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Friday, August 24, 2018
Vol. 93, No. 34
BACK TO SCHOOL
LED LAWSUIT MOVES FORWARD
PENN REPORT SPARKS CHILD VICTIMS RALLY
PAGES 33-40
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Community center pitched for Great Neck United Mashadi Jewish Community introduces concept to village board BY JA N E LL E CL AUSEN The United Mashadi Jewish Community presented early concept plans for a community center for its roughly 7,000 members to the Great Neck Board of Trustees on Tuesday night. Allen Hakim, president of the United Mashadi Jewish Community, said the private building aims to strengthen the Village of Great Neck while offering more programs that would bring young people together in a healthy and safe environment. “It’s about our youth, it’s about our Great Neck future, and it’s to have our children and grandchildren to come back to our beautiful town,” Hakim said. According to the site plan, the United Mashadi Jewish Community wants to build a four-floor building at 189-195 Steamboat Road with nearly 70,000 square feet of usable space on three stories and a roof pa-
vilion, as well as a 24,450-squarefoot basement. Among its features would be a playground, senior lounge, auditorium for cultural programming, multiple gyms, fitness centers and a swimming pool. The building would take up 31.8 percent of the nearly two-acre lot, above the 20 percent maximum allowed by code. The building height is also above the 30-foot maximum allowed; it would measure 50 feet to the parapet and 58 feet to the pavilion roof. Mark Stumer, the principal of the architectural firm Mojo Stumer, described the proposed facility as a “fun building” usable for various activities while being “very respectful of the street.” Additionally, according to the plan, there would be 115 feet three inches of street frontage and a 115foot front yard, totaling about 230 feet of space between the building Continued on Page 19
VIDEO STILL FROM U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT
Two agents walk through a sea of seized counterfeit luxury goods connected to a nearly half a billion dollar scheme, which three people from Great Neck were allegedly involved in.
G.N. family named in half billion dollar scheme: ICE BY JA N E LL E CL AUSEN Dozens of people have been charged with aiding a scheme to illegally smuggle millions of dollars worth of counterfeit Chinese-manufactured goods, prosecutors an-
nounced on Thursday, including three people from Great Neck. According to prosecutors, the defendants operated as importers, distributors and shippers of items like fake Louis Vuitton and Tory Burch handbags, Michael Kors wallets,
Hermes belts and Chanel perfume with a value of around half a billion dollars. “Counterfeit goods manufactured and smuggled from China with a suggested value north of half a billion dollars were intended to make its way into U.S. markets and into Continued on Page 59
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