FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JULY 13, 2017 • THE QUEENS COURIER 17
DOT will warn
disabled permit
holders about
expiration dates
BY JUSTIN BERGLUND
editorial@qns.com / @QNS
“Senior citizens are some of the most
vulnerable people in our society. Th e
city should be trying to make senior
lives easier, not more diffi cult.”
Th ese are the words from state
Senator Toby Ann Stavisky aft er the
city Department of Transportation
announced that it would send out
reminders prior to the expiration of
New York State parking permits for
Persons with Severe Disabilities.
Th is retracts a previous announcement
from the DOT that indicated it
would no longer send permit holders
any renewal notices immediately
before the permits are set to expire.
In the original announcement sent in
the mail, the DOT instead told permit
holders to write their expiration date
down in a safe place.
Aft er hearing about the issue from
one of her constituents, Stavisky
wrote to DOT Commissioner Polly
Trottenberg requesting that the agency
should continue sending these notices
for individuals over 65.
Stavisky believes that failing to warn
permit holders of the impending expiration
of the permits would cause many
Queens senior citizens who hold the
permits to forget to apply for renewal.
“When one of my constituents
brought my attention to the potential
change, I felt it was absolutely necessary
to draw DOT’s attention to the
possible consequences,” Stavisky said.
Th e DOT will be continuing to send
out these reminders to all permit-holders
three months prior to their expiration
date.
“My constituent, senior citizens
around the city and myself appreciate
Commissioner Polly Trottenberg’s
swift correction of the matter,” said
Stavisky.
Photo via Caroline Hoering/GoFundMe
Fundraiser created for family of Queens
doctor killed in Bronx hospital shooting
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
More than $47,000 has been raised
through an online campaign for the family
of the Jamaica doctor who was murdered
in the mass shooting at Bronx
Lebanon Hospital late last month.
Dr. Tracy Sin-Yee Tam, 32, was the sole
fatality in the June 30 shooting. Th e dedicated
doctor from the Hillcrest neighborhood
of Jamaica was covering a shift for a
colleague when Dr. Henry Bello entered
the 16th fl oor of the hospital at 173rd
Street and Grand Concourse and shot six
people before fatally shooting himself.
Th e fundraiser, created by friend and
colleague Ahmed Rezk, will help pay for
Tam’s funeral costs and expenses. Over
$47,300 from the community has been
raised in just nine days.
“Tracy Tam was an exceptional, and
an extremely compassionate physician,”
Rezk writes. “She touched lives of many.
She worked extra hours without incentive
just to hold hands of patients that are
about to pass or just to talk to them and
listen to their needs.”
Donors off ered varying words of grief,
support and commemoration on the page.
“You will forever be missed my beautiful
Dr. Tam,” said colleague Caroline
Hoering. “Such a wonderful human being
… Th e Wellness Family would never be
the same without you.”
“All her hard work for a life cut short,”
James Lum wrote. “Th is reminds us to
kiss our loved ones every day when we
leave home.”
To donate to or share the fundraiser on
social media, visit www.gofundme.com/
tracy-sin-yee-tam-family-fund.
Street repaving begins in portions of Ozone Park
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
Crews from the Department of
Transportation (DOT) have begun resurfacing
streets in Ozone Park and South
Ozone Park.
Community Board 10, in a post to
its Facebook page on July 6, listed nine
streets that will be resurfaced in the weeks
ahead. DOT crews will fi rst strip the existing
layer of asphalt (a process known as
milling) before returning later to apply
new blacktop.
Th e most notable road to be resurfaced
will be a portion of Leff erts Boulevard
between Rockaway Boulevard and North
Conduit Avenue in South Ozone Park —
a key route to and from John F. Kennedy
International Airport.
Th ese Ozone Park streets will also be
repaved:
• 84th Street between Liberty and Pitkin
avenues;
• 89th Street between Gold Road and
Sutter Avenue;
• 90th Street between Sutter Avenue and
Silver Road;
• 109th Avenue between 84th and 86th
streets;
• Chicot Road between Cross Bay
Boulevard and Sutter Avenue;
• Gold Road between 89th Street and
133rd Avenue;
• Rico Place between Silver and Chicot
roads; and
• Silver Road between 90th Street and
Screenshot via YouTube/Andre C. Rivera
133rd Avenue.
Parking will be restricted on these
streets while work is in progress; the
DOT will place notices in advance of the
work. Any vehicle found parked on the
street during posted work hours can and
will be towed.
For more information, call Board 10 at
718-843-4488.
Tam (far left) and her colleagues.