Dozens Protest Pattern Of Violence At Kew Gardens Hotel

KEW GARDENS, QUEENS — Dozens of protesters gathered outside Queens Borough Hall on Sunday to draw attention to months of violence and loud parties at a hotel across the street, where police ran to break up an argument that erupted outside the hotel mid-demonstration.

About 75 Queens residents showed up to protest the Umbrella Hotel, the site of two shootings and two assaults in a six-week period starting in early July.

“This is a family neighborhood, not a shooting gallery,” read one protester's sign.

Neighbors and elected officials said the hotel, at 124-18 Queens Blvd., has become a hotspot for parties, loud music, hard drugs, prostitution and fights.

Its revolving front door is still riddled with bullet holes from a shooting on Aug. 9.

“This is a community crisis," Andrea Crawford, a civic leader and longtime Kew Gardens resident, said. "This is a health crisis. This is a crime crisis."

Meanwhile, a man and a woman emerged from the hotel loudly arguing with each other, prompting police officers who had been monitoring the protest to intervene.

The woman then threatened to spit on journalists covering the protest, according to the New York Post.

City Council Member Donovan Richards, the Democratic nominee for Queens borough president and likely winner of the November general election, promised protesters that he would take action.

"I won’t stand for shootings to take place outside my office," Richards said.