4 AUGUST 12, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Neighborhood leaders, residents protest
Kew Gardens community-based jail
BY JULIA MORO
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
More than three dozen community
members and leaders
from across Queens
gathered on Friday, Aug. 6, to protest
the construction of a controversial
community-based jail in Kew Gardens.
The jail, located on Union Turnpike
near Queens Criminal Court, broke
ground in June. It will be 19 stories, 1.4
million square feet and will hold about
886 inmates.
The borough-based jail was approved
aft er the New York City Council
approved plans in 2019 to close the
detention facility on Rikers Island by
2026. To go forward with closing the
10,000-bed facility, the city plans to
build smaller jails in Brooklyn, Manhattan,
Queens and the Bronx to house
the inmates currently at Rikers.
But protestors expressed their support
for fi xing and rebuilding Rikers
instead of moving inmates to their
community.
Councilman Robert Holden, the
only elected offi cial at the rally, said
Rikers Island should be rebuilt with
mental health facilities available and
a courthouse.
“The mayor doesn’t want to do that,
and my City Council colleagues would
rather close Rikers as a symbol of
mass incarceration,” Holden said. “It’s
going to cost a lot more money, we don’t
have that money and we’d rather put
it into the infrastructure of the city.”
Holden, whose Council District
30 doesn’t include Kew Gardens,
criticized his colleagues for not showing
up to the rally and encouraged
residents not to vote for anyone who
supports this community-based jail
and closing Rikers.
Republican mayoral candidate Curtis
Sliwa also spoke at the rally, saying
there is no money for community jails.
“Bill de Blasio, who has single-handedly
destroyed our city, is leaving behind
a $6 billion growing debt,” Sliwa
said. “How are you going to fi nance
new community jails?”
Donghui Zang, one of the protest
organizers, said that Republicans and
Democrats had come together on this
issue to stop the building of the Kew
Gardens jail.
“The community does not want it,”
Zang said. “This is our community, our
streets, our schools and our children
— we don’t want the jail. It costs $8.7
billion. Keep Rikers open. We have
homeless that need to be taken care of
and schools that need money.”
The mayor’s offi ce did not respond to
QNS’ request for comment by publication
time.
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Chaos broke out at the Palace of
Zuly bar in Ridgewood early
last month and police from
the 104th Precinct are looking for
the members of a mob who sent two
middle aged men who were sent to
area hospitals.
On Saturday, July 3, around 4 a.m.
a 50-year-old man and a 60-year-old
man were leaving the bar, located at
913 Wyckoff Ave. along the Queens/
Brooklyn border, when they got
in a verbal dispute with a younger
crowd of men and women, according
to the NYPD.
Video surveillance shows the pack
of teens and 20-year-olds chasing the
victims to the corner of Wyckoff Avenue
and Madison Street where the
two victims were assaulted, striking
them repeatedly with baseball bats
and other objects, police said.
The attack ended with the assailants
fl eeing southbound on Wyckoff
Avenue.
The 50-year-old was stabbed in
the torso by one of the crowd and
EMS transported him to Brookdale
Hospital in stable condition, police
said.
The 60-year-old sustained a laceration
to the head and was knocked
unconscious. He was taken to Elmhurst
Hospital in stable condition,
according to the NYPD.
No arrests have been made, and
the investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information in regard
to the identity of the suspects is
asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers
Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477)
or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA (74782).
The public can also submit their tips
by logging onto the CrimeStoppers
website at nypdcrimestoppers.com,
or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls
are kept confi dential.
Councilman Robert Holden speaks at the Kew Gardens community-based
jail protest. Photo by Julia Moro
Two middle aged men
attacked by younger
crowd in Ridgewood
/nypdcrimestoppers.com
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