8 The Courier sun • MAY 26, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com THE COURIER/File photo Following Hurricane Sandy in 2012, members of the NYPD School Safety Division (shown above) came to Resorts World Casino and helped gather and distribute essential items to storm victims. Resorts World Casino will be relief staging area should a hurricane strike Queens By Robert Pozarycki [email protected]/@robbpoz The city isn’t gambling with the safety of southern Queens. With the Atlantic hurricane season about to begin and memories of Hurricane Sandy still fresh in Queens residents’ minds, the city announced that Resorts World New York casino in South Ozone Park would be a hub for recovery operations following the next major coastal storm or emergency to strike the city. The casino’s parking lot would be used as a Logistics Staging Area (LSA) to accept, store and deploy equipment and life-saving supplies following a major disaster in south Queens neighborhoods such as Howard Beach and Broad Channel, as well as areas in the Rockaway Peninsula. Resorts World’s parking lot was used in a similar fashion after Hurricane Sandy struck the Northeast U.S. in October 2012 and devastated coastal neighborhoods in southern Queens. Government agencies and nonprofit groups were stationed there to properly coordinate the response following the storm and distribute food and much-needed supplies. “Our goal after any type of emergency is to help residents get back to a sense of normalcy in a safe, effective and efficient way,” City Emergency Management Commissioner Joseph Esposito said. “The Logistics Staging Area is important to the recovery process because we’re able to set up critical equipment and supplies close to the affected neighborhoods.” “This important partnership will help ensure the safety of our local community members when disaster strikes — and at a moment’s notice,” added Ryan Eller, president of Resorts World Casino New York City. The LSA would be used to receive, stage, track and deploy heavy equipment including light towers, generators, pumps and shipping containers for relief supplies. The site may also be used for emergency vehicle fueling and to store and mulch any downed trees, limbs and stumps in a disaster area. Other designated LSAs in and around Queens include Citi Field and Belmont Park. The Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1 and runs through November 30; it is the time of year in which the eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast of the United States are most susceptible to hurricanes and tropical storms. According to a Weather Channel report, forecasters expect an average season with 13 named tropical storms; between six and eight of them could become hurricanes. Grodenchik discusses bridge tolls, grocery bag tax at Chamber meeting By Suzanne Monteverdi [email protected]/@QueensCourier Councilman Barry Grodenchik met with the Queens Chamber of Commerce Legislative Committee on the morning of May 20 and focused on the potential impact of city policies on the “World’s Borough.” For Grodenchik, continuing to welcome and invite businesses to set up shop within Queens is paramount. “The alternative to people not investing is that we end up like Detroit,” Grodenchik said. “We’ve seen the blight — the total ruination — of that city. So we’re lucky that we have a city where people still want to come, still want to invest.” Grodenchik, however, views a recent proposal to install tolls on the free East River crossings (Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queensboro and Williamsburg bridges) as a potential misstep. “I think that would be a disaster for the borough. I think it would be a disaster for the economy,” he said. “And I think one of the things that we have to do — and we work on this every day — is to try and lessen the challenges for people who want to go into business in the city of New York.” Grodenchik also sees the recently passed grocery bag tax as another step in the wrong direction. Though Grodenchik believes the legislation may be built on good intentions, the additional monetary burden on Queens residents and business owners outweighs the positive. Tom Grech, the Chamber’s executive director, agreed: “I think it’s a lose-lose for consumers, as well as for businesses … At the end of the day, that tax is an aggressive tax.” Grodenchik was also eager to make this distinction: the proposed plan is not a tax, but a fee. “They couldn’t call this a tax: it’s technically a fee,” he stressed. “And also — here’s another interesting point — if you buy two bags, it’s not gonna cost you a nickel, it’s going to cost you 11 cents, because a fee is taxable.” For Grodenchik, the biggest problem is where the money collected under the proposed fee has been allocated. “None of that is gonna pay for anything that the city of New York has to pay for: it’s not paying for cops, firefighters, sanitation workers; it’s not paving a single road; it’s not planting a single tree; it’s not paying for another teacher or paraprofessional, nothing,” Grodenchik said. Despite the recent City Council vote in favor of adopting the plan, Grodenchik remains optimistic. “There is still a chance that the state can override this legislation,” he closed. “That is absolutely a possibility.” Photo by Suzanne Monteverdi Councilman Barry Grodenchik at center with Queens Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tom Grech and Chief of Operations Sophia Ganosis.
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