...my district, Astoria, is considered one of the safer neighborhoods in the city, but it still has its fair share of crime. In fact, the 114th Precinct had the most felony-assault and grand-larceny complaints of all the precincts in northern Queens, and it was second in grand theft auto, burglary, robbery and murder. Like other non-Impact precincts, the 114th is having difficulty responding to many non-emergency calls because it lacks the staffing to do so. At night, there are only a few patrols for the entire neighborhood. And yet, they are not scheduled to receive one new officer. On the other hand, the 115th Precinct, which includes Jackson Heights and Corona, is an Impact zone and will get fresh boots on the ground. Police staffing crisis impacts entire city
But the 114th actually had more total major felonies in 2006 than the 115th (2,356 to 1,958). We desperately need more cops here and throughout Queens to keep our neighborhoods as safe as they have historically been.
11 comments:
With the economy tanking jobs, people losing their homes, high rentals, dense populations, high concentrations of illegal immigrants, over crowded schools and little police coverage, Astoria may just mimic the Bronx Fort Apache days really soon.
Bloomberg spends taxpayers' money on far too many trivial and frivolous items, leaving the essentials, such as the police, underfunded.
Beyond writing on a Blog Vallone should be performing his JOB (he does collect a paycheck for it) on the city council, gather support for defunding the trivia and funding the essentials with the proper amounts.
For too long, council members, at $112,000+ salary for their part-time job, have sat back and watched Bloomberg decide everything. Photo-ops and appearances are what these council members do for a living.
Do your JOB!!!
So who exactly does Mr Vallone blame for this manpower shortage? The Police Department which seems to be doing what it can with the little manpower they have, and the low number of recruits they can attract, or the Mayor, who refuses to pay these guys and gals anything resembling a living wage to live and work in the city? 25K isn't unreasonable while they are training at the Police Academy, but lets be real, I think the top salary for a cop with 5 years is something like $60,000 a year. That is hardly enough to live on in this city. They certainly wouldn't be able to buy a decent home here, maybe a one bedroom co-op if they are lucky, and certainly not one of these new crap shelters going up all over the place in Queens.
The way the middle class is being treated in this city is an absolute disgrace! It is no wonder that our best and brightest cops, teachers, EMS workers etc are being lured away from the city to better paying jobs and better quality of life in the suburbs and out of state.
Yet another example of how Astoria is getting hollowed out to turn over to the tweeded and the developers.
Power grid: shot.
Schools: crowded
Hospitals: shut down
Dining: Rotiboti Bangla takeout, man
Streets: clogged with traffic
Streets: choked with traffic
Trains: crammed
Shopping: EL MUNDO DISCOUNT (need we say more?)
so...if you dont have enought cops, and school desks, and hospital beds and and and
WHY THE HELL ARE YOU STILL DEVELOPING (WHATEVER THAT MEANS) THE COMMUNITY AND BRINGING IN THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE
nitwit
What happens to my taxes. I pay taxes.
The money that I sweat over should go to hiring cops to protect me and my family.
Instead, it goes to shitty planning and to subsidize campaign donors (I mean developers)
Does that guy paint his hair. What's that about?
He uses Popeil's GLH-9 spray-on hair.
He ordered a dozen cases from me last year. Anyone out there on the Crapper that would like some please look me up on www.Ronco.com
Use code: QueensCrapBlog for a 20% discount.
What da f--k do you care Don "Junior" Vallone?
You live in the "cushy" part of town....
and I'm sure "La Famiglia" protects you and yours !
He looks like he's trying to squeeze out a fart while hailing a cab!
I like that, he tells you to arrest the kids (and let the slum creating building industry off the hook) at the same time that cops are understaffed.
All sound and motion and no substance.
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