Volume 65, No. 154 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2019 50¢ Mobilizing QUEENS for safety Queensbridge residents develop strategies for TODAY making the community November 21, 2019 a better place By Jonathan Sperling ODN WE NESDAY, THIS YEAR’S Queens Daily Eagle Transgender Day of Remembrance, Gov. The Queensbridge Houses’ Jacob A. Riis Andrew Cuomo announced new actions Neighborhood Settlement was bustling on to protect transgender and gender non- Tuesday, as community members, police of- conforming New Yorkers. Cuomo directed ficers and officials from the Mayor’s Office the Department of Financial Services to discussed ending gun violence at a meeting of The Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighbor- propose new actions to further protect access hood Safety. to health insurance for transgender and The initiative, known as MAP, targets gender non-conforming individuals. 15 public housing developments citywide in order to improve public safety. Long Is- land City’s Queensbridge Houses, the larg- TEH GOVERNOR ALSO DIRECTED est public housing complex in the Western the Division of Human Rights to develop a Neighborhood Stat members Bob Madison and Gwen Wilson attended Tuesday’s Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act Continued on page 12 public awareness campaign. meeting at the Queensbridge Houses. Eagle photo by Jonathan Sperling “NEW YORK IS THE PROUD HOME OF the LGBTQ rights movement, and this Queens Women’s Bar honors Judge Weinstein year we’ve built on that legacy by enacting critical protections for transgender individuals,” Cuomo said. “Transgender and gender nonconforming people still face discrimination and violence every day, and these critical measures send a clear message that New York will always stand up for every single member of our LGBTQ family no matter what happens in Washington.” TEH MTA ANNOUNCED THAT AT least six stations on the No. 7 line would receive upgrades, according to The Sunnyside Post. The 52nd Street, 61st Street, 69th, 82nd, 103st and 111th Street stations would be seeing improvements, though the MTA did not give a timeline for when the upgrades would occur. A CTING QUEENS DISTRICT Attorney John Ryan announced on Wednesday that a jury has found 38-year-old Kenneth Shaw Jamaica, Queens, resident guilty of manslaughter for the July 2017 stabbing death of a man inside of Cookie’s Lounge located in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens. “TE H DEFENDANT IN THIS CASE turned an evening in a bar into mayhem See more photos on pages 19 and 20 and bloodshed,” Ryan said. “A man is dead over a petty dispute and the defendant has The Queens County Women’s Bar Association honored retired Justice Jeremy Weinstein (fourth from left) during their annual Judiciary now been found guilty of taking a life. After Night at Queens Borough Hall Tuesday. From left, Justice Augustus Agate, Retired Justice Randall Eng, Justice Charles Lopresto, Justice Bernice Siegal, Queens County Clerk Audrey Pheffer, Retired Law Secretary Maria Bradley, Judge Tracy Catapano-Fox and Justice Continued on page 2 Marguerite Grays. Eagle photo by Walter Karling Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Visit us Online @queenseagle facebook.com/queenseagle queenseagle.com Queens Supreme Court justice is appointed to state ethics committee QUEENS By David Brand Queens Daily Eagle Queens Supreme Court Justice Chereé Buggs was appointed last month to the Uni- fied Court System’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics. TODAY The ACJE provides ethics advice to judg- es, justices and quasi-judicial officials of the NYS Unified Court System. The committee’s November 21, 2019 “sole mission is to help judges comply with the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct,” ac- cording to the state courts website. careful deliberation, the jury found him guilty Buggs is the lone Queens judge on the and the defendant will face a lengthy term of committee and replaces Queens Supreme punishment for this senseless act of violence.” Court Justice David Eliot, who completed his five-year term. Eliot will remain on the com- mittee as a “faculty member,” which means AKO JAC S N HEIGHTS BAKERY IS he remains involved in some of the ACJE among the city’s best new eateries this year, work. Queens Patch reported. Farine Baking Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Company was named a finalist for the Eater Marks made the appointment, which will New York award for best bakery of 2019. continue through October 2024. “Based on your experience and qualifica- tions, I know that you will contribute great- RAC C OONS ON THE SUBWAY TRACKS ly to the work of the advisory committee,” Queens Supreme Court Justice Chereé Buggs became the lone Queens jurist on the have caused 11 service delays this year, Marks wrote. state Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics. Photo courtesy of Buggs according to MTA data obtained by THE CITY. Since 2008, the bulk of the raccoon sightings have occurred at outdoor stations along the A, L and Q lines in Brooklyn and Queens. Lyft driver convicted of sexually A PAIR OF BILLS PASSED BY THE CITY assaulting sleeping passenger Council Thursday could help desegregate By Jonathan Sperling with friends at a Flushing bar just after mid- assault evidence kit. Analysis of the kit later New York City public schools. The first piece Queens Daily Eagle night on Jan. 6, 2018. After spending time at determined that the DNA collected from her of legislation codifies and maintains Mayor A Lyft driver has been convicted on the bar, Fernandez picked her up in his car at body was consistent with Fernadez’s DNA. Bill de Blasio’s School Diversity Advisory charges that he sexually assaulted a 28-year- around 4:50 a.m. for what was supposed to be Acting Queens District Attorney John Group, while the second would require the old female passenger who had fallen asleep in a four-mile ride back to her home. Ryan described the incident as “the worst city’s Department of Education to reveal the his car. At some point during the ride, the woman nightmare for any woman who has had to demographics of its staff. Welinton Fernandez, 31, was convicted fol- fell asleep and did not wake up until she felt travel alone in this city.” lowing a four-day jury trial where he faced Fernandez sexually assaulting her. When she “In this case, the victim had taken the pre- charges of first-degree criminal sexual act realized what was happening, the woman, caution of using a ride-sharing app to take her KE E P YOURSELF INFORMED ABOUT and first-degree sexual abuse. Fernandez, a whose pants and underwear had been pulled directly from Point A to Point B to ensure her everything Queens by subscribing to our daily Corona resident, faces up to 25 years in pris- down, fled the vehicle, ran into her home and safety,” Ryan said in a statement. “She had no newsletter. Visit queenseagle.com/subscribe on when he is sentenced by Justice Stephanie showered. way of knowing that her driver was a predator to have the news soar straight into your inbox Zaro on Dec. 10. The next day, police were notified and the who took advantage when she fell asleep on every weekday at 8:30 a.m. Prosecutors say the unidentified woman woman was treated at a hospital where a sexu- the ride home and sexually forced himself on had worked two shifts at work and met up al assault forensic examiner prepared a sexual her.” What's on the docket for the Queens legal community Get 'The Best of the Nest' delivered to your inbox every week: QueensEagle.com/Subscribe HOI L DAY PARTY MACON B. ALLEN BLACK Thursday, Dec. 12 BAR ASSOCIATION 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. HOI L DAY DINNER PUBLISHERS: The Brandeis Association, Hellenic Lawyers As- Tuesday, Dec. 17 sociation, Latino Lawyers Association of Queens Michael Nussbaum J.D. Hasty 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. [email protected] [email protected] County, Macon B. Allen Black Bar Association and The annual holiday event will Queens County Women’s Bar Association will host MANAGING EDITOR feature an open bar, dinner and dj. David Brand Queens' annual holiday party. Antun’s, 96-43 Springfield [email protected] Douglaston Manor, 6320 Commonwealth Blvd, Blvd., Queens Village Douglaston, NY 11362 DIGITAL EDITOR Jonathan Sperling [email protected] ADVERTISING MANAGER Kat Ramus [email protected] LEGAL ADVERTISING MANAGER FORMER PROSECUTORS FIGHTING FOR YOU! Gina Ong [email protected] Dominic Addabbo, Esq. | Todd Greenberg, Esq Paul E. Kerson DDABBO LEAVITT, KERSON & SEHATI QUEENS A & ATTORNEYS AT LAW GREENBERG LAW T: (718) 793-8822 • F: (718) 520-8544 Experience Equals Results. www.PaulKersonAttorney.com Is published daily except Saturdays, Sundays and Federal Holi- ‧ Criminal Cases ‧ Personal Injury ‧ Real Estate Matters Forest Hills Tower: 118-35 Queens Blvd, days by Queens Public Media, 8900 Sutphin Blvd., Lower Suite, 12th Floor, Forest Hills, NY, 11375 LL11, Jamaica, Queens, NY 11435. Subscription price is $130 per Addabbo & Greenberg year, $65 for six months. Periodicals Postage paid at Brooklyn, 118-21 Queens Blvd. Suite 306, Forest Hills, N.Y. 11375 NY. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Daily Eagle, Circulation Office, 16 Court Street, 30th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11241. Call or Click: Telephone: 718-643-9099, ext: 103. Fax: 718-643-9485. 718.268.0400 ‧ www.QueensLaw.com 2 • Queens Daily Eagle • Thursday, November 21, 2019 Safety board favors redesign of engine part on Boeing 737s By David Koenig blade problem was unique to maintenance or opera- The Associated Press tions at Southwest, which has the world’s largest 737 Federal safety officials say Boeing should re- fleet. However, earlier this year the Transportation design part of the casing on some engines to pre- Department’s inspector general cited the Philadel- vent the kind of accident that occurred when en- phia incident among the reasons that it was review- gine debris blew out a window on a Southwest ing government oversight of the airline.