Gianaris, Gutierrez call for pedestrian protections following fatal crashes
Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) will join City Council Member Jennifer Gutierrez (D-Brooklyn, Queens) and advocates from the Ridgewood Tenants Union and Transportation Alternatives today to call for pedestrian safety improvements in the neighborhood.
The call for the improvements comes after 74-year old Be Tran was struck and killed Sunday evening while crossing the intersection of Myrtle and Seneca Avenues. This comes days after two people walking with a 2-year old in a stroller all suffered injuries when they were struck by another driver on George Street and Wyckoff Avenue.
Gianaris, along with local community members and elected officials, have been urging the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) to install new signals and prioritize protecting pedestrians in this area.
The call to action is slated for 6 p.m., today, Aug. 17 at Kings Juice Bar, 955 Seneca Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens.
Reichlin-Melnick, Paulin Announce new law protecting campers from sexual predators
Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick (D-Rockland/Westchester) and Assemblymember Amy Paulin (D-Westchester) visited Deerkill Day Camp in Suffern to discuss a new law they authored to help protect campers across New York State from sexual predators.
The new law that Paulin and Reichlin-Melnick championed in their respective chambers requires all children’s camps in New York State, including unregistered camps which are often single-purpose camps like a soccer clinic or a band camp, to check whether employees are listed on state and national sex offender registries.
“When parents send their children to summer camp, they want their children to have a fun and healthy experience, but foremost they need to know that they are in a safe environment. With this new legislation, all camps are now required to check their employees’ and volunteers’ backgrounds on both the state and national sex offender registries,” said Paulin. “I’ll continue to fight for common-sense laws such as this to protect children and give families peace-of-mind when sending their children to camp in New York State.”
Reichlin-Melnick called the measure a common sense law.
“For too many years, parents would send their kids to camp assuming that the counselors had been required to go through a background check to make sure that they were not on the sex-offender registry. And yet until now, for thousands of kids in New York attending unregistered camps, that was not the case. I’m proud to have introduced and passed this bill in the Senate, and I will continue to fight for laws to protect the children of New York State,” said Reichlin-Melnick.
AG James sues Queens Auto Salvage Company for Dangerous Pollution
New York Attorney General Letitia James and Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos yesterday announced a lawsuit against the owners and operators of LSM Auto Parts & Recycling (LSM), an automobile salvage yard, for releasing dangerous automobile chemicals and oil into the environment.
LSM ignored critical regulations surrounding the cleanup of toxic automobile waste and was responsible for significant amounts of oil spillage in the community, contaminating the groundwater and soil in the area. LSM is located in Jamaica, Queens, which includes many low-income communities and communities of color.
“If you make a mess, you clean it up. Most learn this old adage before they speak their first words, but it’s clear LSM never did. Instead, LSM flouted our environmental protection laws and mismanaged toxic chemicals and pollutants which pose a serious, long-term threat,” said James. “LSM will not get away with knowingly jeopardizing the health and safety of our communities. It’s time they clean up the dangerous mess they have made.”
