Photo Courtesy of Facebook

By Michael V. Cusenza

The City recorded its first homicide of the new year in Richmond Hill on Monday after a troubled husband stabbed his wife to death in their 103rd Avenue home and fled to nearby Forest Park where he hanged himself from a tree limb, according to police and published reports.

Investigators were called to the Woodhaven scene around 11:30 a.m. after a jogger discovered Vinny Loknath’s body in the massive borough green space near Park Lane South.

“He did it in a location where he wanted to be found,” a police source told The Forum. “It was visible.”

Cops found Loknath’s wife, Stacy Singh, 26, around 2 p.m. in their home lying face-down with a knife near her body. She had been stabbed in the back multiple times.

According to the New York Daily News, Loknath, 46, has a long history of domestic violence, and allegedly liked to drink and dabbled in cocaine.

“The cops are always there,” a neighbor said. “They were always having big fights. But she still came back to him.”

The couple had a young son and daughter.

This is the second consecutive year that the 106th Precinct has hosted NYC’s first murder. Last January, Ricky Kalisaran, 31, was shot and killed in South Richmond Hill during an attempted armed robbery that also left his younger brother with a pair of gunshot wounds.

Howard Beach resident Karina Vetrano was brutally murdered inside Spring Creek Park in August 2016.

By Michael V. Cusenza

The video recording of accused Karina Vetrano killer Chanel Lewis stoically recounting for detectives how he brutally murdered the beloved Howard Beach resident took center stage on Monday in a borough courtroom during a pre-trial evidentiary hearing.
According to the New York Post, Vetrano’s family endured the details of Karina’s final moments as Lewis delivered them to investigators inside the 107th Precinct stationhouse. Her parents and sister watched the footage of the February confession in horror on Monday.
Lewis, 21, told cops that he grabbed Vetrano, 30, as she jogged past him inside Spring Creek Park on Aug. 2, 2016. She fought for her life as Lewis tried his best to knock her out.
“She didn’t yell. She was finished,” Lewis said in the Post story. “I finished her off, I strangled her. She fell into the puddle and drowned.”
Though Vetrano had been sexually assaulted, Lewis insists on the tape he had nothing to do with that element of the attack.
“I didn’t do any of the stuff they said, sexual assault and stuff like that,” he said.
When asked for a motive, Lewis answered, “Because a guy moved into my house and the neighborhood.”
Lewis’ family apparently could not bear to sit through the entire footage.
“His family left the room,” Karina’s dad, Phil Vetrano, told the Post. “They couldn’t listen to his confession. We know where the coward got his cowardliness from. The truth hurts. It’s pathetic.”
Phil Vetrano and NYPD investigators discovered his daughter’s body that summer night lying in a marshy area, approximately fifteen feet from a trail near 161st Avenue and 78th Street in the park.
Lewis, an East New York resident, was arrested in February, six months after the murder. He was arraigned in April on a 13-count indictment charging him with murder and sexual abuse in the strangulation death of Vetrano: four counts of first-degree murder; five counts of second-degree murder; two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual abuse; and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse.
According to court records, Lewis’ trial date is scheduled for Jan. 9, 2018. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

By Michael V. Cusenza

The summer crime story of the 106th Precinct was a relatively blissfully quiet tale, according to command brass who on Tuesday delivered statistics to area residents at the Howard Beach-Lindenwood Civic meeting at St. Helen Catholic Academy.

“The summer was pretty slow,” said Capt. Michael Edmonds, executive officer of the precinct.

Overall, complaints for major index crimes – murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny, and grand larceny auto – are down by more than 100, year to date, compared to the same period in 2016.

“That’s pretty much because of the eyes and ears of my cops,” Edmonds added.

The XO later extolled the benefits of Neighborhood-Based Policing, which was instituted in the 106 in July.

“It’s definitely been working out,” he said.

Captain Edmonds also noted that thanks in large part to the new Neighborhood-Based Policing approach, response times in the south Queens command has plummeted to approximately five minutes from nine minutes just a year ago. This statistic elicited loud cheers from all inside St. Helen’s cafeteria.

In other civic meeting developments, Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Howard Beach) noted that she’s gearing up for an upcoming special conference in Albany to discuss the funding of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Pheffer Amato pledged to raise the subject of reactivating the long-defunct 3.5 mile Rockaway Beach Rail Line, which, before it was shuttered in 1962, connected Rockaway and southern Queens with Rego Park, provided area residents with expedient access to other parts of the city, and 40-minute commutes to Midtown Manhattan from the Rockaway Peninsula.

The transformed track would be known as QueensRail.

“If it ever has the chance to get on the books, it’s kind of right now,” the assemblywoman said on Tuesday evening. “We can’t keep investing in the same system; we have to have an alternative.”

Pheffer Amato also mentioned that groups supporting the concept of the QueensWay project – converting the abandoned RBRL into a $120 million public park, similar to the Highline in Chelsea, boasting trails and amenities – have not been amenable to compromise.

“We met with them, and they really weren’t budging,” she said.

Still, the assemblywoman indicated that she has faith that the underfunded underdogs will emerge victorious.

“I’m not concerned with their fancy brochures and buttons – we are the voice of the people,” Pheffer Amato added. “I do believe in [the QueensRail]. I do believe transportation will prevail.”

 The Vetrano family this week announced that they are getting a team together to participate in the 2016 Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk in honor of murder victim Karina Vetrano.

By Michael V. Cusenza

 After a somewhat scattered end of August, the Karina Vetrano murder investigation seemed to slow down this week as it embarked on its second month.

The excitement ignited by the Aug. 31 release of a composite sketch of an individual whom investigators have characterized as a witness to the brutal crime has been blunted over the past seven days by a dearth of solid leads.

Still, Karina’s family remains convinced that the break that everyone is clamoring for is right around the corner.

“Keep those $11 [donations] coming,” Karina’s dad, Phil, wrote on Sunday on the GoFundMe page of the Karina Vetrano Memorial Reward Fund, which has raised more than $270,000. “We are getting close in the investigation.”

Vetrano, 30, was beaten, strangled, and sexually assaulted in the evening hours of Aug. 2 on her daily run inside Spring Creek Park.

Additionally this week, Phil Vetrano, a retired FDNY firefighter, announced that family and friends are organizing a team to participate in this year’s Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk on Sept. 25 in honor of Karina.

Proceeds from the annual event are used by the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation to support programs which honor first responders and military personnel who make extraordinary sacrifices in the line of duty.

“As we near the 15th anniversary of 9/11,” foundation leaders wrote in a message posted on its website, “we continue to urge Americans to honor our first responders, all who lost their lives on that fateful day, and those who have been catastrophically injured while fighting for the country. It’s imperative that we celebrate these heroes and honor their legacy forever.”

By Michael V. Cusenza

The fifth week of the investigation into the rape and murder of beloved Howard Beach jogger Karina Vetrano has proven to be, at once, the case’s most bizarre, frustrating, and exhilarating seven days since Karina’s dad, Phil, discovered her battered body inside Spring Creek Park on Aug. 2.

City detectives on Wednesday released a sketch of a man they believe to be a witness to the murder who was last seen exiting the north end of the federal park, near the Belt Parkway.

“We want to speak to this person,” said NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce, “because we feel that he was there.”

Details for the composite were provided by a utility worker who saw the man leave the park around the time of Karina’s murder. He has been described as a black man, 35-45 years old, 5-foot-10 with a medium build; he was last seen wearing dark pants with a red T-shirt, and a dark wool hat, Boyce said.

Police reiterated that the man depicted in the sketch is not considered a suspect or person of interest.

“He was seen in the area,” Boyce said. “This is someone we believe that could provide us additional leads.”

Also this week, Phil and Cathie Vetrano appeared separately on the afternoon-drive radio program of media personality and leader of the Guardian Angels, Curtis Sliwa. On Monday, Phil focused on an unidentified male jogger that he and Karina would see “four or five days a week” for the past three years.

Last weekend, Curtis Sliwa, media personality and leader of the Guardian Angels, visited Spring Creek Park and the area where Karina Vetrano was brutally murdered on Aug. 2. Karina’s dad, Phil Vetrano, appeared on Sliwa’s radio show on Monday afternoon.

“Now he just dropped off the face of the earth,” Phil told Sliwa and his WABC 770-AM listeners. “We know he’s from the neighborhood. It’s very important that we speak to him.”

This, however, turned into another dead-end. The 48-year-old went to the 106^th Precinct on Monday night to set the record straight and inform investigators that he hasn’t been in the area of Spring Creek since the murder because he suffered a major knee injury.

And on Tuesday, the NYPD said it has fully developed a DNA profile of the person who killed Karina, but after several attempts with several databases, the profile has yet to yield a match.

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

By Michael V. Cusenza

The National Park Service on Wednesday indicated that it is considering organizing a full security evaluation of Spring Creek Park in Howard Beach, according to an agency spokeswoman.

A week after eight security cameras were installed by the City Police Department along sections of the park’s perimeter, NPS Public Affairs Specialist Daphne Yun told The Forum that the Service was “exploring many short-term investments, including bringing in regional support to do a physical security assessment.”

The safety and security of Spring Creek patrons and the green space’s Howard Beach neighbors have come roaring back to the fore over the past four weeks. On Aug. 2, Karina Vetrano, 30, was beaten, strangled, and sexually assaulted while on her daily run inside Spring Creek. The case remains open and unsolved.

The park’s eight new surveillance measures were purchased with funds allocated by Queens Borough President Melinda Katz. Earlier this year, Katz secured $1.2 million for 34 cameras to be installed around the county.

Roughly 24 hours after Vetrano’s body was discovered in the Spring Creek marshes, Katz called the NYPD to request that at least some of the cameras be designated for the park. That Friday, Aug. 5 – just two days after the Katz phone call – the department contacted the BP to inform her that eight cameras were feasible for areas around the federal land.

“Borough President Katz was pleased to provide the funds, and is grateful to the NYPD for being responsive and considering our request,” said Katz spokeswoman Sharon Lee.

On Monday, Aug. 8, during a Town Hall meeting to discuss the Vetrano case and efforts to ensure the safety and security of residents, Katz told an anxious community that the cameras were on their way.

“It’s important for folks to know: You enter there, you exit there, you’re going to be filmed,” Katz said of Spring Creek.

According to the NYPD, the department began using advanced video analytic software in select camera feeds about six years ago. When fully configured, the analytics can alert police in real-time to a variety of potentially suspicious objects or activities, including unattended parcels, movement in restricted areas, and unusual loitering, and enables investigators to search multiple cameras simultaneously to retrieve incidents of concern. As per the NYPD’s privacy policy, footage is discarded after 30 days unless in the event of an investigation.

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

By Michael V. Cusenza

As the Vetrano family this week raised the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect who brutally murdered daughter Karina in Spring Creek Park earlier this month, investigators expanded their search into Brooklyn and indicated that the case may not reach a conclusion any time soon.

“It’s a tough one,” a law enforcement official familiar with the case told Newsday. “It isn’t going to be a question of good detective work, it is going to be a question of luck.”

Karina Vetrano, 30, was beaten, strangled, and sexually assaulted in the evening hours of Aug. 2 on her daily run inside Spring Creek Park.

On Tuesday, Karina’s father, Phil, bumped up the reward to $200,000.

“Please share and spread the word,” he wrote on the reward’s GoFundMe page. “And please keep the donations coming.”

As of Wednesday evening, the Karina Vetrano Memorial Reward Fund had raised more than $265,000 in two weeks. The NYPD’s reward also increased in recent days to $35,000.

Additionally, St. John’s University, Karina’s alma mater, announced on Monday that a memorial Mass for the Howard Beach native has been scheduled for next month.

“The St. John’s University community is deeply saddened by the recent deaths of alumna Karina Vetrano and current student Arshell Dennis III, who lost their lives due to senseless acts of violence in New York City and Chicago this summer,” the school posted to its Facebook page.

“We mourn the passing of Karina and Arshell and send our heartfelt condolences to their families, keeping them in our thoughts and prayers.

“Join us for the Memorial Masses at St. Thomas More Church in their honor. The Mass for Karina Vetrano is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. on Friday, September 2, 2016. The Mass for Arshell Dennis III will take place at 12:15 p.m. on Friday, September 9, 2016.”

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

By Michael V. Cusenza

Eight security cameras purchased with funds allocated by Queens Borough President Melinda Katz were installed by the City Police Department on Wednesday afternoon around Spring Creek Park in Howard Beach.

The new surveillance measures arrived three weeks after Karina Vetrano, 30, was beaten, strangled, and sexually assaulted while on her daily run inside the federal green space. The case remains open and unsolved.

“Borough President Katz was pleased to provide the funds, and is grateful to the NYPD for being responsive and considering our request,” said Katz spokeswoman Sharon Lee.

Earlier this year, the borough president secured $1.2 million for 34 cameras to be installed around the county. Roughly 24 hours after Vetrano’s body was discovered in the Spring Creek marshes, Katz called the NYPD to request that at least some of the cameras be designated for the park. That Friday, Aug. 5 – just two days after the Katz phone call – the department contacted the BP to inform her that eight cameras were feasible for areas around the federal land.

On Monday, Aug. 8, during a Town Hall meeting to discuss the Vetrano case and efforts to ensure the safety and security of residents, Katz told an anxious community that the cameras were on their way.

“It’s important for folks to know: You enter there, you exit there, you’re going to be filmed,” Katz said of Spring Creek.

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

By Michael V. Cusenza

Finally.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last Friday released the highly anticipated Draft Integrated Hurricane Sandy General Reevaluation Report and Environmental Impact Statement, or Rockaway/Jamaica Bay Reformulation Report, which examines coastal storm risk management problems and opportunities for the East Rockaway Inlet to Rockaway Inlet and Jamaica Bay project area that was devastated by the impacts of Superstorm Sandy in October 2012.

The long-stalled analysis will ultimately determine the best possible coastline defense to protect the whole Rockaway peninsula and communities surrounding Jamaica Bay from storms and floods in a way that is sustainable over the long-term, both for the natural coastal ecosystem and for nearby neighborhoods.

The Tentatively Selected Plan, with a price tag of several billion dollars, extends along approximately 152,000 linear feet of project area from the eastern end of the Rockaway Peninsula at Inwood, Nassau County, to the western end of the peninsula, at Breezy Point, where the plan wraps around the existing shoreline past the Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge. Near Jacob Riis Park a storm surge barrier crosses Rockaway Inlet landing at Floyd Bennet Field, Brooklyn. The plan continues up Flatbush Avenue before turning west along the existing shoreline and continuing west until Norton Point.  From Norton Point, the line of protection continues on the north side of Coney Island, crossing Coney Island Creek.  From Coney Island Creek it continues north along the shoreline to high ground.

The plan along the Atlantic Ocean Shorefront consists of:

• A reinforced dune (composite seawall) with a structure crest elevation of +17 feet (NAVD88) and dune elevation of +18 feet (NAVD88), and a design berm width of 60 feet extending approximately 35,000 LF from Beach 9th to Beach 149th. The bottom of dune reinforcement extends up to 15 feet below the dune crest.
• A beach berm elevation of +8 ft. NAVD and a depth of closure of -25 ft. NAVD;
• A total beach fill quantity of approximately 804,000 cy for the initial placement, including tolerance, overfill and advanced nourishment with a 4-year renourishment cycle of approximately 1,021,000 cy, resulting in an advance berm width of 60 feet;
• Obtaining sand from borrow area located approximately 2 miles south of the Rockaway Peninsula and about 6 miles east of the Rockaway Inlet. It’s about 2.6 miles long, and 1.1 miles wide, with depths of 36 to 58 feet and contains approximately 17 million cy of suitable beach fill material, which exceeds the required initial fill and all periodic renourishment fill operations.
• Extension of five existing groins; and construction of 13 new groins.

The alignment along Jamaica Bay and Rockaway Inlet (on the Queens side) consists of:

• Reinforced Dune along the shoreline in Reaches 1 and 2 of the Atlantic Coast Planning Reach, from Beach 149th Street to Breezy Point.
• Levee and from approximately B227th Street north overland across Breezy Point, thence eastward from B222nd Street to B201st Street. Approximately 450,000 cubic yards of sediment required for levee construction.
• Concrete floodwall south along B201st Street extending east along north side of Rockaway Boulevard to B184th Street, thence north to existing shoreline. Concrete floodwall continues east to storm surge barrier approximately 2,300 ft. east of the Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge/Marine Parkway Bridge.
• A 3,970-foot storm surge barrier across Rockaway Inlet from near Jacob Riis Park to Floyd Bennet Field.

The public comment period will open on Sept. 2 and end on Nov. 2, according to the USACE. For more information, visit nan.usace.army.mil.

By Michael V. Cusenza

Scientists and researchers have been reaching out to Jamaica Bay-area residents, urging them to complete an online survey that is part of a joint flood-protection project between Princeton University and the Science and Resilience Institute @ Jamaica Bay.

The study’s purpose, according to the SRI@JB, Its purpose is to better understand how residents are affected by flooding and how they value different flood protection options. Its goal is to also understand how public programs can best support the needs and values of the Jamaica Bay community.

​The survey takes about 10 to 15 minutes to complete, according to researchers. Responses are anonymous and confidential. For your participation, you will be entered into a raffle for a $500 Amazon gift card. Also, you may nominate a local organization to receive $1,000.

The survey can be found at https://princetonsurvey.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2uuPHmDLQ4oJKQd.

Flood protection took on a greater significance on Oct. 29, 2012. As the SRI@JB puts it, “for communities around Jamaica Bay, Superstorm Sandy’s landfall was a tragic reminder of how much damage a large-scale and rapidly moving disturbance can make. Lives were lost. Transportation, food, and energy were disrupted. Physical and natural infrastructure was destroyed. But successful stories of recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy were a more hopeful reminder of the many ways that people, plants, and animals can potentially re-group, recover, and sometimes thrive in the face of adversity. After Sandy, the human and natural worlds bounced back in various degrees, helped in part through coordinated and innovative efforts of community groups, local governments, the private sector, and state and federal agencies. But Sandy is just the latest catastrophic event in a coming century of unforeseen stresses and shocks. Resilience is about finding ways to recover more quickly and with less disruption not only from future coastal storms but also from other disturbances with intersecting and compounding effects, such as those related to urbanization and climate change.”

Putting resilience into practice

According to the institute, as a vision of the future, a more resilient Jamaica Bay would be able to withstand shocks and stresses to the social, physical, and ecological systems that support the well-being of living populations. To put resilience into practice and meet this vision we need to better understand how systems respond to disturbance but also make decisions about what constitutes well-being and what system interventions might get us there. This is not a straightforward effort. Resilience in practice is interpreted in various ways by different thinkers. Ecologists, for example, extend resiliency practice to the restoration of coastal wetland habitats that can help strengthen the capacity of the ecosystem to absorb stresses or shocks. Resilient local ecosystems can support well-being by protecting the biodiversity of a region and helping meet a range of human needs such as protecting environmental quality, reducing natural disaster risk, adapting to climate change, and enjoying recreation and natural amenities. Distinct from ecologists, engineers often emphasize a different aspect of resilience. They may envision resiliency practice as a structurally defensive notion—for example, building seawalls or abatements to defend against storm surge pushing into the bay. Furthering the complexity, communities of residents may have a still different concept of resiliency practice that focuses priority on strengthening the capacity of the human community to cope with stressors and shocks.

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

By Michael V. Cusenza

As the Karina Vetrano Memorial Reward Fund vaulted over the $250,000 mark, the dogged detectives working the brutal slay case have “pivoted” to the Brooklyn side of the federal green space in which the jogger’s body was found two weeks ago, according NYPD brass.

Karina Vetrano, 30, was beaten, strangled, and sexually assaulted in the evening hours of Aug. 2 on her daily run inside Spring Creek Park.

Though the number of tips that police have received has climbed to nearly 75 – 10 to 12 of which are still being vetted – investigators have not identified any suspects or persons of interest in the homicide that has left Howard Beach shaken.

On Wednesday, NYPD Chief of Detectives Bob Boyce indicated that since gumshoes had, for all intents and purposes, come up empty in the area near the marsh where Vetrano’s battered body was discovered, they have shifted their focus to the Brooklyn side of the border, to places like Erskine Street and spots around the Belt Parkway, a Newsday report noted.

“We have not found any video footage of this perpetrator entering [the park] or leaving, for that matter, on the Howard Beach side,” Boyce said in the story. “So we have done a pivot to the west to see exactly that area of Brooklyn.”

Also on Wednesday, Karina’s father, Philip, announced on the GoFundMe page that is hosting the reward fund that it has been officially renamed the Karina Vetrano Memorial Foundation with a not-for-profit designation.

“The reward is and always [will] be $100,000.00 plus 25 K offered by the Police,” Philip Vetrano wrote at gofundme.com/2javwd7g. “As I mentioned on the news, if YOU THE KILLER turns himself in, I guarantee you anyone you choose will get that money. Your mother, grandmother, sister, ANYONE YOU CHOOSE.”

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

By Michael V. Cusenza

Future members of the City’s Finest were on display on Monday in Brooklyn as 2,000 young New Yorkers graduated from the NYPD Youth Police Academy in a ceremony at Barclays Center.

The six-week Police Department initiative connects the city’s youngest residents with their officers during summer vacation and affords them the opportunity to get to know the cops in their communities, according to the NYPD.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton presided over the event.

“Take a look at the NYPD as a career because we want you, we want the young men and women of NYC,” he said to the graduates.

The summer program is free for city kids ages 10 to 16. Members of the NYPD Community Affairs Bureau run the academy, which includes five-day-a-week classes on anti-bullying, health awareness, gang resistance, and drug prevention in all five boroughs. Kids also participate in fitness activities, arts and crafts and field trips.

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

By Michael V. Cusenza and Patricia Adams

Howard Beach returned to St. Helen’s on Monday, two days after the tight-knit community rallied around the Vetrano family at the Rockwood Park church for Karina’s funeral, still searching for answers to questions that mount in the wake of such an unspeakable act.

Hundreds gathered to put rumors to rest, get the latest from elected and law-enforcement officials regarding the investigation into Karina’s brutal murder, and to learn about recent efforts to ensure the safety and security of residents.

“Tonight,” said Fr. Francis Colamaria, pastor of St. Helen’s, “I hope some light can be shed during this dark moment.”

The community has been wracked by palpable grief, anger, and anxiety since Vetrano, 30, was beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled while out on her daily run inside Spring Creek Park on Aug. 2.

“This is the very definition of ‘community’ – you have police officers, clergy, electeds, civic heads, business heads,” said NYPD Chief of Patrol Carlos Gomez as he addressed the sanctuary and hundreds more gathered outside the church. “Howard Beach is still one of the safest neighborhoods in the city.”

Assistant Chief Michael Kemper, commanding officer of the Queens South Detective Bureau, echoed Gomez’s sentiment, adding that “the cooperation between police and community here is the best I’ve ever seen in my 20-year career.”

Kemper also said on Monday at the Town Hall meeting that he would refrain from going “into specifics” on the case – evidence recovered, leads, etc. – because “the individual or individuals who did this horrendous act maybe watching me right now, and I’m not going to give them what I have.”

Asked if Vetrano’s slaying and that of city resident Vanessa Marcotte, who was killed on Sunday while jogging near her mother’s home in Princeton, Mass., are related, Kemper said that at the moment “we don’t believe” there is a connection.

“That said, we will continue to share notes and compare evidence as both cases progress,” he added.

Vetrano was murdered in an area of Spring Creek that is notorious for tall weeds and shady characters after hours. Many residents’ concerns centered on the federal green space.

“Those weeds are not a park,” declared Joe, a 25-year Howard Beach resident. “The petition we need to be signing is the one to close that park – lock it up, don’t let anyone in there whatsoever!”

Colamaria said he would have to humbly disagree with Joe.

“It is a park – a park that Karina loved,” Colamaria noted. “Her parents told me that. We just have to make it safe.”

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz said that she was able to secure funding for surveillance cameras to be installed around Spring Creek.

“It’s important for folks to know: You enter there, you exit there, you’re going to be filmed,” Katz said, eliciting a round of applause.

The meeting came a day after Philip and Cathy Vetrano addressed the press outside their home, blocks from where their daughter was killed.

“I’m here to remind you, in case you don’t already know, that now it’s the whole entire world against you,” said Cathy Vetrano as she tore off her sunglasses, glared into the camera lenses, addressing the assailant directly. “The whole entire world knows what a pathetic, puny, weak, piece of filth that you are. And soon, I know they’re all going to know your face as well. Soon we’re going to have a face to the d**kless piece of garbage that you are. And above and beyond all, you know that my daughter was a force to be reckoned with. I guarantee you, I guarantee you, you motherf***er that you will be reckoning with that force not only for the rest of your pathetic life, but for the rest of eternity as you f***ing burn in hell. I guarantee you that.”

On Monday, back at St. Helen’s, Colamaria reminded the enduring community of the two words that were taped to Karina’s bedroom mirror: self respect.

“I truly believe that this neighborhood of Howard Beach is a self-respectable place,” he said, “where family, friends, and faith are held in the highest regard.”

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

By Michael V. Cusenza

Days after the battered body of a beloved Howard Beach jogger was discovered in the marshes of Spring Creek Park, elected officials urged federal and state agencies to install enhanced security measures at the green space.

Karina Vetrano, 30, was beaten, strangled, and sexually assaulted in the evening hours of Aug. 2 on her daily run inside Spring Creek. As of Wednesday afternoon, the case remained unsolved.

For years, civic leaders have called attention to the dangers of the Gateway National Recreation Area park, including the thick, prodigious weeds that concealed the attack on Vetrano from the street.

Last Friday, State Sen. Joe Addabbo, Jr. (D-Howard Beach) called on the National Park Service and the State Department of Environmental Conservation to set up security measures near the park while carrying out an upcoming flood-mitigation project in the same area.

The DEC is still in the preliminary stages of a project, set to begin in 2017, to install an elevated berm at Spring Creek South that will help protect against flooding and other storm-related issues. Addabbo is urging the agency to consider amending their plans to allow for security measures to be added while the construction is taking place.

“The safety of individuals in and around Spring Creek Park has been an issue for years and a recent tragedy there has shed serious light on the need for major security additions at Spring Creek,” said Addabbo. “While I agree it is important that we cherish and preserve what little undeveloped park space we have here in Queens, it should not come at the cost of sacrificing a person’s safety. It is time that we protect those who frequent this area by providing proper security measures – whether that be cameras, lighting or other devices – that will not only deter criminals from committing heinous acts, but will also help law enforcement.”

On Monday, U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Queens and Brooklyn) penned a letter to U.S. Department of the Interior Sec. Sally Jewell, asking for enhanced security patrols and other preventive actions to protect residents who visit Spring Creek.

“The fact that this vibrant, bright young woman was brutally assaulted and killed in broad daylight at the largest urban National Park in the nation shocks the conscience,” Jeffries wrote. “Residents in Howard Beach and throughout New York City deserve a safe and secure recreational space. In this regard, there are several steps the National Park Service should take in order to enhance security and prevent a tragic incident like this from happening again.

“First, the Department of the Interior must provide the Gateway National Recreation Area with the resources needed to maintain the parkland in a manner that controls growth of the shrubbery and weeds, which is a potential shelter for criminal conduct. Second, the DOI should work closely with City, State and Federal law enforcement authorities in order to increase the security presence in the area – including significantly enhanced patrols by U.S. Park Police in the interior and on the perimeter of the park. Third, the park needs improved lighting and security cameras to monitor activity and serve as a deterrent. Lastly, the DOI should expedite execution of the $69 million ecological restoration project which will greatly improve the user-friendly nature of the park.”

A DOI spokeswoman told The Forum that the agency is in receipt of Jeffries’ missive, “recognizes [that] this is a difficult time for the family of Katrina Vetrano and we will respond to Rep. Jeffries directly.”

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

By Forum Staff

The Queens Library on Monday unveiled a plaque honoring a beloved member of the Forest Hills community and devoted patron of the North Forest Park branch.

Library President and CEO Dennis Walcott joined branch staff to pay tribute to Frank D. Esposito, who passed away in 2013, leaving a $50,000 bequest to the North Forest Park Library.

According to the Library, Esposito, who had lived in Forest Hills since 1969, served his country with distinction in Vietnam. When he returned from the war in 1971, he went to work for the City Board of Education as an electrician.

While he worked days, he went to the City College of New York at nights, and earned his college degree four years later. This enabled him to become a supervisor of mechanics, and at the end of his nearly 37-year career with the Board of Education, he was in charge of 300 people and served 1,100 schools all over the five boroughs.

“Mr. Esposito loved his library, and he loved the dedicated people at North Forest Park,” Walcott said. “This plaque represents the permanency of his engagement, and his contribution to the longevity of the library.”

“Frank really cared about people, more than himself,” said his wife, Lisa Wong-Esposito. “He felt like the staff at North Forest Park were part of his family, and he believed that education and knowledge are the greatest foundations in anyone’s life. What better place to give to than the library? I hope this gift encourages more people all over the city to give back to their local libraries.”

By Patricia Adams and Michael V. Cusenza

The distraught dad of a vibrant Howard Beach woman discovered her dead body late Tuesday night in Spring Creek Park, according to authorities and witnesses.

Philip Vetrano, who was already out with investigators frantically searching for Karina, 30, found her face-down in a marshland area within the vicinity of 161st Avenue and 78th Street; she had been strangled and showed signs that indicated that her assailant had also sexually assaulted her.

Karina Vetrano was initially reported missing around 7 p.m. She was last seen at approximately 5 p.m. by family leaving her residence at 165^th Avenue and 84^th Street to jog near Gateway National Recreation Area and had not returned, nor answered her phone.

Philip was helping cops scour familiar jogging paths that he and Karina used to frequent when the search party came upon her cell phone. Vetrano then bolted forward another 15 feet and discovered his daughter’s lifeless body.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said on Wednesday that crime scene investigators had “recovered a lot of forensic evidence.” But as of early Thursday morning, cops had not made any arrests in the case. According to the New York Daily News Daily News, a police source told the paper that the killer was possibly a transient rather than a neighborhood local.

Karina Vetrano, who earned a master’s degree last year at St. John’s University, worked at nearby Vetro Restaurant & Lounge. The catering hall closed its Rooftop club on Wednesday night in tribute to Karina. Downstairs on the sidewalk, hundreds of mourners gathered for a candlelight vigil for the girl who “was always there, so beautiful and so talented,” Jackie Hartstein told the Daily News as she described her friend.

Vetrano was a passionate writer. At karinavee.com – “a collection of conversations, contradictions, & poetic conflict” – the expressive scribe bared her soul, at times, in an online journal:

“I write to savor the moments that I’m terrified will get lost and forgotten somewhere in time if I don’t document them. I write with the deepest intention to create a connection to anyone who takes the time out to read what I have to say. I write with the hopes that I can be understood; that I won’t feel so lost inside my own head, and that you, too, might find that solace as well.

“Most of the time I am thinking of ways in how I can be better, do better, feel better – whatever “better” really is. I spend the majority of my life in deep thought about everything. I think about how we all know we’re going to die, and yet that doesn’t seem to matter to any of us right now. How stupid and immature we all act, every one of us, when we focus on bullshit, when we are mean, and harbor anger. When we hurt people just to bring them down, when we put on fronts and play games with people we care most about – how completely pointless all that is, when we have a limited time here.”

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

By Michael V. Cusenza

Crews last week installed long-delayed security cameras around Forest Park, three years after a prolific sexual predator – who remains at large – terrorized the borough green space.

Fourteen high-tech surveillance cameras owned and operated by the City Police Department were posted in several spots on the perimeter of the 544-acre park, including at the intersection of Forest Parkway and Park Lane South; the Carousel; and Woodhaven Boulevard and Park Lane South.

State Sen. Joe Addabbo, Jr. (D-Howard Beach) and Assemblyman Mike Miller (D-Woodhaven) secured $250,000 for the equipment in 2013. That same year, detectives released a sketch of the attacker, who they said has struck half a dozen times from March 2011 to August 2013 during daylight hours inside the expansive flagship green space. His last known assault occurred on Aug. 26, 2013, when he used a stun gun to subdue and rape a 69-year-old woman near Myrtle Avenue and Forest Park Road.

The painfully slow wheels of bureaucratic procedure over the past three years only served to heighten the anxiety of park patrons and area residents. Still, many members of the community last week were thrilled at the sight of the new security measures.

“It was terrific finally to see the cameras being installed after years of waiting,” said Alex Blenkinsopp, director of Communications for the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association. “I had to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating!

“Sometimes patience and persistence are rewarded,” he continued. “That was the case here, and now we’ll have a safer park. Thanks to Assemblyman Miller and Senator Addabbo for funding the cameras. And special thanks to Assemblyman Miller for staying on this for so long.”

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

By Michael V. Cusenza

The illegal harvesting of threatened or endangered species in Jamaica Bay has declined significantly in recent months, according to the National Park Service; and the agency cited the increased presence of U.S. Park Police and the task force that USPP has organized as the reasons for the success.

USPP credited patrolling and enforcing all Resource Management Violations that occur within Gateway National Recreation Area and the waters of Jamaica Bay with the positive results.

In June, according to the USPP, two arrests were made and seven notices were issued for various Resource Management Violations in the bay’s Wildlife Refuge.

On June 5, Juan Morales was arrested for allegedly harvesting horseshoe crabs from the west side of the Refuge.

On June 22, Mei Yu Weng was arrested for allegedly harvesting clams from the east side of the Refuge and for resisting arrest.

And on June 13, Chen Xing was issued a Code of Federal Regulations summons for harvesting a diamondback terrapin turtle from the east side of the Wildlife Refuge.

Other violators were summoned for dogs off leash in the piping plover nesting area, and for using unauthorized lights to observe wildlife in the waters off the Refuge.

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz (third from r.), City Parks Queens Borough Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski (fourth from r.) civic leaders and other guests helped break ground last week on $1.45 million in upgrades to the Joseph DeVoy Playground in Forest Park.

The upgrades are being fully funded by the Borough President’s Office and feature the addition of dynamic playground equipment, including steel drums, accessible swings and a new tire swing. The playground’s main entrance will also be regraded and the entrance gate will be replaced with one that allows for better access to the site. The upgrades are scheduled to be completed by next summer, Katz said.

Joining Katz and Lewandowski at the groundbreaking were (l. to r.) Michael Palermo, president of the Forest Park Trust; Doris DeVoy (widow of Joseph DeVoy, for whom the playground is named); Heather DeVoy (granddaughter of Joseph and Doris DeVoy); Bishop David Benke of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church; Community Board 9 Chairman Raj Rampershad; and Barbara Stuchinski, chair of the Parks Committee of Community Board 6 and co-president of the Forest Hills Community and Civic Association.

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz (back row, c.) helped mark National Caribbean-American Heritage Month by hosting a weekly costume design workshop in Borough Hall, where kids crafted their own costumes to wear during the Junior Carnival in September. The final session of the workshop, which was co-sponsored by the West Indian American Day Carnival Association, Inc., was held July 9.