4 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 12, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Queensbridge Houses
get rooftop repairs
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
Th e Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City
were among a number of buildings in New York
City that received new roofs through Mayor Bill
de Blasio’s plan to upgrade public housing.
Funds have been allocated to replace the roofs of
New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) buildings
throughout the city, including at Queensbridge,
the nation’s largest public housing complex.
Replacing the roofs will reduce mold, which can
cause asthma and other respiratory illness.
“Residents may never see the new roof over
their heads, but they will feel the diff erence,” de
Blasio said. “We are targeting a major source of
leaks and mold, making kids healthier and helping
parents sleep easier. With the right resources,
we can deliver real-time improvements to the
quality of life for thousands of families.”
In addition to the new roofs, the Queensbridge
Houses received free WiFi throughout the development,
360 CCTV cameras and 858 security lights.
Th e repairs at the Queensbridge Houses were a
part of the fi rst phase of a major roof replacement
begun by the city in 2015. During the fi rst phase,
the roofs of 65 NYCHA buildings throughout the
city have been replaced, costing $91.6 million.
“Th ese new roofs mean real quality-of-life
improvements for 13,000 residents,” said
NYCHA Chair and CEO Shola Olatoye. “While
only the fi rst phase in a $1.3 billion investment,
through these critical infrastructure repairs, we
are making major strides toward achieving our
NextGeneration NYCHA goal to provide safe,
clean and connected communities for all public
housing residents.”
In total, de Blasio said, the city is dedicating
$1.3 billion to repair 950 deteriorating roofs for
175,000 NYCHA residents. Leaky roofs are not
only responsible for key sources of water and
excessive moisture that causes mold in apartments,
but also represent a danger to a building’s
physical structure. Th is upgrade will provide a
long-term, cost-saving solution that will improve
the quality of life for residents.
Th e second phase of the project, which will
repair 78 roofs and cost $100 million, has now
entered construction and is expected to be completed
by June 2019.
Th e announcement came days aft er Governor
Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency in
the city’s public housing system and appointed a
monitor to oversee NYCHA’s eff orts to make critical
repairs.
Photo: Google Maps
Photo by Suzanne Monteverdi/QNS
Impending water main project
in Bayside and Flushing
Th e city is making preparations to
begin a major water main and sewer
project in Bayside and north Flushing.
Th e upcoming project starts along
33rd Avenue between 154th Street
and Utopia Parkway, at which point it
continues south and runs along 37th
Avenue to Francis Lewis Boulevard.
Th e project then continues east along
Whitestone park cleaned up by group of local volunteers
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
A waterfront park in Whitestone
looks much cleaner thanks to the
leadership of a young community
minded resident.
On April 7, close to 30 volunteers
descended on Francis Lewis Park,
located at Th ird Avenue and 147th
Street, to give the public space a
spring cleaning.
Th e project began when 21-year-old
local Rita Cinquemani reached out to
the We Love Whitestone civic association
on behalf of her student organization,
Alpha Phi Omega, at Hofstra
University. Th e student said the group
was looking for service opportunities
in the area and took note of a civic
member’s call for a cleanup at the park.
Aft er coordinating with civic members
and the NYC Department of
Parks and Recreation, the date
was set. Volunteers from Hofstra’s
Women’s Club Ultimate Frisbee team
also signed on to off er their assistance.
“Th ese student organizations are
always looking out for opportunities
to help out their local communities,”
Cinquemani said.
Th e group cleaned the park in
about three hours, spending time on
The group of volunteers at the Whitestone cleanup
the beach and in the wooded area.
Cinquemani said she and volunteers
were surprised to discover much of
the trash found along the shoreline
was recyclables.
Aft er fi nding a number of plastic
straws during the cleanup,
Cinquemani and members of her service
organization agreed to cut the
product out of their daily lives.
“It was surprising to see a large
amount of litter. Th ere were multiple
layers of trash, as well,” she said. “A
lot of the trash we found was plastic:
Photos courtesy of We Love Whitestone
bags, bottles, wrappers.”
Cinquemani said she will look into
organizing another cleanup eff ort in
the fall.
Th e group’s act was celebrated on
We Love Whitestone’s Facebook
page.
“Huge thank you to Rita
Cinquemani and her group of volunteers
for cleaning up the Francis Lewis
Park beach,” civic president Alfredo
Centola wrote. “And thank you to
Blanca Rodriguez for helping take
care of all the incidentals.”
38th Avenue until 216th Street.
According to City Councilman
Paul Vallone’s offi ce and Community
Board 11, this is a $62 million project
being completed by CAC Industries
Inc. and is expected to be completed
before July 2020.
In anticipation of this project, the
city has begun relocating gas lines
in the area. Tree barriers have been
installed in areas of 38th and 33rd
Avenues to protect them from damage
during this process.
According to city data, a Request for
Proposals (RFP) opened for the project
in August 2016.
Suzanne Monteverdi and Robert
Pozarycki
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