FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARCH 21, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Vallone says
NY Jobs pgm.
forgets middle
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Back in 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio
introduced the New York Works
jobs plan that set out to create
100,000 jobs over the next 10 years.
Th e mayor touted the plan as one
that would be able to give people a
“chance at middle-class stability.”
Now, a Queens councilman is
questioning just how many jobs
the plan has actually created so far
and how low-income New Yorkers
could go about applying for these
jobs.
At the March 18 hearing of
the Economic Development and
Oversight and Investigations
Committees, Councilman Paul
Vallone joined co-chair Councilman
Ritchie Torres to dissect de Blasio’s
job plan. Th e pair raised concerns
about whether the mayor’s administration
was eff ectively tracking job
creation and a lack of a defi ned outline
showing how those earning a
lower income could access the jobs.
“We just had a hearing on the
progress of a jobs plan that revealed
that there is no conclusive data on
the jobs created by that plan,” said
Vallone. “How can we rely on projections
and job pathways when
there is no tracking to ensure that
they actually materialize into real
jobs for New Yorkers?”
James Patchett, president of
the Economic Development
Corporation (EDC) was present at
the City Hall meeting to fi eld questions
concerning the plan. Since
its inception, the plan has already
created 3,000 new jobs for New
Yorkers.
However, according to Vallone’s
offi ce, it became increasingly apparent
that the administration lacked
proper job tracking methodologies.
It was also clear that the annual
updates on the New York Works
plan only provided estimates and
projects, which were oft entimes
“artifi cially bolstered” by counting
jobs before they actually existed.
When the city takes an action
aimed at creating jobs, such as funding
a new initiative or development,
estimates of the number of jobs that
will be created are considered as
actual jobs for data purposes.
Later on during the hearing,
Vallone highlighted the 3,000 jobs
that the plan has created and called
into question whether the jobs
were a “repackaged aggregation” of
EDC’s current work.
“It seems like the mayor is simply
taking existing work that EDC has
done for our city, and rebranding
it as a plan for middle-class jobs,”
said Vallone.
Teen cuff ed for gun that sparked Cardozo lockdown
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com
@QNS
Benjamin Cardozo High School in
Bayside had yet another lockdown last
week aft er a minor brought a BB gun to
school.
According to police, at 2:13 p.m. on
March 15, offi cers from the 111th Precinct
received a 911 call regarding the situation.
Police arrived at the scene and began to
look for a suspect that was possibly armed.
As of 2:31 p.m., a suspect was apprehended
and placed under arrest. Th e suspect,
a minor who police say was wanted
for another assault, has not been identifi
ed due to his age, however police confi
rmed that the suspect is a male student
at the school.
Social media reports indicate that the
school went on lockdown aft er a picture of
a gun was posted on social media by a student
and his friends and that another student
was caught with a BB gun in his bag.
However, the NYPD could not confi rm
these details at this time.
Cardozo High School acknowledged the
incident in a statement on its website: “Our
school is currently in a soft lock down
(sic). All students are under staff supervision
and safe in their assigned locations.
I will update this news when the lock
down is lift ed and our normal bell schedule
resumes.”
According to Department of Education
(DOE) guidelines, a soft lockdown is initiated
for an incident in which there is no
known immediate danger to administrators,
School Safety agents and police offi -
cers instructed to sweep the school.
Photo via Google Maps
“A serious allegation was immediately
reported to the NYPD, who conducted
a thorough search and swift ly recovered
a B.B. gun. All students and staff are safe,
and the lockdown was lift ed,” said a DOE
representative.
Last December, Cardozo went into a full
lockdown aft er a student slashed another
in a stairwell, prompting a large police
response.
Benjamin Cardozo High School in Bayside
Senior warns of prowlers who tried to get in her home
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A Kew Gardens Hills senior is urging
everyone in the neighborhood to stay vigilant
aft er two young men dressed in suits
— who claimed they wanted to speak to
her about a car sale — tried to enter her
home and refused to leave.
Carmen Diaz, a disabled 67-year-old
senior who lives alone with her two dogs in
Hyde Park Gardens, said the incident has
left her shaken up, no longer feeling safe in
the neighborhood that she’s called home
for the past 45 years.
On Friday, March 15, at approximately
7:30 p.m. Diaz said the two young black
men — one dressed in a suit and the other
in casual wear — appeared in front of the
two-family residence, and rang her doorbell
asking to come in to speak about a car
she purchased.
“I stopped driving years ago. I don’t
have a car. I knew something was off ,” said
Diaz. “I went to the window to see who it
was, and they said, ‘Ms. Diaz, we need to
come upstairs to talk to you about the car
that you sold us’ and I said, ‘What are you
talking about? I didn’t sell anyone a car. I
don’t have a car.”’
Aft er Diaz told the men to leave and
closed her window, she observed them
walking over to her neighbor’s house. She
immediately called the 107th Precinct to
report the situation.
“I told them what happened and they
said they’re going to send a car right
away … 10 to 15 minutes passed and
the precinct is only fi ve minutes away …
my 79-year-old neighbor who is mentally
challenged and scared calls me screaming
and crying saying somebody is trying
to get inside his house,” Diaz said. “I called
the precinct again and they said, ‘Oh, you
know, we’re very busy because of what
happened in New Zealand … we’re protecting
the mosques and synagogues in
the area.’”
According to Diaz, she became livid at
the police offi cers, claiming they didn’t
take the incident seriously. Two minutes
her phone call, she said, two police offi cers
showed up at her door.
“Th e woman cop said, ‘In the future, call
us and tell us it’s an emergency,’” said Diaz.
“I said I did say it was an emergency situation,
and seniors live here and most of us
are alone … there are two men trying to
get into our homes, it isn’t an emergency?
Th en she told me to calm down or they’ll
take me to the precinct.”
Th e duo also targeted Diaz’s 46-year-old
neighbor downstairs, who she said was also
home alone when they rang her doorbell.
Aft er police offi cers patrolled the area
and a building security guard checked the
premises, Diaz was told to not walk her
dogs early in the morning or late at night.
Following the incident, Diaz’s neighbor
recently packed up her things and moved
out of the apartment she shared with her
19-year-old daughter.
“People need to be aware and there are
a lot of diff erent garden apartments in this
area,” said Diaz. “Th ere’s tons of seniors
here. Th ese guys were clean-cut, very personable
that you wouldn’t think twice of
not opening the door. I hate to think of
what could’ve occurred. I don’t know how
many bells they rang, but this was scary
and the fact that I wasn’t taken seriously by
the police is upsetting.”
Th e Courier contacted the NYPD and
they were unable to verify a fi led report of
the incident.
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