FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARСH 26, 2020 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
сoronavirus
Volunteers organize emergency food
distribution campaign in Flushing
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Flushing community organizations
coordinated an outreach campaign to
contact local residents, including homebound
Photo courtesy of the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce
Shweta Parmar (c.) an ayurvedic eastern medicine practitioner at GutsierLiving, joins other community
members at the La Jornada food pantry at The Bland Houses Community Center, which will act
Queens senator calls for 90-day rent suspension
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
Senate Deputy Leader Michael
Gianaris is calling for a 90-day suspension
of residential and commercial rent
for tenants as well as small businesses
that have been impacted by the coronavirus
pandemic.
Aft er Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced
a 90-day moratorium on evictions on
Friday, March 20, Gianaris took to Twitter
to address the issue of rent payments.
“Eviction moratorium is good but tenants
without income won’t be able to pay
accumulating rent in 90 days and will
then face eviction,” he wrote. “We need to
#CancelRent for 90 days.”
Eviction moratorium is good but tenants
without income won’t be able to pay
accumulating rent in 90 days and will
then face eviction.
Gianaris, who represents Senate District
12 — which includes Astoria, Long Island
City, Sunnyside and Ridgewood — is
draft ing legislation to enact a proposal to
provide residential and commercial tenants
with 90 days of rent forgiveness if
they lost their work or had to close their
business due to COVID-19.
As a result of the outbreak and the state’s
precautionary stay-at-home order, thousands
of New Yorkers and people in the
tri-state area have already lost their jobs.
Many other Queens lawmakers have
joined Gianaris’ call for a rent freeze,
including Assemblywoman Aravella
Simotas, Senator Jessica Ramos and
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez.
“Two-thirds of New York City residents
are renters. Now that New York
State has issued a mortgage moratorium,
we must also enact a rent moratorium
to prevent mass displacement,” Ocasio-
Cortez wrote on Twitter. “Relief and protecting
from displacement shouldn’t just
be for homeowners and the wealthy. It
should be for everyone.”
Last week, Queens Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney led a request for a moratorium
on all foreclosures and evictions
with a letter signed by 106 Congress
members.
Th e letter called for the immediate,
nationwide moratorium on all foreclosures
and evictions from properties
owned, insured or overseen by the
Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD), the Federal
Housing Administration (FHA), the
Department of Veterans Aff airs (VA) and
the Department of Agriculture (USDA)
and federally backed agencies including
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Shortly aft er that letter was sent, the
White House’s administration announced
HUD would suspend foreclosures and
evictions insured by FHA for at least 60
days.
Cuomo’s moratorium announcement
came aft erward and provided more guidelines,
such as waiving mortgage payments
based on fi nancial hardship, no negative
reporting to credit bureaus, grace period
for loan modifi cation, no late payment
fees or online payment fees, and postponing
or suspending foreclosures.
While Gianaris praised Cuomo’s leadership
and said New York is doing an
“excellent job of managing this crisis,” he
believes more needs to be done.
“Th e devastation caused by coronavirus
will be far-reaching and long-lasting,”
he stated. “We must stay on top of the
fast-changing consequences of our eff orts
to contain the virus, and the millions of
tenants in our state cannot be left behind.
Suspending rents is a critically important
step to help New Yorkers survive this
unprecedentedly diffi cult time.”
Photo via Getty Images
as an emergency food distribution site during the coronavirus crisis.
individuals, who may need emergency
food assistance ahead of the city’s
lockdown this week.
Volunteers from the Greater Flushing
Chamber of Commerce, Kissena Synergy,
Mel for Progress, Flushing Interfaith
Council, and other community organizations
received a delivery of packaged food
items March 18 at the La Jornada food
pantry at the Bland Houses Community
Center, located at 133-36 Roosevelt Ave.
“In this period of the COVID-19 crisis
in NYC, the elderly and the disabled
are our neighbors who face the most
food insecurity in our community,” said
Taehoon Kim, president of the Greater
Flushing Chamber of Commerce. “I stand
with La Jornada and other volunteers
to deliver food to those in need around
Flushing in case of a shelter-in-place policy
going into eff ect.”
Th e city that never sleeps essentially
shut down on Sunday, March 22, aft er an
order from Gov. Andrew Cuomo limited
non-essential businesses from operating
and limited social contact to a minimum
to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Shweta Parmar, an ayurvedic eastern
medicine practitioner at GutsierLiving,
said the current COVID-19 pandemic
not only reveals the ongoing challenges of
hunger and availability of quality, healthy
food in the immigrant community, but
also deeply highlights the government’s
unjust social and health inequalities and
lack of preparedness for short-term and
long-term solutions.
“Beyond the virus, we are witnessing
a social disease. As economic instability
rises at this time, so does poverty, hunger,
physical, mental, emotional and spiritual
diseases for individuals, families and
the community,” Parmar said. “It is essential
to address the basic human right of
access to food, fuel for life! Volunteers are
fi lling this void.”
John Choe, executive director of the
Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce,
added, “Our community won’t let our
friends and neighbors fend for themselves.
We’re here to help and together.
We will survive.”
In preparation for the city shutdown,
volunteers used a Google Form to collect
information, including the name, address,
phone number and language spoken by
the individuals needing assistance. Th e
information will be used to schedule
appointments for delivery of emergency
food supplies by other volunteers who
will walk, bike, or drive to the individuals
needing assistance.
“We’re proud to serve our community
at this critical moment. Our volunteers
will continue providing emergency food
assistance even if our city is locked down,”
said Pedro Rodriguez, executive director
of the La Jornada Food Pantry. “However,
in order to sustain this critical service, we
need volunteers and money. Please help
us help our community.”
Food distribution at the site is currently
scheduled for Th ursdays and Fridays
from noon to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from 9
a.m. to noon. To reduce safety risks associated
with crowding during distribution,
advanced registration is required at
pedrolajornada@gmail.com or by calling
917-880-5693.
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