WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MAY 27, 2021 11
NYC’s #1 Source for Political & Election News
Meng joins Biden for signing of COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
CMOHAMED@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
President Joe Biden on Thursday,
May 20, signed the COVID-19
Hate Crimes Act into law to help
combat the rising hate and violence
against Asian Americans during the
pandemic.
In his speech, Biden thanked both
Democrats and Republicans for passing
the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act,
which received bipartisan support in
Congress — something that hasn’t happened
for far too long in Washington,
Biden said. The president said he hopes
the signing ceremony, which comes
during Asian American and Pacifi c
Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, sends
a message to the Asian American community:
“We see you.”
“For centuries, Asian Americans,
Native Hawaiians, Pacifi c Islanders,
diverse and vibrant communities,
have helped build this nation only to
be oft en stepped over, forgotten or
ignored,” Biden said. “My message to
all of those who are hurting is, we see
you. And the Congress has said, we see
you. And we are committed to stop the
U.S. President Joe Biden signs the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law.
Photo by Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS
hatred and the bias.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, the
first woman and person of Asian
descent to hold the offi ce, thanked
lawmakers for their work on the
legislation.
“To the members of our United States
Congress on both sides of the aisle who
helped pass the COVID-19 Hate Crimes
Act, thank you,” Harris said. “Because
of you, history will remember this day
and this moment when our nation took
action to combat hate.”
The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act will
establish an offi ce in the Department of
Justice to facilitate an expedited review
of COVID-19 hate crimes, encourage
more reporting of incidents in multiple
languages, and help make diff erent
communities feel more empowered to
come forward and report incidents. It
would also direct federal agencies to
work with community-based organizations
to raise awareness of hate crimes
during the pandemic.
The bill, reintroduced by Queens
Congresswoman Grace Meng and
Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) in March,
was passed in the House of Representatives
on May 19 with a vote of 364-62
following last month’s approval in the
Senate by a vote of 94 to 1. An enrollment
ceremony was held on Capitol
Hill following the passage of the bill
in both chambers of Congress, which
was printed on parchment paper
and signed by House and Senate offi
cials, and sent to the president for
signature.
Truly heartened by the moment of
the signing of her bill into law, Meng
said she is “proud to have championed
this issue of fi ghting for the safety of
Asian Americans.” Aft er the event,
Meng was presented with a pen that the
president used to sign her legislation.
The congresswoman noted that she
is also pushing additional eff orts to
break down stereotypes and negative
perceptions of Asian Americans including
an initiative to promote the teaching
of Asian Pacifi c American history in
schools across the United States.
Adams makes mayoral case before Schneps Media’s editorial board
BY ARIEL PACHECO
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
As the issue of crime continues
to rise in the city, leading mayoral
candidate Eric Adams today
pushed back on the idea that only
mental health professionals should
answer calls where there is a mental
health crisis, without the assistance
of a police offi cer.
Adams’ comments came as he
sat down with the Schneps Media’s
editorial board, where the current
Brooklyn borough president touched
on several topics ranging from aff ordable
housing to crime to rezoning.
“That sending only mental health
professionals is reckless and that is
irresponsible,” Adams said. “Every
call of a mental health person is
not merely that someone is feeling
depressed.”
Adams pointed to instances where
incidents did turn violent and says
there needs to be a combination of
the two.
“If the call for service is dealing
with a person that is not violent, no
imminent threat or danger, have a
mental health professional go,” Adams
said. “We should also have that
police offi cer on backup just in case.”
Additionally, Adams looks to fi x
the aff ordable housing crisis through
various methods like basement apartments,
apartment sharing and shared
living spaces that are used in parts of
Europe. This is also part of his plan
to help with homelessness, as Adams
says he wants to retrofi t hotels and
move away from shelters.
A real-time system will be built to
analyze the pool of apartments that
are currently built, but where the area
median income (AMI) is too high.
“We need to think not outside the
box, but we have to destroy the box,”
Adams said. Adams is in support of
the SoHo/NoHo rezoning plan. The
plan would add aff ordable housing
to two of the more affl uent neighborhoods
in the city.
“We’ve had an improper approach
to affordable housing in this city.
We’ve upzoned poorer communities,
ignored affl uent areas. I say let’s upzone
those areas as well as 42nd Street
to 14th Street, from Ninth Avenue to
Park Avenue.”
He says this would solve multiple
problems like diversifying schools
that are segregated.
“We can get a better return on
our investment by upzoning these
areas.”
Adams believes the Brooklyn-
Queens Expressway (BQE) fi x should
come from state funding, but if it does
fall in the hands of the city, jobs can
be created to “reimagine” the BQE.
This would include putting it on the
ground level, submerging it in some
areas and creating a park over the
structure.
“This is an excellent opportunity to rethink
how we’re gonna use that BQE.”
Read more on PoliticsNY.com.
Eric Adams
File photo by Jessica Parks
PoliticsNY.com PoliticsNYnews PoliticsNYnews PoliticsNYnews
link
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
/PoliticsNY.com
/PoliticsNY.com
link
link
link
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
/PoliticsNY.com
/PoliticsNY.com
link
link
