Slaughterhouse Shut Down Through Vallone’s Efforts
by linda j. wilson

Flanked by reporters and area residents, City Council Speaker Peter Vallone announced on Friday Aug. 25th that Astoria Live Poultry would be shut down permanently.

"Thanks to Queenie the cow, we no longer have a slaughterhouse across from a neighborhood of private homes and playgrounds," City Council Speaker Peter Vallone reported. Astoria Live Poultry at 31-37 20th Ave., from which a heifer since named Queenie escaped on Aug. 16th, was shut down last Friday, Aug.. 25th. "As we speak, the Buildings Department and the Health Department are serving Astoria Live Poultry a notice to vacate. They have until Monday to get all the animals out of there. We hope they'll all go to the Humane Society or similar animal sanctuaries," Vallone said.

Vallone hopes to bring about a change in the city Zoning Resolution which will prevent other such businesses from operating near residential neighborhoods. Slaughtering operations are permitted in manufacturing zones, and such zones often border or overlie residential districts. However, Vallone pointed out, though the Zoning Resolution might have allowed the operation of such a facility across a street from a residential area, Astoria Live Poultry was found to have no permits at all. "They had no permits to do what they were doing there," Vallone said.

That the slaughterhouse operated as long as it did was the result of overlapping jurisdiction of city, state and federal agencies, Vallone added. "This is what happens when you have several agencies involved," he said. "Everyone says 'it's not my responsibility' and the situation continues unchecked."

Although Astoria Live Poultry is now defunct, Vallone will continue to pursue other such animal slaughter operations throughout New York. "We're going to investigate these places across the city to be sure they're operating humanely. They have a right to exist, but not across from private homes. Queenie the cow brought this to my personal attention and I'm going to go ahead with it."

Photo Luis Rocha Astoria Live Poultry was located next to an athletic field used by the Federation of Italian-American Organizations of Queens. The slaughter operation's proximity to homes and playgrounds was the cause of much unhappiness on the part of its neighbors.

Queenie escaped execution at the Astoria Live Poultry slaughter facility Aug. 16th, when she strolled through nearby streets until pursuers startled her. She ran into a playground on Steinway Street between Ditmars Boulevard and 23rd Avenue, where police officers from the 114th Precinct and the Emergency Services Unit subdued her. She was tranquilized and taken to the animal port at John F. Kennedy International Airport and from there sent to a farm in upstate New York. Queenie will be able to live out her natural life running free in a pasture with a barn for shelter at night or in inclement weather.

Astoria Live Poultry had been the object of neighborhood protests long before Queenie's perambulations brought wider public attention. A group calling itself "the Concerned Community of Astoria" alleged in a letter to Vallone dated July 17th that "unbearable smells" emanated from the building, forcing nearby residents to keep their windows closed. Residents also claimed they were subjected to hearing animals screaming as they were being ritually slaughtered in accordance with the tenets of the Islamic religion, followers of which owned and operated the business. "The doors are kept open all day long, revealing to us the animals that are butchered and alive," the group's letter declared. "Although the garbage is picked up, they leave a trail of parts all over the floor, exposing us to skin and bones as well as blood. Markets such as this should not be located in residential areas, especially near a soccer field and baseball field where children come to play, let alone near homes." The slaughterhouse also gave rise to large numbers of rodents which also plagued neighbors of the operation, its neighbors claimed.

Vallone forwarded the letter to Robert Buckius of the state Department of Agriculture and Markets and Neal Cohen, M.D., city Department of Health commissioner, and called for moving the slaughterhouse and other similar operations to be moved away from residential areas on Aug. 15th, the day before Queenie brought the slaughterhouse to the public's attention with her stroll through the streets of Astoria. On Aug. 18th, he wrote Buckius again, expressing outrage "that nothing has been done to monitor and/or close this so-called 'poultry' operation which has been operating with such impunity for so many years. I expect you to use the full power of your offices to bring a complete halt to slaughtering of animals and to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods." A little over a week later Astoria Live Poultry was served with vacate orders.