Sept. 25, 2020 By Allie Griffin New York City’s popular outdoor dining initiative will now be year-round and permanent, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today. The “Open Restaurants” program, where restaurants can set up outdoor dining on sidewalks and streets, will continue into the fall and winter months, de Blasio said. The “Open Streets: Restaurants”… Read more »
Sept. 25, 2020 By Christian Murray Next June there will be hundreds of candidates across the city vying for the 51 council seats on offer. In Queens, there are 15 council seats up for grabs–with only four incumbents eligible to run again due to term limits. We plan to speak to as many candidates running… Read more »
Sept. 25, 2020 By Christian Murray A 56-year-old pedestrian was struck dead by a BMW while crossing College Point Boulevard on Saturday. Lujan Quintero, a Flushing resident, was crossing midblock in the vicinity of Avery Avenue when he was hit by a northbound 2014 BMW sedan at around 9:10 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19. The… Read more »
Sept. 24, 2020 By Allie Griffin A Flushing-based food pantry has suddenly lost its funding at a time when more New Yorkers are going hungry amid the pandemic and subsequent shutdown. La Jornada, which has distributed food to Queens residents for 12 years, recently lost its federal grant from a coronavirus food assistance program, U.S…. Read more »
Sept. 24, 2020 By Allie Griffin Queens State Sen. Jessica Ramos and City Comptroller Scott Stringer are calling on the city to make its Open Streets program a year-round initiative. The officials penned a letter to the mayor Thursday asking him to extend the program that turns specific streets over to pedestrians and restaurants beyond… Read more »
Sept. 24, 2020 By Christian Murray The Langston Hughes Library, located at 100-01 Northern Blvd. in Corona, will reopen Monday after being closed since March. The Queens Public Library, which oversees the branch, announced today that it will reopen it for “to-go” service on Sept. 28. The Queens library system will have reopened 22 branches… Read more »
Sept. 24, 2020 By Allie Griffin Astoria Council Member Costa Constantinides introduced a number of bills Wednesday that he says will make New York a greener, storm-resilient city. The first bill would require the city to create a set of resilience design guidelines for its capital projects, so that city buildings and infrastructure would be… Read more »
Sept. 24, 2020 By Allie Griffin The Queens Memory Project, an ongoing community archiving program supported by the Queens Public Library and Queens College Library, will celebrate its 10-year anniversary next week with a Facebook Live event. The project, in which volunteers record interviews with Queens residents, has collected more than 600 oral histories of… Read more »
Sept. 23, 2020 By Christian Murray The affordable housing lottery has opened for TF Cornerstone’s two-tower development that is part of the Hunters Point South 5,000-unit mega plan. TF Cornerstone announced today that applications are now being accepted for 185 of the 719 affordable units that are being built. Applicants are required to apply on… Read more »
Sept. 23, 2020 By Allie Griffin More than 9,000 city employees will be furloughed as the city faces a major budget deficit spurred by the coronavirus shutdown, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today. Thousands of managerial and non-union city employees must take five days of furlough between October and March, which will save the city… Read more »