FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com JUNE 23, 2016 • THE COURIER SUN 3 Cleanup initiative underway to solve Jamaica’s garbage problem BY CHARLIE PERRY cperry@qns.com/@QueensCourier Elected offi cials and community members along Hillside Avenue in Jamaica are getting down and dirty when it comes to keeping their area clean. Councilman Rory Lancman and members of the Jamaica Hills Partnership and the Department of Sanitation met at the northwest corner of Hillside Avenue and 168th Street on June 17 to announce a $48,000 community cleanup initiative. “The one thing that is the most important issue for businesses along Hillside Avenue is sanitation,” Lancman said. “We have a great partnership with the Department of Sanitation but clearly not enough was getting done.” Lancman allocated $25,000 to the Department of Sanitation for 24 new trash cans along Hillside Avenue after local businesses and community members complained of garbage being tossed on the streets in front of their businesses. Everything from coffee cups to even bags of household garbage were stacking up along the strip. An additional 11 trash cans were installed in Briarwood and another 13 bins were brought to Main Street in Kew Gardens Hills. Lancman also secured $23,000 more for additional trash pickups along Hillside Avenue. Mohammed Shabul Uddin has been living in the Hillside community for 25 years. His home is a block away from where the announcement took place. “I see so much garbage on every corner,” Members of the Hillside community surround Jamaica Councilman Rory Lancman at the unveiling of their cleanup initiative. Shabul said. “When you walk on the street, trash gets stuck on your shoe. When I go home there’s this smell.” He believes that the responsibility for solving THE COURIER/Photo by Charlie Perry the garbage problem doesn’t solely fall on the Department of Sanitation: “Our community is a new immigrant community and it’s our job to make sure it’s not a mess.” TRADE GUNS FOR GIFT CARDS NEXT WEEK IN FAR ROCKAWAY BY CHARLIE PERRY cperry@qns.com/@QueensCourier The Queens District Attorney’s offi ce, in collaboration with the Police Department and City Council, will offer the community an opportunity to trade in guns for gift cards on June 25 in Far Rockaway. The buyback program will take place at the Macedonia Baptist Church, located at 330 Beach Sixth St., Arverne, between Beach Channel Drive and the R o c k a w a y Freeway. The Police Department will exchange a $200 prepaid gift card for working handguns and assault rifl es. A $25 prepaid gift card will be exchanged for working rifl es, shotguns and air-guns. “All transactions will be anonymous – no questions asked. There is no limit to the number of weapons a participant can surrender, however, there is a limit of three prepaid gift cards per person,” Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said. Guns must be placed in disposable bags or boxes. If a gun is transported in a vehicle it must be placed in the trunk. Gun dealers and active or retired police offi cers are not eligible to participate in the program. The buyback program was announced in a press r e l e a s e by the DA’s offi ce Wednesday after 22 people were arrested at Redfern Houses in Far Rockaway for alleged drug traffi cking. The operation resulted in a .45-caliber semi-automatic fi rearm and a .22-caliber semi-automatic being seized by police along with multiple controlled substances including heroine, crack cocaine, marijuana and prescription pills. For more info on the buyback program, dial 311 and ask about the Queens Gun Buyback Program. NO CHARTER HIGH COMING TO QUEENS VILLAGE SCHOOL BY CHARLIE PERRY cperry@qns.com/@QueensCourier The Department of Education (DOE) withdrew a proposal on June 22 that would co-locate a new charter high school with an existing middle school in Queens Village. Students and administrators at Jean Nuzzi Intermediate School will no longer have to worry about making room for 400 high schoolers. A joint effort by Borough President Melinda Katz, state Senator Leroy Comrie, Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman and Councilmen Barry Grodenchik, Daniel Dromm and Daneek Miller was successful in persuading the DOE to move the charter high school to a new location. “The message is clear: the city has not given up on I.S. 109Q,” elected offi cials said in a press release issued on June 21. The I.S. 109Q Parent Teacher Association (PTA) have been petitioning against the DOE’s call for colocation since May. In that time they have compiled more than 1,200 parent and community member signatures who disapprove of the joining of the two schools. Community members and elected offi cials thought that bringing in 400 new students would induce a “signifi - cant strain” on a school that is already Photo: Google Maps in much need of repair. In a joint letter written to the DOE on June 17, elected offi cials pointed out a number of barriers to their colocation plan. The school lacks many amenities that provide for a productive learning environment. Jean Nuzzi Intermediate School is currently without a science lab, extensive library and a functioning school yard. Many of the chairs in the auditorium are broken or missing seat-backs. “We believe I.S. 109Q is a community school in which the city should be investing and we will continue our efforts to bolster I.S. 109Q’s future,” the group of elected offi cials wrote in their joint letter.
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