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RT09172015

4 TIMES • SEPTEMBER 17, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.timesnewsweekly.com Past & present 104 commanders tackle drug crime BY KELLY MARIE MANCUSO editorial@queenscourier.com @KellyMMancuso A former 104th Precinct commander is helping his old command tackle narcotics crime in the area, the precinct’s current boss told residents during the Sept. 15 104th Precinct Community Council meeting at St. Matthias School in Ridgewood. Capt. Mark Wachter said that Inspector Michael Cody, who led the 104th Precinct between June 2011 and February 2013, now commands the Queens Narcotics Division, and worked in close partnership with the 104th Precinct to crack down on drug activity in the area. “Over the summer, we made a lot of narcotics arrests,” he observed. “This is a good move. Inspector Cody used to be a commanding offi cer here. He knows the spots and is loyal to the community. We’ve partnered up on a lot of narcotics investigations.” One such investigation led to the recent break-up of a drug ring operating out of a Ridgewood bodega. According to Wachter, the deli was used as a base of operations in which drugs like cocaine were packaged, sold and distributed throughout the neighborhood. In another case, a vehicle stop over the summer yielded more than 400 vials of “Hydro” or synthetic marijuana. According to Wachter, Inspector Cody is also involved with the investigation of the gunpoint robbery of a pharmacy at 60-61 Myrtle Ave. on Sept. 10 in which the suspect demanded the powerful narcotic oxycodone. Wachter called drug abuse “a big problem” in the community, with a high demand for such prescription narcotics on the black market. Even so, Wachter reported that overall crime is dropping around the 104th Precinct, with sharp decreases in grand larceny, burglaries and auto thefts during the summer months. Year-to-date, the precinct had 100 fewer crimes reported. “We’re heading in the right direction,” he explained. “One hundred crimes down is a hundred less victims.” Wachter credits the joint effort between community members and police with the decrease in major crime in the area. “We’re doing very good, and a lot of that has to do with the community helping us, the police, out,” Wachter said. “You live here, you work here, you know when something is suspicious and we appreciate that information. This is a partnership and it’s working well. With cooperation from the community, we can solve a lot of crimes.” Wachter and the 104th Precinct Community Council honored Offi cer Colinton Coronado and Offi cer Hector Valdez with Cop of the Month awards for their dedication and valiant crime-stopping efforts throughout the summer. Both offi cers are part of the precinct’s Conditions Unit, which operates overnight and deals with a host of issues including narcotics, community complaints and quality-oflife concerns. In the past two months, both Coronado and Valdez were responsible for fi ve narcotics arrests, two robbery arrests, D.W.I. busts and one burglary arrest involving a break-in at home on Stephen Street in Ridgewood. The offi cers and Wachter were also part of a team that was responsible for what the captain deemed a “major seizure” of fi reworks in the community. According to Wachter, the 104th Precinct led the city in fi reworks arrests and confi scations this year, with many offi cers volunteering to work on the busy July Forth holiday as an added precaution. Captain Wachter praised the offi cers, calling them “jacks of all trades” due to their success in a number of areas. He also thanked them for bringing their families and children to the ceremony. “This is really great for the communities to see,” he said. He and Precinct Council President Len Santoro presented the offi cers with plaques donated by the Ridgewood Times. In another gesture of gratitude, members of the Highland Park Civic Association presented Captain Wachter with a special citation for his service and dedication to the neighborhood. Photos by Kelly Marie Mancuso 104th Precinct Community Council President Len Santoro (left) with Officer Hector Valdez, Captain Mark Wachter, Officer Colinton Coronado and their families during the Cop of the Month awards at the 104th Precinct Community Council meeting. Opponents slam Glendale yeshiva dorms BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport Residents packed the CNL Center at Christ the King Regional High School in Middle Village on Sept. 9 to speak out on the proposed expansion of Glendale’s Yeshiva Godolah Seminary (YGS) during a Community Board 5 public hearing. Many in attendance opposed the YGS plan for a Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) zoning variance allowing the seminary at 74-10 88th St. to build an extension to combine the two buildings on the campus into one, fourstory building, adding more dormitories and bathrooms. “The building itself, as it stands, will remain,” said attorney Jay Goldstein, who represents the yeshiva. “The enlargement will be the onestory portion closest to The yeshiva is not seeking an enlargement of the building to increase the population of the school. The population of the school is going to remain the same.” --Jay Goldstein, Yeshiva Attorney 88th Street that will receive three additional fl oors which will be dormitory rooms, and then there will be a four-story addition with a cellar which will act as a gymnasium, also classrooms and the additional dorm space.” In the variance, the YGS seeks to reclassify the yeshiva as a religious school, since the building’s use is not permitted under the existing manufacturing zoning for the site, which is in an M1-1 zoning district. “The yeshiva currently has 1,050 students,” Goldstein said. “Those students are extremely cramped within the learning space they are in right now … and the yeshiva seeks to expand to allow them to have extra classrooms so that they can have a better learning experience.” Currently, the yeshiva has 360 dorm beds and seeks to expand to 710 dorm beds for the current student population. “The yeshiva is not seeking an enlargement of the building to increase the population of the school. The population of the school is going to remain the same,” Goldstein assured the board. Opponents of the variance pointed back to 2006, when the yeshiva was constructed. According to Dawn Scala, a Glendale resident, the original certifi - cate of occupancy (C of O) for the yeshiva listed on the Department of Buildings’ website did not mention dorms on the site. “In October of 2007, another temporary C of O was issued. This time it did mention accessory offi ces and dorms,” Scala said. “In January of 2008 a fi nal C of O was issued and it mentions … accessory offi ces and dorms. So I looked at the zoning regulations and I discovered the following … sleeping accommodations TIMES NEWSWEEKLY (USPS 465-940) is published weekly by Schneps NY Media LLC, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. Periodicals postage paid at Flushing, NY. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Times Newsweekly/Ridgewood Times, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. are not allowed in M1-1 zone.” This raised questions as to the legality of the current dorms at the yeshiva. S e v e r a l board members and residents also raised concerns over what adding more dormitories and bathrooms would do to the already stressed sewer system in Glendale. “Now the dormitory situation is still the same as it was in 2006, we have a faulty infrastructure in Glendale, as the chair will tell you,” said Kathy Masi, CB 5 member. “We’re doing sewers regularly, we’re doing roads regularly, we’re trying to get caught up, and I just feel, as I did in 2006, that the impact on this is going to be terrible for the community.” Although the community has concerns over the expansion, the YGS believes that if the BSA grants the variance for the extension, it will benefi t the community by lowering the number of buses the yeshiva requires to transport students to and from their homes in Williamsburg to the school each day. “By allowing for the additional beds it will signifi cantly reduce the number of buses that travel back and forth every day,” Goldstein said. “It’s anticipated that the number of buses will be cut, approximately, in half.”


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