8 AUGUST 22, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
New Forest Park Bandshell gate to lock out noise
BY MAX PARROTT
MPARROTT@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
The Parks Department’s Queens
division recently installed
a gate outside Forest Park
Bandshell parking lot that will
physically enforce a 10 p.m. curfew
in the area.
The installation marks a victory
in Councilman Robert Holden’s
months-long campaign against
car clubs who use the parking
lot to meet in the parking lot
and blast loud music out of their
car stereos.
Holden has worked closely with
the local police precincts on the
issue, urging them in April to be
more vigorous about enforcing
noise violations after a surge of
constituent made 311 complaints
about the noise.
“This gate comes after many
From left, Queens Borough Parks Commissioner Michael Dockett, Forest
and Highland Park Administrator Portia Dyrenforth, Councilman Robert
Holden and Community Board 9 Chair Kenichi Wilson pose with new Forest
Park Bandshell gate. Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
weeks of cooperation between
the community, my office, the
NYPD and Parks Department, who
were all committed to solving a
problem that was disruptive to the
neighborhood,” Holden said. “I’m
happy this teamwork will lead to
the peace and quiet in Forest Park
that my constituents deserve.”
While members of the auto
community claimed that tickets
were not going to stop other
enthusiasts from showing off their
audio systems, which can often cost
between $25,000 to $30,000, a solid
metal gate certainly will.
The Parks Department said that
new swing gates provide better
security for the lot. The installation
of the gates, including ordering
of materials, took about a month
and cost approximately $2,000.
Borough Parks Commissioner
Michael Docket said that the gates
were built with parks department
construction workers.
Along with the gates, the Parks
Department installed new signage
which states the rules, including
the prohibition of amplified sound,
barbecuing and idling.
Firm sues NYPD for bodycam footage of Maspeth shooting
BY MAX PARROTT
MPARROTT@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Nonprofi t law fi rm New York
Lawyers for the Public
Interest (NYLPI) filed a
lawsuit Monday against the New
York City Police Department to
obtain the body camera footage and
911 call tapes from the NYPD’s fatal
shooting of Maspeth resident Susan
Muller last September.
NYPD offi cers, while responding
to a burglary that Muller, 54, called
in herself, shot and killed her on
Sept. 17, 2018, aft er she lunged at the
responding offi cers with a 10-inch
kitchen knife in her home in Queens,
according to police offi cials.
Muller’s irrational behavior
had reportedly been known to
her precinct. Offi cers at the 104th
Precinct, who had responded to
nine 911 calls to her home since 2000,
were familiar with her — but on the
day of her shooting, members of
the 110th, 111th and 114th precincts
responded to the call because they
were covering for 104th Precinct
who were attending a funeral for a
fellow offi cer.
In the wake of the shooting, NYLPI
made a Freedom of Information
Law (FOIL) request for the unedited
audio and video fi les from all of the
body-worn cameras of every offi cer
involved in the incident. The law
fi rm also requested unedited audio
files from the 911 calls made by
Muller that day.
Police enter the 69th Street home in Maspeth following a police-involved shooting on Sept. 17.
Photo by Robert Stridiron/RHS News
Several days aft er the incident,
John Mastronardi, former
commanding offi cer of the 104th
Precinct in Ridgewood, assured
attendees of a community meeting
that at least one or two of the offi cers
at the scene were wearing body
cameras. But the NYLPI claims that
when it attempted to obtain the
footage, the NYPD issued a blanket
denial, and refused to provide even
redacted portions of audio and video
fi les.
Following a separate NYLPI
lawsuit, the state Supreme Court
ordered the NYPD in June to turn
over unedited body cam footage in
the fatal police shooting of Miguel
Richards, an individual with
disabilities.
Ruth Lowenkron, director of the
disability justice program at NYLPI,
along with former NYPD Assistant
Commissioner Stuart Parker and
legal counsel at Milbank, fi led the
suit.
“We should not have to take the
NYPD to court repeatedly to confi rm
the public’s right under FOIL to
view body-worn camera footage of
tragic incidents where people with
disabilities who call 911 are shot by
police offi cers,” said Lowenkron.
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