Memorial Day parades still suspended under pandemic guidelines

  

Queens Chronicle

 

While the customary Memorial Day parades will once again be sidelined this year, residents of Queens still will honor those who have fallen in service to the country.

Bayside

The Bayside Hills Civic Association will host its annual ceremony at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 29 at Bell Boulevard Mall and 53rd Avenue.

Elmhurst

The office of Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz will livestream a memorial ceremony and wreath laying from the Queens Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Elmhurst Park beginning at 11 a.m. today, May 27.

Honorees will include LTC. (Ret.) Blossom Ferguson, a veteran of Operation Desert Storm; Vietnam veteran Paul Feddern; and Mariam Sanni-Adigun of the Marine Corps Reserve who served in Operation Enduring Freedom.

The ceremony will be livestreamed at queensda.org/livestream.

Laurelton

The 32nd annual Laurelton Memorial Day Service will take place at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, May 31, at Veterans Memorial Triangle, located at 225th Street and North Conduit Avenue.

Little Neck-Douglaston

Founded in 1927 and the largest such event in the country, the Little Neck-Douglaston parade this year will be replaced on Monday, May 31, with an interfaith service at 10 a.m. at Little Neck Community Church, located at 46-16 Little Neck Parkway.

It will be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at St. Anastasia’s parking lot at the corner of Northern Boulevard and Alameda Avenue.

Information for those who cannot attend the ceremonies in person but would like to view them via Zoom is available online on the parade’s official website at lndmemorialday.org.

Maspeth

The United Veterans and Fraternal Organizations of Maspeth will lay wreaths at four sites on Saturday, May 29, beginning at 10 a.m. at the Queens Vietnam Veterans Memorial at 79th Street and Grand Avenue.

Participants will proceed to the Garlinge Memorial Triangle at 72nd Place and Grand Avenue; Maspeth Memorial Square at 69th Street and Grand Avenue near Maspeth Federal Savings; and Mount Olivet Cemetery at 6540 Grand Ave.

Forest Hills

American Legion Continental Post #1424 will have its annual memorial ceremony at noon on Sunday, May 30 at Remsen Cemetery on Trotting Course Lane, where members of the Remsen family who were killed in the Revolutionary War now rest.

College Point

The College Point Memorial Day Parade Committee will host a car parade beginning at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 30.

The lineup will begin at 1:30 p.m. on 28th Avenue between College Point Boulevard and Ulmer Street, near the Police Academy. The caravan then will proceed to Hermon A. MacNeil Park on Poppenhusen Avenue.

Queens Village

American Legion Post 301 and the Queens Village Civic Association will have a wreath -aying ceremony at 11 a.m. on Monday, May 31 at Veteran Plaza at the intersection of Jamaica Avenue and Springfield Boulevard.

Rosedale

The Rosedale Civic Association will host a memorial service at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, May 31, at the Veterans and Vietnam Veterans memorial monuments, which are located at separate sites at the intersection of Francis Lewis Boulevard and Sunrise Highway.

VVA Chapter 32

Members of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 32 will visit three monuments to their fallen brethren on Sunday, May 30.

The first will be at 9:30 a.m. at Nine Heroes Plaza located at Broadway, 41st Avenue and 76th Street in Elmhurst.

That will be followed at 10:15 a.m. at 57th Street and Woodside Avenue in Woodside near St. Sebastian’s Church. The final stop will be at the memorial on 108th Street in Corona near the Long Island Expressway.

Chapter 32 also will be participating in District Attorney Katz’s ceremony in Elmhurst on May 27.

Whitestone

Whitestone will host a ceremony at 11 a.m. on Monday, May 31 at Veterans Field at Harvey Park, located at 15th Drive and 149th Street.

Veterans Nursing Home releases names of residents who succumbed to COVID-19 in defiance to Cuomo's Health Department death counts

THE CITY

Workers at a 250-bed state-run veterans nursing home in Queens are circulating a list naming nearly 50 residents who died during the coronavirus crisis — an act of defiance and remembrance ahead of Memorial Day.

The list identifies 48 veterans or spouses of veterans who passed away between March 27 and April 29 at the New York State Veterans Home in St. Albans, one of five veterans nursing homes operated directly by the state Department of Health.

Staff members, who served many of the fallen veterans for years, have been critical of facility administrators for their handling of the outbreak — and accuse them of failing to publicly account for the full scope of fatalities.

“In memory of our beloved veterans,” reads the one-page list. “These veterans deserve justice!!”

 THE CITY

A Queens veterans nursing home run by the state Department of Health has been violating protocols set by the department itself that are intended to keep patients and staff safe from coronavirus, multiple staffers told THE CITY.

This includes not separating roommates when only one was suspected of having COVID-19, and failing to isolate those infected in a separate section of the facility with a dedicated team of staff members.

And like their counterparts at private nursing homes, workers at the 250-bed New York State Veterans’ Home in St. Albans say protective gear has been in short supply and at times absent — with recommended N95 masks handed out just once in late March and expected to last for weeks.

Only last week were supplies replenished, they said.

Meanwhile, the staffers say, the home had suffered resident deaths totaling at least twice or even three times the official tally of 19 that was publicly reported through May 1— essentially by the state Department of Health to itself.

“There was just no effort to try to even maintain any kind of minimizing transmission or anything,” said one staffer. “Nobody took it seriously.”

State Department of Health officials countered that the home has been a “leader in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic” — and that the agency is ensuring all of its coronavirus guidelines are followed.

On Tuesday, the health department released new and more detailed statistics on coronavirus fatalities in individual nursing homes across the state. They showed nine confirmed COVID fatalities at the Queens veterans’ home and another 24 presumed to be caused by the virus.

College Point Memorial Day Parade honors veterans of and the memories of soldiers fallen in America's wars

 CBS New York

On the Sunday before Memorial Day, patriotism poured out onto the streets of Queens.

CBS2s Tara Jakeway got a front-row seat to the festivities.

What does Memorial Day mean to you?

“All of the guys that I left… I do this every year. I’m proud to (honor) the men who didn’t come back, the women who didn’t come back,” said James Reilly of Lake Ronkonkoma.

Reilly, a Marine Corps veteran, served our country in Vietnam and Korea.

“It’s heartbreaking. So many men and women gave their lives for this country,” added Herb Nowak, a Marine Corps veteran from Queens.
Nowak, also one of the few, the proud, served in Okinawa and the Mediterranean.

“No other organization in American history has done as much for this country as the military has,” Nowak said.

Both native New Yorkers were beaming with pride as they road alongside fellow veterans in the College Point Memorial Day Parade.

“There would be no barbecues on the beach without them hitting the beach,” a member of the NYPD Emerald Pipe Band said.

100 years ago today

Honoring an outstanding veteran

From the Times Ledger:

The Vietnam Veterans of America Queens Chapter 32 will march in Monday’s Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade with their former leader, Michael O’Kane — still slowed by knee surgery — riding along in a camouflage Camaro. This year the organization will pay a special tribute to former service members from Queens who died alone and sometimes homeless.

“We are sponsoring the Francis Lewis High School Junior ROTC, who will be carrying 125 folded casket flags belonging to indigent veterans that our chapter has had the honor of escorting to their final resting place,” O’Kane said.

For nearly a decade Chapter 32 has partnered with the Hess Miller Funeral Home in Middle Village to provide dignified burials for veterans who can’t afford one. Each flag-draped casket is transported to Calverton National Cemetery in Suffolk County, where the veteran receives full military honors and since there are no family members to receive the flag, the Chapter 32 members take it back to their Whitestone headquarters where the flags are put on display.

“In an effort to reconnect a family member with their relative, a listing of the veterans’ names, date of birth and date of death will be distributed along the parade route,” O’Kane said. “Contact information will also be provided if a relative is found and the casket flag will be returned to them. This is a very proud moment for the chapter.”

He recently stepped down after serving two years as president of the chapter, but he remains on the board of directors. Last week, the Glendale resident was inducted into the New York State Senate Veterans’ Hall of Fame after he was selected by state Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach).

O’Kane served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, where he earned the Vietnam Service Medal, National Defense Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal and the U.S. Navy Combat Action Ribbon, Presidential Unit Citation, and Meritorious Unit Citation for engaging the enemy several times in fire fights along the various rivers and canals in the Republic of Vietnam.

Queensboro Hill veterans getting runaround from DOB

From NY1:

The group of veterans at the VFW post says it has tried to correct the violations, but do not receive proper guidance from building officials to clear the liens. They say the bureaucratic red is putting its post in jeopardy of closure.

Stuck in bureaucratic red tape, a group of veterans say they're being unfairly fined for building violations. So much so that their community center is in jeopardy of closing. During a press conference Monday, veterans at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 34-27 in Flushing say they feel like bureaucrats are attacking their post. The post has been dealing with building code violations for more than two years.

​"There is a lawless war being perpetrated against the veterans of new York city. And this post being fined out of existence is evidence of that war," says Marvin Jeffcoat, Sergeant First Class, U.S Army (Retired).

Building code violation fines have mounted against the VFW Post to the tune of $13,000.

Senior seeking reimbursement from landlord

From DNA Info:

Ronald Peters has not seen his wife since Dec. 7, the day the elevator in his 6-story building on Austin Street, near 84th Road, in Kew Gardens was shut down for a major repair.

The 82-year old Korean War veteran, who needs a walker to move around and is unable to climb stairs, was forced to temporarily relocate to a Holiday Inn near the Veterans Hospital in Brooklyn where he had a number of appointments scheduled for December and January, he said.

His wife Virginia, 80, who also can't climb stairs, stayed in their apartment on the top floor.

Peters, who said he has been unable to get in touch with his landlord, PSRS Realty Group, since early December, already paid more than $7,000 for his stay at the hotel, according to the bills he shared with DNAinfo New York.

Now, he wants the landlord to pay him back, he said.

“They should reimburse me because what do they want me to do? Go up these steps?" said Peters, who has a pacemaker and suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure, among other illnesses. "I can’t go up six flights.”

“It’s so aggravating," he said, adding that if the landlord does not reimburse him, he will consider legal action.

PSRS Realty Group did not return multiple phone calls from DNAinfo seeking comment.

Thank a veteran today

"Permanent, affordable housing" for vets = bunk beds

From DNA Info:

Six long-abandoned apartment buildings on Hollis Avenue could become affordable housing for homeless veterans despite locals protests, officials said.

“We are working on making this permanent affordable housing for veterans as part of the national effort to end homelessness for veterans,” said a spokeswoman for the Human Resources Administration in an email.

The spokeswoman did not elaborate on the proposal, which was first reported by the Times Ledger, and did not say how many people would live in the complex or when it would open.

But locals, who for several months have been holding protests in front of the Hollis development, which is located between 202nd and 204th streets and has approximately 120 units, are upset that the administration did not discuss the plan with the community.

“We need our civic, faith-based and community leaders to stand with us to send a loud and clear message that the reported proposal for the property will have a negative impact and we as a community will not be silent about our displeasure,” state Sen. Leroy Comrie wrote in an email sent out to residents last Saturday. “We are calling on the City to respect the voices of our community.”

The property, which belongs to Rita Stark, have been deteriorating for more than 20 years, attracting squatters and drug users. But in April the buildings were leased to The Bluestone Group, a private investment firm, based in downtown Manhattan, according to local elected officials.

Since then, the property has undergone substantial renovations. Bunk beds, which can be seen through the windows, were placed inside.

Cuomo changes mind on veterans bill

From Capital New York:

Just weeks after he vetoed it, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday he would push for a version of a measure in the state budget allowing service members to purchase credit toward the public retirement system based on their years of service.

The vetoed legislation, sponsored by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin and state Sen. Bill Larkin, would have allowed members of a public retirement system to obtain three years of service credit for up to three years of military duty if they were honorably discharged. The bill would have also broadened eligible servicemembers to include those who served in peacetime and those who served during more-recent conflicts.

“The Governor and legislative sponsors plan to work over the next two months to refine the proposal for introduction in the next budget,” Cuomo’s office said in a press release.

In his veto message in October, Cuomo said the legislation included “no viable funding source.”

DeBlasio rejects bill to aid vets

From the Observer:

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin of Scarsdale is accusing Mayor Bill de Blasio of not "understanding the military," after the mayor declined to support a bill that would allow servicemembers to purchase credit toward the public retirement system based on their years of service.

The bill, which was introduced in June by Paulin and state Sen. Bill Larkin, allows members of a public retirement system to obtain three years of service credit for up to three years of military duty if they were honorably discharged. The legislation also broadens the eligible servicemembers to include those who served in peacetime and adds military conflicts—like Bosnia and Afghanistan.

De Blasio supports a more narrow bill that would restrict the process to those who served in Afghanistan.

Councilman Eric Ulrich, chair of the council’s committee on veterans, chided the administration for not allowing veterans to collect the benefit.

“All veterans deserve the opportunity to buy back their military time so that it can be counted towards their pension,” Ulrich told POLITICO New York. “We should not discriminate any veteran especially those who served post 9/11 or in non-combat role. We are not giving them something for free. First of all, they earned it, and second of all, they have to pay for it.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo vetoed similar legislation last year, saying it was an unfunded mandate and should instead be dealt with in the state budget. Paulin said she had worked with the governor’s office since then to amend the bill.

Homeless vets won't be resolved by end of year

From the Daily News:

One of the most ambitious plans from Mayor de Blasio’s State of the City speech — ending veteran homelessness by the end of the year — appears increasingly unlikely.

The number of homeless veterans remains at around 1,000 — the same number as in February, when the mayor announced his lofty goal.

Underscoring the difficulty of the goal — and the complications of battling chronic homelessness — the number hasn’t changed despite the city having placed 1,600 vets in housing.

Addabbo wants Glendale shelter to be for veterans

From the Queens Courier:

The controversial plan to turn the abandoned warehouse located at 78-16 Cooper Ave. in Glendale into a homeless shelter appears to be moving forward, but state Senator Joseph Addabbo wants to make that proposal a little more specific.

If the city is going to make the site into a homeless shelter, Addabbo said, it should extend the facility to the homeless who have fought for this nation’s freedom.

Isn't the site suspected to be highly contaminated?

Dirtbags steal tribute to Woodhaven's veterans

A miserable unnecessary incident occurred over the weekend, which sadly makes us realize that there are some very mean spirited despicable people in our midst. These two persons, early Sunday morning, stole the wreath and the two American Flags that we placed on our WWII Monument on Memorial Day. This Monument is dedicated to Woodhaven residents that sacrificed their lives during that war. Every year the GWDC places a wreath in honor of these brave heroes, and it stays there throughout the year untouched. But these individuals who took it not only dishonored our Woodhaven Heroes, but our America. The GWDC will get another wreath, but just know that this was an act against our residents, our Community and America. By the way we have them both on our video tape.
- Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation via Facebook

Firecracker damages memorial

From the Queens Chronicle:

For many in Howard Beach, the namesake of Charles Park is a mystery. But for those who know who Frank Charles was, his is a story every neighborhood resident should know.

That’s why several years ago, the American Legion Post #1404, based in Broad Channel but including a number of Howard Beach residents as members, sought to construct a memorial sign telling the story of Charles, the first resident of Howard Beach to die in action at war.

In May, five years, one hurricane and over $5,000 later, they unveiled a sign on the east side of the park facing Hawtree Creek where Charles lived, only to find last weekend that it had been damaged.

“It’s terrible,” said Ed Murray, past commander of American Legion Post #1404. “There’s no respect.”

A hole blew open in the Plexiglas panel protecting the sign and a large dent mars the back of the sign.

“I think it was a firecracker, an M-80 probably,” said Ray York, another past commander of the troop. “Some kids, probably on the Fourth of July. They must have taped it on the glass and lit it.”

Initially, some residents, including Dorothy McCloskey, president of Friends of Charles Park, thought it was a bullet, but no fragments were found, nor did it penetrate through the steel skin.

“If it was a bullet, it would have gone right through,” York said.

Murray pointed to red powder on the bottom of the sign inside the glass as a sign that a firecracker was the likely culprit.

'Thanks for helping us' from the Girls Scouts

Caretakers and local Girl Scouts placed flags at the graves of veterans in Cypress Hills National Cemetery, Brooklyn on Saturday, May 24, in time for Memorial Day.

Group wants to turn Peninsula Hospital into veterans' housing

From the Daily News:

The shuttered Peninsula Hospital building has caught the eye of a nonprofit group that wants to transform it into housing for veterans and senior citizens.

But Rockaway residents, who haven’t given up hope the hospital will reopen as another medical facility, are wary of the plan.

Kim Atkins, CEO of V.I.P. Housing and Services, said the vacant property on Rockaway Beach Blvd. is “like a gift that fell from the sky.”

Atkins said she would like to create independent living for seniors at the site, along with an adult day care program and transitional housing for returning veterans.

Vets getting the shaft from HPD

From the NY Post:

The city is fighting a secret war against veterans — not only ignoring laws that give them preference for affordable housing but also pushing legally to erase the rules.

Air Force vet Aaron Glover, 50, is suing the Department of Housing Preservation and Development for failing to favor retired service members applying for Mitchell-Lama developments.

Glover, who works for Manhattan’s VA medical center, applied for a $600-a-month studio apartment at Manhattan’s Henry Phipps Plaza East last summer after seeing a newspaper ad.

But HPD staff never sifted through the nearly 30,000 applications to pick out veterans, said Glover’s attorney, Pete Kempner.

By law, ex-military are to be put at the top of the waiting list, ahead of other applicants who are placed on the list through a random lottery. Instead, HPD has been applying the veteran’s preference only after a lottery is conducted.

Last month, HPD proposed new rules that would weaken the veteran’s preference — applying it only if vets are lucky enough to be picked out of a lottery of thousands of applicants.

Since 2007, state law has required Mitchell-Lama developments — middle-income rental and cooperative housing built through government incentives — to give preference to disabled vets. Three years later, the law was expanded to include all veterans.

Still, a 2012 state audit found few veterans benefited from the rule. Across 18 HPD-supervised buildings, only 14 of 332 vacancies were filled by former servicemen or women. Two developments illegally skipped over vets on their waiting lists.

Rego Park fruit store now flying American flags

From the Queens Chronicle:

The Family Fruit Farm grocery store at 94-01 63 Drive had featured the flags of 22 different countries flying above its awning, but not until recently have two American flags joined the row of nations.

The flags, nestled between the symbols of Russia and Mexico, are slightly smaller than the other banners. But they fly front and center, directly facing the intersection of 63rd Drive and Booth Street for all to see.

The previous lack of Old Glory had upset a nearby shop owner as well as Vietnam War veteran and Rego Park resident George Gardner, who called the lack of the American flag “ridiculous” and “astonishing,” when he called the Chronicle to complain about it in October.

Gardner says he was not involved in getting the two American flags placed on top of the store and does not know who is responsible.

He understands that lack of the banners in the first place may have just been an oversight, but the fact that the American flags now fly is “refreshing” to the military veteran.

What else is on the ballot?

From the 2013 NYC Voter Guide:

On November 5^th, you will be voting YES or NO on six ballot proposals to amend the New York State Constitution. These six proposals are covered in depth below, starting with the official text of the ballot question and a description of the effect it will have if passed. To help you decide, the CFB has provided reasons to vote yes or no based on media coverage and other public commentary. The CFB also reached out to the public, requesting organizations and individuals to submit "pro" or "con" statements explaining why they support or oppose each proposal. (These statements are provided as supplied by the authors.)

The information below does not necessarily reflect all the reasons to support or oppose each proposal.

Proposal 1 | Authorizing Casino Gaming

Proposal 2 | Additional Civil Service Credit for Veterans with Disabilities Certified Post-Appointment

Proposal 3 | Exclusion of Indebtedness Contracted for Sewage Facilities

Proposal 4 | Settling Disputed Title in the Forest Preserve

Proposal 5 | In Relation to a Land Exchange in the State Forest Preserve with NYCO Minerals, Inc.

Proposal 6 | Increasing Age until which Certain State Judges Can Serve