4 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARCH 14, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Flushing wants end to sex sales on 40th Road
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Once referred to as Flushing’s
“Restaurant Row,” 40th Road off Main
Street has gained notoriety in recent
weeks as an unoffi cial red light district
where young women aggressively solicit
sex 24/7 on the street and even in nearby
Bland Playground.
Now local lawmakers, business leaders
and the NYPD are stepping up eff orts to
clean the area up.
Councilman Peter Koo updated the
public on March 8 at Bland Playground
about eff orts to eliminate prostitution in
the area, where dozens of girls have solicited
people for sex.
Koo was joined by the Flushing
Business Improvement District, members
of the 109th Precinct, and Chair of the
Public Safety Committee, Councilman
Donovan Richards, to discuss the issue at
40th Road in Flushing — which has nearly
two dozen restaurants, the entrance
to the Flushing-Main Street stop on the
Long Island Rail Road, Bland Playground
and numerous massage parlors which
have allegedly doubled as illegal brothels.
Th e block of 40th Road between Main
and Prince Streets is the same site where,
in 2017, a prostitute committed suicide
by leaping from a building as she was
about to be arrested during a NYPD sting,
according to reports.
In collaboration with the 109th Precinct
and the Flushing BID, Koo’s offi ce has
been working to expose, identify and shut
down several brothels posing as massage
parlors on 40th Road. Additionally, Koo
has spoken directly with several landlords
on the block to demand that they evict
tenants who engage in illegal activity.
As a result, most of the fake massage
parlors have now either been padlocked
by the NYPD or had their locks changed
by landlords, Koo reported on March 8.
“We have made signifi cant progress in
cleaning up 40th Road thanks to a combination
of police enforcement, community
engagement and even media exposure,”
he said. “For too long, this pervasive issue
has plagued our community, but we are
here to say that ends today. In the past,
crackdowns result in the problem going
away for a little while only to resurface
again. Th is will take consistent enforcement,
and my offi ce plans to stay engaged
on this matter with police, business owners,
landlords and the community.”
According to the NYPD, in 2018 there
were 24 closings of legal and illegal massage
parlors conducting prostitution
within the 109th Precinct and 52 closings
in total within the Patrol Borough
Queens North.
In a statement to QNS, NYPD spokeswoman
Sergeant Jessica McRorie said
the NYPD is working to end prostitution
conditions and has shift ed focus on
enforcement operations to target pimps
and johns primarily during anti-prostitution
investigations and arrests, and on the
closure of locations through civil action
taken against landlords who are complicit
in the illegal business of prostitution.
When arrests are made for prostitution,
those arrested are delivered to a diversion
court where they are off ered help and
services in lieu of prosecution in criminal
court.
Th e NYPD also understands that some
of the women involved in prostitution are
being “forced, coerced or otherwise made
to against their will,” and the department
works with its partners to off er services
to those who why may be victimized,
according to McRorie.
“Th e NYPD facilitates the work of our
partners in connecting the victims of
human traffi cking with social services,”
said McRorie. “Th e NYPD does this by
conducting operations where we provide
safe access for social service providers to
enter these establishments and assist the
victimized without arrests being made.”
Koo is currently planning a sex traffi
cking seminar with the NYPD and local
women’s shelter nonprofi ts in order to
educate the community about sex traffi
cking.
Driver booked
for hitting man
with car on a
Bayside street
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Police have arrested a driver who hit
and critically injured a pedestrian in
Bayside with his vehicle on Monday
morning.
According to law enforcement sources,
the NYPD Collision Investigation
Squad charged 53-year-old Tsz Pun of
Forest Avenue in Ridgewood with failure
to yield to a pedestrian and failure
to exercise due care.
Cops said that Pun allegedly struck a
59-year-old male pedestrian who had
the right of way while crossing at the
intersection of 215th Place and 46th
Avenue at about 10:24 a.m. on March
11.
Offi cers from the 111th Precinct
responded to a 911 call about the
incident and discovered the victim
with trauma to his head. EMS personnel
responded to the scene and
transported the victim to North Shore
Manhasset Hospital, where he remains
in critical condition.
Findings from a preliminary investigation
revealed that Pun was traveling
eastbound on 46th Avenue as the
pedestrian was crossing southbound
on 215th Place.
Pun remained at the scene and was
taken into police custody. Additional
charges may be pending the results of
the ongoing investigation.
Health Dept. busts two Bayside eateries for code violations
BY JENNA BAGCAL AND MARK
HALLUM
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Two longtime fi xtures of the Bell
Boulevard food scene in Bayside are back
in business this week aft er running afoul of
the city’s Health Department.
On March 6, Top Bagels at 40-18 Bell
Blvd. displayed a bright yellow sign from
the New York City Department of Health
and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) ordering
that the shop close its doors. According to
DOHMH records, the store scored a 67
during its February inspection.
Records on the agency’s website indicated
that they inspected the shop on Feb.
11 and subsequently found seven sanitary
violations.
Top Bagels was found to have several
critical code violations, including hot food
not held at or above 140º F; contaminated
raw, cooked or prepared food; fl ies in the
food facility; improperly protected food;
and improperly washed contact surfaces.
Th at same week, nearby Uncle Jack’s
Steakhouse, at 39-40 Bell Blvd., got into
similar trouble aft er a Health Department
inspection racked up 61 points against
Uncle Jack’s including 5 critical sanitary
violations such as food not cooled
by approved methods; raw and cooked
food cross-contaminated or not discarded
properly; evidence of mice or live mice;
tobacco use or drinking from an open container
in areas where food is prepared or
stored; as well as possible food contamination
during storage.
“Everything is on the up-and-up,” an
Uncle Jack’s staff er told QNS on March 7
at the restaurant, as customers were dining
and drinking at the well-reputed establishment,
which also has another location
in Manhattan.
Upon reopening on March 7, Uncle
Jack’s displayed a “Grade Pending” certifi
cate from the Health Department in its
front window.
Th e lower a restaurant scores, the better,
Photo: Jenna Bagcal/THE COURIER
according to DOHMH. Scores fall into
three categories: public health hazards,
critical violations and general violations.
Th e Health Department’s guidelines
state that public health hazards, such as
failing to keep food at the correct temperature
are 7 points, critical violations
like failing to wash raw foods (i.e. salads)
before serving them are 5 points and general
violations such as not properly sanitizing
cooking utensils is 2 points.
Inspectors give additional points to
refl ect the violation’s extent — level 1 violations
are the least extensive and level 5
violations are the most extensive.
Top Bagel in Bayside
Photo courtesy of City Councilman Peter Koo’s offi ce
Councilman Peter Koo (c.) at Bland Playground in Flushing where prostitution has become an issue
in the area where children play.
/WWW.QNS.COM
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