4 THE QUEENS COURIER • MAY 7, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
сoronavirus
Civic leaders, business owners hold town hall on reopening Rockaway beaches
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Rockaway community leaders and
business owners held a virtual town
hall called “Surviving Summer: Will
Rockaway’s Beaches and Businesses
Reopen?”
Th e event was hosted by Democratic
district leader Torey Schnupp, former
Councilwoman and current Queens
borough president candidate Elizabeth
Crowley and attorney Mike Scala.
Guests included John Cori, Bungalow
Bar owner Terence Tubridy, Lana’s Loft
owner Lana Mell and RBQ owner John
Moroney.
Schnupp emphasized she was not
pushing for a time frame for restrictions
to be lift ed by the city but wanted
to engage with the community
because they would be aff ected when
visitors inevitably descended upon the
Rockaway peninsula.
Streaming live on Facebook with
more than 300 live viewers, the town
hall offered residents the opportunity
to share their questions and concerns.
“We’re not saying we should open up
the beaches,” Tubridy said. “We’re saying
that if they can be opened, they should
be opened.”
Tubridy suggested creative approaches
and brainstormed a system where people
were assigned beach visits by the fi rst
letter of their name to reduce beach congestion
and allow for social distancing.
Meli talked about the struggles she
faces as a “non-essential” business
during the COVID-19 crisis, saying
she has been making zero dollars but
still pays employees. While so much of
Rockaway’s economy depends on beach
traffi c, many participants were justifi -
ably concerned about endangering lives
amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
“Can social distancing be enforced or
even exercised on the beach in the summer
months when you have so many
people congregating in that area?” asked
Scala.
“Th at’s very hard. How are you going
to do that with the transportation
alone?” Maroney asked. “You see how
it is. Th e ferries are jam-packed, you’ll
always have people waiting to get on
to these ferries, will they limit that as
well? What are they going to do with
the subways and buses? Th ose are really
questions that are going to need to be
answered.”
Panelists agreed that any decision to
reopen should not be made without
public health professionals deeming it
safe, but wanted to see plans in place
with contingencies for diff erent scenarios.
“You want it to be a public health decision,
not a budgetary decision,” Crowley
said, adding that innovative thinking
could ensure that social distancing can
be practiced on the beach.
One area of concern was making sure
lifeguards would be available. Th e discussion
served as a microcosm of the
need for offi cials to be proactive so that
if it becomes appropriate to open at
some point, the entire summer swim
season is not lost.
“We need to keep in mind that these
beaches are so important to the people
who have risked their life’s fortune
on this economy and on our peninsula,”
Cori said.
City’s COVID-19 budget crisis puts $2.7
billion BQX streetcar proposal in limbo
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th e city’s budget crisis brought on by
the coronavirus pandemic could be the
death knell that fi nally derails the controversial
$2.7 billion Brooklyn-Queens
Connector project.
Public hearings on the state-of-the-art
light rail system were set to begin May
and June and the city planned to fi nish
a draft environmental impact statement
by spring 2021, but that has been postponed
during the COVID-19 crisis.
Known as the BQX, the streetcar system
would have run along an 11-mile
corridor along the East River waterfront
connecting Astoria to Red Hook,
Brooklyn, providing a crucial northsouth
transit option for the 400,000
people who live along the corridor
and 300,000 who work along the fastest
growing business corridors in the
city.
Th e BQX would connect commuters
to 13 subway lines, nine NFY Ferry landings,
and more than 100 Citi Bike stations.
Critics of the proposal have long
claimed the BQX project was a boondoggle
that would line the pockets of
waterfront real estate developers and
residents and business owners objected
to the erasure of 2,000 parking spots
along the corridor.
During his COVID-19 briefi ng on
April 29, Mayor Bill de Blasio admitted
the proposal would be put on hold
during the public health emergency.
“Something like the BQX, which we
had just begun a whole phase of environmental
review, it’s going to be looked
at now with all other major capital initiatives,”
de Blasio said. “It will be discussed
in the budget process and be part of
what we say around the budget in June.
It’s a very good example of the kind of
thing that now has to be thought of very
diff erently simply for the budget ramifi -
cations alone.”
Th e mayor added that his aff ordable
housing program would have the priority
going forward with the budget process.
Th e nonprofi t Friends of the Brooklyn
Queens Connector, which has been advocating
for the streetcar system along the
East River waterfront since 2014, is hopeful
that the public scoping hearings on the
proposal will resume as soon as conditions
permit.
“Coming out of this crisis, it’s critical
that we prioritize infrastructure projects
that will help get New Yorkers back
to work,” Friends of the BQX Executive
Director Chris Torres said. “And the
BQX is an investment that would do just
that, creating tens of thousands of jobs,
and $30 billion in economic value over
the coming decades.”
Th e BQX project has the support of
NYCHA tenants leaders along the route
as well as transit advocates and civic
organizations.
Cuomo advocates for localities to issue
summons to those not wearing masks
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Towns and cities in New
York who fi nd it steadfast
to start issuing summons
for those not wearing a face
mask in public will have the
full support of Governor
Andrew Cuomo, he said in
his May 4 press conference.
In a continuation of his
tirade against “disrespectful”
New Yorkers forgoing
COVID-19 gear that protects
not only their health but that
of the people around them,
Cuomo said he would not
oppose localities backing up
his PAUSE policy with fi nes.
“What we’ve done in this state has literally
saved lives. We’ve reduced all the
projected hospitalization rates, dramatically,
by about 100,000 New Yorkers,”
Cuomo said. “Local governments have
the ability to enforce and to penalize.
Th at’s up to local governments. But do
I think they should be enforcing it and
should there be sanctions? Yes … Th is
isn’t just, do me favor. Th is is a public
health emergency.”
Cuomo said masks do not have to be
enforced at all times in public, where if an
individual is alone in an open space. But if a
person is going to be near other people they
should be made to have a face covering.
“You could literally kill someone
because you didn’t want to wear a mask.
How cruel and irresponsible,” Cuomo
added.
As the pandemic picked up momentum
throughout April, Cuomo and Mayor Bill
de Blasio much like the MTA did away
with the Centers for Disease Control recommendations
that masks are only needed
for people who believe they may be
sick.
Now any sort of cloth face covering is
recommended for those venturing out
of their homes during shelter in place
orders; they do not need to be N95 masks.
Bandanas are even recommended over
nothing at all.
Courtesy of Mike Scala
Photo by Todd Maisel
About a dozen protestors against the partnership of Mt Sinai
Hospital with Samaritan’s Purse because of homophobic ideology,
came to a head as cops moved in to break up the gathering,
even threatening journalists covering the event.
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