Volume 65, No. 197 MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2020 50¢ QUEENS TODAY January 27, 2020 BAYSIDE’S QUEENSBOROUGH COM- munity College has named alumnus and former Marine Shaneen Festus a CUNY Hero. Festus has been given the award, which honors service and generosity, for No new cash for NYCHA her volunteer work at the college’s Office of NYCHA tenants have been beset by lead paint, crumbling infrastructure and broken boilers. Photo by William Alatriste via City Council/Flickr Military and Veterans Services. The office helps the nearly 400 former and active military members who study in the CUNY Cuomo’s executive budget excludes NYC public housing system, Spectrum News reports. By David Brand York City’s ailing public housing system, the ex- complexes. NYCHA must seek approval from a Queens Daily Eagle ecutive budget reallocates $100 million that was federal monitor appointed to oversee NYCHA directed to NYCHA last year, and $250 million operations before spending the money. QUEENS’ LARGEST STREET FES- Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive budget, released Tuesday, includes no new funding for that was originally allocated in 2018. That money The agency needs an estimated $31.8 billion tival, ancient Hindu event Phagwah (or Holi), NYCHA, despite mounting physical problems is part of a $450 million agreement between the over five years and $45.2 billion over 20 years to will return to Richmond Hill this March. that require tens of billions of dollars to address state, NYCHA and the Dormitory Authority of pay for needed repairs and maintenance, an engi- Main celebrations will take place on Mar. 9, at public housing campuses across the city. the State of New York to pay for boiler and ele- neering and consulting firm hired by NYCHA to and the community’s 32nd Annual Phagwah Rather than provide new money to fix New vator upgrades across the city’s public housing Continued on page 2 Parade will be held on Mar. 22. The parade this year will be planned by the Arya Spiritual Center and the Federation of Hinu Mandirs, QNS.com reports. Fundraising heats up ahead of “THE COMMITTEE WOULD LIKE TO thank the thousands of faithful supporters, our Mandirs, and the business community, likely Assembly special election that have turned out to this event for more than 30 years,” the parade planning committee By Victoria Merlino wrote. “Their exuberance and support for Queens Daily Eagle our culture are the essence of what makes Nearly a month after veteran Assembly- this parade so special. We would also like to member Michele Titus took the bench in thank our donors, the media, the 106 and 102 Queens Civil Court, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has precincts and other members of the NYPD, yet to call a special election to replace her — NYC Parks Dept., NYC Sanitation Dept., but that hasn’t stopped at least seven candidates and Community Boards 9 and 10 for their from raising campaign cash in the uncertain support.” contest. Democratic District Leader Richard David, a York College adjunct professor, has raised the A PUBLIC FORUM ABOUT THE most money in the race to represent Assembly development of a large amount of LIC District 31, according to financial disclosure waterfront property will be held at the Plaxall reports published by the Board of Elections Gallery in Hunters Point this evening. The last week. David has not officially declared his meeting will give community members a candidacy, but he has $36,871 on hand. He re- chance to ask questions and give suggestions ceived 124 individual and 11 corporate contri- butions during the last financial disclosure pe- to developers regarding 28 acres of land by riod, which lasted from July 15, 2019 to Jan. 15. Anable Basin, LIC Post reports. It is the Notable contributors include Brooklyn State third in a series of four workshops organized Sen. Roxanne Persaud, who donated $100, and by YourLIC, a group formed by multiple a number of area businesses, including $1,500 developers at the request of the city council in from Hack’s Halal in Richmond Hill, $200 order to encourage the developers to create a from Golden Arrow Sports Bar in Richmond unified plan for their projects. Hill and $100 from Cabana Breeze in South Ozone Park. At a Richmond Hill town hall in November, THE CHABAD OF REGO PARK ON Former Assemblymember Michele Titus took the bench in Queens Civil Court earlier David and U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks, chair of Wednesday started a program which this month and her inauguration ceremony is Jan. 30. Titus’ move vacated the Assembly the Queens County Democratic Party, called provides Jewish neighborhood residents on Queens to elect South Asian lawmakers. District 31 seat, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo has yet to call a special election to replace her. Continued on page 2 AP Photo by Hans Pennink Continued on page 7 Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Visit us Online @queenseagle facebook.com/queenseagle queenseagle.com No new cash for NYCHA Continued from page 1 Nevertheless, he added, “it is definitely disap- conduct a physical needs assessment determined pointing that the needs of hundreds of thousands QUEENS in 2017. of New Yorkers were not reflected in the admin- “We’re immensely disappointed that in the istration’s proposal.” face of actual needs of NYCHA — while NY- “After decades of disinvestment from all lev- CHA is in crisis and residents living in deplor- els of government, it is absolutely critical that able conditions — this administration is ignoring everyone steps up to address the issues of lead TODAY the needs of more than 600,000 new yorkers and paint, aging boilers, mold, chronically broken continues to do so,” said Legal Aid Law Reform elevators and overall quality of life,” Richards Unit attorney Lucy Newman, who advocates for continued. January 27, 2020 more funding for public housing. The Housing Justice For All coalition has More than 380,000 authorized tenants cur- called on the state to provide $3 billion to im- with mezuzahs for their doorways. The effort rently reside in NYCHA’s 134,084 apartments, prove public housing statewide — $2 billion for is meant to encourage Jews to express pride according to agency reports, but the actual pop- NYCHA sites and another $1 billion for public in their identity in the wake of a rise in ani- ulation is likely closer to 600,000, according to housing elsewhere in the state. Semitic attacks, Patch reports. other city agency estimates. The federal housing “I’ve been a New York City public housing administrator who oversees NYCHA has even resident for over thirty years, and I have seen pegged the population at 1 million. how decades of disinvestment at the federal, “MEZUZAHS KEEP YOU PROTECTED Toxic lead paint, faulty boilers, busted eleva- state, and city level has hurt public housing res- More than 3,000 Queensbridge residents whether you’re at home or in the streets,” tors and other capital needs have beset NYCHA idents,” said NYCHA tenant Rose Fernandez, a were without hot water in September Chabad of Rego Park Secretary Breina Horvitz tenants for decades, particularly in the oldest member-leader of the organization Community after an unplanned outage. buildings, which date back to the Great De- Voices Heard, in a statement last year. “The idea told the Forest Hills Post. “So many bad things AP Photo/Mark Lennihan file pression. Queens is home to 21 NYCHA sites, is simple: in the richest country in the world, we are happening in our community, we want including the Queensbridge Houses, the largest can and we must guarantee that everyone has a state lawmakers to obtain additional funding. people to feel assured — like they’re not alone public housing complex in the United States. safe, sustainable, healthy and truly affordable “There’s a lot that needs to be done between out there and that God is watching over them.” Councilmember Donovan Richards, a mem- home.” now and April when the budget is finalized and ber of the Committee on Public Housing, said he Cuomo’s office did not respond to a request we look forward to working with the Legislature anticipates the state Assembly and Senate will for comment for this story. and the Governor to secure the funds that NY- POLICE ARE SEARCHING FOR A address the lack of NYCHA funding in their A spokesperson for NYCHA said the public CHA residents need and deserve,” the spokes- suspect who stole thousands of dollars from a budgets. housing authority plans to continue working with person said in a statement. number of city seniors by calling and telling them that a relative needed bail money. The man’s victims include an 81-year-old Queens woman, who on Nov. 8 was swindled out of a total of 25,000. The NYPD have released a ‘She was our abuela’ — Richmond sketch of the suspect, according to the Daily News. Hill remembers slain 92-year-old A MAN STOLE HUNDREDS OF By Jonathan Sperling dollars from a Ridgewood bank on Thursday Queens Daily Eagle by handing a note to a teller. The incident took Richmond Hill residents were somber on place at Popular Bank on Seneca Avenue, and Jan. 19 as they remembered the life and legacy the man took over $500. Police are searching of Maria Fuertes, a 92-year-old woman who for the suspect. was sexually assaulted and killed near her home earlier this month. The attendees also pushed back against xenophobic messaging that resulted from Fuertes’ death, allegedly at the hands of an undocumented immigrant. Richmond Hill residents gathered to remember Maria Fuertes. They asked ICE The man charged with killing Fuertes, not to politicize the women’s death after it was discovered her alleged killer was 22-year-old Rheaz Khan, was reportedly sought by Immigration and Customs Enforce- undocumented.