SERVING JAMAICA QUEENS AND IT'S SURROUNDING NEIGHBORHOODS
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Delivery Workers Cheer Restroom Access and Tip Transparency Alongside AOC and Chuck Schumer
Gabriel Lopez, who has been making a living as a food delivery worker for over 18 months, braved the elements in Midtown, Jan. 21, 2022. Hiram Alejandro Durán/ THE CITY
Starting Sept. 24, New York City’s app-based food delivery workers are entitled to increased clarity on their daily earnings and tips, and the right to use most restaurant bathrooms, as new laws begin their rollout.
The Deliveristas celebrated the new protections Sunday afternoon with a rally in Times Square, flanked by allies including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-The Bronx/Queens) and Sen. Chuck Schumer, who has advocated for federal funds to create rest stops for the workers and other supports.
Also joining were city Comptroller Brad Lander and Councilmembers Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan) and Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn), among the lawmakers who introduced the Council bills.
The rally drew dozens of Deliveristas, many of whom hail from Indigenous communities from Mexico and Guatemala. Workers from Bangladesh and Mali also participated.
“We’re going to see big, big changes with these laws,” upper Manhattan delivery worker Manny Ramírez, 34, told THE CITY on Friday. “The discrepancy between what the client thinks we get paid and what the apps actually pay was immense — but now there is more awareness, and we felt like we’d won with that alone.”
“We feel like winners,” said Ernesta Galvez, 40, who works for the Relay app and is one of the few women among the Deliveristas. “It’s emotional to think about how far we’ve come.”
Ocasio-Cortez said in a phone interview on Sunday that the local gains for delivery workers send important signals nationally.
“What we’re seeing with the Deliveristas and the working class in New York, particularly tech workers, is such a strong counterpoint to what we’ve seen in California,” she said, noting that state’s ban on gig workers being recognized as full time employees.
Negotiations regarding the New York State budget have just concluded a few days ago and a budget has passed after more than two weeks of delays. But while Gov. Kathy Hochul has proclaimed this year’s ‘bold agenda’ aims to make New York ‘safer,’ there hasn’t been so much as a whisper about the safety issue New Yorkers actually care about – New York States’s dangerous bail reform laws and the State’s absence of a ‘dangerousness standard,’ which would allow judges to detain without bail those defendants that pose a present a clear and present danger to our communities. (The 49 other states and the federal government have a dangerousness standard. NY State is the only state that lacks this essential protection from the State’s most dangerous offenders.)
As New York City tries to provide more affordable housing to its residents, the real estate and management platform Outpost Club has been hard at work creating affordable housing dwellings.
Apr. 28 is nationally recognized as Pay it Forward Day, but one Salvation Army captain has lived by that motto since arriving in the U.S. in 2010. Salvation Army Captain Stanley Pierre-Louis has been dedicated to helping other people ever since his first encounter with the organization in 2012.
For Candacy Benjamin, the path to success has been paved with determination, challenges, and unwavering dedication. Originally hailing from Guyana, Benjamin’s journey as a hairstylist began with humble beginnings but has since blossomed into a thriving career in the bustling city of New York.
The Mary Louis Academy (TMLA), a famed Catholic all-girls preparatory high-school in Jamaica Estates, is set to let go of seven faculty members at the end of the school year. In response to an inquiry from QNS, TMLA’s inaugural president, Livia Angiolillo, responded via email.
There are more weight loss gimmicks than stars in the sky. I know because I have several friends that have struggled with their weight, some of them severely, for many years. They’ve had the most success when they’ve applied four basic principles:
As Pro-Palestinian encampments emerged at over a dozen college campuses across the country following in the footsteps of Columbia University, local elected officials pushed out statements in response.
A school crossing guard from Jamaica was criminally charged with attempted rape, attempted use of a child in a sexual performance and other sex-related crimes after he allegedly tried to lure an undercover NYPD officer he believed to be 14 years old to participate in a sex act.
Jared Jeridore, 24, of Sutphin Boulevard, was arraigned Wednesday in Queens Criminal Court on a seven-count criminal complaint that also included counts of attempted dissemination of indecent material to minors, attempted endangering the welfare of a child and official misconduct.