FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JUNE 7, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Bayside pop-up
donut shop owner
shot
Police have opened an investigation
aft er a man with ties to Bayside was shot
and robbed near his Queens Village home
early Tuesday morning.
On June 5, an unidentifi ed perpetrator
approached a 46-year-old male victim
in his car parked in Queens Village at
102nd Avenue and 220th Street at around
2:25 a.m., according to law enforcement
sources. Th e suspect then took the victim’s
car keys, wallet and cellphone and
shot him in the face before fl eeing the
scene.
Th e New York Post identifi ed the victim
as Richard Eng, a Queens Village resident
who was returning from his shift at a
Bayside restaurant. Eng reportedly owns
Black Label Donuts, which frequently
operates as a pop-up at Nippon Cha on
Bell Boulevard in Bayside.
Eng was rushed to North Shore
University Hospital in critical condition,
authorities said. Offi cers from the 105th
Precinct responded to the scene.
Authorities called for a level one mobilization
for the suspect. Th e NYPD
Emergency Service Unit was called to the
scene, where they recovered ballistic evidence.
As Th e Courier went to press on
Wednesday aft ernoon, no arrests had
been made. Th e investigation is ongoing.
Suzanne Monteverdi
Gianaris: Get
tougher on reckless
driving
Aft er a bicyclist was struck and killed
by a truck in Long Island City last week,
State Senator Michael Gianaris called for
a further crackdown on reckless, unlicensed
driver.
On May 30, a day aft er the deadly crash,
Gianaris called for assembly passage of
legislation that would increase the penalty
for reckless drivers from a misdemeanor
to a felony. Under the senator’s bill, the
penalty for drivers who operate a vehicle
with suspended, revoked or no license
would be increased to a Class E felony if
a person is seriously injured and a Class
D felony if the incident results in death.
“While we are still learning the details
of this horrifi c crash, we know that not
enough is being done to deliver justice to
the victims of traffi c crashes. Dangerous,
suspended drivers pose a threat to public
safety due to laws that do not treat these
off enses seriously enough. If this driver’s
suspension was due to reckless driving,
we face another preventable tragedy. We
must be serious about strengthening our
laws to keep these menaces off the roads,”
said Gianaris.
In April 2018, the senator’s legislation
passed unanimously in the New York
State Senate, and is currently awaiting
action in the assembly. If it gets assembly
approval, it will get sent to the governor
who will either sign or veto the bill.
Jenna Bagcal
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Atkinson Cuccia
Rumors of a homeless shelter in
College Point are untrue, offi cial says
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
While hundreds of city residents
showed up to a College Point civic meeting
last week to rally against a rumored
homeless shelter site, a local lawmaker
says there are currently no plans to bring
a facility to the neighborhood.
On May 30, hundreds of attendees
showed up to the monthly College Point
Civic & Taxpayers Association meeting,
where discussion of a rumored homeless
shelter coming into the neighborhood
was on the agenda. Th e outcry began in
December 2017, when residents received
word a private developer had fi led plans
to build a six-story hotel structure at
18th Avenue and 128th Street.
Th e plot of land was previously the
site of a one-story building and is located
in a light manufacturing zoning (or
M1) district, which allows for hotel use.
Th e city put a hold on the project in
December aft er an audit revealed a nursery
was planned for the second fl oor of
the building, but new plans have been
fi led with the city since the audit.
On April 10, community members
met onsite for a press conference organized
by state Senator Tony Avella.
Residents argued the neighborhood was
in danger of being overdeveloped and
is already overloaded with struggling
hotels. Residents also voiced concerns
that, if proven unprofi table, the hotel
could be converted into a homeless shelter.
Th e city has a history of converting
hotels into transitional housing facilities.
In recent years, multiple hotels have
been turned homeless shelters in western
Queens, and plans to bring the facilities
to hotels in Glendale and Bellerose
have fallen through. However, hotels are
expected to be phased out of the shelter
system by the end of 2023 as part of the
mayor’s “Turn the Tide” plan.
Elizabeth Atkinson Cuccia, a new
member of the civic group who has
lived in the neighborhood for 27 years,
said the large turnout on May 30 led to
a split meeting. Aft er the Poppenhusen
Institute on 14th Road fi lled to maximum
capacity, attendees like Cuccia
spent the meeting outside in the courtyard
awaiting information.
Councilman Paul Vallone and
Congressman Joe Crowley, who were
each scheduled to appear to provide
community updates, spent time inside
and outside of the venue to address the
rumors.
“Th ere is no homeless shelter coming
to College Point,” Vallone told QNS on
June 1. “And we will support protecting
College Point in any way we can.”
College Point is “not the right area”
for a homeless shelter, the councilman
continued, as the neighborhood lacks
transportation, mental health services
and aff ordable housing options. He and
his offi ce have relayed this information
to the city’s Department of Homeless
Services in the past.
“College Point has gotten its fair share
of everything,” Vallone said. “We’re kind
of seeing that College Point is not capable
of absorbing any more city services.”
Jennifer Shannon, a member of the
civic group and lifelong College Point
resident, said she attended the meeting
looking for answers. While Vallone and
Crowley told the crowd a shelter was
highly unlikely, she said, neither ruled
out the future possibility.
“A hotel is going up and it could
be homeless shelter. Th at’s what we
know right now,” Shannon said. “Th e
unknown is what’s scaring everybody.”
“I thank the individuals who came
to the College Point Civic & Taxpayers
Association to voice their opinions,”
Crowley told QNS in a statement. “Th is
is a city issue and I know all sides will be
heard; however, I do not feel that College
Point currently has the infrastructure or
accessibility to social services programs
that would be needed to properly care
and support a homeless shelter.”
Th e issue debated at the meeting is
twofold, according to civic vice president
Kathryn Cervino. Residents are “rightfully
fearful” that the hotel could be converted
into a homeless shelter, but have
also raised concerns with a recently proposed
zoning text amendment that seeks
to limit private hotel development in
areas like College Point.
Under the proposal, new hotel development
within the M1 districts would be
subject to a special permit review, which
would take an estimated two years.
However, the city would be exempt from
this special permit process and could still
establish a transient hotel as of right.
“Th ere are two major issues, really,”
Cervino said. “Th ere’s the whole controversy
over the hotel being built, and then
there’s the proposed zoning amendment
… Th e city is not holding itself to the
same standards and the same review.”
Th e zoning amendment would come
up for a vote in City Council at the earliest
this fall, Vallone said.
Cuccia said there has been talk on local
Facebook groups to organize a follow-up
meeting to discuss the next steps.
“Someone posted something on May
31 about having some kind of a meeting
to discuss what proactive things we can
do in order to prevent any of this from
happening — or at least slow it down,”
she said.
Congressman Joe Crowley addresses the crowd on May 30
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