Author: Dan Rose

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

The mobile mammogram bus is coming to Hillside Avenue in Bellerose on Wednesday, October 2.

The van will be stationed at the Cross Island YMCA, located at 238-10 Hillside Avenue, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p..m.

Come in for a no-cost mammogram and clinical breast exam. Eligibility is listed in the poster above.

For an appointment, call 718-765-6675 or 1-877-628-9090.

Here’s your chance to support a local organization supporting veterans in the community.

This week, Assemblywoman Nily Rozic announced a new fundraising campaign to support Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 3427 in Queensboro Hill.

Commander Raymond Ramos, who has led the post since 2016, launched a GoFundMe to secure funds to replace the site’s plumbing system.

Since 2015, the VFW has been plagued with electrical and plumbing issues following a series of fines levied by DOB. Little progress has been made.

After a boiler was shut off in 2017, Post 3427 has operated without heat or hot water.

Altogether, Commander Ramos is seeking to raise $15,000.

To help in their support, visit their online fundraiser here.