Queens Chronicle South Edition 04-30-20

C M SQ page 1 Y K SOUTH QUEENS EDITION Serving Howard Beach, Ozone Park, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park, City Line and JFK Airport

YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER VOL. XLIII

NO. 18

THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2020

QCHRON.COM

WHO’S IT GONNA BE?

‘HE WAS LOVED

BY EVERYONE’ Cross Bay Diner’s Solis dies of virus

PAGE 4

Boro prez Dems face off in June; GOPer ready for Nov. PAGES 6 AND 10; FULL VIRUS COVERAGE PAGES 2-14, 17-18 AND 22

GAME OVER HS players, coaches lament loss of season

NY VS. NY New book recalls Yanks-Mets 2000 Subway Series

SEE qboro, PAGE 19

FILE PHOTOS

PAGE 18

Gov. Cuomo canceled the June 23 special election for borough president due to the coronavirus, though the Democratic primary for the seat, set for the same day, will go forward. Running are City Councilman Costa Constantinides, top left, former Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, retired NYPD Sgt. Anthony Miranda, Councilman Donovan Richards and businessman Dao Yin. The winner will face Republican Joann Ariola-Shanks in November.

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QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020 Page 2

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DOE adjusts grade scale for this term Students who struggle with work will receive extended time, support

by Michael Gannon Editor

T

he Department of Education has come up with grade options to help teachers — and, it hopes, students — in dealing with the unprecedented disruption caused to the school year by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With students now doing distance learning from home, Mayor de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said Tuesday that the new grading policies are aimed at protecting students who have fallen behind or are at risk of doing so.

“Our students, educators, and families are going through a lot right now,” de Blasio said in the text of a transcript sent by his office. “I know our students are capable of excellence, and we will continue to hold them to that high standard while adjusting our grading to reflect the unprecedented challenges created by this crisis. We will give every student the support they need to bounce back and continue on their path to success.”

Under new guidelines for the remainder of the school year, students in grades K to 5 will be graded either “Meets Standards” or “Needs Improvement.” Students in grades 6 through 8 have “Course in Progress” as a third possibility in lieu of a failing grade.

Students in grades 9 to 12 will have the same grading scales as before but with

Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza and Mayor de Blasio outline a new grading policy for the NYC PHOTO / FLICKR remainder of the school year.

“Course in Progress” as an added possibility.

Those receiving a “Course in Progress” will be given additional time and support in an effort to get them to complete the course work and receive credits.

“We recognize that parents and students alike are experiencing anxiety and trauma in the midst of the pandemic, and we have continually evolved our policies to meet this moment,” Carranza said. “... Our priority is to minimize stress on families and students,

while still providing next year’s teachers with the information they need about an individual student’s progress toward achieving standards.”

A teacher speaking with the Chronicle on the condition of anonymity said the DOE’s approach is an understandable one.

“Instead of failing, it’s ‘Incomplete,’” the teacher said. “The student can complete the work in the summer.” The teacher also said the DOE is being forced to deal with a

whole lot of gray areas.

“A lot of students are being affected by this,” the teacher said. “Some have lost family members. Some don’t have computers and are trying to do the work on their phones. Some students have a computer but there are brothers and sisters so they have to share. I know the DOE is trying to get computers to all the students, but I don’t know how successful they’ve been.”

The teacher said extra time is valuable for students who are genuinely struggling despite even their and their teachers’ best efforts, especially graduating seniors. On the other hand, the teacher said there are students who don’t attempt the work while in school and would be unlikely to do so at home.

“I have mixed feelings — some lack motivation. Some have real reasons.”

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, backed the plan in a statement included with de Blasio’s. But Success Academy Charter Schools, public schools under state law, notified parents that its grading process won’t change.

“It ensures accountability for students and educators alike,” Success founder Eva Moskowitz wrote. “A child who studies and achieves mastery deserves an A, and the student who struggles but overcomes and earns a Q hard-fought B deserves that B.”

NEW YORKERS:

STAY HOME TO STOP THE SPREAD OF CORONAVIRUS

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New Yorkers working together and staying home can slow the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in New York City. When you go out for essential needs, work or to get fresh air, keep distance between yourself and others and take the following precautions.

PROTECT YOURSELF AND OTHERS • Keep at least 6 feet between yourself and others.

• Wash your hands with soap and water often.

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue or sleeve when sneezing or coughing.

• Do not touch your face with unwashed hands.

• Monitor your health more closely than usual for cold or flu symptoms.

IF YOU ARE SICK • Stay home.

• If you have a cough, shortness of breath, fever, sore throat and do not feel better after 3-4 days, consult with your doctor.

• If you need help getting medical care, call 311.

• NYC will provide care regardless of immigration status or ability to pay.

Text COVID to 692-692 for real-time updates or visit nyc.gov/coronavirus.

Call 311 to report harassment or discrimination. Call 888-NYC-WELL, text "WELL" to 65173 or chat online at nyc.gov/nycwell to connect with a counselor.

PROTECT THE MOST VULNERABLE • Stay home if you have lung disease, heart disease, diabetes, cancer or a weakened immune system.

• Stay home and call, video chat or text with family or friends who have one of these conditions.

REDUCE OVERCROWDING • Stay home.

• Telecommute if possible.

If you do go out: • Stagger work hours away from peak travel times.

• Walk or bike.

• Do not gather in crowds.

Bill de Blasio Mayor Oxiris Barbot, MD Commissioner

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Ozone Park activists cast a wide net Residents Block Association leads area groups in fight against virus

by Max Parrott

Esposito personally had war ned Queens Borough Director Kevin Morris of the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit In many neighborhoods across the city, on March 9 that de Blasio needed to the COVID-19 crisis has given rise to make a concerted effort to reach the improvised mutual aid organizations that Muslim leaders in the area. Morris, who are providing food and support for citizens was attending the meeting, said that he in need. In some, like Ozone Park, instead had relayed that message but did not of birthing new groups, it’s revealed the end up getting a response from the strength of established organizations.

Mayor’s Office.

When the city locked down, the “You need someone from the Bengali Ozone Park Residents Block Association community to come down here, hand out immediately snapped into action to coorliterature and express to these people that dinate 16 different community groups in the mosques have to be closed,” said a donation effort that provides between Esposito. “Somebody, and I don’t know 250 and 350 bags of groceries per week who it was, dropped the ball. The Bengali to residents in need. community was never reached out to.”

In addition to providing necessities, In response, Esposito convened Benblock association President Sam Esposigali members of the association together to said that he has consciously worked to to launch a coordinated effort to warn keep open a line of communication to the area’s Muslim leaders about what the neighborhood’s large Bangladeshi was coming. population.

After Cuomo announced his PAUSE “Next week we assume is going to be more because some people didn’t get The Ozone Park Residents Block Association held its virtual meeting April 22.

ZOOM SCREENSHOT order on March 20, Esposito said that it still took a week for the Muslim leaders to their checks. Some people have to pay 641-0405 or ozpkrba@aol.com. rent,” said Esposito. of organizations onto one board,” said Ali. “It’s shut down services by March 27.

The high level of coordination between the easy for us to contact every organization and “We are definitely going to have a meeting Esposito and OZPKRBA member Iqbal Ali with the city when this is all over,” he said. initially planned to self-finance the grocery groups has helped the association target com- leaders.”

Since the closure of the mosques, Esposito efforts, but have started collecting checks that munities that may have otherwise slipped Though Ozone Park has not been hit by the go straight to the cost of food as more and more between the cracks. The OZPKRBA was virus as hard as some other parts of Queens, added, he has been awed by the selflessness of residents reached out, eager to contribute. That uniquely situated to do the work because it has Esposito thinks it could have been much worse. the Bangladeshi community members who being said, Esposito said what he needs most made previous strides to build a network that At the block association’s virtual meeting on have volunteered to help the block association bridges diverse populations in the community. are boots on the ground.

Wednesday, April 22, he criticized Mayor de with their mutual aid efforts.

“Before this pandemic took place, we did a Blasio’s lack of outreach to Ozone Park’s Ban“They just care about helping people,” “We need volunteers,” said Esposito.

Q Esposito said.

The block association can be reached at (718) collaboration of getting a lot of different types gladeshi community.

Chronicle Contributor

Adored Cross Bay Diner waiter dies Community shows love for virus victim Arnoldo Solis on family fundraiser page

by Max Parrott

For the latest news visit qchron.com

Chronicle Contributor

Arnoldo Solis, a waiter at the Cross Bay Diner and beloved figure in the Howard Beach community, died around 1 p.m. April 21 at North Shore University Hospital in Great Neck, LI. For over 20 years, Solis had been a fixture at the diner, the only one in Howard Beach. Since his death, hundreds of patrons have remembered him on Facebook for his infectious smile, his enthusiasm and his way of treating customers like they were members of his family.

“One of those guys who always made you feel welcome, always quick with a joke and remembered you from visit to visit,” wrote John Pud Panepinto.

Solis’ wife, Blanca, speaking through sobs, described her husband’s gratitude to have a job that he loved.

“He lived for his job. He was always eager to go to work and that was his passion,” Blanca said.

Diana Lucero, a former co-worker of Solis’ at the diner, said that customers would regularly come in asking for him.

“Everyone knew him by his name. He was loved by everyone in the community and we’re all going to miss him,” said Lucero.

Solis, 52, who was lost to the coronavirus, leaves behind Blanca and their 21-year-old son, Arnoldo Sotero Solis Lemus, a computer science major with one year left at Hunter College.

An immigrant who traveled to New York in 1985 from a rural, agricultural region of Guatemala called Quezaltepeque, Solis had always dreamed to see his son graduate college.

“Nando won’t see that happen now,” said Blanca. But his son has vowed to honor his father’s wishes and do all he can to graduate over the next year.

The family lives in Jamaica in the same apartment Solis and Blanca have occupied since they got married. When their son was born, Solis insisted that Blanca stay home to take care of him, while he supported the family

financially.

After Solis’ death, Blanca started a GoFundMe account to help pay her bills, while Arnoldo Jr. finishes his studies and they are able to figure things out. So far, it has raised $15,283, beating her $15,000 goal.

“I want to say thank you to everyone who has helped in any way that they have. I am very thankful for that,” said Blanca.

“We knew my father was a great man but we never knew that he was this loved,” Arnoldo Jr. wrote on the page. “Me and my mom are overwhelmed by all this support with all the gratitude and love that you guys Arnoldo Solis was a friendly face at the Cross Bay Diner are showing us.”

FAMILY PHOTO for more than 20 years.

While Howard Beach mourns a man whose spirit uplifted strangers, Blanca is first boyfriend. They were married for 30 years, mourning the love of her life. Solis and Blanca during which Blanca described him as a devotbegan dating after they traveled separately from ed, romantic husband.

Q Guatemala to the United States. Solis was her “He was everything to me,” she said.

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Quinn out, Ariola in, Dem primary next Nonpartisan special election is off; Queens GOP leader will run in Nov.

by David Russell Associate Editor

When Gov. Cuomo canceled the June 23 nonpartisan special election for Queens borough president, it knocked retired prosecutor Jim Quinn out of the race.

Quinn was one of six candidates vying for the spot but, after consideration, had not put his name in for either of the primaries to be held the same day.

Queens GOP Chairwoman Joann AriolaShanks is running on the Republican and Conservative lines in the general election.

Quinn was unsure if he wanted to go forward and decided he didn’t want to run on the Republican line, meaning that even if he won the special election he would have had the job only through the end of 2020. When the party was getting signatures for the general election, it was Juniper Park Civic Association President Tony Nunziato’s name on the petition.

“We were very clear that we were supporting Jim throughout the special election and that Tony’s position on the ballot was as a placeholder to give Jim the amount of time of he needed to decide which way he wanted to go,” AriolaShanks said.

Nunziato didn’t want the spot and AriolaShanks was later tabbed to run.

The other candidates in the special election were Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria), former Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, retired NYPD Sgt. Anthony Miranda, Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton) and businessman Dao Yin. All are on the ballot for the Democratic primary.

Quinn, a former executive district attorney, ran a campaign on fighting bail reform and the closing of Rikers Island in favor of four borough-based jails, including one in Kew Gardens. “I think he did an exemplary job with that and I will absolutely carry that message on,” Ariola-Shanks said.

She believes Quinn “set the groundwork” for a Republican to win the race in the Democratheavy borough.

“All this time we’ve been focused on the pandemic, Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo have been systematically letting prisoners out of prison and back onto the street,” Ariola-Shanks said.

The nonpartisan election was scheduled for March 24 but was postponed twice amidst coronavirus concerns. It was pushed back to June

Queens Republican Chairwoman Joann AriolaShanks will be on the ballot for borough president in November against the winner of the Democratic Party primary. PHOTO COURTESY QUEENS GOP

Retired prosecutor Jim Quinn, left, Councilman Donovan Richards, former Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, Councilman Costa Constantinides and retired NYPD Sgt. Anthony Miranda spoke at a borough president election forum in Ozone Park in early March. Quinn is out of the race as the nonpartisan special election was canceled. Dao Yin, who did not appear at the forum, is also FILE PHOTO BY JASON D. ANTOS; INSET COURTESY DAO YIN on the Democratic primary ballot.

23, the same day as the primary for the seat.

“Even those of us who have been in election processes for many years, this has been an upside down year,” Ariola said.

The Campaign Finance Board had called on Cuomo to only have a nonpartisan election with the winner serving out the term. But he canceled the nonpartisan election in favor of the he primary, to the chagrin of Quinn, whoo said the wishes of thousands of voters who signed petitions to get him m on the ballot have been wiped away.

“This outcome particularly disenfranchises Republicans, Conservatives and independents, who have now been prohibited from voting to elect their borough president on June 23,” Quinn said in a statement last Saturday. “There is still a borough-wide Democratic primary being held on the same day. The Borough President’s election was designed to be a nonpartisan election to fill the vacancy.

“The Governor’s action is clearly designed to give the Democrat machine candidate the best chance of winning. It is crass political gamesmanship being disguised as a public safety move.”

Acting Borough President Sharon Lee will continue serving through the end of the year. In a statement calling this “an extraordinary time,” she said, “I made a commitment to represent and serve the people and families of Queens, to the best of my ability and for as long as necessary, and this commitment still stands.”

Lee urged voters to vote in the primary and general elections “like our lives and our futures depend on it, because they do.”

Lee was deputy borough president under now-District Attorney Melinda Katz, who became the borough’s top prosecutor on Jan. 1, leading to the plan for a nonpartisan special election to replace her.

While voters won’t have to deal with the confusion of two races on the same day for the same office, some candidates criticized the governor for canceling the special election instead of the primary.

In addition to Quinn, Yin’s campaign man-

ager, Aaron Foldenauer, criticized Cuomo’s decision, calling the cancellation “politics at its worst.” In a statement, Foldenauer said, “These cancellations disenfranchise millions of voters and leave Queens twisting in the wind without an elected leader, while the minority and immigrant communities in Queens are being devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.” tat Constantinides said life since March 15 1 “feels like a nightmare.” The lawmaker has battled COVID-19 m symptoms for several weeks. s “This month has been a long century,” he said.

Last Friday, Cuomo directed the state Board of Elections to send absentee ballots applications to voters. “Life is options. You have an election,” he said during a briefing. “There’s only two options.

People can either go to the polls or vote by absentee. We’re doing both.”

Constantinides said if the coronavirus situation doesn’t change, the voting should be done only through the mail. “If schools are still closed, if society is still closed ... if we’re still kind of sort of in the same place we are now, poll sites cannot happen,” he said. “We can’t send seniors into a building to run election machines. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Miranda said rather than an absentee ballot application, an absentee ballot should be sent.

“Current voter participation is at probably like three percent right now,” he said. “So if they were in the process of trying to really capture the people’s voice and engage the people then they would have sent the ballots to the homes of the people.”

Richards, backed by the Queens County Democratic Party, says the cancellation of the special election doesn’t give him an advantage in the primary.

“We take nothing for granted ... we work very hard. Just because we have a lot of support around the borough doesn’t mean we rest on our laurels,” he said, adding anyone who underestimates a candidate “can find themselves on the losing side.”

Because of the delays, the election will be more than three months after the debates. Could

2020

voters forget what was said at them?

“We did at least 100 debates,” Richards said laughing. “I would hope that at this point our policies have been very clear.”

Crowley expects a financial downturn, noting that she joined the City Council just as the city was dealing with the 2008 economic crisis.

With Queens at the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis, she said the world has recognized the borough “not for something good.”

Crowley said the next borough president needs to fight for more hospital beds and better hospitals, adding that she would create a task force with healthcare professionals and try to find a location for a new hospital.

“This epidemic exposed our weaknesses and we need a leader that’s going to be out there making sure that we get the healthcare that we deserve,” she said.

The Campaign Finance Board has paid $3.6 million in matching funds to six candidates, including more than $1.6 million on April 7, with three candidates receiving public funds for the first time.

Crowley received $193,329, bringing her total to more than $1 million; Constantinides received $85,495, bringing his total to $693,666; Richards got $191,274, and is at $647,872 overall; Quinn received $440,361; Yin got $377,569; and Miranda has $366,008. There was no money listed for Ariola-Shanks.

For candidates in the special election and primary, the special election candidate committee must be solely used for the primary, the Campaign Finance Board said. Contributions, expenditures and public funds received will count toward primary and general election limits. A candidate not on the primary ballot must immediately stop using public funds for campaign expenditures.

“That much they did right,” Miranda said, adding that candidates couldn’t have been reasonably asked to start raising money for the priQ mary election now.

U.S. presidential primary canceled The Democratic presidential primary set for June 23 in New York State has been canceled.

The state Board of Elections nixed the vote on Monday due to the coronavirus.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive nominee, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has suspended his campaign, were going to be on the ballot.

Although he has conceded the race, Sanders still has delegates he won in previous contests, who can play a role at the party’s convention. Supporters had asked the board to keep him on the ballot despite the suspension, but the members decided the vote was not worth holding.

There is no Republican primary for the White House, as only President Q Trump qualified for the ballot.

— Peter C. Mastrosimone

C M SQ page 7 Y K Page 7 QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020

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CEC 29 votes no on Success Academy Charter middle school proposed in IS 238; official decision due May 20

by Max Parrott

foreseen pandemic crisis.”

The council did hedge its bets though, offerAt a virtual meeting on Thursday, April 23, ing a conditional request if the DOE does Community Education Council 29 continued decide to proceed with its proposal. Members local resistance to Success Academy Charter want assurance that the temporary plan would Schools’ efforts to establish a middle school in stay temporary and that the schools would collaborate while co-located.

Southeast Queens.

“CEC29Q urges SA to collaborate pedagogiThe Department of Education is nearing a vote on a proposal to house the charter school’s cally and programmatically with I.S.238 so that 227 middle school students in two schools: MS the students of both schools can benefit from 53 Brian Piccolo in Far Rockaway and IS 238 this co-location if it must happen,” the resolution reads.

Susan B. Anthony The DOE is only Academy in Hollis.

The CECs in both board opposes the law that voting on the 2020-21 school year on May areas have rejected says charters get space.

20, but the Hollis this plan. The HollisCEC’s resolution sugbased group’s advisory vote came less than a week after the vote in gests that members are concerned about it the Rockaway council, but cited different con- extending longer. They’re arguing that the extra space should be reserved for special-needs stucerns in its resolution.

Whereas the Rockaway council argued that dents and overflow from nearby elementary its school would be more overcrowded than it school PS 95 in the future.

The resolution also calls to rescind state looks on paper, the Hollis CEC called on the DOE to put the vote off until members of the charter law that requires the DOE to provide community have a chance to voice their con- space for charter schools.

In response, a Success Academy spokespercerns in person.

Though the DOE organized a virtual public son accused the council of being anti-charter hearing on April 6, the council argued it was school and clarified that the group was seeking “unfair to hold a virtual meeting for a commu- to co-locate for two years.

“More than half of all District 29 schools nity where most participants will not have access to technology, especially during a never share space with another school — usually a Chronicle Contributor

A

The District 29 Community Education Council voted against co-locating a Success Academy middle school in IS 238, above, and called on the state to rescind the law mandating that the PHOTO BY MICHAEL SHAIN city Department of Education find space for charter schools. district school, which shows that CDEC29 is blatantly discriminating against a group of young charter school students who want nothing more than to continue their education in a few classrooms in an underutilized building — for a mere two years! Calling for a freeze of all actions is churlish and cold-hearted,” said the statement.

The SA spokesperson also pointed out that the resolution acknowledges that the co-location could provide a potential benefit for the public school.

The Panel for Educational Policy will have to weigh the CECs’ advisory votes as it decides on the proposed co-locations at its next meetQ ing, on May 20.

Masks offered to those in need

Now 46% know a virus victim

State Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Rockaway Beach) and the Howard Beach-Lindenwood Civic Association are partnering to distribute homemade masks to those who need them the most.

The civic has already donated more than 600 homemade face coverings to residents, NYPD officers and healthcare workers. Now the assemblywoman’s office is accepting requests for the first 75 in a new batch that have been made.

They are intended for people who cannot get one otherwise. The rest will be distributed within the community.

To request a homemade mask, individuals can submit their name, address, email and phone number via a form posted at https://forms.gle/YQMqoENtmP9DLiF97 or call Pheffer Amato’s office at (718) 945-9550. People in the area always help each other out in tough times, Pheffer Amato said.

“These face coverings will help keep our community safe and will help stop the spread of COVID-19,” the lawmaker continued. “I want to thank the members of the HBLC — efforts like these are what make our community special and are why I know we will come through this stronQ ger and more united than before.”

Just over half of New York State residents know someone with the coronavirus, and nearly half of those in the city know someone who has died from it, according to a new poll released Monday.

The Siena College Research Institute survey also found more trust for Gov. Cuomo in the crisis than for President Trump.

“Last month, fewer than one-third of New Yorkers knew someone who had tested positive for coronavirus,” Siena pollster Hank Greenberg said in his report. “Today, 51 percent personally know someone who has been infected with COVID-19, including 60 percent from New York City, 67 percent from the downstate suburbs and 30 percent from upstate. The human toll is almost unfathomable as 46 percent of New York City voters personally know someone who has died from coronavirus, as do 36 percent of downstate suburbanites and 13 percent of upstaters.

Half of Latino and black voters know someone who has passed away from this insidious virus.”

The poll also said voters statewide say they trust Cuomo over President Trump on reopening the state 78-16 percent. Q — Peter C. Mastrosimone

PHOTO COURTESY HB KIWANIS CLUB

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QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020 Page 8

C M SQ page 8 Y K

Kiwanis gives food gift cards T he Howar d Beach K iwanis Club recently donated 80 $50 gift cards to needy families financially affected by the COVID-19 virus in Howard Beach.

Club members reached out to five religious institutions in the area — St. Helen Church, Howard Beach Judea Center, Assembly of God church, Saint Barnabas Church and Our Lady of Grace Church —

to find out how many gift cards were needed.

The gift cards are for Key Food on Cross Bay Boulevard in Howard Beach or Food Emporium in Lindenwood.

To honor essential workers fighting the coronavirus, the Kiwanis Club also put up a thank-you banner on Cross Bay Boulevard between CVS and Starbucks.

TELL US THE NEWS! REPORT COMMUNITY EVENTS AND ISSUES DIRECTLY TO EDITOR-IN-CHIEF PETER C. MASTROSIMONE AT (718) 205.8000, EXT. 127

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C M SQ page 10 Y K

P Careful, safe reopening must begin EDITORIAL

W

AGE

e’re two weeks away from Gov. Cuomo’s plan to begin reopening parts of the state to whatever our new normal will be on May 15. But it’s not enough to just go region by region. It might be nice to tell the tiny Village of Speculator in the back woods of the Adirondack foothills that it’s OK for folks to mosey along Lake Pleasant again, but that doesn’t do a darn thing for the people suffering here in Queens.

No, we need to begin lifting Cuomo’s PAUSE — Policies Assure Uniform Safety for Everyone — right away here too. We can do it at an acceptable level of risk if we do it smartly. Supermarkets let you shop, with a mask, at 50 percent occupancy or less, with protective screens at the register — can’t Home Goods, Ulta Beauty, Burlington Coat Factory and TJ Maxx do that? Of course they can.

They can also set aside special hours for seniors, those most at risk of dying if they contract the coronavirus, just as supermarkets have. And restaurants can do the same; it would just be a matter of taking the traditional Early Bird Special to another level. Set aside a block of time when only seniors can dine in, after a thorough cleaning of the place, keep them apart from each other, and then open up

later for everyone else. You can bet most restaurateurs would rather do that than see their businesses shuttered, their dreams crushed, their workers on unemployment.

Deaths and hospitalizations from COVID-19 are steadily declining. We flattened the curve, which was the point of social distancing and stay-at-home orders. The hospital system and its heroic frontline workers, though stretched to the breaking point, never broke. Now it’s time to begin the process of relief, including here in New York City.

The need is dire. At least 26 million people have lost their jobs in a matter of weeks. Nothing remotely like that has happened since the Great Depression. Unemployment systems are overwhelmed. A Univision reporter last week posted video of a line of people seeking sustenance from a Catholic Charities food pantry in Corona that he said stretched for 20 blocks. The meat section in one Forest Hills supermarket looks like something out of Soviet Russia: 80 percent empty. Lysol is selling at $12 for 12.5 ounces.

We rightly put safety first, but did unfathomable damage to our economy and society in the process. We must begin repairing it now. Carefully. Logically. One step at a time. But now. The cure cannot be worse than the disease.

LETTERS TO THE Published every week by

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Vaccines aren’t perfect Dear Editor: Medical authorities seem overly optimistic that a COVID-19 vaccine will end any future waves of this type of pandemic. Their optimism is based on the expectation that 100 percent of Americans will receive the vaccine, and that the vaccine will be 100 percent effective. However, on average, only 50 percent of Americans get their annual flu vaccine, for various reasons; and, this year’s flu vaccine is only 45 percent effective.

If the COVID-19 vaccine has similar participation and effectiveness rates as the flu vaccine, many people might choose to wear masks and gloves every cold and flu season.

The sight of Americans wearing masks and gloves might become more common and might not be the only cultural change resulting from this pandemic.

Glenn Hayes Kew Gardens

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You let Cuomo off easy Dear Editor: Regarding the number of deaths in nursing homes, you’re awfully kind to Gov. Cuomo.

Your editorial (“Tragedy in nursing homes demands immediate action,” April 23) was six paragraphs in before you even mentioned him by name. You “demand immediate action” but © Copyright 2020 by MARK I PUBLICATIONS, INC. All rights reserved.

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Our empty seat in Albany

T

he people of the 31st Assembly District — folks living in South Ozone Park, Brookville, much of Ozone Park and swaths of eastern Rockaway — will just have to put up with taxation without representation for the rest of the year. So decided Gov. Cuomo when he canceled the June 23 special election that would have filled the seat vacated by now-Civil Court Judge Michele Titus.

Registered Democrats will still get to vote in their party’s primary for the post that day, which will effectively decide who wins the job in November, as Republicans have no chance in the district. Six candidates are running.

But the winner won’t be sworn in until January.

Cuomo did the same thing with the election for Queens borough president, but at least we have an experienced acting borough president, Sharon Lee, handling that job.

In the 31st AD, the people will have no voice as the state continues confronting the coronavirus crisis. Why? People are already going to the polls for the primary. Mail-in ballots could be sent to everyone. The candidates were all set to go. We don’t see how this move serves anyone, and it’s both a disservice and an affront to a democratic people.

E DITOR

won’t hold him accountable.

At worst you write that “Gov. Cuomo, surprisingly, said it is not the state’s job to provide nursing homes with personal protective equipment. While that may be the case technically...” “Surprisingly”? “Technically”? Wow, don’t be so harsh on him. (Insert sarcastic eye roll here). Is that the worst you can say about a governor who forced nursing homes to take COVID-19 cases and without working with nursing homes to help isolate residents from those admitted patients?

When the president said something to the effect that it’s not his responsibility Cuomo pounced on him, but when Cuomo says basically the same thing you give him a pass. I think you like Cuomo too much as can be read in your editorial how you deftly sidestep criticizing him; meanwhile, 3,500 nursing home residents died from this virus.

Sebastian Mannuzza Astoria

Gruff but great Joe Hennessy Dear Editor: I was very sad to hear of the passing of Joe Hennessy.

I knew Joe through my late husband Greg, who worked for Joe for over 20 years. He started with Joe at Chad and stayed with him after the merger that created Team Systems.

Greg greatly respected Joe, who encouraged my husband when Greg got a part in a production (he was an actor) and always had a place for Greg at the end of the run. He looked out for Greg, and when Greg had an accident that kept him from driving a cab anymore, Joe offered him a job taking the taxis for their TLC inspections so he could keep earning a living.

I personally found Joe a bit gruff but caring. When the blackout occurred in 2003, I walked across the Queensboro Bridge from my office on the West Side and stopped at the

C M SQ page 11 Y K

garage hoping to get a cab home.

Joe arranged for me to get a ride.

My heart goes out to his wife and family.

You lost a great man.

Catherine Houston Richmond Hill

‘Light’: a poem for today Dear Editor: The world is dark, seems like it’s falling apart Paths so narrow, woods are deep, trees look like they’re asleep Rivers flow to places they know they can go So many things we do not know The present hurts, everything has changed Wind holds the pain Days come and they go Earth tries to breathe Spring tries to sing We look for relief Grieve for all your losses Oceans of pain, waves dance at the shore, Trying to celebrate Spring, there has to be more Sometimes it’s sad in the valley of despair out there What could ever be clear?

Rivers flow with hope, the hope we want and need Rivers of peace we want to find in times like these Things just have to be better than this, hundreds of sunrises and sunsets we don’t want to miss Better times where we can walk and not fall Try to feel so endless and long like a disease So tired of times like these No definite answers in any of the words that I’ve heard Wind pushes the clouds, the stars and the leaves on the trees Looking for true light Is the moon immune to losses and constant changes?

Are you?

Let the sun shine through Cover the blood, the mud, broken roads, open holes Give us light Don’t take anything more away, we need better days!

Hear the wind blow!

Light!!

Carol Lynn Lustgarten Forest Hills

Dear Editor: Yes, after Trump suggested doctors could cure coronavirus by injecting disinfectants like bleach straight into people’s lungs, Reckitt Benckiser, the owner of the Lysol brand, had to put out an alert warning people to not inject or ingest any type of disinfectant.

That’s right, people, do not go out in search of asthma inhalers labeled “Fantastik,” “Mr. Clean” or “Formula 409.”

Yes, Trump is an imbecile without a clue that viruses operate at a cellular level. But I’ve realized that the blame for the epic response failure to this pandemic rests on the shoulders of the medical experts who are seen daily standing by Trump’s side. They have collectively failed to take the single-most

effective action against the No. one cause of this terrible debacle.

Now, while I am sure everyone knows personal protective equipment is scarce, I’m sure Bellevue can supply a straitjacket in Trump’s size. Enough already. He needs to be removed from office immediately. The 25th Amendment calls for his removal if the American president is senile, unhinged, dangerously impulsive, divorced from reality, suffering from shortterm memory loss or likely to start a nuclear war and therefore dangerous to the Republic.

Need I say more?

Robert LaRosa Whitestone

The politics of lockdowns Dear Editor: I find it horrendous that at a time of a national health crisis, when all American and both parties ought to be working together, that is not the case. Blaming, partisan politics and the inequality of remedial measures have Americans upset, and rightly so.

Many Americans, and the mainstream media, have been finding fault with President Trump. But there are a lot more to blame. Early in the year the World Health Organization lied about the severity and contagion of COVID-19.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi originally condemned confinement orders, and was more concerned with how to name the virus than combating it. In the periods that followed, Mr. Trump was endlessly maligned, something that would not have been done with a Democratic president. The other two entities were virtually untouched.

Then have come the draconian confinement and distance orders. Michiganders have been arrested for mowing lawns, sowing grass seed and planting flowers purchased at nurseries.

They’re forbidden to go to their vacation homes. The governor sees nothing abhorrent about it. In Idaho a woman was arrested in front of her own children for taking them to a public park, while in California a man was apprehended for surfing. But in other states prisoners have been released while Democratic lawmakers are demanding that undocumented Americans be eligible for stimulus payments.

And just what constitutes an essential service? Gyms, salons, restaurants and some auto repair shops close, while liquor stores remain open. Are they essential, but not mechanics?

At first I, like many citizens, was very much in favor of the measures. But they have gotten out of hand, draconian and partisan. Slowly but surely Americans are rebelling at the injustice.

What I find most deplorable is that at a time when the welfare, health and benefit of Americans ought to be paramount, it has instead become an opportunity for politicians to use the crisis as a platform for their careers.

Edward Riecks Howard Beach

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Time to toss Trump

E DITOR

Page 11 QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020

LETTERS TO THE

QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020 Page 12

C M SQ page 12 Y K

State to investigate nursing home conditions High level of COVID-19 deaths sparks probe by AG and NYS DOH

by Katherine Donlevy Associate Editor

With over 3,600 COVID-19 deaths in state nursing homes and adult care facilities repor ted as of Apr il 27, Gov. Cuomo announced that the Department of Health and Attorney General Letitia James will be conducting a joint investigation to determine whether facilities are administering appropriate levels of care to residents.

“Nursing homes are our top priority. They have been from day one,” Cuomo said at his April 23 daily press briefing. “They get paid to take care of a resident and they have to do it in accordance with state rules. If they don’t we will take appropriate action and the state DOH and the Attorney General will commence an investigation to make sure all those policies are in place and being followed. If they’re not being followed they can be subjected to a fine or they can lose their license. It’s that simple.”

DOH data revealed that nearly 21 percent of state COVID-19 deaths were occurring in nursing home facilities, which, coupled with reports that they failed to maintain transparency with residents and their families on the status of the virus, led the state to implement additional regulations on adult care residencies. Nursing homes are required to equip staff with appropriate personal protective gear and to check their temperatures before they enter the facility.

Gov. Cuomo announced April 23 that state the Department of Health and Attorney General Letita James will investigate whether nursing homes are complying with new regulations in the time NYS SCREENSHOT / YOUTUBE of the pandemic.

Additionally, all visitations are suspended and residents who test positive for COVID-19 must be quarantined and cared for by staff separately from residents who have not tested positive. The homes are required to inform all residents and family members of a positive test within the building or of a COVID-related death within 24 hours.

On April 23, James announced the launch of

a hotline where residents, families and members of the public can report complaints about facilities that have not provided required communications with families about COVID-19 diagnoses or fatalities, as well as complaints about nursing home abuse, neglect and failure to follow the new state regulations.

“We recognize that the most vulnerable New Yorkers are continuing to suffer through

this crisis at nursing homes across the state,” James said in a prepared statement. “Every nursing home should be provided with adequate PPE and testing, and enhanced infection control protocols must be implemented to protect residents ... My office will continue to work hard to protect residents of nursing homes and make sure their rights are preserved during this crisis and beyond.”

City Councilmember Bob Holden (D-Middle Village) released an April 26 statement, claiming that Cuomo’s decision forcing nursing homes to accept residents with the coronavirus is a mistake that endangers healthy people there.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a tragic toll on our nursing homes,” said Holden. “These facilities are filled with the people who are most likely to have severe cases of the virus, yet they have struggled with a shortage of PPE and a lack of space to isolate coronavirus patients. Now that our hospitals have begun to stabilize, the state must lift this directive and ensure all nursing home patients are treated in hospitals where they can be properly isolated and treated until they are no longer contagious.”

In an effort to protect city facilities, which have borne nearly 60 percent of the state nursing home deaths — led by Queens with 790 — Mayor de Blasio announced on April 23 that he continued on page 27

City COVID-19 tests: 21.2 percent positive Gov. wants greater search effort in NYCHA and minority communities

by Michael Gannon

For the latest news visit qchron.com

Editor

Gov. Cuomo last Thursday announced stepped up testing statewide for those with COVID-19 antibodies as the next step in combating the crisis.

So far, preliminary results show 21.2 percent of city residents and 13.9 percent of the statewide population have COVID-19 antibodies, which Cuomo’s office said means they are now immune to the virus.

At the same time he announced a massive expansion of diagnostic testing of residents living in apartment complexes run by the New York City Housing Authority.

Cuomo, in a transcript provided by his office, said preliminary testing in 40 locations in 19 counties has given state health officials basic data to work from, but that more is needed, and that testing will be a major initiative until the crisis is resolved.

“The survey developed a baseline infection rate by testing 3,000 people at grocery stores and other box stores over two days in 19 counties and 40 localities across the state,” Cuomo said. “It’s new, it’s technical, it’s complex, it’s a political football, but testing does a number of things for us. Number one, it reduces the spread of the virus by finding people who are positive, tracing their contacts and isolating them. That’s a function of testing.

“Testing also — what they call antibody testing — you test people to find out if they have the antibodies,” Cuomo added. “Why? Because if they have the antibodies they can donate blood for convalescent plasma which is one of the therapeutic treatments.”

Cuomo said testing helps track infection rates in populations throughout the state. “[W]here it’s higher, where it’s lower, to inform you on a reopening strategy and then when you start reopening, you can watch that infection rate to see if it’s going up,” he said.

“If it’s going up, slow down on the reopening strategy. ... Let’s find out what the infection rate is. We have preliminary data on phase one and this is going to be ongoing. We did about 3,000 tests. We’re going to continue this testing on a rolling basis. We’ll have a larger and larger sample, but I want to see snapshots of what is happening with that rate. Is it going up? Is it flat? Is it going down? It can really give us data to make decisions.”

The NYCHA testing, Cuomo said, is largely a function of New York City having a more dense population than other parts of the state.

“More people getting on subways, getting on buses,” he said. “More people dealing with that density. We know that’s where it communicates. But, New York City Housing Authority — we’re starting more testing today at New York City Housing Authority facilities. You

talk about public housing. I was a HUD secretary. I worked in public housing all across this nation. That is some of the densest housing in the United States of America. People crammed into elevators, crammed through small lobbies, overcrowding in their apartment. So, public housing does pose a special issue and it should be addressed.”

Cuomo also announced that he will work with U.S. Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn, Queens), Yvette Clarke (D-Brooklyn) and Nydia Velazquez (D-Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens) to work with churches in New York City and on Long Island to expand the amount of testing done in the African-American and Hispanic communities.

“One of the problems is finding a testing site, but many churches have said they would be willing to use their facilities for testing sites, Cuomo said. “As we ramp up the testing, I want to get it into the African-American, Latino community and using the churches as a network, I think, is going to be extraordinarily effective.”

De Blasio spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie, in an email to the Chronicle last Friday, said the mayor announced last week that “the city will be opening six new community testing sites that are either at or near a NYCHA development and will prioritize NYCHA residents.”

Those locations, including one slated for

Gov. Cuomo says ramping up testing is the next weapon in battling COVID-19 in New York PHOTO BY MIKE GROLL / NYS / FLICKR State.

Woodside, will be run by the NYC Health + Hospitals.

In regard to Cuomo’s announcement, Lapeyrolerie said the state will be setting up a series of testing sites with Ready Responders, a private laboratory, at NYCHA developments including the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, Hammel Houses and Red Fern Q Houses in the Rockaways.

C M SQ page 13 Y K

MediSys Health’s chief nursing officer discharged in milestone

by Katherine Donlevy Associate Editor

The MediSys Health Network’s Chief Nursing Officer was cheered on by his coworkers-turned-caretakers as he left Flushing Hospital Friday, April 24, as MediSys’ 1,000th recovered COVID-19 patient.

Ruben Silvestre was working at the front lines of the pandemic when he fell ill, becoming a patient earlier in the week. He was deemed well enough to recover at home, and the st af f celebrated the milestone with an optimistic send-off, complete with posters, dancing and cheering.

“He is beloved by the staff at every level and just a salt of the earth person and wonderful nursing leader, and we love him and are so happy that he’s better and going home today,” Cathy Ferrari, one of Silvestre’s many cheering colleagues, said at his discharge celebration.

Jamaica and Flushing Hospital medical centers, the facilities that comprise the MediSys Health Network, said that they reached their apex of COVID-19 cases in mid-April, at one point admitting over 450 patients for

complications with more than 150 requiring the assistance of ventilators. The network has since seen a decline in its admittance rates for the virus, as well as the number of individuals who require ventilators.

“Our doctors, nurses and other caregivers worked tirelessly and selflessly to save as many lives that they could. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, some patients expired due to complications of the disease,” D r. S a b i h a R a o of , MediSys’ chief medical officer, said in a prepared statement. “However, over the last week, thanks to the perseverance of our front-line heroes, our numbers have become slightly more encouraging.”

The New York State Laborers’ Union was present to celebrate the milestone as well, displaying a truck with messages such as “Best wishes to all patients for a quick and easy recovery” and “Thank you to all healthcare workers and first responders” plastered on its sides. The truck blasted Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” as Silvestre walked out to celebrate his recovery and to show appreciation for the city’s front lines.

Dr. Ruben Silvestre of the MediSys Health Network, above center, was celebrated by his colleagues and the New York State Laborers’ Union as MediSys’ 1,000th recovered patient April 24 PHOTOS BY KATHERINE DONLEVY after contracting the virus on the front lines.

After experiencing the virus firsthand, Silvestre shared a message with those battling COVID-19: “Keep it up, believe and have faith.”

Eager to go home, Silvestre said the first thing he was going to do to celebrate his discharge is shower and rest. He is scheduled to return to the hospital in two weeks to continue working on the front lines.

The celebration and dancing didn’t stop after Silvestre left the hospital — staff, dressed in personal protective gear and maintaining social distancing, continued to dance and cheer to the music provided by the union.

“Okay, now back to work!” a staff member said smiling, and the crowd filed back inside to return to its COVID-19 patients. Q

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QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020 Page 14

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U.S. reps: Takin’ care of (small) business Suozzi, Meeks join LI colleagues, and their commercial constituents

by Michael Gannon Editor

The ink in President Trump’s signature was barely dry last Friday when U.S. Reps.

Gregory Meeks (D-Queens, Nassau) and Tom Suozzi (D-Suffolk, Nassau, Queens) discussed details of the $484 billion extension of the Coronvirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act in a teleconference with small business owners and their colleagues who represent central and eastern Long Island.

Suozzi hosted the call that also included Reps. Peter King (R-Nassau, Suffolk), Kathleen Rice (D-Nassau) and Lee Zeldin (R-Suffolk).

An overriding concern among all five, Democrat and Republican, is that the last round of funding seemed to have big banks lending big businesses money intended for smaller businesses with fewer employees.

“We need to let the biggest banks know we’re watching,” Suozzi said. “We’re going to work to send a message to the [U.S. Small Business Administration] and the Treasury Department to help get that message across.”

“Many small businesses in my district are on the verge of going under,” King said.

“Some of the big banks may feel with SBA applications that their fee isn’t big enough, that they won’t make sufficient revenue. Big banks have an obligation to step forward.”

Queens Congressmen Gregory Meeks, left, and Tom Suozzi chatted remotely with three of their colleagues from Long Island and numerous small business owners to discuss the latest round of ZOOM SCREENSHOTS federal bailout loans and how best to take advantage of them.

Rice, who said her office is getting calls daily from small businesses that need help, said some banks have said that the Treasury Department needs to be more specific in its guidelines to banks, some of whom she said fear approving a loan too quickly and without due diligence — and subsequently getting stuck with a bad loan on the books.

“Oversight is not a political question,” Rice said. “Oversight assumes you have good actors, but also some fraud.”

“This is about life and death for those small businesses who need to get back on their feet,” Zeldin said. “They will not survive without help.”

The congressman added that he wants any subsequent bill to address some nonprofits and other organizations that have suffered as much as a restaurant or clothing store, but can’t apply for bailout money.

“They’re people who don’t qualify, but should,” he said.

Meeks said banks do have the leeway to bump some smaller applicants to the head of the line. He told all business owners on the conference who have not already applied for loans to do so quickly and get their paperwork on record.

And he recommended that those with applications not processed in the last round pay painstaking attention to where their application is now.

“See where you are in the queue,” he said.

“Make sure you don’t get pushed back.”

He also said that with the new round of funding setting aside $60 million for community banks and other small lending institutions, it might be to a business owner’s advantage two withdraw from a larger bank and apply to a smaller one.

Meeks and Zeldin said new funding should include some discretion based on the needs of specific types of businesses. One example was allowing a bank to lengthen the term of a loan for an established independent restaurant that might need some leeway the first few months to get its customer base back as people get their jobs back.

Rice said the impact on public eduction, when hit by the falling dominoes of lost income, lost state income taxes and lost municipal real estate taxes is “another train Q that’s hurtling down the track.”

Kicked off ballot: protocol or racism?

Nicknames vs. formal names at issue; case being appealed today

by Peter C. Mastrosimone

For the latest news visit qchron.com

Editor-in-Chief

Two candidates for office in Queens were removed from the ballot by the Board of Elections last Thursday because the names they’re running under do not match those under which they’re registered to vote.

The candidates and many of their supporters, however, claim their removal from the ballot is racist, due to a largely white establishment wanting to keep women of color in particular from gaining power. One of their backers likened the name discrepancy to former President Bill Clinton’s running under that first name rather than William.

The two candidates are Mary Jobaida, who seeks to unseat state Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan (D-Long Island City), and Moumita Ahmed, who is running for Democratic district leader in Assembly District 31 in Southeast Queens and Rockaway. Both are Muslims of Bengali descent.

Jobaida’s first name on her voter registration is Meherunnisa, and Ahmed’s is Atqiya.

Ahmed said she was removed unfairly because the BOE sent her a letter about how her name would appear that she never received. She said it was the board’s fault for not sending its correspondence certified mail.

But her attorney, Ali Najmi, who also is representing Jobaida, had presented the neces-

sary affidavits about the candidates’ names two days before the BOE hearing last Thursday.

One board official unfavorably compared the name changes the women sought to a man named Anthony wanting to be listed as Tony, according to a video Ahmed posted to Twitter and tweets from supporters.

“To listen to that, it was so discriminatory against a Muslim population and the Bangladeshi community that is already dealing with so much,” Ahmed said through tears in the video. “And I’m running in a district where there’s no representation for us, and I’m running to support them — I’ve been delivering food to poor, working-class families so that they can survive, and I’m running to represent them, and the Board of Elections is so racist.”

The case actually involved a man named Anatoly Eisenberg, who was known as and wanted to run as Tony. New York’s Court of Appeals, the state’s highest, ruled in his favor in 2003, setting the definitive precedent that allows for people to run for office under names other than their legal ones. The names do not even have to be derivative the way Bill is of William.

Ahmed also was a delegate for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in his bid to become the Democratic presidential nominee. In that instance, the state Board of Elections

approved her being listed as Moumita Ahmed.

While bureaucratic inertia and an unyielding insistence on protocol may be the reasons for its rulings, Jobaida and many supporters said the real cause is xenophobia.

In one tweet using the candidates’ Twitter handles, the South Asian American Voters Association said, “This is totally xenophobic attempt to keep @disruptionary and @maryforassembly off the ballot. We strongly condemning the action to silence our south Asian community.”

“Thank you for lending your voice!” Jobaida responded. “Let’s fight the xenophobia together.”

City Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria), who himself is running for Queens borough president, condemned the BOE’s decision and echoed the charge of xenophobia.

“Queens is the most diverse place on Earth with a growing immigrant population, who deserve to have a voice,” Constantinides said in a statement. “Two Muslim women were kicked off the ballot for shortening their names on their petitions. However, this is a common practice used by many elected officials including Bill Clinton (William) and Marty Markowitz (Martin). At face value, the decisions against Mary Jobaida and Moumita Ahmed was a xenophobic attempt to keep two

Meherunnisa Jobaida, left, known as Mary, and Atqiya Ahmed, known as Moumita, are battling TWITTER PHOTOS the city Board of Elections. women of color from entering the political discourse.

“We need more diverse voices, both in background and in thought, now more than ever. These are unprecedented times in which the Bangladeshi community is hit particularly hard. The Board of Elections should recognize the trials we face right now, and allow people who have worked to appear on the ballot to have a shot to represent their communities.”

The candidates are going to court to fight for their places on the ballot, with their cases due to be heard in state Supreme Court for Queens today, April 30.

A spokesperson for the BOE did not immediately respond to questions on the dispute Q asked via email.

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Thanking everyone who is lending a helping hand!

Page 15 QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020

The LIC community is strong and we will pull through this together.

The Kirby, Pfohl, & Quigley Families and all of us at Plaxall For more information on where to donate and how to help, visit:

www.facebook.com/licrelief For the latest news visit qchron.com

For the latest news visit qchron.com

QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020 Page 16

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Domestic violence during COVID crisis Family Justice Centers, police talk safety tips when stuck with abuser

by David Russell Associate Editor

“Love should never hurt.”

That’s the message from the NYPD as shelter-in-place orders during the coronavirus crisis have domestic violence victims stuck at home in many cases.

“Stressors (unemployment, forced time together) can all exacerbate already violent situations,” the NYPD Domestic Violence Unit tweeted April 15.

Gothamist reported on April 23 that there have been 19 domestic violence murders this year, four more than last year through the same time.

Speaking on 1010 WINS last week, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea called the increase in domestic murders “incredibly troubling.”

Family Justice Centers, operated by the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and GenderBased Violence, are temporarily closed, but employees are working remotely and are still available to help those in need.

“I don’t think in my experience I’ve ever seen something happen so quickly where we need to pivot and figure out how to provide these services in a unique way,” said Jennifer DeCarli, assistant commissioner for Family Justice Centers and Outreach.

Noting that “everybody’s safety plan looks

Forced time together in quarantine during the coronavirus crisis can exacerbate violent situations for those suffering from domestic abuse. The Family Justice Center and police have tips for DVU IMAGE / TWITTER people looking for help. different,” DeCarli said there are creative ways to remain safe for victims afraid to call 911 with an abuser near.

Many survivors prefer communicating via email. A person can also develop code words with family, friends or a case worker.

“So if they’re talking on the phone or even if they’re emailing and their partner comes in the room, saying something like, ‘I was think-

ing about going to get groceries tonight or whatever that phrase or that code word is going to be, meaning that conversation needs to end,” DeCarli said.

She said that people can also set up group chats with family and friends.

“Social distancing doesn’t need to mean emotionally distant,” DeCarli said.

Then someone could put a code word in the

chat so a friend or family member can call 911 for the person.

On the case workers’ side, open-ended questions may not be as safe as ones that lead to simple answers and less talking.

“COVID-19 puts into sharp focus the vulnerabilities that many people in our city face every day, especially gender-based violence survivors; and it highlights the barriers and challenges that we know keep people from seeking help and finding safety,” said ENDGBV Commissioner Cecile Noel in a statement.

On the policing side, Capt. Jonathan Cermeli, commander of the 110th Precinct, said, “During these times we’re definitely paying closer attention because there are more people staying home and not going out so there is a propensity toward domestic violence.”

Cermeli said if someone is in immediate danger to call 911. When people are concerned about potential future violence, they should call their area precinct and talk to the domestic violence unit, which can result in an “increase in visiting their location or help them get an order of protection or whatever we can do to keep them safe.”

People can reach FJC staff by calling (718) 575-4545 or the city’s 24-hour domestic violence hotline at 1 (800) 621-4673.

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COVID-19 has canceled the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade, the largest hometown memorial event in the country, for the first time since 1927. But the date for 2021 has already FILE PHOTO BY RICK MAIMAN been set.

Memorial Day group vows return in 2021 Little Neck-Douglaston, others cancel

by MIchael Gannon Editor

Babe Ruth was on his way to slamming an other-worldly 60 home runs when the first Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade was held to honor those fallen in service to the United States.

Since then, Roger Maris and others have eclipsed the Babe’s single-season record.

But the Little Neck-Douglaston parade has become legendary, in its own right, known as the largest hometown remembrance in the country, “rain or shine ... since 1927.”

Executive orders by Gov. Cuomo and later

by Mayor de Blasio canceled all such gatherings through the month of June in order to stop the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.

But in the minds of the parade organizers, that was merely a formality, as they have shut down even fundraising and their student essay and art contests for this year, to start back up in 2021, according to Victor Mimoni, executive director of the group.

“It wasn’t a decision of ‘Can we get around this?’” Mimoni said. “It was a moral decision. Some of our veterans go back to World War II and Korea. These are men who stormed the beaches and took the hills.

We didn’t want to do anything that would have people come out and get sick.”

Memorial Day tributes and Queens seem inseparable — with the St. Sebastian Catholic War Veterans in Woodside; American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts marking the solemn day in Woodhaven, Howard Beach and College Point; neighboring and complementary ones one right after the other in Laurelton and Rosedale.

But none is bigger than Little NeckDouglaston. The good news is that the group’s website, which maintains a countdown clock to the parade down to the second, already has posted March 31, 2021, for the next one, 396 days from the Chronicle’s deadline.

Q They step off at 2 p.m. sharp.

Do you have personal protective equipment that would be better utilized on the front lines? The city is accepting donations for supplies to be used by essential workers.

The city is seeking ventilators, latexfree gloves, full face shields, indirectly vented goggles, f luid-resistant gowns, hand sanitizer, thermometers and surgical, isolation, dental, or medical procedure face masks, as well as surgical N95, N95, N99/N100, R95, P95/P99/P100 respirators. Homemade, cloth and nonmedical PPE will not be accepted.

Donations in quantities of 20 units or more of any individual item, with the exception of ventilators, must be sent in sealed boxes or packaging using the portal available at NYC.gov/ppedonations.

Small-sized donations can be mailed to Miller Druck Specialty Contracting, Inc. Attention: NYC Donations at 383 Concord Avenue, Bronx, NY 10454.

Shipping costs must be covered by the donor.

Those interested in making a donation can visit the portal directly or calling 1 Q (833) NYC-0040 (692-0040).

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us how important it is to quickly adapt to new circumstances—especially access to healthcare.

NYU Langone now offers Virtual Urgent Care visits 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for flu-like symptoms or other minor medical concerns.

Our team of providers can assess your symptoms and offer a treatment plan—right from your phone, even in the middle of the night.

Same-day appointments are available.

Most insurances are accepted, including Medicare.

Get started with the NYU Langone Health app or visit nyulangone.org/VUC

For the latest news visit qchron.com

Make a PPE donation

Access an NYU Langone Care Provider 24/7

Page 17 QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020

Virtual Urgent Care

The saddest season: No sports in schools Coaches and players adjust to life without games during COVID crisis

by David Russell Associate Editor

Sports have gone missing as schools have closed amidst the coronavirus crisis.

“Kids’ safety is more important but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt,” said Bayside High School baseball coach Kevin Brown.

Brown misses coaching even more than watching the Mets. And he feels terrible for his players.

“I can get past it,” he said. “I’ll coach next year. I’ll be fine. But the kids worked hard the whole year for this just for it to be taken away.”

The team had a dozen practices and played a nonleague game. Brown hasn’t seen his players since the abrupt shutdown.

“It’s terrible for the kids, especially the seniors,” he said. “It’s not even just baseball but prom, graduation, senior day.”

There were six seniors on the 18-player roster who won’t play for Bayside again.

Third baseman Sebastian Cabrera spent

For the latest news visit qchron.com

Bayside third baseman Sebastian Cabrera spent months recovering from a torn labrum so he could play his senior season only to see the coronavirus stop the school year and PHOTO COURTESY KEVIN BROWN games.

fall and winter rehabbing a torn labrum to get back on the field for his senior season and get recruited by colleges.

“One of the biggest baseball years of my life right in front of me and it just came to a halt,” he said.

Cabrera went through physical therapy along with a throwing and hitting program and is now at 100 percent physically. He still wants to play college baseball, saying that he’s looking at a few schools.

The third baseman said he was shocked when the schools closed.

“I was really looking forward to this season, playing with some of my freshman friends that I didn’t get a chance to play with last year ... and my last dance with the seniors,” Cabrera said. “Some guys I’ve been playing with since I’m 10 years old and this isn’t the farewell I imagined.”

This season is the first in nearly a halfcentury that Marty Finkelstein won’t be coaching. The junior varsity baseball coach at Cardozo High School — “the team looked terrific” in five practices before the shutdown according to the coach — is staying at home and watching old sports films.

Finkelstein, who led Forest Hills’ varsity baseball team to the city title in 2000, enjoys highlights of two of his favorite pitchers, Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax.

“I’m staying in touch with baseball,” he said. “I have no choice.”

Baseball, lacrosse, cricket and flag football are just some of the sports that have stopped because of the coronavirus.

Handball standout Gabriella Sullivan was ready for her senior season at Forest Hills High School. She won the PSAL individuals last year and lost only once in three seasons.

In the early days of the crisis, Sullivan and her friends were confident schools and sports wouldn’t need to shut down. But then they did.

“When it first happened I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m not going to have a prom, I’m not going to have graduation,’” she said.

“That overwhelmed me because I shared it with the whole senior class.”

With schools closed because of the coronavirus crisis sports have come to a halt in addition to classes as teams aren’t competing and seniors realize they’ve already played for their schools PHOTO BY DAVID RUSSELL for the final time.

“They were eager to play and excited,” When Sullivan sat down to think about what she cared about she thought about DelMaestro said.

She said there are students who haven’t handball.

“To see it end so suddenly, before we been outside at all since the lockdown and that there were some who “finally had a even got our jerseys, hit me,” she said.

Sullivan will be attending Queens Col- life” after the school day was over.

“Their outlet was sports,” DelMaestro lege in the fall and wants to play volleyball, said. wh ich she also S h e ’s b e e n p l a y s a t Fo r e s t coaching 17 seaHills. sons and this was Not on ly wa s t’s terrible for the kids, goi ng t o b e he r Sulliva n playi ng last. But Delhandball competiespecially the seniors.”

Maestro, who tively for Forest — Bayside baseball head coach Kevin Brown wants to spend Hills but she would time with her two also play at parks you n g ch i ld r e n , outside school.

“Not being able to pass by a handball plans to return for one more given everything that’s happened. court is tough,” she said.

She said she also has a message for her Tara DelMaestro coached the girls handball team at John Bowne High School students who are sad about not being outto the city championship game last season. side during the crisis.

“We’re all in this together,” DelMaestro The runners-up were heavy with seniors and this season’s roster saw a lot of new said. “We’re going to make it through this Q and be outside together again.” girls.

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QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020 Page 18

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April Ap ril i 30, 2020 20 02 20 0

Page 19 QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020

ARTS, CULTURE C & LIVING G

New book recalls alll lls

Yanks-Mets

2000 Subway Series Ser Se eries eries

by David Russell The Subway Series was an almost-annual affair in the 1950s between the Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers and, once, the Yanks and New York Giants.

The Mets and Yankees have only met in the Fall Classic once, which is the subject of Jerry Beach’s new book “The Subway Series: Baseball’s Big Apple Battles and the Yankees-Mets 2000 World Series Classic” from Sports Publishing.

While the Yankees had won three titles in the last four years, the Mets hadn’t been to the World Series since 1986. They made it back after going 94-68 and pulling off playoff upsets against the Giants and Cardinals.

“It was a fun, endearing team that got the most

Beach said about the Mets out of its ability,” a squad thatt had 45 come-from-behind wins in the d th regular season.

Beach covered the 2000 postseason for Mets. com and still had many notes and stories from the season as he worked on the book. It comes out just as baseball is on hold for the foreseeable future and fans may be even more interested in reading about it.

“It was an intensive few months but something I could do,” he said.

The celebrations of each team clinching the pennant showed a difference in personalities, according to Beach. When the Mets won the NLCS, they went wild, lifting longtime closer John Franco on their shoulders as “Who Let the Dogs Out?” by the Baha Men played at Shea. When

the Yankees won the ALCS, “New York, New York” played at Yankee Stadium as the team shook hands.

There was bad blood entering the series as Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens had beaned catcher Mike Piazza when the teams faced off at Yankee Stadium in July.

Clemens, coincidentally, had been drafted by the Mets in 1981 but chose to stay at the University of Texas rather than sign.

“Turns out that was the first time Clemens was a tough negotiator but not the last time,” Beach said.

The teams had never played outside of spring training exhibitions until 1997, when Major League Baseball implemented interleague play, continued on page 21

For the latest news visit qchron.com

QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020 Page 20

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I HAVE OFTEN WALKED

King Crossword Puzzle Maspeth woman was a sadistic Nazi camp guard

ACROSS

1 Easter treat 4 Wager 7 Retain 11 Metric measure 13 Rowboat need 14 Sleeping 15 Flow like molasses 16 Chum, nowadays 17 Actor Brad 18 Grassland 20 Opening course, often 22 Erstwhile garment 24 Hitchcock classic 28 Spotted insect 32 Radiant 33 Champing at the bit 34 Bathroom fixture 36 Yorkshire river 37 Narc’s measures 39 Croquet equipment 41 Catch 43 Second person 44 Related to 5-Down 46 Use a Brillo pad 50 Ballerina’s frill 53 Cauldron 55 Japanese zither 56 Press 57 Flightless bird 58 Calendar quota 59 Trudge 60 Kenny G’s instrument 61 That girl

by Ron Marzlock Chronicle Contributor

DOWN 1 Ids’ counterparts 2 Get bigger 3 Middle East strip 4 Go up and down 5 Listeners 6 Army unit 7 Carefree 8 Sapporo sash 9 Allow 10 Banned insecticide 12 Carousel

19 Light touch 21 Portion of N.A. 23 Eviscerate 25 Hint 26 Emcee 27 Hasn’t paid yet 28 Michigan, for one 29 Not “fer” 30 Nincompoop 31 Wrigley product 35 Reddish-brown horse 38 Perched

40 -- Angeles 42 They’re calling Danny Boy 45 Prolonged sleep 47 Fawns’ mothers 48 Hexagonal state 49 Induce ennui 50 Gratuity 51 Web address 52 Excessively 54 Monkey suit

Russell Ryan Jr. was born August 23, 1923, the first child born to Russell Sr. and Grace Reinhart Ryan. Two brothers and a sister soon followed. They lived and were raised at 54-44 82 St. in Elmhurst. In 1958, at age 35, Russell Jr., a bachelor, took a vacation to Austria.

By October, he had met and married Hermine Braunsteiner, 39. She entered the United States by way of Canada in April 1959 and took the U.S. oath of citizenship in January 1963. They lived originally in his childhood Elmhurst home until they purchased a house at 52-11 72 St. in Maspeth in 1964.

Eventually it was revealed that Braunsteiner-Ryan was a German SS concentration camp guard at Ravensbruck and Majdanek.

In 1968, action was taken to revoke her citizenship and she was successfully denaturalized in 1971 for not revealing her war crimes on her application. Witnesses came forth and it was revealed that she was “The Mare of Majdanek,” notorious for her sadistic deeds against old women and children.

Residents of Maspeth were fooled by her friendly personality as they put up hundreds

Hermine Braunsteiner-Ryan lived with her husband at 52-11 72 St. in Maspeth, seen as it appeared in the 1960s. of posters throughout the neighborhood trying to save her from deportation.

But in 1973, Braunsteiner-Ryan became the first former Nazi to be extradited from the U.S. to Germany to face trial. She was sentenced to life in prison in April 1981. Her loving husband sold the Maspeth home and moved to Germany to be with her.

No children were born of the marriage.

Braunsteiner-Ryan died in April 1999, a few months shy of her 80th birthday. Russell continued to live in Germany and passed away there in September 2002. Today their house is valued at a projected $794,000 by Q the city Department of Finance.

Answers on next page

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CAN’T GET OUT TO PICK UP A COPY OF THE QUEENS CHRONICLE? Our digital edition is available every Thursday on our website, qchron.com.

Throughout the week go to qchron.com for daily updates on Queens news and the coronavirus.

STAY SAFE! QUEENS Queens’ Largest Weekly Community Newspaper Group ©2020 M1P • QCHR-077656

C M SQ page 21 Y K

by Katherine Donlevy associate editor

In a time when going outside is discouraged, finding the opportunity to get up and move can be challenging. In an effort to encourage individuals to exercise their dance moves and to lift their spirits, Valerie Green Dance Entropy of Long Island City is offering virtual workshops for those stuck at home.

“Our city has evolved rapidly from an ‘in your face’ mentality to a strange time of socially distancing,” Executive Director and class leader Valerie Green said in an email.

“Dance Entropy and Green Space have sadly missed daily encounters with our dancers, choreographers and the outreach communities we serve. We quickly decided to create a diverse, virtual space to embrace and support our community during this mandated time of separation.”

Workshops are offered via Zoom and are

Calendar Special Notice The Queens Chronicle will not be publishing What’s Happening — our Community Calendar for the time being. We look forward to resuming publication as soon as possible.

available for dancers of all ages, though some are specifically geared for par t icular age groups, such as “Seniors Get Up and Dance,” offered on Thursdays from 1 to 2 p.m., and “Kids Movement Playground,” offered Tuesdays from 3 to 3:50 p.m.

“Where everything seems to be out of our control, we aim to create a nurturing virtual container for physical and emotional expression in a safe and calm environment,” said Green. “Our offerings center around bringing people together first and foremost, creating an outlet for those needing a firm grounding or surety in themselves — when all is spinning around them they Valerie Green Dance Entropy is offering virtual classes to encourage individuals to get up and can find peace from within — move despite being stuck at home.

PHOTO BY STEPHEN DELAS HERAS / DANCE ENTROPY and providing an opportunity Energetics Sessions,” which focus on touch, length dance performance. for movement.”

“While society seems to be stagnant and Green leads several programs herself, breath and vocal expression through physion hold we want those around us who are including “Dance Your Frame” on Tuesdays cal and emotional exercises.

To offset the loss of income due to the feeling stuck in their homes to have an from 6:30 to 8 p.m., which focuses on strength, body mechanics and “some need- pandemic, Dance Entropy is raising funds opportunity of physical activity,” said ed fun.” The program is $20 per class, but through a GoFundMe campaign, Valerie Green. “Dance Entropy stands strong Green Dance Entropy Fundraiser. The orga- alongside our community to serve and surother workshops are available for free.

Individual classes with Green are also nization has a goal of $1,000 and is thank- vive the course of the pandemic and for Q available, such as the “One-On-One Core ing donors by providing a link to a full- years to come.”

Page 21 QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020

Dancing in the living room

Looking back at only Mets-Yankees World Series

Crossword Answers

relief pitcher Turk Wendell after the Bronx Bombers tied the game in the ninth.

When Clemens and Piazza met in the first inning of Game 2, Piazza’s bat broke and a sharp piece went to Clemens. He threw it toward the baseline, nearly hitting Piazza.

The benches cleared but there were no ejections. Clemens stayed in and pitched eight shutout innings as the Yankees took a 2-0 series lead. Beach said some Mets are still surprised Clemens wasn’t ejected.

Wendell told Beach if he had thrown a bat at Derek Jeter he would’ve been thrown out of the game.

“And he’s right,” Beach said.

The Mets won Game 3 but the Yankees won Game 4, with former Met David Cone retiring Piazza in a critical at-bat in the fifth inning of a one-run game.

The Yankees clinched the World Series with a 4-2 win in Game 5 at Shea.

It was Piazza who flied out against legendary closer Mariano Rivera to end it.

“A lot of guys thought it was gone,” Beach said of the shot, noting that Yankees Paul O’Neill and Scott Brosius told him they thought Piazza had tied the game when the ball first left his bat. But Mets first baseman

Jerry Beach’s new book takes a look back at the only World Series meeting between the Mets and Yankees, in 2000. On the cover: Scenes from the Mets’ falling short as COURTESY IMAGES, ABOVE; FOX SCREENSHOTS VIA YOU TUBE they lost the series in five games.

Todd Zeile was on deck when the series ended and told Beach he knew it was short.

Both teams have made it back to the Fall

Classic but in the nearly-60-year history of the Mets, 2000 is the only time they faced Q the Yankees in the World Series.

For the latest news visit qchron.com

continued from page 19 suddenly adding a layer and bragging rights to the intracity rivalry.

Yankees manager Joe Torre had been a player and manager with the Mets in the ’70s and early ’80s. One of his players then was Bobby Valentine, now his adversary in the Mets dugout.

Jose Vizcaino, a Mets infielder in the mid’90s, won Game 1 of the World Series for the Yankees with a 12th inning single off

QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020 Page 22

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Road closure plans moving full speed Council wants 40 to 100 miles set off for pedestrians during COVID

by Michael Gannon Editor

The city apparently has been working on closing up to 100 miles of city streets, longer than Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) indicated in Monday’s press conference announcing the initiative.

“Conversations with communities and local stakeholders will take place in the coming weeks,” the statement said Monday.

The closures are stated to last only until the state comes out of the Gov. Cuomo-ordered pause to stop the outbreak of COVID-19, which so far extends only into May, and in response to an email from the Chronicle, a spokesman for the Council wrote that “the Council believes this can start immediately.”

The bill is sponsored by Johnson and Councilwoman Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan).

Asked when consultation with community boards and police precincts would begin, the spokesman wrote, “The Council has been discussing the program and potential appropriate streets with community groups, BIDs and advocates for several weeks already.”

The spokesman wrote that the initiative should not prove overly burdensome for businesses or car owners on the selected streets.

Which those are remains unknown.

“The Council will work to ensure streets

The New York City Council — and now Mayor de Blasio — want to open city streets for pedestriPHOTO BY MICHAEL GANNON ans, cyclists and social distancing. are opened in ways that do not impede bus travel and do not inconvenience the residents of the streets,” he said. “We believe this program can be implemented in a way that will allow for essential deliveries and for first responders and emergency vehicles to continue doing their heroic work. The goal of 100 miles of open streets is less than 2% of the city’s total street mileage, and some of the streets will be slow streets or shared streets on which cars still have some access.”

The spokesman declined to comment on

specific enforcement measures, such as police presence, boards or metal barricades, other than to say the Council believes it can be accomplished “through smart street design without overburdening the NYPD with enforcement responsibilities and allowing for access for emergency vehicles.”

The times and durations of street closures would be determined based on feedback from community groups, essential businesses and residents.

In an email from the advocacy group

Transportation Alternatives, Executive Director Danny Harris called the measure an important first step.

“We thank Mayor de Blasio, Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Council Member Carlina Rivera, and the entire City Council for advancing this Open Streets plan,” Harris said. “At 100 miles, this would be one of the most ambitious Open Streets programs in the United States. ...

In opening our streets to people, New York City will unlock countless opportunities not only for physical distancing during the COVID-19 crisis, but also in the longer term for sustained economic recovery, reimagining urban life and prioritizing public transportation.”

He said the move will benefit everything from pubic health to business.

Robert Sinclair Jr., manager of media relations for AAA Northeast in New York and New Jersey, said his organization doesn’t see any problems with the move.

“A lot of the streets involved would be adjacent to places like parks, and streets that don’t have a lot of heavy traffic,” he said.

Queens resident Laura Shepard, a long-time cycling advocate, called it exciting.

“New York City is finally doing what other big cities around the world are doing,” she said.

Shepard stressed the benefits to the business community as well as the health and social Q impacts.

April showers bring May ... showers too?

Experts offer meteorological, climate reasons for unseasonably cold temps

by Michael Gannon

For the latest news visit qchron.com

Editor

As a lifetime Broad Channel resident, decades-long, hands-on advocate for Jamaica Bay and retired New York City firefighter, Dan Mundy Sr. has a practiced eye for evaluating New York City weather.

And he offers a simple explanation for why Queens residents still are bundled up in winter coats and hooded sweatshirts with May 1 arriving at week’s end.

“April was March,” Mundy explained in a telephone conversation on Tuesday.

With few exceptions, April showers seem to have brought only more showers, overcast skies and unseasonably cool temperatures.

“And don’t forget the wind,” Mundy said.

Like any meteorologist, Jim Connolly of the U.S. Weather Service in Upton, LI, never forgets the wind. In an interview last week, he offered the scientific explanation.

“April has seen a below-normal [temperature] pattern,” Connolly said. “You have a low-pressure system over the ocean, and cooler air coming down from Canada.”

He said the combination causes clouds, and, while that is not uncommon for April, the pattern “has been somewhat repetitive.”

He also said storms coming up the Atlantic coast lend themselves to rain and cloud cover.

Steve Brill also has noticed the difference,

though he says it is not new. Brill, nicknamed “Wildman,” has led tours through New York City since 1982 teaching people where to find and how to identify edible native plants that grow in abundance.

“Although I’m not leading too many tours right now for some reason,” the Queens native joked, referring to the current statewide shutdown due to COVID-19. Brill said it is a tangible sign of climate change.

“The weather is different since I started leading tours in 1982,” he said. “Since 1994, when I wrote my first book, I stopped saying what month certain plants came in. Now I say ‘late spring/early summer,’ or ‘late summer/ early fall.’ When I was a kid you had snow after Thanksgiving. This winter we had no snow at all.”

He says Queens still remains a favorite spot of his for arranging tours, with numerous places to find wild-growing food.

“Queens has no deer,” he said. “That’s often overlooked.”

Mundy said there are activities conducted

by Jamaica Bay Eco-Watchers that have not been disrupted by either the weather or the lockdown. He said, for example, that the group, which includes his son, Dan Jr., still tests water samples and takes water temperatures on the bay regularly.

“That’s just going to our backyard; we

Yes, it’s nearly May, and winter coats still are considered the prudent outer garment of choice in PHOTO BY MICHAEL GANNON New York City. don’t have to worry about the pause to do that,” he said. There also are necessary projects with the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Parks Service and the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

“For every project we do, there’s another that starts before we’re finished,” he said. “If you’re rebuilding a wetland, that can take five to 10 years. So you’re making phone calls to see where projects are. Are they funded?

Whose desk are they on? Because if you don’t, they can be put on the side and wind up at the bottom of the pile.”

The National Weather Service forecast calls for more of the same Thursday and Friday, with rain possible even Saturday before the sky is predicted to clear in the afternoon.

The Weather Channel’s website is predicting rising temperatures but skies being at best Q partly cloudy through May 12.

C M SQ page 23 Y K

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QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020 Page 24

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C M SQ page 26 Y K To Advertise Call 718-205-8000

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Notice of Formation of Faloni Law Group LLC Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 03/04/2020. Office location: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: DAVID A FALONI ESQ, 165 PASSAIC AVE SUITE 301, FAIRFIELD, NJ 07004. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of Seeing Things, LLC Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 03/23/2020. Office location: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: STEPHEN MAYES, 2-01 50TH AVE, APT 3P, LONG ISLAND CITY, NY 11101. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of House of Wellness LLC Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 03/10/2020. Office location: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: THE LLC, 38-01 23RD AVE UNIT 100, ASTORIA, NY 11105.

Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

V & F RESTAURANT HOLDINGS LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 01/28 /20.

Office: Queens County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 115-10 Rockaway Beach Blvd., Rockaway Park, NY 11694. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of JEREMIAHS TRUCKING LLC Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 01/28/2020. Office location: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: C/O MESACHA SMITH, 21919 143RD RD, JAMAICA, NY 11413. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

VALKYRIE COMMERCIAL LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 03/05/20. Office: Queens County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 467 Woodward Avenue, Office 4, Ridgewood, NY 11385. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Legal Notice of Assumed name(s); Gordon, DevonGarth. Devon-Garth: Gordon are doing business as DEVON GARTH GORDON. For more Information, send written request only to The office of DEVON GARTH GORDON By email: gordondevon731@gmall. com. Legal Notice: To all parties seeking to make a claim, Gordon, Devon-Garth is doing business as DEVON GARTH GORDON and all derivatives thereof. Notice of fee schedule(s): Each and every use not authorized by Gordon, Devon-Garth requires a $25,000.00 USD fine payable to: DEVON GARTH GORDON, within 30 days of notice and the fines must be settled In full. In order to be authorized, a contract must be made with the Name Holder in order to do so. Failure to timely notify the name holder, produces an agreement that the user’s contract is invalid. Additionally, this notice is retroactive. All parties prior to this notice must contact the Name Holder within 90 days of this notice to update any contract there may be.

Be advised that this notice is applicable to the use of each and every account associated with DEVON GARTH GORDON and all derivatives thereof. A written request must be signed under penalty of perjury and sent to the Name Holder at care of: 80 Atlantic Avenue I 0ceanside I New York Republic near ( 115729998). All other deviations will be returned as Invalid to sender. Applies to All. Contact for updates: gordondevon731@ gmail.com. Any added spaces, tabs, or typo’s does not remove the validity of this Notice.

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Legal Notices BARRETO PLUMBING LLC JOSE BARRETO Art. of Org. Filed Sec. of State of NY 4/29/20.

Off. Loc.: Queens Co. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served & shall mail proc.: The LLC, 35-54 95th St., Apt. A1, Jackson Heights, NY 11372. Cel: 718908-5945 Purpose: Any lawful act or activity

Brands Brite LLC filed w/ SSNY on 4/1/19.

Office: Queens Co. SSNY designated as agent for process & shall mail to: 85-25 Aspen Place, For the latest news visit qchron.com

To Advertise Call 718-205-8000

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Purpose: any lawful.

Notice of Formation of CLOUD PALMS LLC Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 01/17/2020. Office location: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: ELTON ZHAO, 2606 12TH STREET, ASTORIA, NY 11102.

Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of rayluca Limited Liability Company Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 03/04/2020. Office location: Queens County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: RAYLUCA LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, 3044 29TH ST., ASTORIA, NY 11102. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of Resort Realism, LLC Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 03/16/2020.

Office location: Queens County.

SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: WILLIAM A. SCOTT III, 2026 Stanhope Street, RIDGEWOOD, NY 11385. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

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Real Estate EQUAL HOUSING. Federal, New York State and local laws prohibit discrimination because of race, color, sex, religion, age, national origin, marital status, familial status or disability in connection with the sale or rental of residential real estate. Queens Chronicle does not knowingly accept advertising in violation of these laws. When you suspect housing discrimination call the Open Housing Center (the Fair Housing Agency for the five boroughs of New York) at 212941-6101, or the New York City Commission of Human Rights Hotline at 718-722-3131.

The Queens Chronicle reserves the right to alter wording in ads to conform with Federal Fair Housing regulations.

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C M SQ page 27 Y K

PHOTO COURTESY NYPD

A rideshare driver became a victim of an Ozone Park robbery on April 12.

At approximately 3:30 p.m., the 47-year-old driver picked up the perpetrator, described as in his late teens to early 20s, at Liberty Avenue and Cross Bay Boulevard, police said. The rider requested to be taken to an alternate destination, but refused the driver’s instructions to make the change through the app. He then hit the driver on the head with an unknown object, removed the victim’s wallet containing $150 and fled.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1 (800) 577-TIPS (8477).

The public can also submit tips by logging onto nypdcrimestoppers.com, or by texting 274637 (CRIMES), then entering TIP577.

Senior deaths continued from page 12

will direct supplies and clinical staff volunteers to 169 nursing homes here to support the fight against COVID-19.

“Our city’s nursing homes are home to some of those most at risk for COVID-19,” said de Blasio. “They need our support more than ever, which is why we are stepping in and sending more staff and support to assist those who protect and care for our most vulnerable.”

De Blasio also announced up-to-date guidance on isolation and testing procedures for nursing homes implemented by the city

Department of Mental Health and Hygiene as well as the creation of a task force to work with approximately half of all nursing homes to collect data on staffing, PPE, management in case of death and other needs.

On April 23, Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing) stated that testing within nursing homes needed to be ramped up in order to target the spread.

“We have all seen the horrendous numbers that have come out from nursing homes in our district. They do not have the tools and the president just said he would invoke, again, the Defense Production Act, to make sure New York gets resources to be able to test people.

People in our nursing homes need to be testQ ed,” she said.

SPORTS

BEAT

New glam Mets owners?

by Lloyd Carroll Chronicle Contributor

When news broke about Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez being interested in becoming managing owners of the Mets I was skeptical.

Was this a concocted story by a desperate sports media looking to fill pages and airtime since there are no sporting events?

Even if they were serious about purchasing the Mets there are still questions that need to be answered. While they are wealthy they don’t have the kind of billionaire capital that is de rigeur for buying a pro sports team these days.

They will have to partner with a deep-pocketed white knight such as hedge fund operator Steve Cohen, whose previous offer the Mets current owners, the Wilpon family, spurned. Rodriguez’s former teammate, Derek Jeter, followed that route by having billionaire Bruce Sherman do the heavy financial lifting to purchase the Miami Marlins two years ago.

The entertainment trade magazine Variety reported last week that Rodriguez is working with healthcare financier Wayne Rothbaum on a bid for the Mets. According to Variety, Rothbaum is content to be an investor and have Rodriguez be the face of their proposed venture.

The key question is “Are the Wilpons truly serious about selling the Mets?” After the breakdown of talks with Cohen it’s easy to have doubts. For argument’s sake let’s assume the

Wilpons are willing to sell. The problem is they’ll be understandably reluctant to also sell their profitable cable television network, SNY, which broadcasts the majority of Mets games.

Rodriguez has quietly become the most successful athlete turned entrepreneur since Magic Johnson. Last year he partnered with AnheuserBusch to purchase the Dominican Republic’s top beer brand, El Presidente. He also owns a number of commercial and residential properties.

The one industry that A-Rod knows better than any other, however, is television. He works for ESPN and Fox Sports. In addition, he hosts CNBC’s “Back in the Game,” in which he dispenses financial advice to retired athletes who find themselves down on their luck. There is no way Rodriguez would contemplate buying the Mets without also obtaining SNY. Sorry, Mets fans. I don’t see a change in ownership in the foreseeable future.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell deserves a Sports Emmy for the way he handled the remote telecast of the draft from the basement of his Westchester home. He admitted that he missed the traditional booing from the crowd that he gets onstage. Goodell was well aware of another draft tradition. Before the Jets made their second-round pick he implored fans to boo.

Q They’ve often been right in doing so.

See the extended version of Sports Beat every week at qchron.com.

Page 27 QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020

Ride robbery

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For the latest news visit qchron.com

Thank you and stay safe!

For the latest news visit qchron.com

QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 30, 2020 Page 28

C M SQ page 28 Y K

To those who run toward the danger so we can stay safe.

Thank you.

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