8 THE QUEENS COURIER • MAY 24, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Proposed music venue at former LIC sushi restaurant gets approval
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/@jenna_bagcal
Plans for a new music and cultural
venue in Long Island City, accommodating
up to 2,070 people standing, received
support from Community Board 1 during
the advisory body’s meeting on May 15
in Astoria.
John Belitsky founder of DMNDR (pronounced
“demander”) proposed the plan
to build Th e Arc at 36-30 36th St. in Long
Island City. Th e space is a 20,000-squarefoot
former sushi restaurant that Belitsky
plans to convert into a performance and
concert hall combined with a “hermetically
sealed” recording studio for musicians
and artists to use 24 hours a day.
“We’re thrilled that we have community
board approval to realize our vision
for Th e Arc as a fi rst-class performance
venue, recording studio and local cultural
center,” said Belitsky, who is a native of
South Ozone Park.
On the weekends when the space isn’t
being utilized for performances, he told
the board that he plans to open up the
space to the community for master classes,
educational workshops and general
advocacy for the arts. In addition, Th e Arc
would also serve food to patrons and alcohol
during 21 and older events.
Th ough board members raised concerns
about the potential noise levels
from late night and early morning activity,
Belitsky assured them that the plans
for the building’s infrastructure would
prevent sound from being heard on the
street.
Other concerns that residents brought
up were regarding the hours in which
alcohol would be served to patrons.
Belitsky said that alcoholic beverages
would only be consumed inside the venue
and would stop being served aft er 2 a.m.
According to their website, DMNDR
is a community of music lovers, photographers,
fi lmmakers, musicians, artists,
writers, curators and creators around
the world that was formed in 2014. Th eir
goal is to “elevate art” which Belitsky
and other members of DMNDR hope to
achieve with Th e Arc.
“We’re in exciting talks with corporate
sponsors, local performing artists,
community festival organizers, fi lm and
television producers who are interested
in developing projects with us, and
with emerging and highly acclaimed artists
who want to perform here,” he said.
“We are moving forward with a mandate
from our community to improve the creative
ecosystem, a promise we will tirelessly
pursue.”
He added that he hoped all of Long
Island City would benefi t from this new
development and also that it would contribute
to the growth of the local economy.
Belitsky said that he had received a
lot of positive feedback from local creatives
and residents that he spoke to when
canvassing the neighborhood. An online
petition addressed to the community
board in support of the venue amassed
280 signatures on the DMNDR website.
“Th e DMNDR artist community passionately
supported this important project
because they feel it is what music and
the arts need right now,” Belitsky said.
“Just as importantly, we heard from local
residents who told us it’s about time this
exists in Queens, and now it will, soon.”
Plans for the venue’s construction are
underway, but no date has been set for
when the project will be completed. File photo/THE COURIER
Crooks use cloned debit cards to steal cash from Queens residents
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
Th e NYPD is battling an attack of the
clones across Queens that’s costing victims
a small fortune.
Police are looking for four men who
used counterfeit debit cards to steal
thousands of dollars from unsuspecting
victims in four reported theft s last
month.
Law enforcement sources said the fi rst
unauthorized withdrawal took place at
noon on April 16 at the Municipal Credit
Union branch located in Queens Center
Mall at 90-15 Queens Blvd. in Elmhurst.
Th e suspect used a cloned card at an
ATM to withdraw $910 from a 50-yearold
man’s bank account.
Th e second incident occurred in
Brooklyn at 2 p.m. on April 16, when
a second thief swiped a cloned card at
an ATM inside of a Walgreens store to
steal $1,200 from a 30-year-old man’s
account.
Police said the third theft was reported
at 5:30 p.m. on April 20, when a 54-yearold
Queens man reported possible fraudulent
activity against his bank account
to police. Detectives determined that six
days earlier, at 5 p.m. on April 14, a suspect
used a cloned debit card with the
man’s bank information to withdraw
$600 in cash from an ATM inside the
Duane Reade pharmacy located at 57-11
Myrtle Ave. in Ridgewood.
Th e NYPD also learned on April 20
of a similar theft in which a 75-year-
0ld woman reported fraudulent activity
The four suspects behind a recent grand larceny pattern in Queens in which they used cloned debit
cards to steal cash from ATMs.
against her account. Police determined
that, on April 14, two suspects used
cloned debit cards to withdraw a combined
$3,300 from the victim’s account
at ATMs located inside a Citibank on
Myrtle Avenue in Queens and a CVS
pharmacy located in Sunnyside at 41-08
Queens Blvd.
Cops described each of the four suspects
as white men wearing all-black
clothing.
Anyone with information regarding
Photo via Shutterstock/Insets courtesy of NYPD
the suspects’ whereabouts is urged to
call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for
Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA), visit the
Crime Stoppers website, nypdcrimestoppers.
com, or send a text message to
274637 (CRIMES), then enter TIP577. All
calls and messages are kept confi dential.
If you believe that your bank account
was compromised by thieves, report it
to your bank, then report any fraudulent
activity found to your local police
precinct.
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