New tax would increase
revenue to help alcoholics
BY BILL PARRY
A Queens lawmaker wants
to raise taxes on alcohol in
order to help alcoholics.
State Assemblyman
Michael DenDekker, who
has often advocated for
increased services to
combat alcohol addiction,
introduced legislation that
would create a new Alcohol
Addiction Prevention and
Recovery Fund, which would
be used exclusively for the
purpose of financing alcohol
addiction recovery programs
and alcoholism education
programs, and would act as a
supplement to existing funds
intended for alcohol addiction
prevention and recovery.
“Patients addicted to
opioids. Cocaine, and other
mind-altering substances
began their history of
substance abuse with alcohol
because it is the most easily
obtainable and socially
acceptable drug Americans
are exposed to,” DenDekker
said. “Alcohol is the number
one gateway drug and any
serious initiative that aims to
curb the effects of substance
abuse must place alcohol
use and addiction as a top
priority.”
Each year thousands of
Americans are killed by
drunk drivers; between 2012
and 2016 more than 1,600 New
Yorkers died in accidents
involving drunk or alcoholimpaired
driving, according
to the state Department of
Motor Vehicles.
Consumption of alcohol
preceded 55 percent of
domestic violence in the U.S.,
according to the World Health
Organization, and 51 percent
of incarcerated people with
mental health issues in state
prisons have a dependency
on alcohol, according to the
Bureau of Justice Statistics.
“The need for increased
services is not being
addressed,” DenDekker said.
“New York State needs more
in-patient treatment for
uninsured and underinsured
individuals. As well as
transitional supportive
housing for those recently
discharged from an in-patient
facility for alcohol abuse.”
State Assemblyman Michael
DenDekker continues to
advocate for increased services
to combat alcohol addiction.
Courtesy DenDekker’s office
The proposed increase
would amount to an
additional 3 cent charge
per 12-ounce can of beer, an
additional 2 cents per glass
of wine, with an additional 10
cents per shot of high-alcohol
liquor.
“The slight increase in the
cost of an alcoholic beverage
from the tax is negligible,”
DenDekker said.
The additional revenue
would total $260 million per
year and would double the
current budget allocation
to current alcohol abuse
treatment and prevention
programs in New York State.
Revenues generated by the
tax would be used only to
improve or increase alcohol
addiction recovery and
prevention services.
“Hundreds of thousands
of New Yorker battle with
alcohol addiction, and it
is our duty to help them
deal with this menacing
disease,” DenDekker said.”It
is imperative that current
programs are expanded
and funded to aid in alcohol
addiction prevention and
recovery.
Reach reporter Bill
Parry by e-mail at bparry@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4538.
The Waterfront Alliance is encouraging business owners on Newtown Creek to consider making
ecological and recreational redesigns to their section of shoreline. Above is a working concrete plant
in Maspeth. Photo by Mark Hallum
A green vision
Queens advocates push to rehabilitate Newtown Creek
BY MARK HALLUM
During their most
recent meeting in Middle
Village, Community Board
5 heard a presentation
from the Waterfront
Alliance on potentially
developing the portion of
Newtown Creek that runs
adjacent to the district for
ecological resilience and
recreation in the model of
Hunters Point South Park,
which was completed over
the summer.
Sarah Dougherty, a
program associate with the
organization, encouraged
community leaders to work
with companies that may
own different industrial
facilities along Newtown
Creek to not only bring
modern methods of flood
mitigation to the heavily
industrial waterfront of CB6,
but to open the rehabilitate
the toxic waterway for
activities like boating and
kayaking, too.
“A lot of the work we do
is meeting with different
landowners and helping
them go through questions
they have about how to
make their sites more
sustainable. They went
through Sandy or they still
go through Sandy, and they
understand that flood risk
is a big problem and they
want to try to address that,”
Dougherty said.
“We did a rendering of
different options they can
do to make their site more
sustainable by increasing
wetlands, taking out some
of that concrete bulkhead
to make a more resilient
shoreline,” she added. “Also
putting in public access to
allow people to not just get
to the water but to get on
the water.”
Waterfront Alliance has
worked with the EDC on the
$100 million redesigns to
Hunters Point South which
transformed the industrial
corner of Long Island City
into a model for storm
resilience through manmade
wetlands rather than
a seawall and also advocated
for the launch of what is now
NYC Ferry.
Working industrial
waterfronts can also offer
this level of protection
from storm surge and
recreation, Dougherty said,
using an example from
Hunts Point in the Bronx
where a former cement
plant was turned into a
recreational waterfront.
Much of the industry
along the waterfront of CB6,
however, is still working
with its own cement plant
south of the Grand Street
Bridge which may finally
get a rebuild after 16 years
of advocacy from CB6 and
stakeholders.
The rebuild of the bridge
will suit the needs of these
business which use barges
and moveable bridges to
transport commodities.
Reach reporter Mark
Hallum by e-mail at
mhallum@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718) 260–
4564.
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