8 The Courier sun • JUNE 30, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com Reports of subway sexual offenses jump 53 percent By Angela Matua amatua@qns.com/@AngelaMatua Though reports of subway sexual offenses are up more than 50 percent than last year, the NYPD attributes this to the frequency with which women are reporting the crimes. According to NYPD Transit Chief Joseph Fox, there were 458 reports of unwanted touching, public lewdness and unlawful surveillance through June 20 compared to 299 during the same time last year. This represents a 53 percent increase, the Wall Street Journal reported. “Crimes that would previously go unreported because victims are embarrassed, intimidated or lacked the confidence that the case would be taken seriously are now being documented and fully investigated,” Fox told MTA board members at a committee meeting on June 20. “Our teams are catching more sex offenders in the act and more women are coming forward knowing that we are committed to aggressively pursuing each criminal complaint.” The MTA created a form on their website in 2014 to make it easier for victims of these crimes to report them. As a result, the NYPD can find the exact location of the crime and dispatch more officers. Fox went to London last year to learn how city officers handle sexual offenses and began to assign more plainclothes officers on subways to catch perpetrators in the act, the Wall Street Journal reported. He estimates that there will be around 900 violations at the end of this year, up from 738 violations last year. There were 621 violations in 2014 and 647 reported violations in 2013. “Few men know this crime exists,” Fox said. “But far too many woman do.” Reports of sexual offenses have gone up as more victims report to police. Photo courtesy of the Parks Department residents were stuck for hours on June 22. Captain Tilly Park gets an upgrade By Charlie Perry the northern slope of the park. cperry@qns.com/@QueensCourier They were replaced with new lawn and native plantings at the base of Captain Tilly Park in Jamaica the hillside. These new additions is officially undergoing landscape will help control erosion. and drainage improvements. The park reconstruction project Phase one of the project was has brought in native species kicked off on June 24 by Parks such as Cheyenne Spirit, Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, Councilman Rory Lancman and Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners (FAICP). “We’ve been able to replant Captain Tilly Park with native shrubs that will thrive in this shady environment, and build a sustainable hillside to combat erosion, allowing for a healthier Goose Pond,” Silver said. The reconstruction project aims at removing invasive species on Leilani Coneflower, September Charm Windflower, Evergold Sedge, Dead Nestle and Blue Star Asphalt. Prior to this project, the hillside was badly eroded. The asphalt path at the bottom of the hill was filled with debris. The debris impacted the health of nearby trees in a negative way. Elected officials expect phase two of the project to begin in October. Power ‘trip’ sparked Rochdale Vill. outage By Brianna Ellis bellis@qns.com @briinformed Thousands of Rochdale Village residents were left without electricity throughout their 20-building housing complex from about 9:30 a.m. to noon on June 22. The south Queens apartment complex was filled with police officers, firefighters and Rochdale Village management who succeeded in restoring power to the area about three hours after the electricity went out. “There was an accidental trip or electrical shortage, which caused the turbines to go down,” said Chief John Skinner, director of public safety at the Rochdale Village Public Safety Department. “They went right back up immediately but we can’t turn the power back on because we have stuck elevators, gas lines and the lights, so everything has to be cleared before we can turn the power back on … The longest wait is getting the okay from the Fire Department to turn the power back on.” A power outage has been resolved in Rochdale Village after Skinner said that the power was restored at about noon with no casualties or injuries reported, which the Fire Department confirmed. Wellness checks were also conducted in each apartment to ensure that all elderly residents were safe. Nonetheless, some residents unable to walk the stairs found themselves stranded outside of their apartments after the power outage disrupted their elevator service. Furthermore, the elevators trapped an unknown number of passengers. Community members said that similar blackouts struck the neighborhood earlier this year and last year as well. One elderly resident, who chose to remain anonymous, told The THE COURIER/Photo by Brianna Ellis Courier that she was waiting outside for two hours. “I can’t get upstairs, that’s what happened,” she said. “What can you do? This is the third time in two years … about six months ago we had the same thing but it was late afternoon.” Another resident was inconveniently running late for work as a result of the blackout. “They wouldn’t even let us drive down the block because they said the parking lots were closed, so I had to park way around the block and I have to go to work,” resident Katrice Arthurton explained. “I had to walk up nine flights of steps to get to my house … I had to go grab my clothes and now go to my family’s house to get dressed.” Elected officials and community members celebrate the completion of phase one of the Captain Tilly Park renovation.
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