8 The Courier sun • FEBRUARY 25, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com Ridgewood police made sure that a WWII veteran received a proper burial By Anthony Giudice agiudice@qns.com/@A_GiudiceReport The 104th Precinct serves and protects its residents, even after death. Wilbur Hoffman, a longtime Ridgewood resident, became part of the precinct’s unofficial family last year when he sought their help after his home was burglarized twice. When he died on Jan. 22, the officers dedicated themselves to ensuring that he received the proper burial that the World War II veteran deserved. Officers gathered last Friday, Feb. 19, at the George Werst Funeral Home to give Hoffman a fitting send-off, made possible by the precinct and funeral home along with All Faiths Cemetery and Paul Schottenhamel of the Queens County American Legion. Hoffman was a veteran with the Navy and served during WWII, from 1942 to 1946. During his service, Hoffman served on several ships in across Pacific Ocean and earned several medals. Hoffman developed a relationship with the 104th Precinct after burglars struck his home last February. “The Commanding Officer, Mark Wachter, in cooperation with the NYPD’s Technical Assistance and Response Unit and 104th Precinct personnel, began an initiative to make Mr. Hoffman feel safe in his residence,” said Detective Thomas Bell of the 104th Precinct Community Affairs Unit. The precinct made sure Hoffman’s home was fitted with new door locks, new window locks, cameras, motion lights, as well as two panic alarms. In A WWII veteran and longtime Ridgewood resident, Wilbur Hoffman, was laid to rest with the help of the 104th Precinct on Friday, Feb. 19. addition, there was an officer posted in front of his home overnight and he was visited by the Crime Prevention officers and/or the Community Affairs Officers on a weekly basis. “Over those incidents, the one good thing that did come of that, is that we got to intimately know Mr. Hoffman and befriended him and inducted him into the 104 Precinct family,” said Captain Gregory Mackie, executive officer of the 104th Precinct. “If there was anything that we could do for him for the short time that we were around him in his last years, we would do it.” During all of the holidays throughout 2015, either Wachter or another member of the precinct would have THE COURIER/Photo by Anthony Giudice either lunch or dinner with Hoffman. They even brought him a turkey for Thanksgiving last year. “We are Mr. Hoffman’s family,” Mackie said. “The 104th Precinct will always be his family.” After the ceremony at George Werst Funeral Home, Hoffman was brought to All Faiths Cemetery for burial. Woodhaven civic members want options other than Select Bus Service By Suzanne Monteverdi editorial@qns.com/@QueensCourier Some Woodhaven residents want the city to take an alternate route toward improving public transportation in their community. The proposed Select Bus Service (SBS) line for Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards again took center stage during the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association (WRBA) meeting on the afternoon of Saturday, Feb. 20. Following up on remarks raised at the group’s January meeting, Alex Blenkinsopp, the WRBA communications director, discussed some of the DOT’s responses to the group’s complaints. “There are a couple of things to know here. First, the Department of Transportation has been working very, very closely with so-called ‘transit advocates’ to try to push this plan through,” he remarked. “Now, it’s funny that they call themselves transit advocates, because I think everyone in this room would advocate for better public transit. I don’t think there’s anyone here who would say, ‘No, we want less bus service, we want worse bus service.’ I think everyone in this room is a transit advocate.” Blenkinsopp, along with many attendees, believe the negative aspects of the plan strongly outweigh the positive. Specific concerns he raised were plans to create SBS waiting areas in the boulevards’ center medians and restricting left turns from Woodhaven Boulevard onto Jamaica Avenue, where most Woodhaven businesses are located. “We don’t think that this improvement needs to come at the cost of drivers; of bus riders who are going to be forced to wait in the median; at the expense of our businesses who are not going to have automobile traffic because people can’t turn onto Jamaica Avenue; and at the expense of every resident who is now going to have increased traffic on their residential side streets,” he said. One attendee proposed a study on the light synchronization along the boulevard as a better remedy for the problematic heavy traffic. Blenkinsopp pointed out that this was one of the alternative approaches that were presented by the community to Department of Transportation representatives at a forum in Woodhaven back in November. In a letter to DOT Queens Borough Commissioner Nicole Garcia, Blenkinsopp also asked that the agency consider “improvements of the crosswalks along the intersection of Woodhaven Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue” and using articulated buses on the Q52 and Q53 limited lines “so that people who are getting on the bus in the Rockaways don’t have to stop at many, many stops” before arriving at the Queens Center Mall in Elmhurst. “Woodhaven is not the only community against this,” added WRBA President Martin Colberg. “It’s Howard Beach, Lindenwood, Richmond Hill, Ozone Park: because everyone uses Woodhaven Boulevard.” Colberg urged the community to continue actively fighting against the DOT’s current proposal. “We’re gonna have to live with this for decades,” he said, “so let’s get it right.” Photo by Suzanne Monteverdi The Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association again discussed the Select Bus Service (SBS) proposal for Woodhaven Boulevard at its Feb. 20 meeting.
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