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28 THE COURIER SUN • JUNE 27, 2013 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com DANGER IN THE SKY Near collision points to increased air traffic: pol BY MELISSA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com Two planes nearly collided over Queens as one aircraft took off and another was completing THE COURIER/Photo by Liam La Guerre Cancer survivors walked the first lap of the Relay for Life of Middle Village to raise money to fight the disease. Fighting cancer, one lap at a time BY LIAM LA GUERRE In 1994, just a few days after his 19th birthday, Darren Alloggiamento was diagnosed with cancer. Doctors discovered a brain tumor after he complained of a headache. “I was so nervous and depressed,” Alloggiamento recalled. He underwent successful surgery to remove the tumor a few weeks later. That year, the Queens native attended game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals to watch his beloved Rangers win the title. Since his battle nearly two decades ago, he decided to donate to cancer research. He has attended the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life of Middle Village every year since 2004. On June 22, dozens of survivors and about 1,000 other participants joined in the 11th annual Middle Village Relay for Life at Juniper Valley Park. “My family was very supportive, but you need other survivors,” Alloggiamento said. Sixty teams of nearly 600 participants total raised more than $184,000 for cancer research as of June 24, coming close to their goal of $200,000. Communities across the country have held relays for more than 25 years since Dr. Gordy Klatt started the tradition to raise money for his local American Cancer Society office in Tacoma, Washington. Today the event takes place in more than 5,000 communities across America, including numerous Queens neighborhoods. “There is no finish line until we find a cure, which is why we walk in circles all night long,” said Leslie Orlovsky, who has directed the Relay at Juniper Valley Park since its inception. “It’s too late for my son, but there are a lot of people that need the help,” said Maspeth resident Dolores St. Louis, whose son, Paul, died of cancer in 1996 at age 29. “People have to keep contributing so we can find a cure.” a landing, officials said. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating a June 13 incident in which a Delta Airlines Boeing 747 regional jet arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport at 2:40 p.m. came perilously close to a Shuttle America Embraer E170 flight departing from LaGuardia Airport. The planes were turning away from each other when they lost the required three mile separation between them, the agency said in a statement. Both landed safely, though according to published reports, the two aircraft were at one point only 200 feet apart vertically and about half a mile horizontally. The FAA said flight routes approved in December “ensure the required threemile separation” between JFK arrivals and LaGuardia departures while using a new, precise navigation system. But State Senator Tony Avella said the close call was a warning sign of public safety hazards to come if the administration continues to increase air traffic over the city. “This latest incident is indicative of this danger,” the lawmaker said. “Unfortunately, if the FAA continues to pursue this goal, near misses could become more common and lead to truly tragic events.” Photo courtesy of NYC.gov The city recently released a new hurricane map that puts an additional 600,000 New Yorkers in evacuation zones. LEFT OUT SOME RESIDENTS SAY NEW EVACUATION MAPS DON’T ‘MAKE SENSE’ BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA ctumola@queenscourier.com New York City issued mandatory evacuations to droves of residents during Sandy. But the next time a storm hits, thousands more may be told to leave. The city has released an updated storm evacuation zone map that puts an additional 600,000 New Yorkers in evacuation areas and replaces Zones A, B and C with zones numbered one to six. An extra 26 New York City Housing Authority developments, four hospitals and nine nursing homes are also in evacuation zones. Last month, the city announced it would revise the zones based on its Hurricane Sandy After-Action report, which analyzed the city’s response to the storm. The new zones take into account storm surge, geography and access to bridges and roads. “The new zones incorporate the best-available data and will help the city to more effectively communicate to those most at risk depending on the characteristics of a particular storm,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Cas Holloway. The old evacuation system was based on storm category. For instance, Zone A received a mandatory evacuation notice in the event of a Category 1 or higher storm, as happened during Sandy and 2011’s Hurricane Irene; while Zone B corresponded to Category 2 or higher storms. “We’ve moved away from that designation with the new zones” said an Office of Emergency Management spokesperson. If a major storm hits, the city will now consider several variables — including storm category, speed, size and direction — in evaluating which zones to evacuate, starting with Zone 1. One notable change on the new map involves Howard Beach. Most of the neighborhood, which sat in Zone B during Sandy, is now evacuation in Zone 1. During the storm, several parts of Howard Beach outside of Zone A saw significant flooding. Residents there felt they should have been included in mandatory pre-storm evacuations. But some Queens locations will no longer be evacuated first. Mia Famiglia, an Italian restaurant at 44-29 9th Street in Long Island City, sits only a few blocks from the water. It was in Zone A during Sandy, but is now in Zone 2. The restaurant was inundated with seven feet of water during Sandy, incurring heavy damages. Owner Lawrence Vecchio was not happy to hear his business will not be among the first to be evacuated during a major storm. “It doesn’t make sense to me,” he said. “We are literally across the street from the water. Do we have to be in the water?” Residents can visit www.maps.nyc. gov/hurricane or call 3-1-1 to find out if their homes or businesses fall within the boundaries of a new hurricane evacuation zones.


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