8 AUGUST 23, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Police release another warning amidst mail fi shing spike
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
Offi cers from the 104th Precinct
are again warning the residents
of Ridgewood, Glendale,
Middle Village and Maspeth that
mailbox fi shing is on the rise aft er
reports of the crime have continued
to skyrocket over the past two weeks.
In a community alert sent out on
Aug. 15, Detective Thomas Bell of the
Community Aff airs Unit warned residents
that the precinct now has 38
reports of mailbox fi shing this year,
and 19 over the past 28-day period.
While most of the reports have been
in Glendale, Bell said, the threat is to the
entire precinct because “these criminals
can shift locations at any time.”
The alert is notable for its addition
to a previous alert released by the precinct
on Aug. 2 that reported 15 mailbox
fishing reports had been received
during the previous 28-day period.
The precinct also updated its list of
mailboxes that have been hit, some of
which have already been retrofi tted in
an attempt to prevent theft s:
69-36 Myrtle Ave. (near the Glendale
USPS station)
Gates Avenue and Seneca Avenue,
Ridgewood
67th Place and Myrtle Avenue,
Glendale
Fresh Pond Road and 59th Drive,
Maspeth
Menahan Street and Grandview
Avenue, Ridgewood
76th Street and Myrtle Avenue,
Glendale
64th Place and Cooper Avenue,
Glendale
79th Place and 77th Avenue,
Glendale
Fresh Pond Road and Putnam Avenue,
Ridgewood
75th Street and 78th Avenue,
Glendale
71-17 69th Street, Glendale (new)
64th Street and 68th Avenue, Ridgewood
(new)
61st Street and Maspeth Avenue,
Maspeth (new)
St. Felix Avenue and Seneca Avenue,
Ridgewood (new)
71st Street and Myrtle Avenue, Glendale
(new)
77-16 64th St., Glendale (new)
69-35 Myrtle Ave., Glendale (new)
64th Lane and 80th Avenue, Glendale
(new)
21-10 Grove St., Ridgewood (new)
60th Street and 60th Road, Maspeth
(new)
“We have been in contact with the
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Postal Inspectors for the area who
are currently investigating right along
side our detectives,” Bell said. “We are
hopeful all of the mailboxes in the area
will be retrofi tted with the new boxes,
which should curtail most of these
theft s.”
USPS mailboxes
Ozone Park activist ends hunger strike over homeless shelter
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
The city may be willing to negotiate
with the residents of Ozone
Park over a controversial homeless
shelter, according to a local resident
who staged a hunger strike in front of
the site that sent him to the hospital.
Sam Esposito announced on Aug.
21 in a Facebook post that he has confi
rmed a meeting with a "major public
offi cial" who is interested in discussing
the residents' concerns with a
shelter for 113 mentally ill homeless
men on 101st Avenue and 86th Street.
On Aug. 22, Esposito said in another
post that he received two phone calls
from two "very infl uential elected
offi cials" who want to intervene on
behalf of Ozone Park.
"I am extremely hopeful and I think
we can resolve this situation in a
manner, which will be safe for Ozone
Park," Esposito wrote. "Thank you to
everyone who signed the petitions,
the City Council wants to review
the petitions. We really did make a
diff erence together."
Esposito added that he would not
reveal the public offi cial until aft er
the meeting "to avoid anyone trying
to interfere with our eff orts or sabotage
our meeting."
Aft er organizing a massive town
hall meeting in July with offi cials
The tent on 101st Avenue where Sam Esposito (inset) stayed during his hunger strike in Ozone Park.
from the Department of Homeless
Services and hiring a lawyer to fi le
suit against the city, Esposito took it
even further by launching a hunger
strike in August. For two weeks,
Esposito camped in a tent on the
sidewalk in front of the shelter and
refused to eat until offi cials agreed
to meet with the community to hear
their concerns.
The strike came to an end on Aug. 20
when Esposito began to feel ill and his
blood pressure spiked, sending him
to Jamaica Hospital for evaluation,
Photos By Ryan Kelley/QNS
according to another Facebook post.
Other than some vitamin defi ciencies,
doctors told Esposito that he would be
fi ne, he wrote.
Despite the scare, it appears that
"something good came out of this aft er
all," Esposito wrote.
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