8 MAY 30, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Ridgewood Tenants press Addabbo Cops seek
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
EDAVENPORT@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Cops are looking for a creep
who tried to grope a teenage
girl while riding the bus
through southwest Queens.
According to police, a 13-
year-old girl was riding the Q11
bus on Woodhaven Boulevard
at 4:40 p.m. on May 22, in the
confines of the 104th Precinct.
As the teen was sitting, an
unknown man tried to grab her
private area.
The victim pushed the
creep’s hand away and moved
to another seat on the bus. She
was not injured as a result of
the incident.
Police described the
perpetrator as a black man
between the ages of 20 and
30 years old. He was last seen
wearing a blue shirt, camouflage
pants and carrying a backpack.
Anyone with information in
regard to the identity of this male
is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime
Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-
TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-
57-PISTA (74782). The public
can also submit their tips by
logging onto the Crime Stoppers
website, nypdcrimestoppers.
com, or on Twitter @
NYPDTips.
All calls and messages are
kept confidential.
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
The Ridgewood Tenants Union
(RTU) is putting pressure on
lawmakers in Albany to sign
onto nine bills that will protect renters
through reforms that will close
loopholes that lead to deregulated
units and other ways neighborhoods
become gentrifi ed.
But what are the nine bills on rent
reform currently in the state?
For starters, S.4169 would
eliminate a statute of limitations
for tenants to file rent overcharge
complaints in regulated apartments.
S.299A would put a cap on the amount
a landlord can increase a rentcontrolled
apartment in relation to
a prior lease.
The package of bills would
also repeal vacancy decontrol,
vacancy bonuses, major capital
improvements and individual
apartment increases. The bills would
also prohibit preferential rent and
eviction without “good cause,” while
establishing the statewide tenant
protection act of 2019.
RTU took aim at state Senator
Joseph Addabbo, who has only
signed onto three of the nine bills,
many of which are still in committee
and even provoked a response from
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.
“We know you support homeowners
in your district, but tenants also
need your support and in fact, the
State Senator Joseph Addabbo at a February 2018 press conference.
small homeowners you support
are also being impacted by the
housing crisis that is hitting tenants
hard,” RTU tweeted at Addabbo on
May 28. “Do the right thing and
stand with us.”
Addabbo did not immediately
respond to a request for comment,
but he is already sponsoring three
rent reform bills, including the
prohibition of preferential rent and
eliminating vacancy bonuses and
vacancy decontrol.
Heastie responded to a campaign
by Housing Justice For All to pass
the bills they believe could halt the
march of gentrification by saying
that their message regarding
Assembly’s effort to update rent laws
was an attack without grounds.
“Despite the coordinated campaign
of misinformation being waged
about our position on strengthening
rent laws, the Assembly Majority has
been and always will be the strongest
supporter of tenant protections and
we will lead the way once again this
year,” Heastie said in a tweet.
Read more at QNS.com.
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
During an appearance at Long
Island City’s LaGuardia
Community College on May
22, presidential candidate Pete
Buttigieg off ered his perspectives
on national issues that could benefi t
New Yorkers.
Buttigieg championed universal
healthcare, implementing grants
to ease the burden of student
loans and overhauling the public
education system in America.
Although the mayor of South
Bend, Indiana only governs a town
of 100,000 in a red state, Buttigieg
sees nothing to lose in progressive
views.
“No matter what I do, they’re going
to call us crazy socialists, so I might
as well do it,” he explained.
Using Obamacare as an example,
which he described as “conservative”
policy, Buttigieg claimed to do
anything with healthcare may
result in being called far left-wing
voice.
For bringing relief to Americans
who owe sometimes up to six figures
in student loans, Buttigieg does not
see the crisis as advanced enough
to call for cancellation of debt.
Instead, he would open up access to
grants in a big way and make public
education less expensive.
“I’m leery about how you do that
in a way that’s fair to the people
who have been struggling for a
long time or have just paid student
loan debt off,” Buttigieg said. “We
need to make sure healthcare
is affordable and accessible
for everybody.”
Buttigieg sees education not
only has something that needs to
be accessible to all, but as system
that needs an overhaul after over
a century on essentially the same
template. Critical thinking and
emotional intelligence are going
to be more important than simple
knowledge in the future, he said.
Buttigieg was in Long Island City
for what Congressman Gregory
Meeks called the first in a series
of “Queens Fireside Chats” with
2020 presidential candidates, and
led this first discussion with NY1
anchor Cheryl Wills.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg in LaGuardia
Community College on May 22.
Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
creep who
rode Q21
‘Mayor Pete’ talks 2020 prez hopes in LIC
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