Queens Today

Volume 65, No. 73 Friday, July 26, 2019 50¢ Katz leads by QUEENS 60 votes as recount ends By David Brand and Phineas Rueckert Queens Daily Eagle Borough President Melinda Katz’s lead in TODAY the Democratic primary for Queens district attorney swelled to 60 votes Tuesday, when — JULY 26, 2019 — Board of Elections officials finished the borough’s first countywide recount in decades. Katz entered the recount leading public de- THE QUEENS DA RECOUNT IS THE fender Tiffany Cabán by 16 votes, but picked talk of the town — but not for everyone. up additional ballots during the painstaking, Outside the mall where the recount was manual tally. She celebrated the result in a taking place, no one seemed to really care. statement. “I am so proud that the people of the borough I have served for so many years have “SOMEONE CAME IN ASKING ME THE given us this victory today,” Katz said. “I look other day if I knew where the DA thing was,” forward to continuing my work on behalf of said Dylan Melendez, an assistant manager the families of Queens, and to beginning the critical work of instituting true criminal jus- at T-Mobile. “I didn’t know what they were tice reform, ensuring fairness and equity, and talking about.” Read more on page 9. keeping the people of this borough safe.” Borough President Melinda Katz leads Tiffany Cabán by 60 votes at the end of the full Continued on page 9 A QUEENS BIKE SHARE RIDER recount in the Democratic primary for Queens district attorney. AP Photo/Seth Wenig found himself in the hot seat on Wednesday after the Lime bike he was riding in Rockaway Beach caught fire. Flames engulfed the saddle after the battery pack that controls the locking mechanism exploded. Read more on page 2. New ‘expedited removal’ policy THE QUEENS COUNTY BAR ASSO- ciation staged its first-ever Summer Soiree in Astoria’s Luna rooftop Wednesday night, an could affect Queens residents event designed to engage law school students and provide networking opportunities for By Phineas Rueckert young attorneys. Queens Daily Eagle Thousands of undocumented Queens residents could be subject to rapid deportation “THE PURPOSE IS TO PROVIDE proceedings without a court appearance, networking opportunities for students, give based on an expansion of existing ‘expedited them the chance to experience the association removal’ policies by the Trump administra- and all it has to offer first hand,” said QCBA tion that went into effect Tuesday. President Marie Eleana First. See the story The American Civil Liberties Union has and the photos on pages 19 and 20. called the expansion “extremely sweeping” and has vowed legal action against the Trump administration. IN AN OP-ED FOR THE EAGLE, THE Previously, expedited removal only applied Alliance of Bukharian Americans Executive to noncitizens apprehended within 100 miles of the border and fewer than 14 days following Director Adam Suionov says we are “sticking their arrival to the country. The new policy our heads in the sand” when it comes to will extend nationwide and require undoc- recognizing hate crimes. Turn to page 20 to umented immigrants to prove two years of read the powerful piece. ‘continuous’ residency in the United States. It also gives Department of Homeland Security agents the ability to quickly deport individu- CUNY CHANCELLOR FÉLIX V. MAT- als who are unable to prove two years contin- os Rodríguez announced the appointment of uous residence in the country — sometimes in new interim presidents to York College and as little as a few hours. LaGuardia Community College on Thursday, “It makes me fear for people’s constitution- temporarily replacing two long-serving al rights and for the law and for the system,” presidents at both schools as the university said Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, who system seeks new administrators to fill the represents Corona, Elmhurst and Jackson roles. Heights. Rockaway Youth Task Force organizer Andrea Colon holds a sign denouncing Continued on page 2 Continued on page 13 immigration raids at a rally in Far Rockaway last week. Eagle photo by Rachel Vick SAVE THE DATE 10.03.19 Tickets/Information: Michael Nussbaum (718) 422-7409 ‧ [email protected] PRESENTS Guardians of Justice guardians-of-justice.eventbrite.com Lime bike catches fire in Rockaway Beach, QUEENS apparently burning rider By Jonathan Sperling the lock. Queens Daily Eagle “After our investigation we've concluded A Queens bike share rider found himself in that this is an isolated incident, in which some- the hot seat on Wednesday after the Lime bike one attempted to forcibly break the bike lock TODAY he was riding in Rockaway Beach caught fire. with a sharp object, penetrating the well-pro- — JULY 26, 2019 — FDNY officials told the Eagle that they re- tected small lithium battery that powers the sponded to a call for a “bicycle fire” just after lock. This sharp object ultimately ignited the 8:45 p.m. at Beach 79th Street and Rockaway battery — similar to what would happen if one PAUL ARCARIO WAS NAMED INTERIM Beach Boulevard. Though initial reports in- used a sharp object to penetrate a phone or president of LaGuardia. Berenecea Johnson dicated that the green Lime bike’s battery ex- laptop battery,” a Lime spokesperson told the Eanes was appointed interim president of York Eagle via email. ploded, the FDNY told the Eagle that the cause College by Matos Rodríguez. of the fire had not been determined. “Lithium batteries are safe and those in A video tweeted by the Rockaway Times Lime bikes that power the motor and the lock A Lime bike, similar to the one that are surrounded by protective layers of met- shows the bike spurting flames from behind the apparently caught fire and burned a rider THE MTA ANNOUNCED A TASK FORCE seat as it lays in the sand. The rider apparently al and plastic for added security. Our bikes in Far Rockaway. Photo courtesy of Lime to address the number of homeless people suffered non-critical burns to his leg, The New are entirely safe when used properly, and in the subway system, less than two weeks York Post reported. we remind riders to respect the vehicles and Lime said it was not aware of any of their after Gov. Andrew Cuomo sent a letter to the Lime said the fire began because someone that vandalism is dangerous and illegal,” the other bikes catching fire anywhere else in the tried to force open the battery that powers spokesperson added. world. transit agency urging them to take some sort of undisclosed action. City announces $58.4 million “HOMELESS PEOPLE OFTEN POSE A danger to themselves and others,” Cuomo said in the letter. “Let's actually focus on helping bike safety plan. Here’s the homeless, rather than political posturing. This is not an issue of helping the homeless or the subway riders; that is a false choice. We how it will affect Queens must serve both.” By Phineas Rueckert has identified as “priority districts,” including Queens Daily Eagle Corona, East Elmhurst and Jackson Heights, On Thursday, the Department of Transporta- will receive new protected bike lanes. JOIN THE QUEENS DAILY EAGLE AS tion released a $58.4 million updated bike safe- The DOT will also extend the protected bike we honor those in the legal profession and ty plan that will expand protected bike lanes, lane at Beach 94th Street in the Rockaways, and courts with a cocktail and networking hour redesign and increase police presence at certain “improve on-street connections” to a number of at Terrace on the Park followed by dinner “high-crash” intersections across the city and bridges, including the Queensboro Bridge. and awards. Sponsorships are available for hire a spate of new workers to implement the "Ten people lost their lives while biking on companies. Call Michael Nussbaum at (718)- changes. our streets in the first five months of this year, 422-7409 for more information. The new plan comes as the number of cyclist as many as the total killed in all of 2018, and fatalities has reached 17 citywide in 2019 — seven more have died since. Needless to say, the more than double last year’s total and nearly 70 800,000 New Yorkers who regularly travel on percent of the total number of crashes in 2017, two wheels are worried,” Marco Conner, depu- City workers paint new bike lane lines on a the year with the highest fatalities in the past ty director of Transportation Alternatives, told street. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office decade according to DOT statistics. the Eagle in an email. “When we came into office, we promised “The Department of Transportation knows clists in NYC. @NYCMayor’s new bike plan- New Yorkers we'd do everything we could to that it takes a bold set of infrastructure and pol- largely an expansion & acceleration of Vision end traffic fatalities,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said icy changes to make our streets safe for all New Zero - falls short. Reckless drivers will con- in a statement Thursday. “No loss of life on our Yorkers, so we're pleased to see Mayor de Bla- tinue to terrorize our streets until there’s a cul- streets is acceptable.” sio doubling down on his mandate to save lives ture shift to prioritize pedestrians & cyclists,” “With a dangerous surge in cyclist fatali- and empowering the DOT to bring sweeping Ridgewood Councilmember Antonio Reynoso Get 'The Best of the Nest' ties, we have to keep pushing the envelope and changes to our streets,” he added. tweeted. increasing our efforts,” he continued. “That's Queens cyclists have largely been spared On Wednesday, a cyclist was struck by an delivered to your what this plan is about.” from the bike crash crisis.

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