This photo was snapped minutes before The Forum, and other members of the press, were escorted from the premises.
Forum Photo by Michael V. Cusenza
Hours after he was indicted for the second time since last May, City Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica) on Tuesday evening co-hosted with the South Ozone Park Civic Association West what was billed as a town hall meeting to continue to discuss the city’s plan to establish a facility for juvenile delinquents on a residential block in the neighborhood.
Concerned citizens and area residents were urged to report to St. Anthony of Padua Church basement on 130th Street at 7 p.m.
However, members of the press were precluded from covering the confab.
Writers representing three borough newspapers—including The Forum—were politely asked to leave the hall and subsequently escorted from the premises. Asked why the meeting was closed to the media, staff members from Wills’ office reasoned that sensitive legal strategies were to be discussed “exclusively” with “members of the local community who may serve as potential plaintiffs in a pending legal action.” Informed that this is not grounds for prior censorship, the representatives said that any published record of the meeting would essentially sabotage the efforts of the community to properly fight the city.
More than 100 concerned neighbors attended the meeting, and each was asked as they entered the hall to sign on to a petition demanding the relocation of the project. Among the options that were discussed with the consulting attorney was filing an injunction to halt construction at the site on 127th Street, with the possibility of later applying for a restraining order, or actually suing the city to prevent the plan from moving forward.
Tuesday’s gathering was the second on the subject in the past two weeks. At a previous forum at St. Anthony’s, angry residents blasted city Administration for Children’s Services representatives for failing to notify them earlier about the proposed facility.
The property has been leased by ACS to house 18 teenaged criminals that have qualified for the state “Close to Home” program, which is designed to keep youthful offenders out of prisons and near the communities in which they live.
By Michael V. Cusenza
