FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 22, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Vallone confi rms men’s shelter will come to College Point
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/ @jenna_bagcal
Councilman Paul Vallone confi rmed
on Nov. 15 that a controversial men’s
shelter will open in College Point next
year.
Th e Department of Homeless Services
(DHS) spoke to Vallone on Nov. 14 and
notifi ed him that they would be moving
forward with proposed shelter at 127-03
20th Ave. According to the councilman,
the shelter could come as early as next
September.
“Our fears were confi rmed that 127-
03 20th Avenue has been approved for
use as a homeless shelter as early as
September 2019,” said Vallone. “David
Levitan’s greed sold out all of College
Point for profi t over the needs of our
entire community. Th is is a site that was
deliberately purchased and converted for
use as a homeless shelter—a despicable
act by one owner who has no regard for
the communities he infi ltrates. We will
continue to fi ght and stand with College
Point.”
Residents heard rumors about a homeless
Swim franchise has grand opening in Howard Beach
BY NAEISHA ROSE
nrose@cnglocal.com
@QNS
Th e British Swim School Brooklyn
Queens, a franchise that is part of British
Swim School and provides year-round
indoor swim lessons in 21 states, hosted
its grand opening last Saturday.
Th e school waived its $40 sign-up fee
Nov. 17 for anyone who enrolled at the
grand opening of its 133-40 79th St.
Howard Beach L.A. Fitness location,
according to British Swim.
Parents and children had the opportunity
to observe a typical swim lesson
and receive a mini-evaluation of their
own swimming skills. Despite the lessons
starting in the cool fall season,
British Swim believes that it is important
to get lessons no matter what time of
the year it is.
In the United States, there are approximately
10 drownings — non-boat related
— daily, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. From
2005 to 2014, there were 3,536 fatal
unintentional drownings.
In New York City, from 2001 to 2005,
286 injury-related deaths were of children
between 1 and 12 years old, according
to the Department of Health and
Mental Hygiene.
Th e British Swim School was founded
by CEO Rita Goldberg in 1981 and began
by teaching water safety survival skills to
children as young as three months old
in Manchester, England, according to
British Swim School Brooklyn Queens
franchisee Phil Turner.
Goldberg moved the swim school to
Florida in 1994 and has steadily been
expanding the organization, which
Turner says currently provides 15,000
lessons weekly. Turner, a Fort Greene
resident who was an avid swimmer and
taught swim lessons in California in
his youth, left his corporate retail job
in Manhattan to join the franchise this
year aft er his kids were waitlisted for
swim lessons.
“My choice to join this company is
driven by my experience as a swim coach
growing up in a place that had lots of
pool access for families, then trying to
raise my own children in a place that
has hardly any options,” said Turner.
“Drowning is the leading cause of death
in children under fi ve, and I wanted to do
something to help change that.”
To determine if students are water
safe, instructors closely watch to see
if the young swimmers are capable of
fl oating on their own and rolling over
in the water. From there, the instructors
assign them to a class that matches their
ability level, according to Turner.
“Th ere are water safety and survival
skills that we are measuring fi rst,” said
Turner. “We don’t make age-based decisions,
we make skill-based decisions.”
Th ere are infant and toddler classes
that little ones can take with their parents.
Children ages 3 and above will be
with instructors, according to Turner.
Th ere is a four-to-one student-to-instructor
ratio and there will be introductory,
beginning, intermediate, advanced
and expert levels for the older cohorts.
Swim lessons are available for a
monthly cost of $118 per person. British
Swim is willing to work with larger families
in adjusting prices, according to
Turner.
“We are going to give them specific
skills to work on in each level,” said
Turner. “If you stick with the program,
you will advance.”
shelter potentially coming to the
area at the Oct. 24 College Point Civic
and Taxpayers Association meeting.
Assemblyman Dan Rosenthal informed
residents that he wrote a letter to Queens
Borough Commissioner Derek Lee
aft er noticing that the Department of
Buildings records showed “shelter-type
renovations” for the property.
On Oct. 25 Vallone revealed that the
Mayor’s administration and the DHS
submitted a proposal for the site to be
turned into a shelter. He also learned
that the agencies had an open request for
proposal (RFP) to build other homeless
shelters across the city. Five days later,
the community came together to protest
the shelter.
“Homeless New Yorkers come from
every community across the fi ve boroughs,
so we need every community to
come together to address homelessness.
As we implement our borough-based
approach, we are ending the use of all
cluster sites and commercial hotel facilities
citywide, including the two commercial
hotel facilities in this Community
District, and distributing new high-quality
facilities more equitably across the
fi ve boroughs,” said DHS spokesperson
Arianna Fishman in a written statement.
According to Fishman, the “high-quality
facility” will provide housing for 200
Queens men in order for them to be closer
to “support networks and communities
they called home as they get back on
their feet.”
“Working together with neighbors
and nonprofi t service provider Westhab
we’re confi dent that these individuals
will be warmly welcomed—and through
collaborative support and compassion,
we will make this the best experience it
can be for these individuals as they get
back on their feet,” Fishman added.
QNS reached out to Levitan’s company
One Liberty Group for comment and
is awaiting a response.
Photo via Shutterstock
Businesses in Qns. got
$162M in fed loans
BY NAEISHA ROSE
nrose@cnglocal.com
@QNS
Nearly 400 businesses in “Th e World’s
Borough” raked in tens of millions of
dollars in federally-guaranteed small
business loans, the New York District
Offi ce of the U.S. Small Business
Administration (SBA) announced last
week.
Th e U.S. SBA closed out this fi scal
year by guaranteeing 3,043 loans
worth $964,681,900 to small businesses
throughout the fi ve boroughs, Long
Island and the Lower Hudson Valley.
Approximately $161,956,200 loans were
issued to 399 businesses; the amount
represents 29.6 percent of the $546.5
million in federal loans borrowed by
New York City businesses during the fi scal
year.
SBA New York District Director Beth
Goldberg will, going forward, focus on
increasing the number of SBA lenders in
rural areas and historically underutilized
business zones and will educate the public
on its 504 loan, a program that allows
small business owners to purchase their
own property for as little as 10 percent
down, according to the SBA.
Th e 2018 fi scal year ended offi cially
Sept. 30. Th rough that period, according
to Goldberg, SBA guaranteed $146.8
million 504 loans to small businesses in
the New York District. Instead of renting
their property, entrepreneurs will
have equity in the real estate of their
businesses.
“We are really focused on delivering
our loan guarantees to Historically
Underutilized Business Zones in the
coming Fiscal Year,” Goldberg said.
“Increasing the number of SBA lenders
in these areas and getting more lenders
connected to SBA’s Lender Match tool
will facilitate these connections for both
the small business owner and the small
business lender.”
Th e goal of the initiative is to ensure
that small businesses remain viable in
New York City and the surrounding
area, according to the New York District
U.S. SBA spokesman Bailey Wolff .
“Small businesses throughout New
York City, Long Island and the Lower
Hudson Valley leveraged almost $1
billion in capital that they would not
have been able to access without SBA’s
loan guarantee program in FY 2018,”
Goldberg added. “It’s a great time to be
a small business owner, and it’s an especially
great time to be a small business
owner in the New York SBA District.”
Photo courtesy of British Swim
Photo via Google Maps
DHS confi rmed a shelter will go up at 127-03 20th Ave.
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