More than 60 of the hundreds of tenants displaced after a massive fire at a Jackson Heights apartment building in April are now suing the property’s owners and management, as well as city agencies.
They’re demanding that the building’s owners repair their homes so they may return — and let them back in soon to retrieve possessions from the still heavily damaged and inaccessible block-long complex.
The building remains surrounded by scaffolding and caution tape, with many windows boarded up. The eight-alarm blaze crumbled ceilings and destroyed interior walls, exposing wooden beams in their place.
Tenants allege that in the five months since the fire, Kedex Properties and city officials have provided little sense of when repairs will be completed, if any belongings can be salvaged and when residents might be able to return to their apartments.
Access to the building has been “unreasonable and severely limited,” according to the complaint filed Sept. 10 in Queens Housing Court targeting the owner, along with the city Department of Buildings and Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Several dozen tenants in one wing of the two-address, 133-unit building have been allowed scheduled visits to retrieve personal items. but former residents of more than 60 apartments in the other wing have not been granted that same privilege, said Andrew Sokolof-Diaz, the building’s tenant association president and a plaintiff in the suit.
Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens (CCBQ) brought joy to families across the boroughs this holiday season with its annual Santa’s Toy Shop distributions, held on Dec. 12 and Dec. 19.
Queens-based non-profit the Arts4All Foundation joined U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan to hold a “Peace For All Rally” at the US Capitol Wednesday, calling for an end to violence, atrocities and persecution of vulnerable, indigenous and minority populations in Bangladesh.
The New York City Council passed two transparency-focused bills during its Stated Meeting on Thursday, Dec. 19, aimed at improving communication around roadway closures and parking space suspensions.
QNS is looking back at our top stories throughout 2024 as we look forward to 2025. In terms of crime, the borough was shaken by several high-profile murders, police shootings and drug gang takedowns, many of which shocked the entire city. Here are some of the top 2024 crime stories in Queens.
New York City’s first murder in 2024 occurred on New Year’s Day when a Manhattan bouncer stabbed two men outside an Elmhurst karaoke bar near 76th Street and Roosevelt Ave. just before 4 a.m. Torrance Holmes, 35, of Hamilton Heights, was arrested by detectives days later at his home and transported back to Queens to face justice.