Welcome to Bayside, Queens where Long Island seems to start.

It’s neighborhood that I knew when I was young and a place I moved to later on in life.

This is a strong community that is hanging on by the skin of its teeth as older residents cash in on their bonanza of buying a house 30 years ago, while younger couples in the neighborhood need to flee to Nassau or Suffolk counties to find their patch of grass.

So now, the latest statistics from the NYPD have come out, which shows overall crime in the 110 precinct is up 124%.

There are landlords in Bayside who are looking for quicker profits because of losses endured by the Covid lock down. Empty commerical storefronts bring in hookah bars. Some local restaurants and bar owners are also marketing to people who create crime on Bell Blvd to fill their establishments.

These businesses need to collect rent and make payroll so they dictate the future direction of the neighborhood.

This is unfortunate to the people who are left behind, who can longer walk the streets for fear of a mugging or something else happening.

I have seen and documented these changes in other neighborhoods. It never ends pretty for the homeowners who are left.

Queens County District Attorney Melinda Katz needs to step up and reverse this trend by prosecuting all quality of life crimes to turn this around.