HERO KIN AID
Push to pay housing costs for families of fallen
THE FAMILIES of slain cops, firefighters and medics would get up to $1,000 a month over 10 years for rent or mortgage payments, under a new bill proposed by a Queens senator.
State Sen. Jose Peralta said Wednesday he was inspired to propose the measure after the murder of NYPD Police Officer Miosotis Familia, 48, in the Bronx on July 5, and the funds raised for the families of Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, who were shot to death in 2014.
“There are some pretty good benefits for these families, but there is no mention of a rent or mortgages subsidy,” he said. “This fills in the gap of what’s missing in the package.”
The families of emergency responders slain in the line of duty would be eligible for the payments.
The bill would create a $10 million pool of money overseen by the state controller’s office from the state’s general fund.
The monthly payments cannot exceed the amount of the rent or the mortgage payment. People who are eligible would have to apply to the controller’s office.
Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, applauded the measure.
“This bill is a good first step towards repaying our sacred debt to the families of the fallen,” Lynch said in a statement.
Gerard Fitzgerald, head of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, and Robert Ungar, legislative counsel, echoed his views.
“This legislation would assist those families in need and provide a financial level of comfort,” Fitzgerald said.
The bill will be considered in the legislative session starting in January.
Peralta, who is naming the bill after Familia, represents Jackson Heights, Queens, and other parts of the borough. Familia was working an overnight shift in a mobile command vehicle in Fordham A CITY COP is going from NYPD blue to loads of green.
Lukasz Solis, 31, became the first lottery player to win a $3 million top prize on the $10 Wonka Golden Ticket.
Solis, who lives in Commack in Suffolk County, bought the winning ticket in the Sweet Tree food store in Far Rockaway.
Solis (photo) earned $118,259 last year as a police officer on patrol in Queens, according to SeeThroughNY, which lists city salaries.
He chose that ticket because “it was a new game” and he likes “to mix it up.”
But he waited until he got home to scratch it off; doing it private, he said, “helps me unwind.”
He figured out he had a winner, but thought it would be a small jackpot.
“You scratch a ticket with the hope of winning $50 or maybe winning your money back,” he said. “This has not really sunk in yet.”
Solis has opted to receive his $3 million prize in 20 annual payments of $150,000 ($99,270 after taxes). He plans to use the money to pay for his wife’s return to school and to cover some home improvements.
He was not the only city civil servant to win big.
Danny Vargas, a Department of Education staffer from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, also won a $3 million jackpot, lottery officials announced Wednesday. Heights when Alexander Bonds, a man with virulent anti-cop views, walked up and fatally shot her. He was killed by responding officers.
The Daily News raised $254,000 to help Familia’s three children.
A similar fund started by The News raised $120,000 for the family of FDNY EMT Yadira Arroyo, who was killed March 16 when a deranged career criminal hijacked her ambulance and ran her over.
The Tunnel to Towers Foundation raised $1 million to aid the families of Ramos and Liu. A portion of the money was used to renovate Liu’s family home, and pay off the mortgages on the houses of both cops.
Ramos, 40, and Liu, 32, were shot to death on Dec. 20, 2014, while sitting in their patrol car in Bedford-Stuyvesant by cop-hating Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28.