The Flushing Blog

On Tuesday, April 10, at the Al Oerter Recreation Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park at 131-40 Fowler Ave., from 7:00 p.m.–9:30 p.m., the Brooklyn Nets will host a wheelchair basketball event.

Have you ever wanted to learn how to play wheelchair basketball and know the rules inside and out? Well, here’s your chance to learn from the best!

Come out and scrimmage against other wheelchair basketball players from the NYC area. It’s guaranteed to be tons of fun and you’ll come back every week for more action!

Everyone knows two-thirds of Queens is a transit desert.

Many neighborhoods, like most of northeast Queens outside of Flushing, don’t have MTA train lines. Commuters are forced to take unreliable buses or pay more to hop on the LIRR.

State lawmakers from Queens are looking to improve transit for outer-borough straphangers. In the 2018-2019 state budget, Assembly members secured $50 million to improve transportation.

“As a representative of an area with no subway or train lines and very limited bus options, I look forward to working on ensuring that these funds are properly allocated to improve Queens transit,” said Assemblywoman Nily Rozic from Fresh Meadows.

“With this new funding, we aim to improve transit options in some of the most underserved parts of our city” added Assemblyman Ed Braunstein from Bayside.

Time will tell how this $50 million will be broken down for improvement projects throughout the borough.

Want to dye some Easter Eggs today? From 6pm – 8pm head to the Queens Botanical Garden and learn about different types of natural food-based dyes and create botanical patterns to dye your own set of Easter eggs.

Hosted by Dyed in Queens, come and enjoy a fresh spring cocktail while you craft!

Your ticket includes garden admission.

Get your tickets here!

Two local high school standouts have won their local congressional app contest, and will present their app on Capitol Hill in April.

Jashua Veerasammy and Arun Budhoo, juniors at Thomas Edison High school in Jamaica, were chosen among 15 students who competed in Congresswoman Grace Meng’s district.

The 16-year-olds created an app called “VIVID,” which seeks to help people become motivated and confident in fitness and health by going to the gym.

They submitted a video about their app, which can be viewed here.

Veerasammy and Budhoo will now showcase VIVID to members of Congress and the tech community in April, during a reception called #HouseOfCode. Their app will be eligible to be displayed for one year at the U.S. Capitol.

Oh, and the high school students were awarded $250 in Amazon web credits and a $100 gift card from Southwest Airlines. Not bad!

“We first entered the contest for fun, then got serious about creating an app that could make a difference in people’s lives,” Veerasammy and Budhoo said. “We brainstormed ideas for many hours, put our creativity to the test, and came up with an app to help people be fit and health.”

Can you believe the US Open is 50 already?

The U.S. National Championships became the US Open in 1968, and opened its doors to professional players for the first time.

To celebrate the anniversary, USTA is hosting a slate of fan events and programs designed to both celebrate the past and look toward the future.

One of the most visible initiatives is the introduction of its new logo, created by graphic design firm Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv. Be sure to look out for the logo in the US Open 2018’s advertising campaigns.

The US Open will run from August 27 through September 9.

The full schedule of 50th anniversary events will be released later this summer.

From now until April 17, Queens College will offer free income tax preparation services to the general public through the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.

Free services will be offered to people making $54,000 or less, people with disabilities and filers with limited English-speaking proficiency.

Consultations will take place on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. by appointment only.

Schedule an appoint at qcvita@qc.cuny.edu or by phone at 718-997-2980.

On March 9th at 8:30 am, join the Queens Council on Developmental Disabilities for their annual legislative breakfast in the Queens College Student Union Building at 152-45 Melbourne Avenue.

Meet local legislators, hear speakers discuss issues pertaining to the needs of people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, join the letter writing campaign and have your voice be heard.

Last year was a critical year for advocacy for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) in both OPWDD and Education Programs. This year support for DSP’s continues to be a priority. Please join in advocating for phase 2 of last year’s very successful #bfair2DirectCare campaign.

Breakfast will be served. Spanish and Mandarin translators will be available at specific tables.

For further information contact Toni Martinez or Mary Knox at the Heaven’s Hands Community Services, Inc at amartinez.hhcsny.org or mknox@hhsny.org

The long-awaited reconstruction of the MacNeil Park seawall in College Point is finally underway.

Earlier this week, Councilman Paul Vallone, Borough President Melinda Katz and the Parks Department announced that the $5.2 million construction project is slated to be done by next August.

Pols say this is a great win for the neighborhood, whose dream of a vibrant park with waterfront access is on the horizon.

“A vibrant waterfront esplanade will become a reality at MacNeil Park once this vitally important seawall repair project is completed,” Katz said.

Public Advocate Letitia James is hosting her Lunar New Year celebration tonight at Flushing Library, starting at 6:30 p.m.

The honorees this year are former City Comptroller John Liu, Minsun Kim, president of the Korean American Association of Greater New York, and Lois Lee, director of the Chinese-American Planning Council’s Queens Early Childhood Center.

RSVP at rsvp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov or 212-669-4968.