— IN THE PAST WEEK —
Cutting the Ribbon on Alley Pond Environmental's Temporary Space
It was wonderful on Saturday to celebrate the grand opening of Alley Pond
Environmental's temporary space on 76th Ave! The center will continue to
provide the community with stellar educational programming here while a new
state-of-the-art facility is constructed at the original location on
Northern Boulevard.
The new APEC building will feature a rainwater collection system, skylights
and a geothermal heating system and will be larger than the center’s
current building, providing more space for classes and special events.
Proud to work with former Queens Borough President Melinda Katz to see this
massive project become reality!
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How Would You Spend $1M for Northeast Queens?
Participatory Budgeting for District 19 is in full swing! If you would like
to propose a project idea for this year’s Participatory Budgeting ballot to
help improve our local parks, schools, libraries, etc, you can do so by
contacting our office at
[email protected] or calling
718-619-8611. Through Participatory Budgeting, you can directly decide how
to spend at least $1 million in this year’s City budget.
After you have submitted your project idea, our office will contact you to
discuss the next steps and how to turn your project ideas into real
proposals for our ballot. These proposals will be up for a community-wide
vote in the spring, where the projects that receive the most votes receive
funding from our office!
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— MORE NEWS —
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Creating Safer Streets for Our Seniors
On Wednesday, I introduced a bill that would mandate DOT to designate
handicap parking and loading zones for access-a-ride passengers outside of
all DFTA-contracted senior centers, a move that would make our streets a
safer place for our city's over 1 million older adults!
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Op-Ed: City building inspectors should adopt drone technology to avoid
further tragedy
"Drones—unmanned aerial vehicles—offer a 21st-century solution to reduce
inspection time and cut construction costs. On sites around the country,
drones equipped with sophisticated sensors and cameras fly around and above
buildings to generate 3-D models and high-quality images.
What would take several days to accomplish under current conditions could
take only minutes or hours when completed with a drone and a nearby
operator, saving both time and money. Better yet, there’s no need for
scaffolding, and half of the city’s 328 miles of scaffolding dotting our
sidewalks—more than the distance from Central Park to Niagara Falls—was
erected to perform facade inspections.
...
Sadly, this conversation is moot if New York doesn’t begin accepting more
innovative methods. As it stands, all drone use within the five boroughs,
including for commercial construction purposes, is illegal under a 1948
local law, despite the Federal Aviation Administration’s legalization of
commercial drones in 2016. When the statute was written more than 70 years
ago, it was to protect against the operation of large manned aircraft, like
planes; today the antiquated legislation does little more than slow
progress.
Together with our partners in government and the industry, it’s time we
create a safe and sensible system that allows for commercial drone use."
[1]Read More At Crain's New York
— IMPORTANT RESOURCES —
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— UPCOMING EVENTS & COMMUNITY INFO —
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Thanks for reading! As always, if you have any questions or concerns, do
not hesitate to contact my office.
Sincerely,
Hon. Paul A. Vallone
New York City Council, District 19
42-40 Bell Boulevard, Suite 507
Bayside, New York 11361
718.619.8611
[email protected]
Follow me on [2]Facebook, [3]Twitter and [4]Instagram
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