Queens Community Board 10 (CB10) kicked off the new year with its first meeting on Thursday, Jan. 2, drawing notable attendees, including Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz and Council Member Joann Ariola.
CB10 represents the neighborhoods of Howard Beach, Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Tudor Village and Lindenwood.
During the meeting, Katz, who has served as Queens District Attorney for five years, shared recent crime and justice updates. She reported that Queens County saw approximately 60,000 arrests in 2024, up from 56,000 the previous year. Additionally, the county recorded around 40,000 arraignments annually.
Katz underscored her office’s dual commitment to enforcing the law and preventing crime, particularly among minors. She highlighted efforts to keep youth out of the criminal justice system while ensuring accountability for those processed through it.
“You can’t only prosecute your way out of crime. You have to worry about the junior high and high school kids and those gangs that would have these teenagers believe that gangs are their chosen family,” she said. “They’re not their chosen family, and they need people to talk about that.”
Katz said that to support vulnerable youngsters who could be potentially led astray, she has hired over 20 staff members to conduct outreach at community board meetings. She has also hired a youth counselor who travels to local schools to help keep kids out of the criminal justice system.
“He goes to the junior high schools, high schools, the basketball and soccer games during the summer. He comes out to the groups with me. He is there to talk to the kids after,” she said.
“The first time these teenagers see me, or any teenagers see me should not be when I am coming to get them. It should be when I am trying to keep them out of the criminal justice system, and you can do both,” Katz said.
Katz also touched on homeowner and property owner awareness of the ongoing squatter crisis in Queens. “I’m not talking about your kids that won’t leave. I’m not talking about your girlfriend or your boyfriend who won’t leave. I’m talking about someone that goes over the front doorstep illegally,” she said.
She urged community members to join the Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS), which will allow homeowners and property owners to receive notifications if a title search is conducted or a mortgage is taken out on their property. “In the meantime, look for things that don’t make sense. You get a cable bill, and it’s Spectrum, and you know you have Fios, you get a UPS delivery to your name, but it’s the wrong address, or to your address, but it’s a different name,” she said.
Katz added that to deter squatters, property owners should ensure their property looks lived in.
“Mow your lawn on a property that you are not in all the time. Make sure it looks like someone is around and living on it. It’s very important,” she said.
Katz also touched upon quality-of-life issues, including the removal of 1,000 unlicensed and uninsured scooters from the streets in collaboration with the NYPD. “I think it extremely important to do because if they hit you, they’re not insured, they’re not licensed, nobody tested them for their ability to drive,” Katz said.
Katz added that community members should be aware of phone call scams, which may include bad actors posing as elected officials or police officers asking for money. Additionally, there are phone scams that target grandparents to pay fraudulent bail for their grandchildren. “Don’t give anybody your money. You don’t know them. They are the other line of a phone; they’re a pop on your internet,” she said. “My point is don’t trust anyone who just calls you.”
Following Katz’s updates, Council Member Joann Ariola, who presides over District 32, gave community board members updates on quality-of-life issues affecting her district.
Ariola thanked the Department of Sanitation of New York (DSNY) and the 106th Precinct for working with her office to address the removal of graffiti and abandoned cars in her district.
Ariola added that she is fighting for more NYPD officers in the 106th Precinct. “We’ve seen serious diminishment of officers assigned to the 106th Precinct,” she said. “There was a new precinct that opened at the 116th, so even though we have a new class coming out, we will be fighting for more new recruits from that class to come to the 106th.”
Ariola also spoke about two bipartisan bills, Intro 103 and Intro 104, that were recently passed and are related to the Department of Transportation (DOT).
Intro 103 will mandate that the DOT notify the council office whenever they take away parking spots. “Whether it’s for rideshare, bike lanes, bike racks or anything like that, we will notify our community board, and we will all get the message out, and that’s very, very important,” she said.
Intro 104 allows the FDNY, elected officials and community boards to participate in the planning process for DOT’s decision to close streets. Ariola said that previously, in some Queens districts, closed streets would appear without prior notice, impeding firefighters from making left or right turns to get to a fire. “Or they would be on their way to a fire and find that it was a closed street that was now just a pedestrian street. And they would have to go from across the street, and the ladders were not long enough to reach over,” she said.
Ariola briefly touched on upcoming legislation. She has two pieces of bipartisan supported legislation that she said would put veterans first regarding housing preferences and vouchers.
She has also introduced legislation requiring legal cannabis dispensaries to open at 9:30 a.m. and close at 9:30 p.m.
Ariola also spoke briefly about the “800-pound gorilla in the room,” the recent passage of the City of Yes for Housing. Ariola was a vocal opponent of the City of Yes leading up to the city council vote. Although it has passed with significant modifications, she is interested in making further changes through legislation or litigation.
Ariola’s office is working with the NYPD and animal rescue groups to create stronger guidelines on rescuing animals from animal cruelty situations and reporting animal cruelty. This collaboration comes after Ariola’s district experienced a string of animal sacrifices found in Spring Creek Park in Howard Beach and the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Broad Channel.
