cognizant of these phone calls,” he advised. Identification theft when residents are using their ATM cards has also become an issue in the precinct. Perpetrators can scan your card at the ATM and make a duplicate, Hellman said. “There’s a rash at the TD Banks,” he said. “We think that it’s more prevalent in more banks,” he added, but TD Bank requires customers to file a police complaint to get their money back. “Right now, all we know for sure is it’s at the TD Banks,” he said. “Every precinct is getting hit with these kind of scams,” he said. The United Forties Civic Association meets on the second Thursday of each month, excluding July and August. Meetings are located in the basement of the rectory of St. Teresa’s Church in Woodside, located at 45th St. and 50th Avenue. Meetings begin at 7:30 p.m. Selling A Home Or Car? Renting An Apartment? Let The Times Newsweekly Classified Section Work For You! Call Us At 1-718-821-7500
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