Rep. Grace Meng hosts town hall on November 2

Meng Town Hall Flyer

On Saturday, November 2, Congresswoman Grace Meng will host a town hall in partnership with One Queens Indivisible.

The event will take place inside the Benjamin Rosenthal Library at Queens College (65-30 Kissena Blvd.) from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. It’s open to the public.

“I am excited to hold this upcoming town hall meeting and I encourage my constituents to attend,” Meng says. “I look forward to talking about my work in Congress and discussing the issues that concern the residents of the sixth congressional district.”

Free parking will be available at fields 5, 6 and 14. Attendees are suggested to enter at gate 3, located at Reeves Avenue and 153rd Street.

Those planning to attend must RSVP here. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Korean Community Services is an early voting site

2019-10-22 Rozic, Braunstein Early Voting Begins October 26th

Saturday marked the first day of early voting in New York City, and one of Bayside’s cultural institutions serves as an early voting site.

From now until November 3, voters can cast their ballots ahead of Election Day at specific sites. In northeast Queens, the early voting location is Korean Community Services, located at 203-05 32nd Avenue.

Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, who co-sponsored legislation to allow for early voting for the first time, cast her vote on Saturday.

“This new nine day early voting period provides voters with a more democratic process and greater opportunity to cast their ballots,” she says.

To look up your early voting site, use the poll site locator here.

“Joe Femenia Way” unveiled in College Point

Femenia Co-Naming (2)

Over the weekend, Councilman Paul Vallone and the Femenia family unveiled the street sign for “Joe Femenia Way” at 130th Street and 23rd Avenue in College Point.

Femenia was a beloved civic president and neighborhood activist, as well as a fourth-generation College Point resident. He passed away suddenly in January 2019.

“Joe attended school and church in College Point, he played in the parks, married me and had a lifetime of love and dedication to his hometown,” said Laura Femenia. “He had many victories in protecting and preserving the integrity of College Point.

“As far as my husband was concerned, every resident in College Point was his neighbor,” she added.

Femenia was born in College Point and attended PS 129, JHS 194, Flushing High School and Queens College.

He married Laura Wiskemann in 1992 and began his career with the MTA the next year.

He served as chair of the Transportation Committee of Community Board 7, and served on CB7 overall for 10 years.

Femenia is credited for restarting the College Point Civic and Taxpayers Association in 2008. He served as president from 2008 to 2012, and again from 2014 until he passed away earlier this year.

New playground for PS 221 in Little Neck

Barry Grodenchik PS 221

The students at PS 221 in Little Neck have a brand new playground.

The $1.5 million play space includes new trees, a turf field, two running tracks, play equipment, game tables and green infrastructure elements.

It will be used by students during the day, but also open to the community after school and on the weekends.

It was funded by Councilman Barry Grodenchik, Borough President Melinda Katz, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Trust for Public Land.

Two international restaurant chains coming to Flushing

3Two internationally-popular restaurant brands are coming to Tangram, Flushing’s 1.2 million-square-foot mixed-use development.

Last week, Tangram’s developers announced that it has signed 10-year leases with Ju Qi, a restaurant specializing in authentic Beijing cuisine, and Meet Fresh, a Taiwan-based dessert bar.

This is Ju Qi’s first location in the U.S., and the second New York location for Meet Fresh. Both are slated to open in 2020.

Altogether, Tangram will include two residential towers, a food hall, a beer garden, curated office space and other amenities. Earlier this year, Xiao Long Kan Hot Pot also signed a 10-year lease at Tangram.

Ju Qi, which is headquartered in Beijing, has 20 locations across China and one in Sydney. It has signature dishes like creative mashed potato, special fried rice, Peking duck, barbecue lamb and more.

Meet Fresh, which also has a location in the East Village, is originally from Taiwan. It has more than 1,000 stores across Asia, New Zealand and Australia. It offers fresh, natural and Instagrammable treats like taro balls, herbal grass jelly, mochi, mango shaved ice, boba tofu pudding, green tea with whipped cream and more.

Maple Playground Greenmarket runs until November 27

Maple Playground. Screen shot via Google Maps

Maple Playground. Screen shot via Google Maps

The Maple Playground Greenmarket, located at Kissena Boulevard and Maple Avenue in Downtown Flushing, is running this year until November 27.

The greenmarket was launched in the summer of 2016 with the support of the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce and GrowNYC, a nonprofit that seeks to improve NYC’s quality of life through environmental programs that transforms communities block by block.

The greenmarket will be open every Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. It provides residents with access to farm-fresh food from R&G Produce Vegetables in New York’s Orange County.

The Department of Health’s Stellar Farmers’ Markets Program has also conducted weekly bilingual nutrition education workshops and cooking demonstrations.

The market accepts WIC and FMNP checks, as well as SNAP payments.

For more information, check out the Flushing Greenmarket website here.

Jefferson Democratic Club celebrates 139 years

Dinner 2019

The Jefferson Democratic Club, founded in 1880, celebrated its 139th anniversary earlier this month at Douglaston Manor.

The gala dinner honored the following people:

  • Thomas Jefferson Leadership Award: Former Congressman Joe Crowley
  • James J. Wrynn Sr. Public Service Award: Former Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza
  • Labor Leader of the Year Award: Sean Mackell, Digital Organizing Director, Program & Field Coordinator, NYC Central Labor Council
  • Lawrence T. Gresser Jr. Business Leader of the Year Award: David Legaz, Real Estate Broker, Keller Williams Realty Landmark
  • Non-Profit of the Year Award: Transitional Services for New York

Curbside e-waste collection coming to northeast Queens

E-Waste Collection Announcement (2)

The Department of Sanitation announced earlier this week that curbside electronics collection is coming to eastern Queens and the Bronx.

Residents in those areas can now make an appointment for curbside collection of unwanted electronic items.

The program is available to residents of one to nine-unit buildings. Residents living in buildings with 10 or more units can enroll in ecycleNYC, a free, in-building e-waste collection program for large buildings.

Covered items include:

  • Televisions (including cathode ray tubes)

  • Computer peripherals, including any permanently attached cable or wiring

  • Monitors, laptops

  • Electronic keyboards

  • Electronic mice and other pointing devices

  • Fax machines, document scanners, and printers that are meant for use with a computer and weigh less than 100 lbs.

  • TV peripherals, including any permanently attached cable or wiring

  • VCRs

  • Digital video recorders

  • DVD players

  • Digital converter boxes

  • Cable or satellite receivers

  • Electronic or video game consoles

  • Small-scale servers

  • Portable devices, including any permanently attached cable or wiring

  • Portable digital music players

To request an appointment, residents can call 311 or go to nyc.gov/electronics. Items must be placed at the curb.

Halloween Essay and Drawing Contest is back!

Last year's winners.

Last year’s winners.

Assemblyman Ed Braunstein is hosting his annual Halloween Essay and Drawing Contest again this year.

Students from grades two through five are invited to participate. The essay or drawing should have a Halloween theme, like your favorite trick-or-treat experience or why you picked your Halloween costume.

Please print your full name, grade and school on the entry.

Essays can be submitted to the office by mail at 213-33 39th Avenue, Suite 238 Bayside, NY 11361. It can also be emailed to braunsteine@nyassembly.gov.

Drawings should be mailed or dropped off.

The contest deadline is October 31.

For questions, contact Braunstein’s office at 718-357-3588.

Bellerose Manor street renamed in memory of Bernard M. Aquilino

2019 10 05 - Street co-naming ceremony_1905

The Bellerose Manor community gathered over the weekend to rename Seward Avenue and 235th Street after longtime civic leader Bernard M. Aquilino.

Aquilino was the longtime president of the Rocky Hill Civic Association, and advocated on behalf of his community for more than 40 years.

Known as Barney, Aquilino joined the civic group in the 1970s and soon became president, a position he held for over 25 years.

Some of his accomplishments include preventing the city from closing PS 18, facilitating the relocation of a sanitation garage and more. He helped sustain local youth groups, educated homeowners about government services and cleaned up public spaces in the neighborhood.

Aquilino also led the fight for the U.S. Postal Service to rename his community Bellerose Manor.

The request for the street co-naming came from the Rocky Hill Civic Association, Community Board 13 and other civic groups. Councilman Barry Grodenchik introduced the bill in the City Council.