A smashed library screen at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn (Rhododendrites / CC BY-SA)
June 5, 2020 By Allie Griffin
Local lawmakers are warning the public about a possible ‘loot-out’ planned for Jackson Heights and surrounding neighborhoods today.
State Sen. Jessica Ramos, Assembly Member Catalina Cruz and Council Member Francisco Moya issued an emergency joint statement last night decrying a ‘loot-out’ planned for 5 p.m.
The loot-out is planned for East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Corona, in areas where the majority of stores are mom-and-pop shops owned by immigrants, the lawmakers said. They did not say exactly where the looting is planned.
Should the loot out take place, it would come at a time when many of the businesses have already been devastated by the coronavirus shutdown. The lawmakers said many of the local shop owners have also received no economic relief and a looting could be the final straw.
“Our community has been ravaged by COVID and the threat of further destruction is absolutely heartbreaking,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Sixty percent of our neighborhoods’ population are immigrants who drive our local economy and we cannot allow a lack of city resources or counterproductive protesters to take away their only means of survival,” Ramos, Cruz and Moya wrote.
They denounced acts of violence, looting and the destruction of private property.
Groups of looters have taken advantage of unrest in the city in the wake of protests against the police killing of George Floyd.
They have smashed in windows of storefronts along entire blocks and grabbed hand fulls of items from major chain stores in Manhattan’s shopping corridors — such as Macy’s iconic flagship store and a luxury Chanel store in Soho — as well as small businesses in the Bronx.
Earlier in the week, buzz about a loot-out planned at Queens Center Mall on Monday surfaced on social media.
However, no looting actually happened at the mall, according to Council Member Robert Holden, who spoke with the commanding officer of the 110th Precinct.
5 Comments
The lawmakers are warning us about looting? Clearly they have failed in the art of lawmaking. Criminals roam the streets free to rape, rob, murder, and loot with impunity. This is all due to their soft on crime, give the criminals a break policies. Vote these dregs out of office. They do not care about the communities they represent. They have enabled this. If you keep voting them in then you will continue to suffer.
I thought everybody is back to work, the stock market will hit ATH again, and the good times will roll on?? I think Americans are starting to realize that most things that politicians say and do are for show and they shed alligator tears to appease the protests while getting ready to bash your head in.
Even Colombia is starting to look good compared to USA. Maybe I will return after I have saved a little more money to by mi Apartmento y tiendita.
Creating more crime to demand less police is self-defeating. Looting galvanizes the folks who want more cops.
Does it matter if the neighborhood is full of immigrants or not? Looting is looting and should not be okay under any circumstances. Also it does more than the material harm in the grand scheme of things. All these politicians are trying to divide us.