30 THE QUEENS COURIER • NOVEMBER 1, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Eight streets in
Douglaston get
repaved
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/ @jenna_bagcal
Several streets in Douglaston will
get some much-needed tender loving
care this fall.
Starting on Oct. 29, the Department
of Transportation (DOT) is repaving
eight Douglas Manor Streets, according
to Councilman Paul Vallone.
Th e road resurfacing was originally
planned for March 2019 but
the long-awaited repairs will come
months ahead of schedule.
Th e following streets will be resurfaced
from Oct. 30 to Nov. 2:
• Bayview Avenue from Douglas
Road to Shore Road
• Douglas Road from West Drive to
Warwick Avenue
• Kenmore Road from Douglas Road
to Shore Road
• Knollwood Avenue from Shore
Road to Douglas Road
• Richmond Road from Douglas
Road to Shore Road
• Warwick Avenue from Shore Road
to Douglas Road
• Grosvenor Street from Douglas
Road to Shore Road
• Beverly Road from Shore Road to
Douglas Road
DOT will repave the entirety of the
eight listed streets, which run east to
west through the neighborhood, and
a large portion of Douglas Road.
“I thank Commissioner Garcia
for initiating this project before
the start of the winter season,” said
Councilman Vallone. “We have taken
great strides towards addressing the
street conditions that plague this
neighborhood and will soon be one
step closer to a complete renewal of
the streets in Douglas Manor that
have not seen repair for decades.”
For years, Vallone has called on
the DOT and the mayor’s offi ce to
address the “deplorable conditions” of
the roads in Douglas Manor. In 2015,
the councilman asked the Mayor’s
Offi ce of Management and Budget
(OMB) to allocate money in the city’s
budget for the necessary street repairs
and had conversations with DOT to
develop a multi-year phased plan to
resurface streets throughout Douglas
Manor.
Following those conversations,
DOT repaved three major arteries
which run north to south along the
length of Douglas Manor: West Drive,
East Drive and Center Drive. Th e current
street work is a continuation of
the repairs DOT completed in 2016.
“We appreciate your support and
continued partnership to deliver
safer, smoother streets for your constituents.
We will be sure to keep you
updated on this work and look forward
to working with you and the
Douglas Manor community on the
future streets to be paved next year,”
said the DOT in a letter to Vallone.
Queens pols, activists trounce Trump on transgender bias
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@cnglocal.com
@billparry3
More than three hundred transgender
New Yorkers joined elected offi cials on
the steps of City Hall last week to speak
out against what they call the Trump-
Pence administration’s discriminatory
attempt to exclude transgender and gender
Mayor’s staff er sparks imbroglio at SHSAT meeting in F.H.
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@cnglocal.com
Th e battle for the SHSAT is not going
away anytime soon, with elected offi cials
calling out a de Blasio administration
employee who is accused of attempting
to end the public comment portion
of a Community Education Council 24
(CEC 24) meeting on Oct. 23.
Th e representative from Mayor Bill
de Blasio’s intergovernmental aff airs,
Roberto Perez, was said to have
attempted to block CEC 24 president
Lucy Accardo from returning to the
stage aft er using the restroom and tried
to call the heated meeting at the P.S. 7
in Elmhurst to an end, according to the
New York Daily News.
Staff from CEC 24, which is mostly in
Councilman Robert Holden’s district,
has not returned request for comment.
“As public servants, our job is to listen
to the concerns of our constituents
and address them, period,” Holden
said. “It is appalling that someone who
is paid to represent the people would
not only attempt to silence these concerned
parents at a public meeting, but
do so by intimidating members of the
CEC.”
Th e SHSAT has created an even wider
rift between the city and state when de
Blasio attempted to have a bill passed in
the legislature which would abolish the
exam for specialized high schools.
Th e de Blasio administration has
released statistics showing that specialized
high schools are dominated by
mostly white students, with black and
Hispanic pupils not getting a fair shake.
But state legislators, who would ultimately
need to pass any laws enacting
the mayor’s initiative, were widely
opposed to ending the test in favor
of instead increasing access to the exam
and supporting test prep programs.
State Senator Tony Avella said he
would continue to champion upholding
the SHSAT.
“The mayor’s office and city
Department of Education should be
ashamed of themselves for trying to
stop community members from voicing
their opposition to mayor’s plan
to end the Specialized High School
Admissions Test,” Avella said.
Th e mayor’s offi ce did not immediately
respond to the Ridgewood Times
request for comment.
nonconforming people from its legal
defi nition of gender.
Th e proposal from the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services would
defi ne gender as a biological, immutable
condition determined by genitalia at
birth, and would be the most drastic
move yet in a large-scale government
push to reverse recognition and rights
of transgender individuals under civil
rights law.
“We will not remain silent and allow
the Trump administration to erase transgender
and gender non-conforming people
from existence,” City Councilman
Jimmy Van Bramer said. “An attack on
trans rights is an attack on all of our civil
rights. I will not rest until all members of
our LGBTQ community are aff orded the
dignity, respect and legal protections they
deserve.”
City Comptroller Scott Stringer called
the Trump administration’s latest proposal
a vicious and inhumane political
attack that would have severe consequences
for transgender and nonbinary
people.
“Let’s call this what it is: a thinly veiled
attempt to erase this community while
trampling their civil rights,” Stringer said.
“Trans rights are human rights — it’s just
that simple. Every person, no matter their
gender identity, sex, or sexual orientation
deserves the right to freedom and
equality.”
Carmelyn Malalis, the chair and commissioner
of the NYC Commission on
Human Rights, off ered some calming
words to the crowd.
“As Washington embarks on a mission
to erase people’s identity, New York
City has and will continue to move in the
opposite direction,” she said. “In New
York City, transgender and non-binary
individuals are protected against discrimination
harassment by one of the
strongest anti-discrimination laws in
the nation, the NYC Human Rights
Law, which expressly protects people
against discrimination based on gender
identity and expression, and the NYC
Commission on Human Rights will continue
to vigorously enforce the law so
transgender and non-binary individuals
get the respect, dignity, and visibility
they deserve.”
Members of the Jackson Heights-based
immigrant rights group Make the Road
New York took part in the rally — and
on Tuesday it denounced the Trump
administration’s plan to end birthright
citizenship, a core component of the
14th Amendment, through an executive
order.
Trump told HBO that the move would
target “anchor babies” and “chain migration”
pleasing his base that have argued
the 14th Amendment was only intended
to provide citizenship to children born
in the U.S. to lawful permanent residents,
not to unauthorized immigrants or those
on temporary visas.
A constitutional amendment, however,
cannot be nullifi ed through an executive
order, as per Article V of the Constitution,
which outlines the amendment process.
“Th is is yet another example of Trump’s
eagerness to fl out the Constitution in his
never-ending crusade to attack immigrants
and people of color,” Make the
Road Executive Director Javier Valdes
said. “Our community will fi ght any such
unconstitutional order in the courts and
the streets, and we will win. We’re speaking
to our Latino voters every day who
are eager to evict Republican ideologues
from the House and insist on Democratic
leadership that steps up to protect our
communities.”
File photo
Courtesy of Planned Parenthood NYC
Several hundred rally at City Hall calling out the Trump administration for its attack of the transgender
community
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