8 APRIL 27, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM Holden throws hat in the ring for Council BY ANTHONY GIUDICE AND ROBERT POZARYCKI [email protected] @QNS Robert Holden, the outspoken leader of the Middle Village based Juniper Park Civic Association, is challenging incumbent Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley in this September’s Democratic primary, according to the Queens Chronicle. He is expected to formally announce his candidacy at the April 27 JPCA meeting in Middle Village. The Middle Village resident has led the JPCA for decades, fi ghting for the communities of Maspeth and Middle Village on various quality-of-life issues, from real estate to crime. Now that he is retiring as a professor from the New York City College of Technology, Holden wants to take his activism to another level and become a lawmaker to further improve the communities. “It’s been a long journey, 30 years of doing this,” Holden told QNS in a phone interview on April 26. “I never wanted to get into politics, but I am retiring from the college. My wife said, ‘You don’t want to get into politics,’ but something just tells me now I’ve got to try. I’ve got to turn the page.” Holden does not believe the current lawmakers at City Hall — specifi cally Crowley — are adequately representing the people and communities that they serve. “There are a lot things Elizabeth Crowley has done wrong,” Holden said. “Elizabeth Crowley and the Democrats in Queens have not done the right thing for a while now. And at this point I couldn’t sit back and let the Democratic machine do what they want. They aren’t representing the community. And I think I’ve shown that I can fi ght, and I think that’s what I’m good at. I can organize people and get the word out. That’s one thing I was taught by former Councilman Tom Ognibene.” As for the incumbent, Crowley issued a statement in which she expressed pride in her own record and looks forward “to a spirited campaign focused on the issues that aff ect our communities.” “Together, we have secured school funding for 5,400 new classroom seats, enhanced public safety by hiring more police, and preserved essential city services such as fi re and EMS. But there are still many challenges we face,” Crowley said. “I am eager to make the case to voters this campaign season that I am the experienced, enthusiastic and persistent voice they can continue to depend on to lead our community in the Council.” More homeless students attending Queens schools BY ANTHONY GIUDICE [email protected] @A_GIUDICEREPORT As New York City and state scramble to fi nd a solution to the city’s growing homeless crisis, Queens — and each of the other boroughs — has seen a steady rise in the number of public school students in the shelter system since the 2011-2012 school year. A study by the New York City Independent Budget Offi ce (IBO) shows that Queens had the second largest percent increase — 50 percent — of the number of homeless students attending public school in the borough between the 2011-2012 school year and the 2015-2016 year. According to the study, in 2011- 2012, Queens saw 2,651 public school students living part or all of the year in the shelter system; in 2012-2013, Queens had 2,932; in 2013-2014 the borough had 2,962; in 2014-2015 that number jumped to 3,225 students; and in the 2015-2016 school year, Queens had a total of 3,971 public school students living in shelters at some point during the year. Staten Island placed fi rst with a 105 percent increase during the fi veyear period, but they see far fewer children in the shelter system in their schools compared to the other boroughs, with 971 students in the shelter system during the 2015-2016 school year. In all, the number of students that attend city public schools who lived for some part of the school year in the homeless shelter system during the 2015-2016 school year grew by more than 4,000 — or 15 percent — from the previous year, to a total of nearly 33,000, the IBO study found. Even more troubling, according to the study, a dismal 179 of the city’s 1,475 public schools — only 12.1 percent — that were open during the entire fi ve-year study period, excluding charter schools, served 10 percent or more of students in shelters for a year or more. In addition, only 45 schools served 10 percent or more of homeless students over the fi ve years, meaning a large number of the city’s homeless students are attending a small number of schools. Experts believe that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “Turning the Tide on Homelessness in New York City” plan, which aims to get homeless individuals and families out of inadequate hotel rooms and cluster sites and into their original neighborhoods, may increase the number of homeless students in some schools, while lowering it in others. Students living in the shelter system often times face greater obstacles than their peers. In a 2016 study, the IBO examined the many obstacles students living in temporary housing, including the homeless shelter system, face on a daily basis like changing schools, and diffi culty getting to their schools which leads to chronic lateness and absences. The IBO’s study excludes students attending charter schools, as well as students in District 75 special education and District 79 alternative high school programs. It also excludes students that are home schooled and in pre-K programs run by community organizations. Easter fun at the ‘Evergreens’ The Cemetery of the Evergreens on the Glendale/ Brooklyn border recently Photo courtesy of the Cemetery of the Evergreens held an Easter Eggstravaganza for 500 parents and children. Kids got to roam the fields looking for Easter eggs and also enjoyed a visit from the Easter Bunny and a petting zoo.
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