District 24

NEW YORK – Council Member Rory I. Lancman issued the following statement after the so-called “Glendale Middle Village Coalition” protested outside the Long Island synagogue of Michael Wilner, the synagogue’s president, who owns property in Glendale that the Coalition demands be developed into a school, according to the Queens Courier.

“Protesting outside a person’s synagogue on the Sabbath because they might not develop their private property the way you want is a grotesque act of antisemitism and fully deserves our unqualified condemnation. READ MORE

KEW GARDENS HILLS – Assembly Member Daniel Rosenthal, Council Member Rory Lancman, and the Lower East Side Ecology Center (LESEC) hosted an electronic waste recycling event at Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills earlier this week. Hundreds of Queens residents dropped off over 10,000 pounds of old electronics, including computers, televisions, printers, keyboards, and more, to be recycled.

The E-Waste Recycling event was organized in response to a 2015 New York State law, which prohibits electronic waste from being included with normal curbside collection. READ MORE

NEW YORK – The New York City Council today passed Council Member Lancman’s legislation, Intro. 944, to require the Department of Correction (DOC) to notify eligible incarcerated individuals and their legal representatives when such individuals are detained solely because of $1 bail, or a total bail amount lower than $10.

Lancman’s legislation mandates that DOC produce a list of incarcerated individuals who are held solely due to a bail amount lower than $10 once before noon and once after noon every day of the week. READ MORE

NEW YORK – Council Member Rory I. Lancman issued the following statement today to mark the two-year anniversary of the Spectrum Strike. IBEW Local 3, which represents 1,800 Spectrum workers and is headquartered in Council Member Lancman’s District, went on strike against Charter Communications on March 28, 2017 after the company refused to offer its workers a fair contract.

“I am proud to support IBEW Local 3 today and every day as they fight for their families and their livelihoods. READ MORE

NEW YORK – Council Member Rory I. Lancman, chair of the Committee on the Justice System and the author of legislation that made ‘revenge porn’ a crime in New York City, issued the following statement after the State Legislature today passed Assemblyman Ed Braunstein’s legislation to criminalize ‘revenge porn’ in New York State.

“I commend Senator Martinez, Assemblyman Braunstein, and the State Legislature for taking action today to make ‘revenge porn’ a crime in New York State and sending a strong message that this vile behavior will not be tolerated. READ MORE

NEW YORK – Council Member Rory I. Lancman, chair of the Committee on the Justice System, issued the following statement after Mayor de Blasio’s nine nominees for interim Civil Court judgeships were sworn in this morning. Following sustained advocacy from Council Member Lancman, nearly all of the interim Civil Court judicial vacancies are now filled.

“The appointment of nine interim Civil Court judges, almost all of whom will be assigned to Criminal Court, is great news for our justice system and ongoing efforts to reduce case backlog in our criminal justice system. READ MORE

NEW YORK – The New York City Council today unanimously passed Council Member Lancman’s legislation, Intro. 542, to require the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender Based Violence to provide individuals receiving services at Family Justice Centers (FJC) with service satisfaction surveys. The Committee on Women formally considered the legislation in October 2018, and approved it yesterday. READ MORE

NEW YORK – Council Member Rory I. Lancman, chair of the Committee on the Justice System, today introduced legislation, Intro. 1324, to establish a task force to develop strategies to prevent white supremacist violence. The task force is charged with studying white supremacist organizations and acts of violence encouraged by these organizations, and making recommendations to the Mayor and the City Council for improving safety procedures. READ MORE

NEW YORK – Council Member Rory I. Lancman, chair of the Committee on the Justice System, issued the following statement calling for an investigation into why the Police Department is declaring such a large percentage of rape cases in Queens as “unfounded.” The Appeal reported today about concerns that the Police Department is prematurely closing cases without a thorough investigation, while “research shows only 2 to 10 percent of reported rapes are actually false…27 percent of rapes reported in Queens were deemed unfounded in 2015.”

“It is alarming that the NYPD is declaring so many rape allegations in Queens as ‘unfounded,’ seemingly in many cases without doing a thorough investigation, at rates substantially higher than the rest of the City, and far beyond percentages reported across the country. READ MORE

NEW YORK – The New York City Council today passed Council Member Lancman’s legislation, Intro. 514, to require the Department of Correction (DOC) to inform every individual released from a city jail of their voting rights. The Committee on Criminal Justice approved the legislation yesterday.

The bill directs DOC to provide every person released from a city jail with written notice outlining the voting rights of formerly incarcerated individuals in New York State, and details on voter eligibility. READ MORE