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Valley Stream Herald 04-20-2023

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______________ VALLEY STREAM _____________

HERALD ‘Bill of rights’ for police

County praises fentanyl bust

Fashion show raises thousands

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Vol. 34 No. 17

APRIl 20 - 26, 2023

$1.00

Village CTown back in business Long-neglected downtown market celebrates its grand reopening By JUAN lASSo jlasso@liherald.com

Tim Baker/Herald

A Newly ReNoVAted CTown supermarket held its official debut on April 14, welcoming customers with a varied selection of products and services.

In a downtown business district dense with nail spas, barbershops, delis, and restaurants, a supermarket trumpeted its grand reopening on Rockaway Avenue. It’s called CTown, part of the New York-based chain of independently owned supermarkets across the Northeast. The supermarket, which had garnered a less-than-stellar reputation from shoppers over the years under its previous ownership, has been brought to new

life under the supervision of coowners Alex Santiago and Cesar Marte. Last Friday, a dozen or so friendly staffers fanned out across the store welcoming and assisting customers in the newly restocked, refurbished, and rebuilt 5,000-square-foot building. The look and feel of the supermarket represent a big turnaround from its state just a few months ago, Santiago noted, when past neglect and mismanagement had left the store in derelict condition and Continued on page 4

LIJ health care workers rally against governor’s budget By JUAN lASSo jlasso@liherald.com

Dozens of unionized Long Island Jewish Valley Stream health care workers gathered outside the hospital during their lunch break on April 5 to call on Gov. Kathy Hochul to rectify what many see as health care funding shortfalls in the state’s budget and urge lawmakers in Albany to close the Medicaid coverage gap. Organizers from 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East led the protest. One spoke through a bullhorn, and led the crowd in chants including, “Governor Hochul: Close the gap!”

Drivers passing the hospital on Franklin Avenue honked in support of the gathering. The demonstration, which began at noon, was one of a smattering of protests held at hospitals across the state in recent weeks to pressure the governor in the final stretch of budget negotiations. One of the biggest issues at play in this budget season is how much lawmakers will hike the Medicaid reimbursement rates for nursing homes and hospitals, institutions that haven’t seen an increase in those rates since 2007. The demonstrators said that no less than a 20 percent increase for nursing homes and

10 percent for hospitals is needed to financially buttress facilities that have been battered by soaring health care costs and staffing shortages, to fairly compensate their employees. Administrators and industry leaders say that without a larger increase than the 5 percent pitched in Hochul’s executive budget, many health care facilities — particularly nursing homes — could face further financial difficulties, forcing them to reduce the number of beds, cut staff or go under. Also included on their list of demands is $2.5 billion more in health care investment atop Hochul’s proposed $20 billion

multi-year investment plan, and a reversal of course on a $700 million cut to safety-net hospitals, which provide care regardless of patients’ insurance status or their ability to pay. “(During the pandemic) we were treated as health care heroes. Today we’re not being treated like that,” said Claire Leon, a medical assistant who

has worked at LIJ Valley Stream for 15 years and was bewildered by the governor’s health care spending plan. “Why is the governor refusing to give us the funds that we need for hospitals? Why is the medical staff suffering work shortages? Why are the nursing home staff underpaid? Why is she taking money that we Continued on page 20


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