14 NOVEMBER 29, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Building collapse forces Animal Pantry in Ozone Park to close
BY NAEISHA ROSE
NROSE@CNGLOCAL.COM
On the eve of Small Business
Saturday, Animal Pantry
Ozone Park, a mom-and-pop pet
supply store, was issued a vacate order
by the city’s Department of Buildings
aft er a part of the facility collapsed,
according to Councilman Eric Ulrich.
Animal Pantry Ozone Park is located
at 137-20 Cross Bay Blvd. and off ers pet
apparel, aquatic pets, pet grooming
services and pet food, according to its
Facebook page.
There were no pets or people injured
during the Nov. 23 collapse, according
to Animal Pantry’s Facebook
page, but the family-owned business is
closed for the foreseeable future.
“It is with a heavy heart that we are
announcing Animal Pantry will be
closed until further notice. Due to
construction behind our store, our
foundation was ripped out from under
us, causing our back wall to collapse,”
according to a post on Animal Pantry’s
Facebook page.
The FDNY requested a structural
stability inspection by the DOB on Nov.
23 due to cracks on the wall and the
danger of it falling some more, according
to the Department of Buildings.
The DOB inspected the collapse
area and made comments about the
rear wall of the Animal Pantry being
exposed and its potential for further
collapse the same day, according to
nyc.gov.
Animal Pantry credited the rescue
of all their animals on Nov. 25 to Ulrich,
who — aft er learning of the situation
— got in touch with an Emergency Response
Team and representatives of
the DOB for the rapid assessment of the
building. The Buildings Department
allowed for the retrieval of the animals,
according to the pet supply store.
“I was glad to assist the owners of Pet
Pantry safely remove all the animals
that were trapped in the building. I’d
like to thank the Department of Buildings
for their collaborative eff ort and
their swift action,” Ulrich said.
Animal Pantry was able to rescue
cats, dogs, reptiles and mice, according
to the mom-and-pop store on Facebook.
“Thank you to everyone for your concern.
We will now deal with the rest of
this mess, our building is still collapsing,”
according to a post by Animal Pantry.
Photo courtesy of Robert Stridiron
Animal Pantry Ozone Park does
not have any plans to open again
anytime soon at its current location,
because of the severity of the
damage to its building, according to
a Facebook post. Several members
of the local community have since
flooded Ulrich’s social media pages
and Animal Pantry’s Facebook page
offering to care for any displaced
animal.
Animal Pantry was issued a vacate order after a wall collapsed.
Queens state senator Jose Peralta, 47, remembered as fi ghter
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@CNGLOCAL.COM
The crowd of mourners at St.
Joan of Arc Church in Jackson
Heights spilled out into the
foyer of the large house of worship on
Tuesday morning.
State Senator Jose Peralta, who died
on Nov. 21 at age 47 from an illness,
was remembered fondly for his advocacy
for the underrepresented such as
undocumented immigrants and the
LGBT community by fellow Queens
elected offi cials.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea
Stewart-Cousins and Mayor Bill de
Blasio attended the funeral on Tuesday
morning along with Councilman
Daniel Dromm, who shared a district
with Peralta.
“Jose was a fi ghter for those who
did not have the voice,” Dromm said.
“He was a fi ghter for our immigrant
community. He was the main sponsor
of the DREAM Act, he was a fi ghter for
LGBT rights when nobody else would
be there for us. He voted for marriage
equality. He always spoke up for the
little person, he always spoke up for
the voiceless.”
Borough President Melinda Katz
commented on the fact that although
Peralta fell out of favor with much of
community by defecting the Independent
Democratic Conference in 2017,
paying proper respect to the lifelong
public servant now a top priority.
“There’s a lot of politics, but at the
end of the day our families and friendships
transcend that,” Katz said. “As is
self-evident today, nobody knows our
future. This should be a message to
take nothing for granted as we move
along day-to-day. At the end of the day,
we all want the same thing which is a
great future for our family.”
Councilman Barry Grodenchik,
who served in the state Assembly with
Peralta, tearfully remembered Peralta
as a close friend of his.
“He always had a smile on his face
through some of the darkest moments
shared politically, we’d always
laugh,” Grodenchik said outside the
church, before turning to the topic of
passing the DREAM Act. “We have an
overwhelming Democratic majority
in Albany so there’s really no excuses
are there.”
The Independent Democratic
Conference was a group of eight state
senators who broke away from the
mainstream Democratic Party to caucus
among themselves and negotiated
with Republicans to pass progressive
legislation.
Intensely opposed by Democrats
across the state, the majority of former
IDC members, who had disbanded in
April, were voted out of offi ce in the
September Democratic primary.
Peralta was among them, having lost
his seat to Jessica Ramos.
Peralta was a constant champion
for the DREAM Act, for which he was
a primary sponsor, and near the end
of his life issued a resolution hoping
to make New York a sanctuary state.
There is currently a push led by Congressman
Adriano Espaillat to name
the DREAM Act in honor of Peralta if
it is passed and signed into law.
Peralta holds the honor of being the
fi rst Dominican American elected to
the state Senate.
Photo by Bruce Adler
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