3 Forest Hills woman looks to ‘Paw it Forward’
QUEENS WEEKLY, JAN. 13, 2019
BY MARK HALLUM
Forest Hills’ Corinne
Conover knows how important
dogs can be to seniors
and those suffering
from illness.
Her life is dedicated to
aiding those with autism
as well as Asperger’s syndrome,
but lately she has
dedicated her time to an
unexpected demand.
Walking dogs for the
sick and elderly in her community
is one she has decided
to dedicate the time
she does not spend with clients,
saving the people who
need help money they could
be spending on healthcare.
But in the eight months
since she began what is
now known as “Paw It
Forward,” members of the
community have swarmed
her rank looking to help
out, but there is one problem:
with over 50, she has
more volunteers than dogs
that need walking.
“The volunteers are
willing and able and ready
to go, but we have less
dogs than we have volunteers,”
Conover said. “The
overwhelming response I
got from the community
boards with people who really
wanted to step up and
volunteer, I had no idea. I
thought it was just going to
be me and my little rescue
dog helping a few people in
the neighborhood.”
Quillnilla Shtatlender,
78, lives off Yellowstone
Avenue and Woodhaven
Boulevard, and at her age
finds it difficult to give her
dog Rumi the attention he
needs while her daughter
Olga is away.
The cancer patients
Conover works with vary
in age with the youngest being
a 27-year-old Hodgkins
lymphoma patient and one
of the oldest being a senior
citizen who suffers from
brain cancer.
But Conover keeps the
names and conditions of
the people she helps confidential
since many do
not wish to make their
conditions known to
their neighbors.
“The senior citizens
love it for the companionship
because they’ll invite
us in and they’ll want to
talk and hang out for a little
bit before we take out their
dog, so there’s a connection
there with the person
too and not just their dog,”
Conover said.
Conover takes her own
dog, 12-year-old yorkiepoodle
Sonny, on every
walk with her, each of
which can last between
one and two hours.
To prevent there being a
“revolving door” of strangers
through her client’s
homes, Conover prefers to
assign one to two volunteers
to each person she
helps. This familiarity creates
a healthy relationship
between the two parties.
Conover has meetings
planned with a lawyer to
establish Paw It Forward
as an official nonprofit
organization, and in mid-
May, date pending, she
will have a fund-raiser to
finance a website.
She has lived in the
community for about eight
years, where she met her
husband six years ago,
since moving to Queens
from Long Island.
Conover plans to keep
driving the organization
forward with more dogs
and more volunteers, but
warns those interested
in getting involved that
working her clients is a
commitment.
The Forest Hills resident
has also teamed up
with Forest Park Barking
Lot Vice President Esta-Joy
Sydell at events to promote
her program.
If you’re interested in
the program, Conover can
be reached at 516-554-1268
or by email at CorinneConover@
aol.com with the subject
line “Paw It Forward.”
Reach reporter Mark
Hallum by e-mail at mhallum@
schnepsmedia.com or
by phone at (718) 260–4564.
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
City Comptroller Scott
Stringer announced he
would immediately start
work on preventing residents
at the Citylights co-op
from losing their homes at a
rally Jan. 3 in Long Island
City’s Gantry State Park.
A fixture of the Long
Island City skyline long before
the development boom,
the 42-story co-op loomed
behind its residents, circled
around the Stringer as he
spoke to the media. His
plan: get the city Department
of Finance and the
Empire State Development
Corporation together to
agree on what to do about
the building’s now expired
abatement and the $500,000
annual ground lease tenants
must pay.
This was not the first
time such a gathering had
occurred. Residents rallied
on multiple occasions in
2018 to bring awareness to
the 20-year tax abatement
that was phased out July 1,
resulting $5.8 million tax
bill and a property value increase
by nearly 100%.
“We love it when people
come here. We love it when
new immigrants and new
industry from all over the
world want to be in our
city,” Stringer said at the
Jan. 3 rally as a crowd of
Citylights residents waved
signs behind him. “But
there is a covenant that
must be kept.”
That covenant to which
Stringer referred is Mayor
Bill de Blasio’s affordable
housing plan.
Last year, the city of New
York spent $1.582 billion on
financing 32,116 affordable
homes in order to make a
dent in the city’s affordable
housing crisis, according
to the New York City Housing
website. According to
Stringer, the fact that longtime
affordable housing residents
— Citylights is Queens
largest affordable co-op —
are struggling to pay their
mortgages goes against the
spirit of his plan.
“People who build our
community, they must stay
and they must be celebrated
for building our city,”
said Stringer.
The irony of the situation
is not lost on Citylights
tenants.
Shelley Cohen, a tenant
of Citylights for 21 years,
said that when she first
moved to the co-op it was
surrounded by warehouses
and trash. At the time,
the neighborhood didn’t
have many supermarkets,
major drug store chains
or restaurants. It was a
difficult place to live, according
to Cohen.
For two decades, tenants
of Citylights have suffered
through noisy construction,
poor building conditions
and even soil remediation.
But they stuck it out. Now,
Cohen and her fellow “pioneers”
feel especially entitled
to stay in the neighborhood
they took a chance on.
“Now, the city and the
state are extending handouts
to big companies,
like Amazon, while my
middle-class neighbors
and I suffer,” said Cohen.
“If the city and the state
can work together to lure
Amazon, they can find a
way to relieve of us our
ground lease.”
Conover with her own dog Sonny (l.) and Rumi who belongs to Guillnilla Shtatlender from
Forest Hills. Photo by Mark Hallum
Stringer stands with Long Island City co-op residents
City Comptroller Scott Stringer said that he would help residents of the Citylights co-ops in
Long Island City seek tax relief and stay in their homes. Photo by Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech
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