14 THE QUEENS COURIER • JULY 11, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Richards takes
aim at stopping
‘Airdrop’ porn
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
When Queens Councilman
Donovan Richards read a recent story
about a doorman in a Manhattan
building who repeatedly sent pictures
of his junk to female tenants as
they walked by him, he was shocked
by the outcome once he got caught.
Th ough the pervert ultimately lost
his job, the victims couldn’t pursue
any further justice.
“It’s not a crime right now to
send someone intimate images or
lewd images,” said Jordan Gibbons,
Richards’ spokesperson.
Since learning of this case,
Richards has co-sponsored Staten
Island Councilman Joseph Borelli’s
bill that would take a step toward
criminalizing subway pervs who airdrop
— or use other forms of electronic
communication — to send
unwanted sexually explicit to unsuspecting
victims around the city. It
would confront off enders with up to
one year behind bars or a $1,000 fi ne.
“Anyone who has been to one of
my hearings knows I oppose the
expansion of the criminal justice system,
but there really is no justifi -
cation for this kind of conduct. It’s
not a crime of poverty. It’s really
just a matter of basic decency,” said
Richards in a recent meeting on the
Committee of Public Safety.
During the hearing, Richards
made a clear case that as it stands
police have no tool to go aft er genitalia
airdroppers, but another question
popped up during the conversation.
How do you enforce anti-harassment
legislation when the design fl aws in
the soft ware provide no record or
proof of who the sender was?
“We’re defi nitely aware that there
are diffi culties in enforcing it,” said
Gibbons.
Richards attempted to address
those diffi culties by asking NYPD
representatives about what kind
of role companies like Apple play
during investigations.
“When we subpoena Apple and
most social media companies,
they’re very receptive as long as we
have the proper security clearance,”
said NYPD Assistant Chief James
Essig.
But when Richards pushed further
about what kind of digital footprint
a sender leaves on their recipients
phone, he reached the limits of the
NYPD’s technological savvy.
“I’ll update you on whether it’s
just them updating their soft ware so
that there are safeguards in place,”
said Executive Director of Legislative
Aff airs Oleg Chernyavsky.
Th e law has not gone up for a vote
in the City Council yet.
Cops mourn 9/11 activist Luis Alvarez at Astoria funeral
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Hundreds of people gathered outside
Immaculate Conception Church in
Astoria on July 3 for the funeral of Luis
Alvarez, an NYPD detective and 9/11 fi rst
responder.
Alvarez, who died from complications
with colon cancer on June 29 at age 53,
spent his last years fi ghting for 9/11 fi rst
responders’ funding.
A former marine and bomb squad
detective who searched for survivors in the
aft ermath of 9/11, Alvarez testifi ed before
the House Judiciary Committee with former
“Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, urging
legislators to restore the September
11th Victim Compensation Fund, which
is expected to expire by 2020 without
renewed funding.
The funeral was attended politicians
and public figures including
Police Commissioner James O’Neill,
Congressman Peter King and former
Daily Show host Jon Stewart. A uniformed
procession of NYPD offi cers as well as
fi refi ghters and state police stretched for
blocks around the church.
A line of police offi cers at the funeral of
Detective Luis Alvarez
“Everything he said was said for the benefi
t of other people. He made a plea that he
had been many places and had seen many
things but he would have been no other
place but Ground Zero or the Pentagon or
Shanksville. As he said, we stood up before
the world and said terrorism would not
have its day,” said Father John Harrington.
Harrington, who served as Alvarez’s
pastor when he was growing up in East
Elmhurst, spoke on Alvarez’s personal life,
his devotion to the Marine Corps and
Police Department, and selfl essness.
Th e son of Cuban immigrants, Alvarez,
joined the NYPD in 1990, where he served
as an undercover narcotics offi cer before
switching to the bomb squad. He is survived
by his wife and three children.
When O’Neill addressed the parishioners,
he made the political point that no
person who responded on 9/11 “should
ever have to beg our elected offi cials to
act,” citing the fact that more than 500
members of the NYPD have contracted illnesses
as a result of their work.
AP Photo/Richard Drew
“Detective First Grade Luis Alvarez was
an authentic man. He let you know exactly
what he thought,” said O’Neill. “At the end of
the day, Lou just wanted to do what’s right.
And he wanted others, particularly those in
positions of great power, to follow suit.”
While the House Judiciary Committee
voted unanimously to support sick survivors
and extend the VCF until 2090, the
full House is not expected to vote on the
measure next month.
Aft er Alvarez sent handwritten note to
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,
the senator pledged to pass the VCF bill
before the August recess.
“Please look deep into your conscious
and realize it’s the right thing to do and if
you pass it I will die a happy man,” Alvarez
wrote in his note.
The funeral for Detective Luis Alvarez in Astoria
New LIRR station between Queens Village and Bellerose on the way
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A new Long Island Rail Road station will
be built as part of the $1.26 billion Belmont
Park Redevelopment Project, Governor
Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.
Th e $105 million station will be built
between Queens Village and Bellerose stations
on the LIRR’s main line just north of
Belmont Park, and just east of the Cross
Island Parkway, helping to mitigate traffi c
concerns raised by the planned 19,000-seat
hockey arena that will be home to the New
York Islanders.
“Th e Belmont project will help drive
the region’s economy forward while building
the Islanders a state-of-the-art facility
at home on Long Island, creating thousands
of jobs and hundreds of millions of
dollars in economic output along the way,”
Cuomo said on July 8. “Now with the addition
of the fi rst full-time LIRR train station
in almost 50 years, we will provide
millions of visitors and fans as a fast and
aff ordable way to get there and continue
New York’s nation-leading investments
in 21st-century transportation infrastructure.”
Th e new station will provide direct
service to Belmont Park from both east
and west as opposed to the LIRR spur,
which can only provide westbound service.
Currently, LIRR commuters from the
east must go to Jamaica and backtrack to
the park.
“My colleagues and I, working with
local community leaders, pushed hard for
the inclusion of a full-service LIRR station
as a part of the Belmont Redevelopment
Project because we understood that the
long-term success of this plan depended
on signifi cant improvements to transportation
access to Belmont Park and
the Queens Village-Elmont area,” state
Senator Leroy Comrie said. “Th is new
station will not only be a boon to the
redevelopment project, which will create
10,000 construction jobs and 3,200
permanent jobs, but also for commuters
who are dealing with crowded conditions
at the Queens Village and Bellerose stations
and heavy traffi c on the Cross Island
Parkway.”
In addition to the hockey arena, the
redevelopment project also includes a 250-
room hotel and 350,000 square feet of
retail space, restaurants and movie theater.
Rendering courtesy of the Governor’s
offi ce
“Th e Belmont Redevelopment Project
will turn unused state land into an economic
engine for Long Island and Queens,
creating jobs both in the construction of a
new LIRR station, and the hotel and retail
village that can service Belmont’s visitors,”
Congressman Gregory Meeks said.
“Today’s announcement shows New York’s
commitment to investing in public transit.”
Th e developers of the proposed project,
New York Area Partners, will cover
$97 million, 92 percent of the total cost of
the LIRR station, and the state will invest
$8 million.
“Eastern Queens and the Elmont community
has been in need of transportation
alternatives for a very long time,”
Assemblyman Clyde Vanel said. “Also,
we are encouraged about the economic
opportunities in the community.”
Rendering courtesy of the Governor’s offi ce
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
link
link
link
link
