🧱100% Affordable Housing In Far Rockaway+ Debate Over Innovation QNS

Good morning, Queens! 🌽

• 🛠 Queens Borough President Donovan Richards helped break ground in Far Rockaway on the $97 million Beach Channel Drive 100% affordable housing development. The new building will include 157 deeply affordable apartments and 100 shelter units with supportive services for single women.
• 🏙 Mayor Eric Adams visited the proposed site of the Innovation QNS development to show his support for the controversial project ahead of the City Council vote.
• 📚NYC Schools Chancellor Bank announced $12 million in additional funding for schools serving new immigrants, many of whom are enrolled in Queens, the borough with the most asylum-seeking students.

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🚿🧼 A couple of showers. High: 67 Low: 55.

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Here are the top stories in Queens today:

1. Queens Borough President Donovan Richards helped break ground in Downtown Far Rockaway on the $97 million Beach Channel Drive 100% affordable housing development. The project will be built on the site of the old Driftway Mall, which was rezoned in 2015 to make way for the new development which will include 157 deeply affordable apartments and 100 shelter units with supportive services for single women. Other amenities the building will offer include full-time security and maintenance staff, on-site staff offices, a social service programming space, a community room, an outdoor recreational space, bike storage, and a laundry room. "Now, more than ever we need affordable housing in Queens and especially the Rockaways," State Senator James Sanders said. "I welcome this new site, which is an excellent example of what can be accomplished when private industry works with government partners and the community."

Queens Courier

2. Mayor Eric Adams on Monday visited the potential site of the Innovation QNS project, a $2 billion mixed-use development that is the largest proposed project of its kind in the history of Queens. The mayor was joined by Queens Borough President Donovan Richards on a walking tour of the area to show their support for the controversial project. The tour comes a few weeks before the City Council is due to vote on whether or not to accept the massive rezoning proposal for the development. Those in opposition, who include many local residents and elected officials, worry the project will fuel gentrification in the area and displace long-term residents. City Council member Julie Won, whose vote could make or break the project, has been ardently negotiating for weeks to make the project 55% affordable. "Securing the greatest amount of affordable housing remains our top priority for Innovation Queens," Won said in a statement to the Eagle. "We were not invited to the Innovation Queens site tour today, but we are in daily conversations to ensure the community's voice is heard and their concerns are met."

Queens Daily Eagle ; Spectrum News NY1

3. City officials announced Monday that they will distribute nearly $12 million in additional funding to schools that have enrolled new students who live in temporary housing. Approximately 7,200 asylum-seeking students have enrolled in the city's public school system through "Project Open Arms" since August. Now, schools with six or more students in temporary housing will receive an allocation of $2,000 for each new asylum-seeking student enrolled. P.S. 143 Louis Armstrong in Queens, which has a dual-language program, is set to receive the most money of any school in the city. It will receive $194,000 from the new program to be put toward additional tutoring, curriculum materials, after-school programs, and clothing or other personal items students might need. Significantly, City Comptroller Brad Lander argues the funding represents far less than what schools are owed.

Chalkbeat New York ; Politico

4. Last Thursday Citi Bike axed a perk for members that capped e-bike rides between Queens and Brooklyn at $3. Now members will have to pay $0.15 per minute for their longer outer borough rides. According to Lyft, the operator of the Citi Bike program, the price cap perk for outer borough trips was a mistake from the outset. "We recently discovered a glitch in our backend that was undercharging for some e-bike rides. This impacted a small number of riders and has now been corrected," said Lyft spokesperson Jordan Levine in a statement. Despite the elimination of the price cap affecting a relatively small number of Citi Bike members, the move sparked outrage online.

AM New York Metro ; Streetsblog NYC

5. Far Rockaway community leaders and climate activists from New York Communities for Change gathered on Saturday for a vigil to mark ten years since Hurricane Sandy ravaged the neighborhood. Rockaway resident Donna Simbo has been impacted by Sandy since 2012 when her home was heavily damaged. Since then, with nowhere else to move, Simbo has been jumping through bureaucratic hoops to repair her residence. Though the city's Build it Back program repaired parts of her home, Simbo says water still leaks through her ceiling whenever she turns on the water, and that mold developed in her residence, which caused her to develop an illness that now requires her to use a breathing machine. "Every time rain falls, it floods," Simbo told Patch. "Why are homeowners still suffering?" Simbo is one of many Sandy survivors with damaged homes calling on the city to make bigger public investments to help prevent future climate disasters.

Patch

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🗞 Hungry for more news? 🍴Snack on these headlines:

• Treasured Queens Pub Closes After Nearly 35 Years (Patch)
• Daniel Shieh Creates a Portal to Another Earth in New York's Socrates Sculpture Park (Designboom)
• 128K vote in NYC's first 3 days of early voting (New York Daily News)
• Jackson Heights Lawmakers Hold Rally Friday in Support of Drag Queen Story Hour (LIC Post)
• One in ten New York City public school students is homeless (WSWS)

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🗓 To Do Today in Queens:

• Elmhurst Greenmarket (8 a.m.)
• Volunteer at 9 Million Reasons / Evangel Food Pantry (8:45 a.m.)
• Adult Open Badminton (12 p.m.)
• Photofit! (12:30 p.m.)
• Volunteer at Queens Farm: Cultivator Crew (1 p.m.)
• Detective Keith Williams After School Program (3 p.m.)
• Tuesday Trivia & Happy Bull Pizza (7 p.m.)
• $6.50 AMC Movie: Ticket to Paradise (7:15 p.m.)

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🗣 Queens Chatter:

• 👻 The haunting of MoMA PS1: "There's a ghost in the galleries This sculpture by #JumanaManna, entitled "Ghost," hauntingly recalls architectural fragments and the body. Created as part of her "Cache" series, it is modeled after the remains of khabyas—grain storage structures once found across the Levant. Now obsolete, these custodians of preservation are monuments to ruin. Visit this ghostly sentinel, & all the sculptures of the "Cache" series, in "Jumana Manna: Break, Take, Erase, Tally." Plan your visit at http://mo.ma/ps1tickets! Admission is always free for New Yorkers" (MoMA PS1 via Twitter)
• 🎃 Happy Halloween from the squad at Queens Borough Hall: "Happy #Halloween from the simply spooktacular squad here at Queens Borough Hall! From T-Rex, Luigi, Ron Swanson, Superman, Cat in the Hat and the rest of our team, we wish all of you across the borough a fun and safe holiday! Anyone wearing a Queens-themed costumes this year?" (Queens Borough President Donovan Richards via Facebook)
• 💪 Women's Empowerment Luncheon serving community engagement: "Yesterday, I joined @NYCSpeakerAdams and @Lynn4NYC for Project Lead's Women's Empowerment Luncheon. As members of the first women-led @NYCCouncil , it's always an honor to connect with some powerful women across Queens as we strive to keep our residents engaged in our community!" (Council Member Linda Lee via Twitter)
• 🦭Your local neighborhood sea lion: "Meet California sea lion McCabe and Senior Keeper Raul! Raul is conducting a routine medical check where he scans McCabe from nose to tail. The next time you're at one of our daily sea lion feedings, keep an eye out for McCabe! Our feedings are at 11:15 am, 2:00 pm, and 4:00 pm." (Queens Zoo via Twitter)

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Now you're in the loop and ready to start this Tuesday off right! I'll be in your inbox tomorrow morning with your next update.

— Emma Radu Fighera

About me: Emma Radu Fighera is a reporter born and raised in Queens, New York. She studied Literature and Studio Art at Hamilton College, where she helped run the only daily publication on campus, The Daily Bull newsletter. This past spring she earned her M.S. from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Queens Daily? Contact me at queens@patch.com