18 DECEMBER 30, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Queens’ top stories from May 2021
BY JULIA MORO
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
As 2021 wraps up and we look
ahead to 2022, QNS takes a
moment to remember the top
stories of this past year. Below are
short synopses of the top stories from
the month of May:
QUEENS MAN INDICTED
ON HATE CRIME
CHARGE FOR ALLEGEDLY
ATTACKING ASIAN
WOMAN AT FLUSHING
BAKERY
A Queens man was indicted for a
hate crime and other charges Monday,
May 10, for allegedly attacking an
Asian woman outside of a Flushing
Bakery.
Patrick Mateo, 47, is awaiting arraignment
and if convicted, he faces
up to one year in jail.
According to Queens District Attorney
Melinda Katz, on Feb. 16, Mateo
began to argue with the 52-year-old
Chinese woman while both were in
line at the bakery on Roosevelt Avenue.
Mateo cursed at the woman and
pushed her face. Mateo also allegedly
threw a cardboard box at the woman
before shoving her to the ground into a
metal newsstand on the sidewalk.
The woman was left with a large
gash across the woman’s forehead
that needed 10 stitches, according to
authorities.
QUEENS’ PANDEMIC
JOURNEY, THROUGH
THE EYES OF A JACKSON
HEIGHTS ARTIST AND
PARENT
Deborah Wasserman — a mother
of two teenage girls known for her
vibrant artwork — received a grant in
2020 and was excited to start creating,
but the pandemic had diff erent plans.
Wasserman said, “Who knew then,
that so many of my plans would shut
down, change and alter direction?”
Wasserman and her family live just
a few blocks from Elmhurst Hospital
and were oft en haunted by the ambulance
sirens, and even helicopters
transporting COVID-19 patients. However,
they did their best to maintain a
safe home environment.
“Our pandemic experience as a
family was colored by the fact that we
live in the ‘epicenter of the epicenter,’”
Wasserman said. “But the atmosphere
inside our home was that of safety and
relative calm.”
Wasserman did her part to help
out by volunteering for COVID Care
Neighborhood Network where she organized
food donations and contacted
local families.
Assemblywoman Jessica González-Rojas called on the city to end all forms of solitary confi nement on Rikers
Island. Photo courtesy of HALT Solitary
“Speaking to these families during
the lockdown — most of them without
resources, health insurance or income
— put my personal pandemic experience
in proportion,” she said. “I was,
and still am, very fortunate.”
Wasserman found her peace
through helping and channel her
anxieties into new bodies of work. A
new work grant gave Wasserman the
opportunity to present for the Jackson
Heights Art Talk.
VANDALS CAUSE MORE
THAN $10,000 IN
DAMAGES TO POPULAR
ROCKAWAY BEACH
BOARDWALK CONCESSION
AREA
Rockaway Beach boardwalk operators
had to rush Memorial Day preparations
aft er vandals caused $10,000
worth of damage before the holiday
weekend.
In a criminal mischief fi ling with the
NYPD on May 13, the complaint listed
“damage to several metal doors, offi ce
in disarray and food placed inside of
pipes and vents.”
“We are working our tails off to be
open by Memorial Day weekend and
look forward to a fun, sunny fi rst
season in Rockaway,” co-owners Belvy
Klein and Aaron Broudo said in a statement.
“We are happy to have reached
agreements with Caracas, Rippers
and the majority of the Beach 97th
food vendors. The incident at Beach
97th is unfortunate and a real bummer
not only for us but our vendors
as well. We will continue to push for,
and work with, the Rockaway small
business community.”
RIKERS ISLAND DESCENDS
INTO ‘DISORDER AND
CHAOS’ AS QUEENS
LAWMAKER DISCOVERS
TROUBLING DEVELOPMENT
Department of Correction Commissioner
Cynthia Brann announced that
she would step down from her post on
May 31 aft er three years at the helm of
the city’s prison system.
A scathing report from a federal
probe revealed “chaos” on Rikers
Island came out just hours aft er the
commissioner stepped down. The
report describes “how the uniformed
leadership in the jails perpetuates
a chaotic environment plagued by
operational failures that threaten
security and chronic disruptions in
basic services, such as recreation and
commissary, that cause frustration
and despair,” according to The Legal
Aid Society.
Assemblywoman Jessica González-
Rojas urged the Board of Correction to
end solitary confi nement in New York
City jails.
“No matter what name we give it, solitary
confi nement is torture and has no
place in our city. The mayor promised
to end solitary confi nement and he
must fulfi ll his promise,” González-
Rojas said. “We saw the NIC Structurally
Restrictive Housing Units that are
meant to be alternatives to solitary
confi nement under the Board of Correction’s
proposed rules. Being locked
in these cages alone for 24 hours a day
is nothing more than solitary confi nement
by another name.”
YEAR IN REVIEW
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