Biden Visits LIC School To Discuss Cure Violence Program

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — President Joe Biden visited Queens for the second time in his presidency on Thursday.

During a day-long visit to discuss gun violence amid a resurgent wave of shootings, including one that claimed the lives of two NYPD officers, the president visited P.S. 111 Jacob Blackwell, a pre-K through 8th grade school on 21st Avenue.

Principal Dionne Jaggon said that the school significantly reduced its level of violence by bringing in Community Capacity Development or CCD, a non-profit that (among other things) works to reduce gun violence through community led public safety initiatives.

The non-profit brought resources into the school that made it safer, Jaggon said, like conflict mediation between students and support during dismissal.

In addition to working at the school, CCD has a site down the street at the Queensbridge Houses, the nation's largest public housing complex that had a reputation for gangs and violence — until K. Bain, CCD CEO and founder, got involved and brought shootings down to zero.

CCD is just one of the organizations operating under the umbrella of the city's cure violence program, which seeks to reduce gun violence before it happens through community intervention.

Mayor Eric Adams, who was with Biden all day, said he will continue to work with cure violence groups as part of his sweeping plan to fight gun violence, in addition to reinstating controversial policing practices, like plainclothes police units in the very same area of Queens.

While the high-profile visit was a boon to Adams, who calls himself the "Biden of Brooklyn," some neighbors in Queens were less pleased.

In order to secure the area for the president's visit, police reportedly lined 21st Avenue and shut down access to some parts of the road around 4 p.m., proving difficult for locals trying to commute home.

One person, tweeting at Biden himself, told him to "hurry [your] little PR stunt so I can get on my... bus? They got people stranded at this bus stop in Queens."

Another chimed in saying that a commute that usually takes 20 minutes has now been "ruined" by Biden's visit.

The president's visit to Long Island City comes five months after he was called for climate action from the streets of East Elmhurst after Hurricane Ida ravaged the neighborhood.

Related Article: Biden Vows To Break NYC's 'Iron Pipeline' Of Guns