A neighborhood popup court will appear inside the Flushing branch of the Queens Public Library on June 20, the NY Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings announced. The effort to obtain the forum was spearheaded by the efforts of local Council member Peter Koo. This will be the third pop-up court OATH has held in Queens,and the first time OATH initiative in Flushing.

“Giving residents access to the OTH Courts right in their backyard can serve as a tremendous benefit to both the city as it looks to resolve backlogs of violations and to residents by expediting the court process,” Koo said.

Individuals can respond to several types of noncriminal summonses at the popup court, including violations issued by the Sanitation Department and Parks Department and the Health Department, for alleged pest control and rodent violations. OTH also handles citations for lowlevel misconduct, like having an open container of alcohol, public urination, being in the park after dark, littering, spitting and excessive noise.

Marisa Senigo, a deputy commissioner at OTH, said ""holding the popup court in Flushing is, in part, meant to help non-English-speaking immigrants who may fear a court summons.

“OTH’s top priority is to make it as easy as possible for those who have been issued summonses from city enforcement agencies to have their day in court,” said OATH spokesperson Marisa Senigo. [OATH] brings the court to where you work and live so that fighting city summonses and accessing justice at OATH is more convenient and less time consuming.”

Popup courts are convenient for local residents and help unburden clogged dockets. OTH does not hold hearings on parking tickets, traffic or speeding tickets, red light camera tickets or MTA turnstile violations at its popup courts. Only certain summonses, such as alleged rodent violations, having an open container of alcohol, littering or public urination, are eligible to be heard in the one day court. Alleged parking, traffic, speeding or red light camera violations will not be heard inside the library because the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings is not the office responsible for those cases.

To inform all respondents with eligible summonses, OTH will send out letters to those who live in zip codes immediately surrounding the library.