8 AUGUST 24, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Homeless hotel
notice bill gets
a companion in
state capitol
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@QNS.COM
@ROBBPOZ
A week aft er Councilman Eric
Ulrich introduced a bill
that would require hotels
to tell guests if they’re housing
homeless people, two state lawmakers
who cover areas of his
Queens district have draft ed a
similar bill that they plan to bring
to the State Capitol.
State Senator Joe Addabbo, based
in Howard Beach, and Woodhaven
based Assemblyman Mike
Miller said on Aug. 17 they would
bring to Albany their own version
of Ulrich’s city-level legislation that
would mandate hotel management
to post signs indicating to customers
that they have homeless people
staying there. Employees would
also need to verbally inform them
of the same during check-in.
Ulrich said that his legislation
would compel hotels and the Department
of Homeless Services
(DHS) to be more transparent with
the public about where homeless
people are being sheltered. In recent
years, the city and other agencies
have turned to Queens hotels
to provide temporary shelter for
homeless individuals, sometimes
with little or delayed notice.
The bill that Addabbo and Miller
plan to introduce mirrors that goal
by requiring hotel management
to inform their guests if they have
entered into a contract with a city
or state entity to house homeless
people. They stressed that the legislation,
like Ulrich’s, isn’t an attack on
homeless people — but merely a way
to better inform the public while
also potentially discouraging the
use of hotels as homeless shelters.
“Paying customers have the
right to know what an establishment
they intend to lodge at is
doing,” Miller said. “We have an
obligation to be transparent about
where homeless families and individuals
are being housed.”
“This legislation is not in any
way intended to hurt homeless
individuals and families living in
hotels in Queens or throughout
the fi ve boroughs, but it is an effort
to ensure that the city hears
loud and clear that this type of
housing to address the homeless
crisis is not working, and is almost
always completely inappropriate
for those in need,” Addabbo added.
Community comes together to serve
‘quality meals’ to homeless
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
Four local congregations in
Ridgewood and Middle Village
are coming together to help
feed the homeless with hot meals
through their expanded meals
program.
Since June, St. Matthias Church,
All Saints American Old Catholic
Community, Trinity Lutheran
Church, and Pastor Henry Fury’s
Presbyterian mission have been
providing a meals program where
volunteers from the parishes cook
and serve hot meals to homeless
people of the neighborhoods.
These churches already have
their own meals programs, such as
St. Matthias Church’s day program
where they serve hot lunches fi ve
days a week, and All Saints’ Sunday
morning breakfast ministry where
they give out hot breakfasts for the
community.
This mission, which is being
housed out of St. Matthias Church,
brings volunteers from the diff erent
churches to Ridgewood on their assigned
days to cook hot meals on-site
and serve the meals. The program is
run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays.
Father Mike Lopez, pastor of All
Saints, says that these events are
open to the entire community, but
about 95 percent of those that show
up to get a hot meal are homeless.
“It’s not just soups and sandwiches
Four parishes in Middle Village and Ridgewood are helping to feed
the homeless.
we are giving out,” he said. “We try
to do quality, hot-cooked meals. We
have done Polish sausage and potato
meals, pasta meals and Spanish food.
We try to mix it up because these
people who come to receive these
meals come from diff erent cultures
and backgrounds. We want to make
them feel that they are getting more
than just a meal; they are part of the
community.”
And the community is pitching in
to help this multi-parish initiative.
Northside Bakery in Glendale
has donated bread to the meals program,
Lopez said, as well as other
local restaurants that have made
donations.
Lopez mentioned that this type of
hot meals program was not his, or
any of the other churches’, original
brainchild. This has been done in
Ridgewood before by Fury when his
congregation was much larger. Over
the years, however, the congregation
Photo via Shutterstock
shrunk and the program was halted.
Now that it is up and running
again, Lopez is happy to see so many
people take advantage of getting the
hot meals.
“I think one of the big things about
it is we are not just serving meals,”
Lopez said. “We are accompanying
the homeless. We are serving them
with dignity. No one gets on a line;
we serve them at table with dishes
and silverware. We do our best to
serve them in other ways as well.
We are living our faith. The diff erent
churches put aside what may be our
theological diff erences and come
together for this.”
If anyone, or any company or
faith-based service is interested in
volunteering or making donations
to the hot meals program, Lopez
encourages everyone to reach out
to him by phone at 347-592-5423 or
by email at frmikenyc@aol.com.
Fresh Pond Road festival returns this September
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
The annual Fresh Pond Road
Street Festival is coming back
to Ridgewood this September
for two days of fun, food, music and
entertainment.
The Federazione Italo-Americana
Di Brooklyn and Queens will hold the
23rd annual street fair on Saturday,
Sept. 9, and Sunday, Sept. 10. It will
close down a portion of Fresh Pond
Road for a fi ve-block stretch between
Palmetto and Menahan streets.
Residents from all over Queens
are invited to partake in the two-day
event celebrating Italian culture in
Ridgewood.
“This is an annual tradition and
we’re proud to be able to share
this tradition with the community
each year, where people of
all ages can come and enjoy the
food, entertainment and rides,”
said Michael Conigliaro, managing
director and adviser of the
Federazione. “As the years go
on, people who move out of the
neighborhood get the opportunity
to come back and enjoy time in
the neighborhood and enjoy the
amenities of the festival.”
The festival will run from noon to
10 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to 9 p.m.
on Sunday.
Aside from food and drink vendors,
fun games, rides and live entertainment,
the festival will also have
vendors handing out important and
benefi cial information to the public in
the areas of education and healthcare
issues.
All new vendors and not-for-profi t
organizations are welcome to join the
festival and set up a booth. Anyone interested
in vending at the festival are
asked to call Lucy Dolce, the project
director, or Conigliaro at 347-702-1433
and 917-304-6329, respectively.
The festival, however, has seen its
share of controversy over the years.
Neighbors have raised concerns
over the festival’s usual four-day span,
the traffi c it causes by shutting down
a portion of a major thoroughfare in
Ridgewood, the garbage left by some
of the vendors aft er the festival, and
even claimed cases of violence.
Back in February, Community
Board 5 (CB 5) voted again against
the request for a four-day festival
this year, and the Mayor’s Office
agreed, limiting the festival to only
a weekend.
