Queens Bodega Owners Call On City For Action
BY LIZ GOFF

Owners of bodegas and other small shops throughout Queens are calling on Mayor Michael Bloomberg for help in curbing the spike of violence they have experienced over the past few months.

According to Jose Fernandez, president of the 7,000-member Bodega Association of New York, 17 Queens bodegas were robbed between March 17 and July 12 this year. Fernandez is calling on Bloomberg to provide more police protection for bodega owners.

The June 11 murder of Bolivar Cruz at his South Ozone Park bodega struck a chord with most New Yorkers when his killers shot Bolivar in the head, in front of two of his daughters.

Three masked men, two brandishing guns, walked into the Kennedy Mini Mart at 133-45 135th St. at about 9 p.m. on June 11, police said. Cruz walked into the bodega with a .380-caliber pistol at his side as two of the men held his daughters at gunpoint. One of the men spotted Cruz' weapon and blasted away, striking Cruz in the head and face.

With the Cruz murder as a catalyst, Queens Assemblymember Jose Peralta last month presented a $250,000 check to Fernandez to fund "Operation Safe Store", a state-funded program that provides surveillance cameras and direct 911 access to owners of small businesses. Bloomberg announced the pilot program in 2004 during a sudden spike in violent robberies in Queens bodegas. Under the program owners and employees of qualified small businesses are provided with a direct line to local precincts for use in emergency situations.

Fernandez strongly supports the program but questions why cameras were installed in only 10 bodegas under the 2004 program and why, to date, cameras have been installed in only 33 of the city's 10,000 bodegas. Fernandez said he questions whether Bloomberg is taking the bodega crimes seriously. "If the mayor thinks solving these crimes is not a priority, he is very wrong," Fernandez said.

Storeowners in Peralta's Corona district were jarred by a recent announcement by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who said Queens neighborhoods could see a significant reduction in police presence due to cuts in the NYPDs highly successful "Operation Impact" program.

Operation Impact, established in 2003, is a citywide program that puts rookie cops on foot patrol in high-crime areas at night. The sight of cops walking a beat at night has turned the tide of crime in troubled neighborhoods, reducing robberies by 23 percent in the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst and by 11 percent in the 115th Precinct, which covers East Elmhurst, Corona and Jackson Heights, according to police.

Kelly said a decline in the number of rookie cops graduating from the Police Academy over the last year has resulted in fewer cops available for assignment to the Operation Impact program. Police officials expected 2,100 rookie cops to hit the streets this year, but only 700 cadets graduated from the academy- one-third fewer police on the street, police sources said.

As a result, commanders at police precincts with the Operation Impact program have been forced to reassign veteran cops to walk the streets at night. "A lot of these guys are not happy," sources said. "They've put in their time and paid their dues under the "CPOP" (Community Police On Patrol) program during the 1990s. "A lot of veteran cops want to do the right thing, but they're ready to retire and they don't want to be put in high risk situations at this point in their careers."

While law enforcement sources claim police officials plan to make cuts to Operation Impact later this summer, Kelly said he has not yet made a final decision on the fate of the program.

Small business owners in Queens who qualify under the "Safe Store" program are hoping to have surveillance cameras installed at their locations before the NYPD cuts back on the number of "Impact" cops patrolling local streets. But Fernandez said it could take the bodega association up to one year to complete camera installations. The process requires up to two months to determine which stores are most in need of the cameras and another three-to-nine-months for funding to wind its way through a maze of bureaucratic red tape, according to Fernandez.

Meanwhile, Fernandez and officials at the Bodega Association of New York are asking for an urgent meeting with Bloomberg and Kelly to discuss increased police protection for the storeowners. "We need help and we need it now."

Small businesses interested in applying for the Operation Safe Store program are urged to call Peralta's office at 718-458-5367 for information and applications.