14 times • JUNE 11, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.timesnewsweekly.com Ridgewood group eyes NYPD roster and homelessness BY KELLY MARIE MANCUSO editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com @ridgewoodtimes 4 The Courier sun • JUNE 11, 2015 for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com Queens pols look to make Diwali official public school holiday bY angeLa MatUa editorial@queenscourier.com @AngelaMatua Several Queens elected officials are trying to make Diwali, the South Asian Festival of Lights, an official public school holiday. State Senator Leroy Comrie and Assemblyman Michael Miller held a press conference on June 6 calling for passage of Senate Bill S5304 and Assembly Bill A4331, which would honor a holiday celebrated by many people of Hindu, Jain and Sikh faiths. According to the U.S. Census, approximately 207,414 New York City residents identify themselves as Asian Indian and many of them celebrate Hiring more police officers and reducing homelessness were hot topics during the Ridgewood Property Owners and Civic Association (RPOCA) meeting on June 4 at the Ridgewood Older Adult Center. According to Captain Mark Wachter, the 104th Precinct has witnessed a 9.5 percent drop in the seven major crime categories. Problems plaguing the command include an upswing in identity theft, scams and theft of unattended property, such as wallets and laptop computers left in cars. Even so, crime is up in other parts of the city, and Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley noted the City Council wants funds to hire more police officers included in 2016 fiscal year budget. According to Crowley, Commissioner Bratton approached the City Council and requested funds to hire 500 extra police officers, primarily for the city’s anti-terrorism task force. However, Crowley estimates the need for more officers to be double that amount. “It’s rare that you even have a commissioner of an agency that disagrees with a mayor,” Crowley said. “But the truth of the matter is, he could use a thousand more police officers.” Crowley estimates that the police department spends roughly $700 million dollars in overtime pay to officers each year. “If you add enough resources to pay people straight time…you would save a significant amount of money by not having to pay time and a half,” she added. She proposed deploying the additional 500 officers Bratton requested to problem areas throughout the city, including troubled neighborhoods such as Brownsville and the South Bronx, which, according to her estimates, have witnessed a 40 percent uptick in major crimes within the past year. Crowley also tackled the issue of homelessness and rent increases, a topic of particular concern to the growing Ridgewood community. “Some people are charging outrageous amounts for rent and it’s driving a lot of families out. This is happening throughout the city,” she explained. As a preventative measure, Crowley announced that she has allocated funds in the budget for the city’s LINK Program. This network of social services is designed to fight homelessness by keeping families out of shelters and helping them stay in their own homes. In addition to vital resources, Crowley said that she had also allocated funds for local trees and park improvements, as well as other capital requests from Community Board 5. This news delighted former RPOCA president Paul Kerzner, who has been advocating for the planting of more trees throughout Ridgewood. Kerzner estimates that roughly $300,000 would be required in the 2016 budget for tree planting in the community. Crowley explained that she had allocated that amount in the previous year’s budget for stump removal and the planting of 100 new trees. the holiday that spans five days. Comrie and Miller are looking to make the third day of the festival, known as Amavasya, a holiday recognized for public schools and city workers. “Just as Diwali symbolizes a renewal of faith and a victory of light over darkness for those of the Indian community, here in Queens and New York State, immigrants come from all over the world to find new beginnings,” Comrie said. “I am proud to carry a bill infused with a spirit of diversity and inclusivity, and to commit myself to integrating the South Asian community’s rich heritage into the greater culture of this state.” Diwali represents the start of the new year on the Hindu calendar. On the third day, millions of people all over the world light lamps to symbolize righteousness light overcoming and dispelling ignorance and darkness. Diwali is a recognized holiday by the city, and the Sanitation Department suspends alternate-side parking for the day. However, Dr. Mohammad Hack, president of Inter-Faith Council for Community Development, doesn’t believe the city goes far enough in recognizing the holiday. “Just as all faiths are protected by the law of the land, equally so should all be able to enjoy the holidays that tie our cultures together,” Hack said. “I want to commend Senator Comrie and Assemblyman Miller for their committed effort to ensure a breakthrough for those celebrating Diwali, so they will be able to enjoy that time with their families.” City Councilman Daniel Dromm introduced a City Council resolution in February, urging the Department of Education and Chancellor Carmen Several Queens elected officials are looking to recognize Diwali as an official public school holiday. Farina to approve a proposal to make Diwali a school holiday. Several Queens city and state officials have signed on as co-sponsors of the bills, including Congressman Gregory Meeks, Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, Photo courtesy of Office of Leroy Comrie Senator Jose Peralta, Assemblyman David Weprin, Councilman I. Daneek Miller and Councilman Donovan Richards. The bill is currently pending a vote in the Senate’s Judiciary Committee. RIDGEWOOD TIMES/Photo by Kelly Marie Mancuso Capt. Mark Wachter, commanding officer of the 104th Precinct, addressed members of the Ridgewood Property Owners and Civic Association on June 4. Railroad officials respond to community concerns bY antHonY giUDiCe agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport It’s been there for more than a century and is being used more frequently than in recent years, yet the Fresh Pond Railyard continues to be a source of friction between its operators and nearby residents. The New York and Atlantic Railway, which leases the Glendale rail yard from the Long Island Rail Road for freight operations, insists only so much can be done to mitigate concerns from local residents while meeting regional transportation needs. “What has happened over the intervening 100 years, as one would expect, the community has undergone expansion and construction where the footprint of the community ends at the footprint of the railroad,” said Paul Victor, New York and Atlantic Railway president. Even with the uptick in railroad activity, Victor said, rail transportation is historically “a fraction of what it was.” “We always try to accommodate as much as we can to local residents, but we can’t really fulfill their wish and not be here because if we’re not here, you have to weigh the historic difference between a railroad moving something and a truck,” Victor said. As it pertains to local concerns over New York and Atlantic Railway’s open Representatives from New York and Atlantic Railway answer some community concerns. top rail cars, Victor said that the waste in those containers is non-organic, non-putrescible waste. It is only construction and demolition waste (C and D), which does not give off offending odors or attract unwanted wildlife. “That has zero impact on the community because it’s no different than a C and D container in the street,” Victor said. “Then, to be fair, you have to cover everything in every street and see what happens to the economy. If that’s what they want, don’t do it to the railroad car only; take every construction site and force it to be covered on every corner.” Residents of Glendale near the Fresh Pond Terminal also raised concerns about hearing trains operating during all hours of the night. “There is no physical way to accommodate the existing traffic in an eighthour window, or a ten-hour window, or even a 12-hour window,” said James Bonner, director of sales and marketing for New York and Atlantic Railway. “The nature of the timing of our interchange for some other agreements we have with other community members is that you’re going to have be operating around the clock, and that’s what we do.” To help alleviate some of the noises made by the trains, New York and Atlantic Railway has recently installed a greaser in the Fresh Pond Photo by Anthony Giudice Terminal, which reduces the squeal of the trains. “We did this specifically because we told CURES Civics United for Railroad Environmental Solutions we were going to do it and we did it,” Victor said. “We talked with them, we said here’s what we can do, we made the investment and put that in.” Mary Parisen, chair of CURES, believes that the C and D waste can cause problems for the neighborhood. “People with respiratory ailments are subject to the dust from the cars when they are being transported and bang together,” Parisen said. “When rain gets in there it can become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.”
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