26 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 21, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Top cops and residents honored in Bayside
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Th e 111th Precinct‘s top police offi -
cers and community members were
recognized in Bayside for their outstanding
eff orts at the 111th Precinct
Community Council’s annual Awards
Night earlier this month.
Captain John Hall, the precinct’s
commanding offi cer, distributed the
awards at the June event, which took
place at the Adria Hotel & Conference
Center on Northern Boulevard. It was
Hall’s fi rst awards night at the command,
which covers areas of Bayside,
Douglaston, Little Neck and Flushing,
aft er taking over the post earlier this
year.
Lieutenant Mohamad Yahiya I.
Patwekar was awarded Supervisor of
the Year; Detective of the Year honors
went to to John Reinle; and the Police
Offi cer of the Year award was presented
to Police Offi cer John Erdman,
who currently serves in the precinct’s
Community Aff airs Unit.
“Erdman has been instrumental
in establishing and fostering relationships
in the community,” Hall said.
“He’s made the 111th Precinct an integral
part of this community.”
Awards were also given to civilian
participants within the precinct.
Lina Balestri was awarded Crossing
Guard of the Year; Lia Woychowski
the Auxiliary of the Year; Angelina
Sarac the Civilian of the Year; and
Renee Chan the Explorer of the Year.
Chan, a junior at LaGuardia High
School, has been enrolled in the precinct’s
Explorers program since 2015,
according to Hall. Th e student has volunteered
over 100 hours of service to
community initiatives including graffi
ti and park cleanups, fundraisers and
crime prevention eff orts.
“Renee is a true leader and role
model and has a bright future ahead of
her,” Hall said.
Awards were sponsored by
the Jefferson Democratic Club.
Councilmen Paul Vallone and Barry
Grodenchik were also present for the
ceremony.
“Here in northeast Queens, we
love our police,” Grodenchik said to
offi cers. “We know it isn’t easy. We
know the sacrifi ces that you make and
we know that, in an instant, things
can change. So we’ve got your back,
because you have ours.”
Union workers, pols
protest nonunion
labor at LIC site
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/@jenna_bagcal
Construction workers and local lawmakers
gathered outside a Long Island City development
site last week and voiced their disapproval
of the Durst Organization’s decision
to hire a nonunion concrete contractor.
On June 13, Politico reported that members
of Local 46 and Local 79 along with
Councilmen Jimmy Van Bramer and Costa
Constantinides rallied outside of the Queens
Plaza Park location at 29-33 41st Ave. aft er
Durst announced they hired RNC Industries
for the project. Th e company is a concrete contractor
that is currently involved in several
projects in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.
When completed, the Queens Park Plaza project
will be 710 feet tall and have 958 apartment
units inside, 300 of which will be aff ordable
housing. According to Th e Real Deal, the
978,000-square-foot building will be designed
by Handel Architects, while Selldorf Architects
is responsible for the interior of the building.
At the protest, Van Bramer encouraged Durst
to drop RNC from the project and replace
them with a “reputable union contractor.”
On Twitter, people who were protesting the
Durst Organization’s decision and other projects
used the hashtag #CountMeIn in support
of fi ghting for union rights. According to the
Count Me In NYC website, it is a moment of
“rank and fi le workers” to fi x “broken shop” and
fi ght against “greedy developers.” Van Bramer
also took to Twitter and used the hashtag following
last week’s protest.
“Standing with labor today in Queens Plaza.
We need #Union contractors we can trust on
these jobs. Th ank you @Local46ML @local79nyc
#CountMeIn #everyday #QueensValues” wrote
the councilman on Twitter.
Th e Real Deal reported that the June 13 protest
came aft er Queens Borough President Melinda
Katz wrote a letter to the Durst Organization
urging them to hire union labor for the project.
A day aft er the Queens Plaza Park protest,
union workers staged a 6 a.m. protest
against Related Companies for hiring nonunion
labor to work on the second phase of
the Hudson Yards project. Protesters were
joined by Councilman Francisco Moya, who
represents Queens’ 21st Council District.
According to a newsletter from Moya’s
offi ce, the protest was also against the Related
Companies’ use of a private investigator to look
into a union worker’s criminal past.
City provides $6.5 million for a complete
overhaul of the Woodside public library
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
Th e Woodside Library will soon
receive a much-needed, multimillion
dollar makeover.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer
joined Congressman Joe Crowley at
the library on June 18 to announce
that the city will allocate $6.5 million
in capital funding toward the branch’s
renovations.
“Libraries change lives,” said Van
Bramer. “Th e $6.5 million for a completely
renovated Woodside Library
is a big deal for the children, seniors
and everyday Woodsiders who use
this essentially important community
resource. Every Woodside resident
deserves to have a modern, state-ofthe
art library.”
Th e funding, which was added to
the 2019 Fiscal Budget, is part of the
nearly $100 million that will be allocated
to fund libraries throughout the
city, and is the largest amount of funding
for a single library in the budget.
Th e funding is the fi rst signifi cant capital
renovation for the library in nearly
20 years.
“Our city’s libraries are vital to
enriching our communities, but many
of our branches do not receive the
funding they need to help our children
and students grow,” said Crowley.
“Th e millions of dollars in funding we
are announcing today will help ensure
Queens library continue to instill compassion,
wisdom, and open-mindedness
in our children for years to come.
Th is is one of most important investments
we can make for our community.”
“We look forward to working with
our government partners to deliver an
inspiring space where the public can
learn, discover and grow,” said Dennis
M. Walcott, president and CEO of
Queens Library.
Photo via Pexels
Photo by Suzanne Monteverdi/The Courier
Supervisor of the Year Detective Patwekar (center) accepts his award
Photo courtesy of the offi ce of Jimmy Van Bramer
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