8 SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Middle Village native named acting
commissioner of Dept. of Sanitation
BY JACOB KAYE
JKAYE@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed
Middle Village native Edward
Grayson to serve as
the acting commissioner of the New
York City Department of Sanitation on
Friday, Sept. 18.
“Edward Grayson is the kind of experienced,
steady hand New York’s
Strongest needs to lead the department
through this transitional period,”
de Blasio said. “I’m grateful for his
service, and I look forward to working
with him to give New Yorkers the safe,
livable communities they deserve.”
Grayson, who was born and raised
in Middle Village, served as the director
of DSNY’s Bureau of Cleaning and
Collection prior to his appointment
as the acting commissioner of the
department. A longtime employee of
the sanitation department, Grayson
begin with the agency in 1999.
“When I was a kid, I always wanted
to be a sanitation worker, because my
dad was one,” Grayson said. “Every
single member of this Department is
someone’s family, but during these
unprecedented times, we are each other’s
family, too, and I promise to never
Edward Grayson (middle) was recently named acting commissioner of the city’s Department of Sanitation.
Photo via Facebook/Department of Sanitation
forget that. I want to thank Mayor de
Blasio for the confi dence he has placed
in me, and Commissioner Garcia for
the example she has set of competent,
forward looking leadership and commitment
to sustainability – a commitment
DSNY will not abandon.”
Grayson’s 21 years with the department
follow a family history with the
agency – his father was a life-long
sanitation worker and his mother was
a recycling outreach coordinator during
the rollout of the city’s recycling
program in the 1990s.
As acting commissioner, Grayson
fi lls the void left by Kathryn Garcia,
who stepped down from the post in
early September.
Garcia is largely expected to run for
mayor of New York City in 2021.
Middle Village expeditor arrested, charged after forging
Department of Environmental Protection permits: DA
BY JACOB KAYE
JKAYE@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
A Middle Village expeditor has
been arrested after allegedly
forging documents he
submitted to the city’s Department of
Environmental Protection, the New
York City Department of Investigation
announced on Thursday.
Sean Kelly, 40, has been charged
with attempted forgery and criminal
possession of a forged instrument
after he allegedly submitted falsified
two DEP water meter installation
permits for a school to the DEP’s
office in the Bronx, according to the
DOI. Kelly, who forged the documents
in his Middle Village home,
is being prosecuted in Queens by
District Attorney Melinda Katz.
“Rules and regulations are in place
for a reason — to protect the public,”
Katz said. “The defendant in this
case is accused of circumventing
procedures to ensure safe installation
of water meters at a school.
Underhanded maneuvers like this
put people at risk.”
Investigators first got wind of
the scheme when a Bronx borough
permit supervisor with the DEP
reported to the DOI that she had
received two allegedly falsified DEP
water meter installation permits for
a charter school at 411 Wales Ave.,
in the Bronx, on June 27, 2019. The
DEP had no record of the permit
number on the documents, nor did
they have record of the required $35
filing fee.
Kelly later claimed that he was
under pressure to file the forms and
rather than wait in line to file them,
he created them on his computer in
Middle Village, according to the DOI.
Neither Kelly’s client nor a plumber
who signed off on the permits, knew
the permits were fake, the DOI said.
However, it wasn’t the first time
Kelly had falsified documents.
During their investigation, the
DEP found two other fraudulent
permits submitted to the Queens
DEP in February 2019 in connection
with a water meter installation at a
residential building located at 21-22
Steinway St. According to the DOI,
Kelly admitted to submitting multiple
fraudulent permits.
All of the locations where Kelly allegedly
falsified permits, have since
passed inspection by the DEP.
Kelly is scheduled to appear in
Queens Criminal Court on Dec. 16.
Photo via Getty Images
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