Month: June 2019

Flushing will soon have its first beer garden.

Tangram, the 1.2 million-square-foot mixed-use mega-development that will have a 4DX theater and a luxury hotel, announced last week that it will open the neighborhood’s first beer garden.

It will be called “The Beer Assembly,” and it comes from Todd Leong, who also opened Lucky Rice and Leaf Bar & Lounge Cocktail Bar at One Fulton Square in Flushing.

The beer garden will feature a selection of craft brews from around the world, paired with a food menu inspired by skewers.

It will be part of Tangram’s 24,000-square-foot food hall. Guests will be able to eat and drink as they wish inside the development.

Earlier this month, Tangram also announced that Xiao Long Kan Hot Pot, a hot pot chain, will also come to Flushing.

There’s a lot of anticipation for Tangram to open. Stay tuned for more announcements!

The winners of this year’s Mother’s Day Essay Contest for grades two through five are:

• 2nd Grade: Allison Kim, from PS 159 in Bayside
• 3rd Grade: Marilena Korahais, from PS 209 in Whitestone
• 4th Grade: Isabella Delvey, from PS 32 in Auburndale
• 5th Grade: Isabella Andrea Cortes, from PS 107 in Auburndale

According to Assemblyman Ed Braunstein, nearly 200 students from schools in his district participated.

All of the winners received a gift card, while all participants received a New York State Assembly Certificate of Merit.

The second annual Flushing’s World Fair will take place on Friday, June 28 and Saturday, June 29.

The two-day business expo will feature marketing panels, walking tours and a food crawl through the best Flushing has to offer.

The event will again feature the “Passport to Flushing,” which contains special promotions and discounts by some of the neighborhood’s best local restaurants and cultural venues.

Organizers expect hundreds of attendees this year, which will kick off with a breakfast and Asian-American women entrepreneurs panel at Queens College.

For more information and full schedule of the Flushing’s World Fair, visit their website here.

Korean Community Services, located at 203-05 32nd Avenue in Bayside, has been chosen as an early voting site in northeast Queens.

Cross Island YMCA in Bellerose was also added as a Board of Election-designed early polling site last week.

The addition of these new early voting sites came after elected officials expressed outrage that northeast Queens did not get one site during the initial rollout in April.

Pols say this is great news for voters in the area.

“It is important to ensure that voters in this area have access and are able to actively participate in civic engagement,” says Linda Lee, executive director of KCS.

While good government groups applauded the expansion, they still say it’s not enough.

Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause NY and founder of Let NY Vote said it’s “far less than voters deserve.”

“The BOE has completely failed to deliver borough-wide voting centers which would make voting easy and convenient for anyone eligible in Queens,” she says. “We will continue to keep the pressure to let New York vote.”

William Tramontano, the interim president of Queens College, met with students on June 3rd, the first day of the summer semester.

Tramontano was appointed the position by new CUNY Chancellor Felix V. Matos Rodriguez on May 1.

Over lunch, he shared his background as a faculty member at both public and private colleges. He was also a dean, vice president, provost, senior advisor and more at various CUNY colleges.

Students, meanwhile, discussed their experiences in the classroom and at the tutoring center, their desire to see more paid internship opportunities, and the needs of transfer students.

Tramontano graduated from Manhattan College and earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from NYU. He is a cellular biologist by training.

Continuing an annual tradition, Assemblywoman Nily Rozic honored four community leaders as part of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, celebrated every May.

Here are the honorees this year:

• John Park, executive director, MinKwon Center for Community Action
• Clara Kang, principal, PS 376
• Karen Lin, SLT co-chair, Townsend Harris High School
• Joby Jacob, co-founder, Motor Parkway East

“Queens is enriched by those who have dedicated themselves to the tireless work of advocacy and engagement, and I am proud to recognize this year’s honorees for their leadership in our community,” Rozic says. “Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month serves not only asa . reminder of the strength in our diversity, but the collective commitment to empowering others as we work towards leaving our community greater than we found it.”

Past honorees of this honor include representatives from Asian Americans for Equality, The Hindu Temple Society of North America, Korean American Family Services Center, and the South Asian Council for Social Services.

A Fresh Meadows student finished in third place in the Diocese of Brooklyn’s public speaking contest.

Kasmira Jeannot, an eighth grader from Holy Family Catholic Academy in Fresh Meadows, delivered Brittni Darras’ speech, “The Fight Against Teen Suicide,” at the 2019 Sister Peggie Merritt Memorial Oratorical Contest.

Jeannot was third among 18 students from Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens who participated in the annual public speaking contest.

Students delivered speeches by famous people, including Winston Churchill, Shirley Chisholm, Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, Princess Diana and Steve Jobs.

Speech topics included eating disorders, teen suicide, gun control, civil and equal rights, and March for Life.