The Flushing Blog

The Flushing Greenmarket at Maple Playground has launched for its fifth season.

The market will be operated by GrowNYC, and will be open every Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. until November. The last day will be November 24.

The Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce will partner with GrowNYC to help promote the market and coordinate programming with local businesses and cultural groups.

The Flushing Greenmarket has been at Maple Playground since the summer of 2016. It provides residents with access to farm fresh food and vegetables.

Everything sold at the market is farmer grown, produced, caught or foraged.

Farmers accept cash, debit and credit cards, food stamps, WIC and health bucks.

Earlier this week, Councilman Barry Grodenchik distributed thousands of free face masks and hundreds of bottles of hand sanitizer in his eastern Queens district.

The grab-and-go events in Glen Oaks and Fresh Meadows is part of an effort to keep local residents safe during COVID-19.

In total, Grodenchik’s team gave out over 4,000 packages. Each package contained five masks and two-ounce containers of NYS Clean Hand Sanitizer.

The Glen Oaks giveaway took place at the Glen Oaks Shopping Center. The Fresh Meadows event was located outside the AMC Fresh Meadows theater.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Grodenchik has partnered with numerous community organizations to give out PPE to residents.

The Health Department is conducting aerial larviciding treatment to parts of northeast and southeast Queens to reduce mosquito activity and reduce the risk of West Nile virus on Friday, July 10 from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.

The helicopter is treating only non-residential areas, the agency said.

To date, no human cases of West Nile virus have been reported this season.

Still, during the summer months, mosquitos can breed in any still water that has been standing for more than five days.

With hot and wet weather conditions, the targeted areas can be home to a rise in mosquito populations.

Here are the areas that will be sprayed:

• Alley Pond Park (Marsh areas inside Alley Pond Park – areas bounded by Douglaston Parkway and 240^th Street to the east; Northern Boulevard to the north; Cross Island Parkway and East Hampton Boulevard to the west; and Grand Central Parkway to the south)
• Linden Hill/College Point (Marsh areas bounded by Whitestone Expressway to the east; 20^th Avenue to the north; 130^th Avenue and Ulmer Street to the west; and Ulmer Street and 28^th Street to the south)
• Kissena Park (Marsh areas bounded by 164^th Street to the east; Oak Avenue and Rose Avenue to the north; and Kissena Boulevard to the west; and  Booth Memorial Avenue to the south)

Bell Boulevard in Bayside has been chosen as a business corridor to participate in the city’s new “Open Streets: Restaurants” program.

The initiative combined Open Streets, which closes roads to traffic, with Open Restaurants, which allows for outdoor dining, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

The Bayside Village BID will facilitate the street closures. Bell Boulevard between 39th Avenue and 41st Avenue, as well as 41st Avenue between Bell Boulevard and 214th Place, will be closed on Friday evenings, Saturdays from 5 to 11 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 10 p.m.

The expanded outdoor seating will last until Labor Day.

For those asking about emergency vehicle access, an emergency clear lane will be maintained down the middle of the street.

“Between our customers and our restaurant owners, it’s hard to tell who’s happier!” said Christine Silletti, executive director of the Bayside Village BID. “It was important to support all of our small businesses, so we discussed the options as a community, as well as block by block, in order to come up with a plan.”

Tuesday night’s contentious budget vote focused mainly on defunding the NYPD by $1 billion, but as many elected officials note, significant funding is coming back to their districts.

The City Council voted 37 to 12 in favor of the $88 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2021.

Councilwoman Peter Koo, who voted ‘yes’ on the budget, said $30 million in budget victories was secured for his district.

“Once again, every school in my district has received funding so our children will have the best facilities available when they return to school,” Koo said.

“Securing these critical resources for our community will directly improve many of our neighborhood amenities and the overall quality of life in our communities.”

Here is a breakdown of funding coming to District 20:

• New community center for South Asian Council for Social Services ($1.15 million)
• Hospital equipment for Flushing Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian Queens ($922,000)
• New playground equipment and ballfields at Kissena Corridor Park ($3.2 million for equipment, $2.775 million for fields)
• Library upgrades at Flushing Library, Queensboro Hill Library ($2.554 million)
• Tech and gym upgrades at schools ($3.109 million)
• Discretionary funding for 84 community-based organizations ($710,000)

After 16 years at Hostos Community College, including stints as provost and vice president, Dr. Christine Mangino has been appointed the new president of Queensborough Community College.

CUNY’s Board of Trustees appointed Mangino to the post effective August 17.

A first-generation college student, Dr. Mangino championed the mission of community colleges after her experience as a student at Nassau Community College.

She later earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Hofstra University, as well as a doctoral degree in instructional leadership at St. John’s University.

In her five years as provost at Hostos, she increased three-year graduation rates by nearly 15 percent. She also boosted the number of faculty of color by six percent.