Fiends steals 4-year-old disabled child's wheelchair

 

 QNS

A mother is seeking answers following the theft of her disabled son’s wheelchair by a group of thieves outside of her South Ozone Park home on Monday. 

Marta Escobar, a mother of a 4-year-old disabled child, says she left her home around 5:30 p.m. to run errands when a group of strangers took her son’s wheelchair stroller from the side of her home on Jan. 1. Her son, Anthony, is unable to walk or talk and is in great need of the wheelchair stroller.

Video footage, shared by Escobar on Facebook and Instagram, captures three trespassers entering the alleyway of her home a little after 5:45 p.m., minutes after she left.  

The intruders, with what appears to be a child, are seen on video entering the property and walking away with the wheelchair stroller, two other umbrella strollers, and packs of diapers. 

Escobar says her son’s prescription medicine was also stolen when the wheelchair and strollers were taken. On social media, Escobar claims migrants were responsible for stealing her son’s wheelchair, although this has not been verified. 

“It’s not fair that we are trying our best as a city to help these people and they are coming freely and walking into our private homes and stealing things that are so delicate and necessary for my child to be able to get to school every day,” Escobar wrote.

Lawsuit filed over rowdy group home

From PIX11:

Recording from their living room window, the Wlodys say they’re fed up with their neighbors. Right next door, sharing a wall with the Wlody’s in Howard Beach, is a group home for developmentally disabled adults, run by Birch Family Services.

Since 2013, the Wlodys say their home, once a sanctuary, turned to hell. They say thousands of photos and videos they’ve recorded themselves illustrate what occurs almost daily.

“It’s upsetting. It’s also traumatizing. The thuds, the crashes and the screaming that carries on for the longest time,” said Corinne Wlody.

The Wlodys say they have witnessed staff at the group home use abusive language and exhibit near violent behavior.

They say they’re concerned for the vulnerable residents and want the public and the families of the residents to know what is really happening behind closed doors.

Hiram's base has lost its polling site

From the Daily News:

Allies of Hiram Monserrate have lost a last-minute bid to have a polling site reestablished for the Democratic primary in LeFrak City in Queens, where the convicted felon enjoys broad support.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Andrea Masley ruled earlier this week that it was too late for her to move a polling site back to LeFrak, where New Yorkers had cast their votes for 50 years.

But she criticized the Board of Elections for moving the voting site from LeFrak to two other locations outside of the housing complex, writing that "moving poll sites is no joke" and that the timing of the change had not yet been properly explained.

"This court is confounded by the BOE's decision to move 6,071 voters to two new voting sites," Masley wrote.

In May, the Board of Elections announced new sites three-quarters of a mile and one-third of a mile away from the LeFrak complex, saying the original site did not meet Americans With Disabilities Act standards.

Creedmor situation kind of peculiar

"I have attached three pictures of beautiful housing, built by the state on the grounds of Creedmor, for the disabled. Three of the buildings have never been used. They contain brand new furniture.

Right now, only three buildings are occupied and the residents are being farmed out.

In less than 5 years the state built residences that are not being used. This is wasteful and very stressful for the residents and the wonderful people that care for them."

- Linda

To curb cut or not to curb cut?

From PIX11:

Martin Grillo can't believe after decades of serving the city, he says he now has to fight for a driveway to his home.

Grillo has been a paramedic in New York City for 38 years.

He was there on 9/11 and he helped victims who lost their homes to flood waters during Hurricane Sandy.

While he was helping, his home was being ravaged by flood waters.

Now, as part of the Build-it-Back Program, he says, the city promised him a curb-cut driveway that would flow underneath his home to his door.

"I have good and bad days. I can't always walk. I need this driveway," Grillo said.

After 9/11, he has trouble breathing and walking. A driveway would make it easier for him to get in and out if his home, and help him with parking.

"Why don't they just do what they said they would do?" Grillo said.

But after more than a year battling several city agencies, he says he is getting no action and no respect.

Making an accessible city

From NBC:

This month marks the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The civil rights law is celebrated for protecting people with disabilities from discrimination and assuring access to public places, like businesses, jobs and transportation -- but in a city that thrives on pedestrian culture, some say that important work remains to make our streets and sidewalks more accessible. Roseanne Colletti reports. (Published Friday, July 24, 2015)

Hevesi caught looking the other way

From the Daily News:

A state assemblyman was secretly recorded saying that his leadership has refused to sign off on a potential probe into an agency designed to protect the developmentally disabled.

Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D—Queens), who chairs the chamber’s investigations committee, said Assembly Democratic leadership believes the Justice Center for the Protection of People With Special Needs touted by Gov. Cuomo is a fraud but isn’t prepared to investigate at this time.

“I didn’t like their response,” Hevesi is heard telling activist Michael Carey, who made the secret recording on May 7. “But the feedback I got was, ‘We want to do this--we don’t want to do this right now.’”

Carey, whose autistic son was suffocated as a state employee tried to restrain him, has claimed that the Justice Center is not referring most cases of abuse in state facilities to the proper authorities.

Hevesi on the recording tells Carey his leadership wants him to start a preliminary review by meeting with Justice Center officials.

“I’m not thrilled, but I don’t have a choice,” Hevesi said.

But when Carey asks why he won’t just supbonea documents, Hevesi said, “I’m not allowed to do that.”

When Carey asked if Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver blocked him, Hevesi responded: “He didn’t say that to me, but I know the leadership is not willing to do that.”

MTA installs non-functioning elevator

From NY1:

An elevator at a Queens subway station that opened to much fanfare on Friday broke Saturday after only one day in use.

As NY1 reported, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority heralded its newly ADA-compliant Forest Hills-71st Avenue subway stop with some pomp and circumstance, but now, the elevator that takes riders from the street to the station is out of service.

One Twitter user captured a photo that they say shows fire officials rescuing someone who got stuck when it stopped working.

Luxury condo developers discriminate against disabled

From Capital New York:

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara today filed suit against Related Companies, one of Manhattan's most prominent developers, and two of its star architects, for violating the Fair Housing Act by designing buildings that are inaccessible to the disabled.

In the suit against the Hudson Yards developer, Robert A.M. Stern Architects and Ismael Leyva Architects, Bharara alleges that Related Companies "discriminated" against people with disabilities thanks to its "pattern or practice of failing to design and construct dwellings" and accompanying common areas that are accessible to people with disabilities.

The suit, in particular, focuses on One Carnegie Hill and Tribeca Green, two high-end Related rental buildings with a total of more than 750 units.

Among other flaws cited in the suit, the U.S. Attorney's office claims that at the Upper East Side's One Carnegie Hill, where "alcove studios" rent for $3,095, the mailboxes are out of reach to people in wheelchairs, the kitchens in some units are too narrow to accommodate people in wheelchairs, and the bathrooms in some units aren't accessible. The suit makes similar complaints about Tribeca Green, where "alcove studios" rent for $3,425.

Day of reckoning for civil servant scammers

From NBC 4:

More than 100 former police officers, firefighters and other city workers faked mental disabilities in order get tens of thousands of dollars in Social Security benefits a year, NBC 4 New York has learned.

But an investigation has revealed the former city workers were pursuing other activities that appeared to negate their claims. One police officer who claimed he was so mentally disabled was allegedly working as a martial arts instructor, officials said. Another who claimed he could not work was allegedly flying helicopters.

One got benefits because of a fear of crowds and yet was found to be selling cannolis in Little Italy during the San Genarro festival. And another went on to allegedly run a private security company.

Many allegedly claimed to be affected by their efforts on 9/11, yet investigators found many were not even near ground zero that day.

All allegedly got help gaming the system from the same two lawyers, ages 89 and 83, and two former police officers who in exchange allegedly took cash payments.

Investigators said one of the attorneys who helped run the scheme is Raymond Lavallee, who worked as an FBI agent in the 1950s and '60s. Calls to Lavallee’s home and law office were not returned Monday.

The criminal charges expected to be announced Tuesday will include 106 people in all.

The more than 100 workers were allegedly taught how to claim they were mentally scarred on SSID applications in order to collect $30,000 to $50,000 in benefits annually.

Investigators said Lavallee would receive thousands in cash payments from successful applicants that were at times left for him in paper bags on a park bench near his office.

DOB harassing handicapped Rockaway guy

DOE makes learning more difficult for injured kid

From CBS New York:

High school senior M’Kayah Walker of Woodside, Queens, said she was injured while playing soccer.

“I was playing soccer. Kids fell on top of me,” she said. “And I found out my knees were dislocated.”

That sports injury has Walker struggling to get around on crutches. But she never dreamed it would disrupt her academic future.

She said making it up the steps and in to William Cullen Bryant High School in Woodside is painful.

Her mother requested home instruction for Walker, allowing the teen to graduate with her peers. The answer was no — not once, but twice.

“Just give me the home schooling so I can get my diploma,” she said.

Instead, the school issued her an elevator pass. But getting to it was tough and then she says she had to wait.

“They have taken more than 15 minutes to open the elevator,” she said. “When I use it, I’m late, and the teachers yell at me.”

Next month, Walker gets surgery to repair her knee. Without home instruction, she believes she won’t be able to graduate until next summer.

Senior housing facility opens at former Fineson Center

From the Queens Courier:

Howard Beach is home to a new senior housing location, providing more than 80 units of affordable housing for the elderly.

Catholic Charities Progress of Peoples Development and Management Corporation, a century-old organization, has various housing sites through Brooklyn and Queens and recently completed renovations at the Cross Bay Boulevard location, formerly the Fineson Center.

All resident applications have already been accepted, and the applying period is closed, said a Catholic Charities official.

The Fineson Center, constructed as a private hospital in the 1960s, closed in the summer of 2009 to begin the conversion into a senior housing facility.

Catholic Charities additionally provides accommodations for the developmentally disabled, mentally ill and the isolated, according to its website. The official said this Howard Beach spot has additional units designated for people with disabilities.

Mass confusion expected on Election Day

From DNA Info:

With redistricting after the 2010 census, concerns have risen across the city that new districts formed earlier this year would cause mass confusion on Election Day in November.

But P.S. 2 faces a somewhat different problem. After being used as a polling site for decades, the Board of Elections disqualified it earlier this year it because it doesn't comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards, local elected officials said. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the school is actually equipped with a wheelchair-accessible ramp, though it's located at a rear entrance to the school within a fence that is locked during off hours.

And now those who should benefit most from the school's ADA compliance will be the ones who are most inconvenienced, Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas said.

"It's inevitable that some people who traveled to P.S. 2 will not have the means to travel to P.S. 84," said the assemblywoman, whose district covers northwest Queens.

In a letter to the BOE signed by Simotas and State Sen. Jose Peralta, who represents Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst, the pols detailed problems they say now face their constituency.

Pols said that they have received numerous complaints about the move and have asked for additional personnel at P.S. 2 to redirect voters to the new location.

Taxi of Tomorrow may be illegal

From the NY Times:

The United States attorney’s office in Manhattan has opened an investigation into whether the lack of wheelchair-accessible taxicabs in New York City amounts to a violation of parts of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The investigation, revealed on Monday in letters mailed to city lawyers and owners of taxi medallions, could result in the federal government’s bringing a civil case against the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which regulates which vehicles can be used as taxicabs.

Taxicab owners are not required by the city to operate vehicles that are accessible to the disabled. The Nissan NV200, the minivan chosen by the city as its exclusive yellow cab for the next decade, will not provide access either.

Federal lawyers are conducting “a thorough evaluation” of whether this complies with the disabilities act, which prohibits local governments, or private groups that provide public transportation services, from discriminating against the disabled, according to the letter sent to medallion owners.

Firefighter caught lying

From the NY Post:

A "disabled" city firefighter is still battling blazes while he rakes in a taxpayer-funded pension.

Retired FDNY Lt. John Brown, who left the department after 9/11 with a tax-free $82,000 disability pension, has responded to hundreds of fires in his Long Island hometown since leaving the FDNY, The Post has learned.

Brown, 53, a 24-year veteran assigned to Ladder Co. 165 in St. Albans, Queens, was awarded a three-quarter disability pension in September 2002 after the FDNY determined he had developed reactive airway disease, an asthma-like condition, after toiling at Ground Zero.

Yet Brown has been found fit to serve as a New Hyde Park fire commissioner and firefighter, a Post probe found.

Brown joins other city firefighters revealed by The Post to be performing Herculean feats after retiring with three-quarter disability pensions -- including a former lieutenant who now competes in triathlons and long-distance runs and another ex-firefighter who takes part in martial-arts bouts.

Disabled aide sues Ferreras for back pay

From the Daily News:

An ex-aide to Queens Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras filed suit Monday, claiming he was denied pay and verbally abused because of his cerebral palsy.

Steven Castro, 24, says he worked for Ferreras for seven months, beginning in September 2009, but never saw a regular paycheck from his $14-an-hour full-time clerical job.

He also claims Ferreras and her deputy chief of staff, Yoselin Genao, taunted him and made him lug heavy boxes, even though his disability made that difficult.

"I'm angry," a teary eyed Castro told the Daily News. "I was treated unfairly. I think they were taking advantage. I wasn't treated like everybody else."

Court papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court against Ferreras, Genao and the City Council detail the insults that Castro said he had to endure while fighting for his salary.

"Genao frequently criticized [him] in front of co-workers and repeatedly snapped her fingers at him to move faster and sighed and sucked her teeth at him to express her dissatisfaction," papers said.

His lawyer, Linda Cronin, said, "It's despicable - when the City Council discriminates in this way against their own employees."

Ferreras' office did not respond to calls for comment.

Do we need cops who are less fat?

From AM-NY:

New York City police officers are not required to take physical fitness tests, raising concerns that many on the thin blue line aren’t in the “finest” shape to protect the public.

Observers said fit cops are less likely to fire their guns in a chase. Further, the lack of fitness standards may bloat pension and disability costs, some contend.

City firefighters must undergo almost yearly physical exams, as do police in several other departments nationwide. And many NYPD officers concede that fitness tests are necessary.

NYPD officials would not comment, but law enforcement experts said fiscal constraints, the logistics of testing a 35,000-strong force, and discrimination concerns deter mandatory testing. Other city officials and former cops defended the status quo.

Julissa Ferreras gypped disabled employee

From NY1:

A Maspeth man with cerebral palsy who has been working for City Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras since September claims he has not yet been paid and that his hours have been cut back so that he would not have health benefits.