NEWS ADVISORY

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown will open a new safety route for children traveling to and from JHS 198 in Far Rockaway.

The opening ceremony will take place at 2:15 PM tomorrow, Thursday, September 17th in the auditorium of the school located at Beach 57th Street and Beach Channel Drive.

A walk will follow along the safety corridor with District Attorney Brown being joined by Captain Michael Morley of the 101st Precinct, Congressman Gregory Meeks, Senator Alton R. Waldon, Jr., Assemblywoman Pauline Rhodd Cummings, City Councilwoman Juanita E. Watkins and other public officials and community leaders. Parents, teachers, students and community members will also take part in the walk, accompanying the students on their way home from school.

The safety corridor will be patrolled, on a daily basis, by officers from the 101st Precinct in the morning and afternoon as the students walk to and from school. The officers will ride bicycles donated by Bell Atlantic. The corridor extends from Beach 57th Street and Beach Channel Drive to Beach 54th Street and from Beach 57th Street and Beach Channel Drive to Rockaway Freeway.

The safety route is one of seven in effect in Far Rockaway and is a joint initiative of the Queens District Attorney’s Far Rockaway Anti-Violence Program, opened under the Star Track Program, the New York City Police Department, the New York City Board of Education’s Division of Schools Safety, the Queens High Schools Superintendent’s Office and District 27, the United Federation of Teachers and the Office of the Corporation Counsel. The Program’s Interagency Council also includes community and legislative representatives and business leaders.