12 DECEMBER 28, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
2017 Year in Review
JANUARY — FEBRUARY
January CUOMO AND BERNIE IN LIC Governor Andrew Cuomo and Vermont
Senator Bernie Sanders announced
a plan in Long Island City
on Jan. 3 to introduce tuition-free state and
city college. The plan, called the Excelsior
Scholarship, which would provide students
who are attending two-year and four-year
college programs in New York state and
New York City, and whose families earn
$125,000 or less, a tuition-free education.
The plan was implemented this fall and the
new initiative will be fully phased in over
three years.
QUEENS ATTENDS WOMEN’S
MARCH ON NYC
The Women’s March on NYC took place
on Jan. 21 in Manhattan, and Queens was
well represented among the more than
400,000 people who marched through the
streets, joining similar rallies across the
globe. The march, organized to prompt
“civil rights for every human regardless of
gender, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity,
disability, religion or creed,” according to
its website, was a sister march to the main
event in Washington, D.C.
February
RIDGEWOOD PLAZA
CONSTRUCTION
HURTS BIZ
After reading the Ridgewood
Times’ report in
January about the impact
on businesses near the Glendale
public plaza construction site,
Ridgewood businesses turned
to the paper to complain about
similar problems in their area.
Shopkeepers near the plaza built
at the corner of Myrtle and 71st
avenues reported a decrease
in customers, and in turn, a decrease
in profi ts. Operations and
the placement of construction
equipment resulted in the loss of
parking spaces and foot traffi c. According
to Ted Renz of the Myrtle
Avenue Business Improvement
District, the problems subsided
aft er workers fi nished installing
new sewers at the plaza site.
KARINA VETRANO’S
ALLEGED KILLER
CAUGHT
Chanel Lewis, the 20-year-old
East Brooklyn resident accused
of brutally raping and murdering
Howard Beach’s Karina Vetrano in
August 2016, was arrested on Feb.
4. Detectives were able to identify
the suspect aft er a six-month investigation
employing over 250 leads
from the public, 1,700 investigative
reports and DNA testing. He was
arraigned on a 13-count indictment
in April. Lewis’ trial is ongoing.