Astoria Residents Still Plagued By Flying Rocks

Damn teenagers. For years now, Astoria residents have been living in fear of rock-throwing punks who climb onto Amtrak’s railbed along the Hell Gate trestle and toss projectiles at their houses, cars and yards. Locals like Loretta Csikortos place the blame squarely at the foot of Amtrak, who she thinks should pay for repairs to her son’s Ford Mustang, which has a shattered windshield and dented trunk. Residents are calling on Amtrak to beef up security to stop the miscreants from sneaking onto the tracks, but Csikortos isn't holding her breath: “They’ll do something when somebody gets killed,” she tells the Queens Courier. Yet maybe help is on the way? Council Member Peter F. Vallone Jr has written another letter imploring Amtrak to install security cameras.