4 THE QUEENS COURIER • FEBRUARY 25, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
De Blasio, Richards praise Far Rock development
BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Mayor Bill de Blasio joined Queens
Borough President Donavan Richards,
NYCEDC President and CEO James
Patchett, community leaders, city agency
offi cials, and Th e Community Builders,
Inc., on Monday, Feb. 22, for the topping
Offi cials show local businesses how to challenge a summons
BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Councilman Peter Koo joined
OATH Commissioner Joni
Kletter, as well as members of the
Flushing Business Improvement
District and the Union Street
Merchant Association on a
walkthrough tour of downtown
Flushing on Tuesday, Feb. 16, to
inform small business owners
about OATH.
OATH, the Office of
Administrative Trials and
Hearings, is an independent and
impartial tribunal where almost
every city agency fi les civil summonses
for hearings.
Th e offi ce provides one-on-one
remote sessions for small businesses
and individuals who have
received summonses issued by
one of the 20 city agencies like
the Department of Sanitation,
Department of Buildings and the
Fire Department, among others.
Th ey receive guidance on how to
challenge the summons and how
to argue their case at the hearing.
Plus, they learn which documents
they need to present to
the hearing offi cer. Th e one-onone
sessions can be conducted
in any language, and at the hearings,
OATH provides free translation
services.
Joni Kletter, OATH commissioner
and chief administrative
law judge, urged small business
owners and individuals to take
advantage of the free resource
and to learn about the services
her agency off ers.
“I highly encourage anyone
who receives a summons to come
and reach out to our help center,”
she said. “We have actually
conducted over 25,000 remote
help sessions since mid-March,
and just today, Gotham Gazette
announced that we held over
100,000 hearings on summonses
since the pandemic.”
Koo explained that many small
businesses are under tremendous
fi nancial pressure because of the
pandemic and that summonses
present an additional economic
burden.
“Many small businesses still
receive summonses during the
pandemic from city agencies,
and there are many overzealous
inspectors, and they fi ne for
minor issues like missing signs,”
the councilman said.
Koo said he was grateful that
OATH provides a resource for
small business owners and teaches
them how to navigate a confusing
system and fi ght a summons.
“We want to make sure that
the city understands that they are
small businesses. Th ey are not
here to create problems. Th ey are
trying to survive the pandemic,”
he emphasized.
While visiting one of the locations,
OATH was able to assist the
owner of a deli and convenience
store on Northern Boulevard.
Yi Lu had received a violation
— much of the handwritten
note was illegible — from the
Department of Buildings carrying
a $1,000 fi ne. She had already
contacted Koo’s offi ce for help but
was unsure about the court date.
Kletter explained to the owner
that all hearings were held
remotely and that she could
schedule a date that was convenient
for her.
Ikwahn Rim, who represents
the Union Street Merchants
Association and owns IM Jewelry,
explained that 80 to 90 percent
of Union Street business owners
aren’t profi cient in English and
have diffi culty maneuvering the
many rules and regulations. He
hopes that businesses get to know
the OATH program.
“We get hit by summonses. It’s
like the edge of the cliff . If you
push a little bit, everybody goes
out of business,” Rim said. “Th ere
is a lack of information, and businesses
don’t know what they have
done wrong. We need to have this
OATH program so that everyone
can survive.”
Timothy Chuang, who owns
N.Y. Tung Ren Tang with his
wife Jenny, shared that regular
stores receive violations for
the garbage left behind by illegal
vendors. Chuang pays the
violations because he feels that
maneuvering the system to contest
a $100 fi ne is a waste of
time. He understands that they
also need to survive but added,
“Th at’s very unfair because they
don’t pay any taxes.”
Kletter also introduced MEND
NYC, a new citywide initiative
providing free mediation services
for small businesses that receive
complaints from neighbors surrounding
quality-of-life issues
and want to resolve them amicably.
Th e program also assists
small businesses that have problems
with their landlords about
back rent.
“Th is is free; it’s voluntary. And
we have had a lot of success over
the last few months since we
launched it,” Kletter said. “And
we are very excited about this
new program.”
For more information about
MEND visit nyc.gov/mendnyc.
For one-on-one consultation
about summonses and the hearing
process, call the OATH Help
Center at 212-436-0845
off ceremony of the Beach 21st Street
aff ordable housing development in Far
Rockaway.
Th e development broke ground earlier
last year and is part of a revitalization plan
for Far Rockaway, one of the most underserved
areas in New York City. Th e project
includes 224 units of aff ordable housing
for New Yorkers with low-to-moderate
incomes, and ten percent of the units
will be allocated to families experiencing
homelessness.
An approximately 7,000 square feet
community facility with a daycare center
and 21,000 square feet of retail space
for local businesses are also part of the
plan. Th e project is expected to create
over 59 permanent jobs and over 589
construction jobs. Additional areas of Far
Rockaway’s rezoning eff ort include the
upgrade of critical infrastructure, the creation
of public spaces, the construction of
the fi rst new library since 1976, and the
fi rst new park since 1931.
For Louise Carroll, commissioner of the
Department of Housing Preservation and
Development, it is not only about aff ordable
housing. It is also essential to create
high-quality and sustainable developments
that benefi t the residents and
strengthen the entire community.
“When complete, Beach 21st Street
will be life-changing for 224 families. I’m
looking forward to seeing this building
completely listed, the restaurant downstairs
bustling, and much brighter days
ahead,” she elaborated. “Th e children who
live here will have a place to play in the
newly developed plaza and a place to
learn and grow at the coming daycare
and early childhood center on the ground
fl oor.”
Richards was excited to see the transformation
of the site, which sits on a former
underused city lot. He thanked the
mayor for his partnership on this project
and emphasized that projects like Beach
21st Street create upward mobility, not
only by building new homes but also by
rebuilding lives, creating jobs, and a safe
environment.
“What you see happening in downtown
Far Rockaway is really a model of what
and where the city will go when we talk
about sustainable and resilient growth,”
Richards said.
De Blasio commented on the resiliency
of the residents of the Rockaways, an
area that was devastated by Hurricane
Sandy in 2012 and saw one of the highest
COVID-19 rates in 2020.
“I remember even the days immediately
aft er Sandy. People talked about coming
back, fi ghting back. I did not meet a
single defeated person in the Rockaways,
and there is a saying, it’s not how many
times you get knocked down; it’s how
many times you get back up. Th at could
be the slogan of the Rockaways,” the
Mayor recalled.
He thanked everyone involved in the
project and the powerful message they
sent to New Yorkers by moving forward
despite the pandemic.
“What’s happening here today is about
bringing this city back, and I’m talking
about how we recover; it has to be a recovery
for all of us. I want to be clear – we
can’t just have recovery for some people.
We have to have a recovery for all of us.”
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards at the topping off ceremony
at Beach 21st Street, an aff ordable housing project in Far Rockaway.
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
Council Member Koo and OATH Commissioner Joni Kletter joined a walking tour
through Flushing on Feb. 16.
/mendnyc
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