Resorts World Casino New York Announces On-site Employment Center

On-site employment center complements existing local employment center partnerships to facilitate hiring of 1,150 permanent workers at new facility; 

Career opportunities regularly updated at www.rwnewyork.com

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Center will officially open on Monday, June 6

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Resorts World Casino New York will officially open an on-site employment center to help local residents apply for permanent positions at the new South Ozone Park facility, officials announced today standing alongside New York State Senator Joseph Addabbo, Assembly Member Vivian Cook, Assembly Member Michelle Titus, City Council Member Ruben Wills, Community Board 10 Chair Betty Braton and others.

“As promised, we are continuing to hire from the local community and this on-site jobs center will allow us to do just that,” said Michael Speller, President of Resorts World Casino New York. “The new jobs center will be critical in helping us identify the best local candidates so we can build a talented and robust Resorts World family based right here in Queens. We are very much looking forward to continuing to grow our permanent staff.”

The new on-site employment center is yet another resource for local Queens residents looking for opportunities at Resorts World Casino New York. Resorts World is already working with three local employment services centers to identify candidates for careers at the new facility:

· NYC Business Solutions – Queens Workforce 1 Career Center;

· Educational Opportunity Center (EOC); and

· Council for Airport Opportunity (CAO).

More information on permanent positions and future recruiting events at Resorts World Casino New York is available at www.rwnewyork.com.

“Having an on-site employment center is not only a great way for local residents to learn about careers here at Resorts World, but also a great way for us to interact with the individuals who will be operating this facility once it opens,” said Kevin Bogle, Vice President of Human Resources at Resorts World Casino New York. “The purpose of this employment center- along with the support from the three employment services centers that we have already been working with for months – is to help us hire talented individuals from within the local community, so we have a facility here in Queens that is run by Queens residents themselves.”

The new on-site employment center will officially open on Monday, June 6^th and will be open weekdays from 9:30 AM to 1:00 PM. Applicants can visit the employment center to learn more about career opportunities at Resorts World Casino New York and submit applications for open positions.

At the end of last month, Resorts World Casino New York officially launched the hiring process for permanent positions at the facility, announcing that candidates from the local community will be hired first. This announcement marked the first phase of staffing Resorts World in such fields as entertainment, hospitality, security and food services.

Resorts World also recently announced that in an effort to enhance the overall experience at the new facility, the company will hire a staff of 1,150 permanent workers; a near-50% increase from original estimates. The bulk of the additional 350 employees will work in the facility’s food and beverage, customer service and security departments.

By creating an expansive outreach network that fosters community participation, Resorts World Casino New York has developed a strategic approach toward recruiting the most talented workforce in Queens and entire New York City metropolitan area. In partnering with community-based organizations, placing advertisements in local publications and hosting on-site job fairs, Resorts World Casino New York will continue to build a dynamic workforce ready to meet the needs of its customers and the community.

Resorts World New York Groundbreaking Ceremony at Aqueduct Racetrack - October 28th, 2010 Slideshow

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Names Circulate For Race To Fill Tom White’s Council Seat by Chris Bragg - City Hall News

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The funeral is not until Thursday, but the jockeying was well underway by the weekend.

Until Tom White is buried, at least, the potential candidates for his Council seat covering southeast Queens seat are reluctant to go on the record about their ambitions. But though they will not speak publicly, the consensus on who is on the list of potential candidates has already begun to take shape, as has the consensus that Assembly Member Vivian Cook—who is herself suffering from health problems that kept her out of Albany and had some questioning her own plans for a re-election run—will play the kingmaker in the non-partisan special election set for Nov. 2, the day of the general election.

Of the dozen names floating around, the most serious possible contenders are seen as Martha Taylor Butler, the chief of staff for Assembly Member Michelle Titus, and Anthony Andrews, the director of student activities at York College, who came in just behind Allan Jennings in the 2001 race for the seat. Andrews was extremely close with White, and is also close with Cook.

Reached by phone, Andrews declined to comment on his plans out of respect for White.

“I’ve certainly been involved in the community in the past, and certainly would like to be in the future, but for now it’s too soon to discuss anything like that,” Andrews said.

Butler did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Ruben Wills, the former chief of staff for State Sen. Shirley Huntley, who ran for the Council last year—and reportedly threw a punch during a dispute at the Board of Elections last year with Allan Jennings, who was trying to reclaim the seat he lost to White in 2005—is also seen as a potentially strong candidate.

Others who may run include Jennings, who was censured for sexually harassing staffers while on the Council, and Albert Baldeo, a perennial candidate who ran for the seat in 2005 and is now running for district leader with the county party’s backing.

Jennings and Baldeo also declined to comment out of respect for White. Wills did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Others being talked about as potential candidates include Taj Ramjkumar, a local district leader and professor at Borough of Manhattan Community College; political consultant Patrick Jenkins (though his candidacy appears less likely after his appointment Monday as deputy director of Andrew Cuomo’s campaign for governor); Elizabeth Goldsmith, the president and founder of Mothers Against Guns; and Charles Bilal, an imam at the Masjib Al Hamdul Lillah mosque in Jamaica.

One potential wildcard: if State Senate candidate Lynn Nunes loses the Sept. 14 primary against Huntley, he would technically have enough time to switch gears and mount a campaign for the Council seat. Nunes came within four votes of beating White last year, and his name recognition has only increased since then in a Senate campaign in which he has already raised more that $175,000.

Reached by phone, Nunes declined comment.

Were Huntley to lose the primary, she could also end up in the Council race.

Cook, president of the Queens County Democratic Committee, is a key powerbroker in the area who helped put Senate President Malcolm Smith, Rep. Greg Meeks, Titus and others into office.

But Cook has been sidelined with an unspecified illness and has not attended an Assembly session since Mar. 23, according to Assembly records. Still, she is running for re-election and controls some 40 percent of the district leader votes in the Council district.

The Queens Democratic Party’s decision will likely be a bellwether of whether Cook still holds the same sway over local politics as she did before her health began to decline.

Though the election is non-partisan and candidates will be able to win matching funds, the county party’s endorsement will still be a major boon, given the condensed time frame to petition onto the ballot and to fundraise.

Update 12:20 p.m.
A reader wrote in to point out that the deadline to apply for Campaign Finance Board matching funds is Tuesday, Sept. 7. That makes it unlikely that either Nunes or Huntley would be able to join the program in the case of a possible Council race, since applying for matching funds in advance of their Sept. 14 State Senate primary would be very politically difficult.

MTA Urged to Reconsider Shift in Q10 Bus Line by Howard Koplowitz > YourNabe.com

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Nathan Gray of the city Department of Transportation presents two plans that would add parking spaces to 156th Avenue in Howard Beach. Photo by Howard Koplowitz

Community Board 10 told MTA Bus to think more about its plan to reroute a portion of the Q10 bus line from 131st Street to 130th Street after 130th Street homeowners said they opposed the proposal at the board’s meeting last week.

Robert Lei, deputy director of service design and operations planning for MTA Bus, said 131st Street is a narrow street that makes it difficult for two buses to pass each other in opposite directions and that the road is out of the way for the Q10 route, which goes from Kew Gardens to John F. Kennedy International Airport using Lefferts Boulevard.

The Q10 has the highest ridership of the 80 bus routes operated by MTA Bus, Lei said.

“We think [130th Street] is the better street for the bus to run on,” he said, noting that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would save money from the change because the buses could run 1 1/2 minutes faster.

He said 130th Street would avoid extra turns for the bus and bus drivers would have improved visibility because the street is wider than 131st Street. Of the 1,260 Q10 riders who use the bus stops on 131st Street, Lei said 8 percent will have a shorter walk to proposed bus stops on 130th Street, 44 percent will have the same walking distance and 47 percent will have a longer walk to the stop.

Lei said MTA Bus hopes to implement the plan in late June.

Martha Taylor-Butler, an aide to state Assemblywoman Michele Titus (D-Far Rockaway), said she initially thought the MTA’s plan was a good idea, but said she changed her mind after realizing it would be difficult for Q10 riders to transfer to the Q9 at Rockaway Boulevard and 131st Street.

Bianca Peebles, a 130th Street resident, disputed Lei’s claims that the road was wider than 131st Street, arguing there are three schools on the street, which leads to double- and triple-parked cars when the schools open and close for the day.

“You need to go out there at 3 p.m. when school is coming out,” Peebles told Lei. “I think it’s not a good idea.”

CB 10 approved a motion for MTA Bus to reconsider the plan and urged the agency to talk to more 130th Street residents about how they feel about the proposal.

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The board also approved a plan that would add more parking spaces to a Howard Beach street.

Nathan Gray of the city Department of Transportation said the agency’s Highway Design Unit drew up two plans for 156th Avenue between 77th and 78th streets that would allow for parking on both sides of the road.

The first proposal would put a concrete median in the middle of 156th Avenue with painted stop bars at 78th Street and 156th Avenue and Amber Street and 156th Avenue. The plan provides for 14 parking spaces — eight on the north side of the street and six on the south side.

The second proposal was the same as the first except there would be seven tree pits along the concrete median, Gray said.

“This is a good alternative to provide parking” on the street while also controlling speeding, which had been a concern for the DOT, Gray said.

Four homeowners who attended CB 10’s meeting said they were in favor of the second proposal.

The board approved the second plan in a voice vote.

Gray said the plan would be sent to the citywide concrete unit for installation, which could take between eight and 12 months.

State Legislators Convene Emergency Citywide Summit in Response to Recent Shootings : NewsLI.com

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State and local elected legislators today joined law enforcement officials and community leaders for an emergency meeting in Harlem to discuss strategies to “stop the violence” following a rash of neighborhood shooting incidents across the city that left several dead and many wounded.

During the past three months there have been several dozen shootings taking the lives of several teenagers and left many wounded. The meeting was called after the random shootings in Harlem, the Rockaways, Jackson Heights, Prospect Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant.

State Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm A. Smith (D-St. Albans) said that the Summit was especially necessary because “we are losing a battle much greater than any one official.”

“We as public officials, clergy, and community leaders must take a more aggressive approach to coming up with solutions to stop the growing gun violence on our city streets,” said Senator Smith, one of the event’ organizers.

Law enforcement officials presented crime status reports on recent shooting incidents and steps being taken to stop the violence. Officials and community leaders exchanged ideas during the roundtable discussion and developed an immediate action plan.

Participants in today’s roundtable discussion announced the creation of ‘Operation SNUG’, the word ‘guns’ spelled backwards.

This initiative will consist of:

S treet intervention and stopping the violence

• violence interrupters
• support for police and law enforcement

N ational state local funding support

• funding for all alternatives
• legislation that can help implement solutions

U se of celebrities and centers

• public relations and materials
• existing community centers, new bunkers and community offices

G angs, guns, gainful employment

• real-world gang awareness and prevention initiatives
• connections to employment and economic alternatives

There will be four meetings held to follow up on the initiative’s progress, one for each point.

Governor David Paterson said, “Gun violence is one of the most serious issues facing our city and state. Innocent lives - too often children - are ended because of trivial disputes and carelessness. I applaud Senator Smith for bringing together some of the leaders in the fight to get gun off the streets and out of the hands of criminals.”

Meeting organizers included Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm A. Smith; State Senators Bill Perkins(D-Harlem), John Sabini (D-Jackson Heights), Eric Adams(D-Brooklyn), ranking member of the Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee; Assemblymen Keith Wright (D-Harlem) and Darryl Towns (D-Brooklyn), leader of the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus.

In Brooklyn, 44 shootings within the past three months occurred in the Brooklyn South division of the Police Department officials said, including at woman being shot in the hip. In that case, police arrested and charged an unidentified 32-year-old man.

“The recent escalation in the number of shooting incidents impels responsible legislators to promulgate an action plan to combat the scourge of gun violence,” said Senator Adams. “The voices of our constituents call for the prevention of such tragedies; in my own district there has been impassioned outcry from all ethnic and economic groups.”

While police have made some arrests, several murder suspects remain at-large because witnesses have refused to come forward.

Senator Adams said that it was “imperative” for elected and community leaders to collaborate on reaching solutions “to make our city a safer place.”

“The criminals who wound and murder our fellow citizens make a mockery of our outrage over the Sean Bell shooting and cripple our efforts to prevent a repetition of the terrible incident,” said Senator Adams, a retired New York City Police Officer. The bullet from an illegal weapon pierces not only the flesh of our loved ones, but the emotional body of our family as well. Even the substance of the larger community is wounded. We must protect our citizens from the disastrous effects of gun crimes.”

In Far Rockaway, one week after teenagers Brandon Bethea and Tyreece Johnson were fatally shot in two separate incidents, eight individuals were wounded during the Memorial Day holiday weekend in Harlem.

Senator Bill Perkins (D-Manhattan) said: This latest explosion of gun violence reminds us that we must be vigilant in getting guns off the street and out of the hands of the wrong people. We have to focus on finding, arresting, prosecuting and convicting those responsible for brining and distributing these guns in our communities. We have to cut off the supply. It is going to require all of us- growing problem. We need more police protection without harassment. We need more training, education, and employment opportunities. We have to provide parenting, social and anger management skills. Something we all can do is…-WHEN WE SEE A GUN, WE HAVE TO CALL 911. These are some of many measures that need to be taken if we are going to seriously put an end to gun violence.”

Charles Fisher, chairman of the Harlem-based Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council, Inc. said that his organization has partnered with corporations and media outlets “to implement initiatives to address the drugs, illegal guns, and growing gun violence that is plaguing our communities.”

“With the closing of youth centers, along with gas, food, unemployment, and foreclosures on the rise, it’s going to be tough on us all for a while, especially our youth and young adults,” Fisher said. “We have to let our youth know that we are serious to help stop the violence.”

The citywide Summit in Harlem follows a similar meeting at the Redfern Houses community center in Far Rockaway several weeks ago where Smith, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, Assemblywomen Michele Titus (D-Far Rockaway), Audrey Pheffer (D-Ozone/Rockaway Beach), City Councilman James Sanders (D-Far Rockaway), and community leaders met to construct a plan to stop violence in the area. The group’s action plan included securing public funds to put up video surveillance cameras, opening up the shuttered community center, and putting additional police manpower on the streets.

Also in attendance at today’s meeting were: Congressmen Charles Rangel (D-Manhattan) and Gregory W. Meeks (D-Jamaica/Far Rockaway); Assembly Member Herman D. Farrell, Jr (D-Manhattan); Council Members John Liu (D-Flushing), Inez Dickens (D-Manhattan); State Committee Member Theresa Freeman; New York Police Department Chief Raymond Diaz, Manhattan North and Chief Thomas Dale, Queens South; Marques Claxton, 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement; Anthony Miranda, National Latino Officers Association of America; Norman Siegel, Civil Rights Attorney; Charles Billops, Grand Council of Guardians; Jean Corbett Parker, Harlem Mothers SAVE; Dr. Candice Kane CeaseFire Chicago; among others.

Additional statements were issued:

“The rise is gun violence is devastating communities around our city,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. “With crime going down across the board citywide, it’s completely unacceptable that neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn and parts of Harlem are being left behind. It’s time for officials at every level of government to come together and figure out how to make these tragic incidents as rare as possible.”

Photo: State Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm A. Smith