2 FEBRUARY 9 - FEBRUARY 15, 2018 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP
UNDERAGE SEX STING
NETS ARREST
A Brooklyn man who had allegedly tried to
coerce a 12-year-old girl into having sex with
him has been arrested.
Shmuel Zarzar, 30, allegedly exchanged
text messages with a 12-year-old girl over the
course of several weeks in December, 2017
after meeting in person in Brooklyn. After the
victim refused to set a time and date to meet
at Zarzar’s insistence, Zarzar allegedly went
to an area near the victim’s school in order to
see her.
Police were notified, and throughout January,
2018, an undercover officer assumed the
victim’s identity to communicate with Zarzar,
who allegedly asked for explicit photos, described
explicit activity and stood near the
victim’s school forhours.
He was apprehended by police after arranging
to meet with the victim in Manhattan on
February 1.
APPLY NOW FOR 3-K FOR
ALL AND PRE-K FOR ALL
The New York City Department of Education
is now accepting applications for free, full-day
3-K for All and Pre-K for All programs. Applications
are provided in 10 languages online,
including Spanish, Russian and Chinese, and
over 200 over the phone or in person.
Families with children born in 2015 who live
in Districts 4, 7, 23, and 27 can apply to 3-K until
the deadline on May 11. Districts 5 and 16 will
be added to the 3-K program in mid-April. All
New York City families with children born in
2014 can apply for Pre-K until March 30. All
offer letters will go out in May.
To register online, go to nyc.gov/3k or nyc.
gov/prek. To apply by phone, call 311. To apply
in person, go to http://on.nyc.gov/1r0lxJq to
find a Family Welcome Center near you.
—Victoria Merlino
PANDA EXPRESS GIVING
BACK TO NEW 'HOOD
There’s a new fast food restaurant in town
and it’s already digging in its heels.
Panda Express, 416 86th Street, which celebrated
an official grand opening on Friday,
February 2, is donating a portion of its opening
day profits to P.S./I.S. 104, an elementary-immediate
school less than a mile away.
The chain, originated in California in 1983,
encourages fundraising through its business
year-round, urging interested applicants to
raise money for their school, organization,
club, team or non-profit organization by dining
at Panda Express.
—Meaghan McGoldrick
Photo courtesy of Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis
Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis questioning Mayor Bill de Blasio at the the Joint
Senate and Assembly Finance Committee session in Albany.
Local pol calls for commission
on property tax reform, creation
of 'more equitable system'
BY MEAGHAN MCGOLDRICK
MMCGOLDRICK@BROOKLYNREPORTER.
COM
A local pol is calling for the
immediate establishment
of a property tax reform
commission, one she says was
already promised to the city of
New York by Mayor Bill de Blasio
during the run-up to the 2017
election.
The goal of the commission
would be to tackle inequities
in the existing tax rates
which often have city residents
owning less valuable
properties paying far more
in real estate taxes than other
residents whose homes are
worth considerably more.
“It’s critical for the families
in our community that the
mayor make good on his
promise of establishing a
property tax commission
to develop a more equitable
system that shares the property
tax burden more fairly. In the
meantime, he should freeze or,
at a minimum, cap the property
tax levy,” said Assemblymember
Nicole Malliotakis in a statement
released the same day she questioned
de Blasio on the issue in Albany
before the Joint Senate and
Assembly Finance Committee.
“The levy, which the mayor and
City Council set, has increased
nearly 38 percent over the past
four years. This translates to an
additional $7 billion City Hall is
seeking from taxpayers.”
The politician – who herself
ran for mayor against de Blasio
in 2017 and currently represents
portions of Southern Brooklyn
and Staten Island in the Assembly
– cites de Blasio’s own pledge to
convene a property tax commission
to address the “inequalities”
of the current system.
Malliotakis further noted that
she, herself, lives in a part of the
city where the tax rate is 1.05
percent, forcing her to pay $5,485
annually on her $559,000 Staten
Island home whereas de Blasio –
who resides in a part of Brooklyn
with the lowest effective tax rate,
0.33 percent – paid only $3,581 on
his Park Slope home, which she
says is worth $1,688,000.
This, in part, is due to New York
law, which limits the increase in
taxable value of any property in
one year to six percent (20 percent
over five years), meaning
that property taxes assessed on
individual homes don’t necessarily
accurately reflect their value,
and the owners of homes whose
value has risen fastest take the
least hit, proportionately.
“It’s unsustainable and it’s
driving middle-class families
out of our city,” Malliotakis
contended of the disparity
driving the need for reform,
as she urged New York City
residents to sign her online petition
at http://bit.ly/2sgKK9q.
New York City residents
who follow Malliotakis on
Facebook were quick to
share their horror stories in
response to the pol's plea.
"Thank you for doing the
right thing. My property taxes
are way to high for me," wrote
one user. "I will have to move out
of state when I retire."
"I am in the same boat," wrote
another. "I need to move out of
New York City when I retire. No
mortgage but taxes are a killer."
By press time, the mayor's
office had not responded to a
request for comment or more
information.
Inset photo courtesy of Google Maps
De Blasio’s Park Slope home.