Community Corner

🌱Mayor Promises More Flood Protection + Hit and Run Kills 5-Year-Old

The quickest way to get caught up on the most important things happening today in Queens.

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(Patch Media)

☀️ Good morning, Queens! ☕️

Happy first Friday in September! 🍁 Now that I've been writing these newsletters for a week, I think it's about time I introduce myself! My name is Emma Radu Fighera and I'm lucky to have been born and raised here in Queens -- I grew up in Astoria. I graduated from Hamilton College in 2020 and while there I published a daily campus newsletter, so it feels great and just like old times to be back on my newsletter-writing grind. This past May I got my master's degree from Columbia Journalism School and I am so excited to put everything I learned into this Queens newsletter!

Now, enough about me! Let's get into some news you need to know as we cruise 🛳 into this fine weekend:

  • Eric Adams held a moment of silence for victims of Hurricane Ida and promised to ramp up flood mitigation tactics.
  • A five-year-old boy was killed in a hit-and-run accident in East Elmhurst on Thursday. Police are looking for the driver.
  • Efforts to landmark a Queens church and save it from demolition have failed.

🌞 Sunny and 😁 delightful. High: 79 Low: 66.

Here are the top stories today in Queens:

1. Mayor Eric Adams visited South Ozone Park on the first anniversary of Hurricane Ida to hold a moment of silence for the 13 people killed during the storm. Adams delivered his remarks on the corner of 135th Avenue and 127th Street, an area of Queens that saw 3.75 inches of rain per hour when Ida hit. The city's 100-year-old sewage system can only handle 1.75 inches of rain per hour. Adams also promised to bolster flood protections across the whole city, but especially in Queens. These protections include 2,300 new rain gardens, a bluebelt drainage system, and flood sensors. Additionally, NY officials have reached out to the city of Copenhagen for more information about retention ponds, which the city plans to introduce to NYCHA South Jamaica's basketball courts.

Patch ; nyc.gov


2. A 5-year-old child was struck by a white Dodge Ram pickup truck on Thursday evening around 5:30 p.m. in East Elmhurst. The child and his parents were crossing 100th street when the truck, which was turning onto 100th from McIntosh St., collided with the child, then immediately sped up and fled the scene. The child was taken to Elmhurst hospital with severe injuries, and was pronounced dead.

ABC 7 NY


3. Following a work permit approval by the city's Department of Buildings, demolition of the St. Joseph's Episcopal Church complex in Queens Village was given the green light to begin last Wednesday. The church complex, a collection of red wooden buildings, has stood in the eastern Queens community for the past century and a half. In a video message shared last July to the website of Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, Bishop Lawrence Provenzano pledged to rebuild the church on the property. Efforts to landmark St. Joseph's, and save it from demolition, failed in fall 2021 when the city's Landmark Preservation Commission rejected an application to preserve the site. According to Jim Trent, a local historical preservation advocate, the outcome of St. Joseph's follows a recent trend in the diocese's treatment of such buildings.

The Queens Chronicle


4. On Wednesday, lawmakers and community members convened in Elmhurst to celebrate the late state senator José Peralta, and to rename P.S. 89 to The José Peralta School for DREAMers in his honor. Peralta fought relentlessly to pass the N.Y. State DREAM act, which affords undocumented young people access to higher education. "José believed that an undocumented 17-year-old should focus on their SATs and college application, not avoiding deportation and working two jobs to help out at home," said Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz, who organized the event, and who grew up as a DREAMer herself in Queens after immigrating from Colombia at the age of 9. "Because of his life's work, now undocumented young people in New York can access financial aid for college and focus on their success."

QNS


5. Two men are wanted in connection with two successful robberies, and five attempted robberies, at apartment buildings throughout Southeast, Central, and Northeast Queens. The suspects, wanted for crimes in five police precincts, stole approximately $15,000 in jewelry, $5,200 in designer handbags, and over $4,000 in cash, authorities said. The first, and more successful, of the two robberies took place in Jamaica on July 25, and involved the men entering through the master bedroom window. The second occured on August 23 in Bayside when the men broke in via a side window and stole $60.

Patch


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

  • $1 million Powerball ticket sold in Jackson Heights (PIX11 New York News)
  • Center for the Women of New York to host food tasting event at Fort Totten Park (QNS)
  • How Many Courts Are at The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center? (NBC New York)
  • Wife of 'Duck Sauce Killer' appears in court (Daily Mail)
  • Citi Field to host preseason games for the first time in six years (AM New York Metro)

Today in Queens:

  • Queens Love & Hiking Date For Couples (7 a.m.)
  • Kids In Motion at Juniper Valley Park (10 a.m.)
  • Queens Farm Farmstand (11 a.m.)
  • Ladies Night Fridays on Steinway (7 p.m.)
  • Sofar Sounds NYC Concert (7:30 p.m.)
  • NYC Trivia League (7:30 p.m.)
  • The Greek Cultural Center presents "The Maids" by Jean Genet (8 p.m.)

From my notebook:

  • P.S. 89 renamed Jose Peralta School of Dreamers: "He wasn't a DREAMer himself, but Jose Peralta had big dreams for the immigrant children who called his district home. Dreams of education, opportunity and possibility. Those dreams will be achieved right here in #Elmhurst at PS 89 — the newly named Jose Peralta School of Dreamers. To his wife, Evelyn, and the entire Peralta family, this day is as much yours as it is Jose's. Thank you for sharing Jose with us. Because of him, the New York State DREAM Act is a reality, and the dreams of so many immigrant youth across #Queens are within reach." (Queens Borough President Donovan Richards via Facebook)
  • Come see Queens-based artists of color!: "Great news! We're extending the #AnkhlaveGardenProject through 10/1!This marks the third year @AnkhLave Arts Alliance selected five Queens-based fellows of color to create site-specific art installations throughout the grounds. art installations throughout the grounds. Come see these amazing outdoor installations by incredibly talented artists! FREE; included in Garden admission. Learn more: https://queensbotanical.org/ankhlave/ Featuring Artists: Sherwin Banfield @sherwintheartist Carlos Wilfredo Encarnación @carloswilfredoart Ruth Jeyaveeran @r_jeyaveeran M.E. Guadalupe Rubi @m.e.guadalupe Yiyi Wei @prunt_machine Curated by former AnkhLave Garden Project Fellow Cecilia André @cecilia_andre_art. . #AnkhLaveGardenProject #QBGArtInTheGarden#QBGArt #BIPOCArt #BIPOCArtists #OutdoorArt See less" (Queens Botanical Garden via Facebook)
  • Get behind-the-scene of PARANORMAN: "Preview: a peek at PARANORMAN's Norman shadowed by a zombie, two of a dozen puppets on view in the new exhibit "LAIKA: Life in Stop Motion"—the latest addition to our core exhibition "Behind the Screen." Be one of the first to see the puppets, alongside two dioramas, and make your own short animation using LAIKA characters. Opening today, Sept 1, 2:00–6:00 p.m. during our free gallery hours! Learn more bit.ly/laika-momi" (Museum of the Moving Image via Facebook)
  • Prepare for the fair: The Queens County Fair is coming! 3 days of fun with the Amazing Maize Maze, live music, carnival rides, midway games, blue ribbon competitions, pie eating contests, hayrides, tasty eats, & so much more — Sept 9th–11th. Details & tickets at https://bit.ly/3rPr3RL (The Queens County Farm Museum via Facebook)

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You're officially in the loop for today. See you all tomorrow morning for another update!

— Emma Radu Fighera

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

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