WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES DECEMBER 26, 2019 15
The top stories from November 2019
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
EDAVENPORT@QNS.COM
@QNS
Here are the top stories from November
2019.
Former CTK board member
says he was let go over racially
charged controversy
Anthony Como, former vice president
of Christ the King High School’s
board of directors, claims that he
was removed from his position in
retaliation for voicing criticism of
the school’s reaction to accusations
of racial insensitivity in 2018.
The school did not allow Malcolm
Xavier Combs, a student named after
the radical black activist, to print
the name “Malcolm X” on his senior
sweater. In April 2018, Combs filed a
complaint with the City Commission
of Human Rights about the school’s
reaction to his senior sweater
request.
Como claims he was forced off of
the board in December of 2018 and
he filed an affidavit the following
April in support of Combs’ complaint,
in addition to a separate verified
complaint that he was terminated
in retaliation for criticizing the
school.
“As a proud graduate of Christ
the King Regional High School and
a dedicated alumni member of the
Board of Directors, I was appalled by
the abuse of power of school officials
and their blatant racism toward one
of our students,” Como said. “I will
fight tirelessly to ensure that Christ
the King’s reputation for inclusivity,
diversity and education excellence
will not be jeopardized by those few
corrupt individuals who profit from
the institution.”
The investigation remains ongoing
two years after the incident took
place.
Fight against Glendale
homeless shelter isn’t over
Hundreds of protesters gathered
at the Cooper Avenue underpass
between 74th and 79th Streets to
protest the city’s plan to build a
homeless shelter at 78-16 Cooper Ave.
on Nov. 2.
Led by Councilman Robert Holden
and GMVC advocate Mike Papa, the
protest began by continuing to push
for a special needs school at the site
rather than the proposed shelter for
200 homeless men.
At the event continued, the two
speakers, along with conservative
gadfly Curtis Sliwa, escalated their
criticism of the mayor’s handling
of the project into a government
conspiracy.
Papa charged the mayor with
misleading residents about the site
and engaging in corrupt dealings in
securing the contract. Sliwa claimed
the mayor was acting out of contempt
and disdain for the residents of Maspeth,
Glendale and Middle Village.
Holden’s staffer, Charlie Vavruska,
shouted accusations that Schools
Chancellor Richard Carranza is
racist.
“There’s going to be a lawsuit.
There’s going to be maybe several
lawsuits. This thing stinks to high
heaven,” Holden told The Ridgewood
Times. “There needs to be an
investigation. We’re contacting the
feds on this. It’s actually bigger. I
don’t trust the city Department of
Investigation.”
The top stories from
December 2019
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
EDAVENPORT@QNS.COM
@QNS
Here are the top stories from
December 2019.
Ridgewood boxer poised for
stardom
Rising Ridgewood boxing star
Mathew Gonzalez is poised to punch
into the upper crust of the boxing
industry over the next year. With an
undefeated nine-match record with
six knockouts, Gonzalez was chosen
as Ring 8’s Prospect of the Year. He
received his honor at 7 p.m. Dec. 8 at
Russo’s on the Bay, located at 162-45
Cross Bay Blvd., Howard Beach.
The 24-year-old started training
to when he was 8 years old and still
enrolled at P.S. 239, which is located
right across the street from his
boxing gym. He has been working
toward a career in boxing ever since
and had his first competitive fight
when he was 10 years old.
“It takes a lot to go in that ring and
get punched in the face. Definitely
not easy,” Gonzalez said. “You gotta
be a different type of person to be
a boxer.”
Asked how his perspective on the
sport since then, Gonzalez says that
now he thinks about it as a profession.
Back then he said he thought of
himself as a gladiator. Now he sees a
career in boxing as a path to having
an “above-average lifestyle.”
Ridgewood councilman calls
for racial impact study before
rezoning
Councilman Antonio Reynoso
joined Public Advocate Jumaane
Williams, state Senator Julia Salazar
and Chair of the Land Use Committee
Rafael Salamanca Jr. to demand
that the City Council pass a bill that
would mandate a racial impact analysis
in connection with any rezoning
citywide.
The community groups spearheaded
by Bed-Stuy-based organization
Churches United for Fair
Housing rallied around the release
of a report that calculated the racial
displacement following two
Brooklyn rezonings in the early
2000s.
It found a decrease of about 15,000
Latinx residents in Greenpoint and
Williamsburg between 2000 and
2015 despite a population increase
of over 20,000 during the same time
period and a decrease of about 5,000
black and Latinx residents in Park
Slope between 2000 and 2013 despite
overall population growth of over
6,000.
Reynoso asserted that City Hall
hasn’t passed Intro 1572, the bill
that Williams proposed to require
racial impact studies, because it will
confirm what is already common
knowledge: that black and brown
poor people are most negatively affected
by rezonings.
YEAR IN REVIEW
Christ the King High School QNS fi le photo
Boxing association Ring 8 selected Ridgewood native Mathew “Lefty
Gunz” Gonzalez as the 2019 Prospect of the Year. Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
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