🎥Queens World Film Festival Begins + Hochul Campaigns With Mayor Adams

Good morning, Queens! 🎃

BOO! 👻

Happy Halloween! This day may be scary, but today's headlines sure aren't. Here are the top stories:

• 🎥 The 12th annual Queens World Film Festival starts this week on Nov. 1 and runs for six days until Nov. 6!
• 🎟 Governor Hochul campaigned with Mayor Adams for the first time in the general election at a rally in southeast Queens.
• 🚛 Garbage trucks across the city will be turning heads in a new way due to a stylish upgrade unveiled on Friday.

☀️ Some sun, then ☁️ clouds. High: 65 Low: 58.

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Here are the top stories in Queens today:

1. The 12th annual Queens World Film Festival kicks off this week, running from Nov. 1 to Nov. 6. The six-day event will feature 157 films from 27 nations, and will be screening in-person at five different venues -- Queens Theatre, Flushing Town Hall, Museum of the Moving Image, Kaufman Astoria Studios, and The Local. The festival's co-founder Katha Cato joined PIX11 Morning News on Friday to talk about the event, and said a staggering 698 films were submitted to the festival this year. "This year, we did not expect so many submissions. We shortened our submission period," said Cato. "So we had to keep adding venues and adding days. We were only going to go for 2 or 3 days. We thought we'd have 50 films. It turned into something bigger."

PIX11 News

2. Gov. Hochul was in southeast Queens over the weekend to mark the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Sandy and to campaign for the general election with Mayor Adams. Hochul and Adams spoke to a crowd of several hundred people -- some were union workers, many others were local residents -- who gathered inside a shopping mall for the rally. After praising Hochul's pandemic response, Adams urged voters to get to the polls: “We cannot say on the Wednesday after Election Day, ‘we wish we had voted.’” Earlier in the day, Hochul accompanied various Democratic elected officials on Long Island for a rally with hundreds of union workers. Also in NYC this weekend was Hochul's opponent, Republican Representative Lee Zeldin, who visited Borough Park in Brooklyn in an unannounced campaign stop. There, he was greeted by residents from the Orthodox and Hasidic community, a small but powerful voting contingent whose favor Zeldin has actively curried.

The New York Times ; Spectrum News NY1

3. Nov. 8's midterm elections will include the first congressional race in U.S. history between two out LGBTQ candidates. In a political first, two openly gay candidates -- Democrat Robert Zimmerman and Republican George Santos -- are facing off for New York's 3rd Congressional District, representing Queens and Long Island. While New York is the country's first congressional race of this nature, there have been over a dozen other elections this year for positions like city council member that feature multiple LGBTQ candidates. "A historic number of candidates continue to step up and run for office," said Cesar Toledo, political director for Victory Fund. "Today, LGBTQ candidates are more electable than ever before."

USA Today ; NBC New York

4. As part of its unique Trucks of Art program, the Department of Sanitation held a contest to pick artists, one from each borough, to beautify five garbage trucks with hand-painted murals. Artists used their "canvas," a 20-ton, 400-square foot collection vehicle, to highlight cleanliness, sustainability, and the incredible work of New York's Strongest -- the 7,500 sanitation employees who keep the city clean, safe, and healthy. The Queens truck was painted by Rymie, a Rockaway-based muralist and illustrator whose colorful, energetic work can be viewed here. "My participation in the Trucks of Art challenge is a thank you to this workforce and Queens itself. I hope the mural reminds folks of our own agency in keeping New York beautiful," Rymie said. After the newly made-over trucks were unveiled on Friday, they each headed to their respective boroughs to do their important jobs with style.

ABC7 New York ; NYC.gov

5. Ten years after Hurricane Sandy caused $69 billion in damage across New York and New Jersey, many of the climate resiliency efforts planned in the immediate aftermath of the storm remain incomplete or behind schedule. A recent audit by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander found that only $15 billion out of the $43 billion NYC received in federal disaster aid has been used toward infrastructure improvements. This means that neighborhoods badly affected by the hurricane, like Breezy Point, Queens, remain unprotected because of delays, red tape, and politics. Currently, all three of the largest ongoing post-Sandy projects (there was a fourth initiative, which was canceled altogether) are nowhere near completion 10 years after the storm.

Politico ; New York Daily News

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

• 🚨 Midterm Elections 2022: Queens Voter Guide (Patch)
• Vulgar words ("SMD") spray-painted on NYPD van during Queens community event (New York Post)
• Queens needs many more trains (New York Daily News)
• The only IKEA in Queens will close before the end of the year (Time Out)
• Coastal barriers finally begin to rise around NYC — but can they stop the next Hurricane Sandy? (Gothamist)
• The Housing Photographer Who Chronicled Sandy’s Destruction in Queens (City Limits)

Patch deal of the day:

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(The Patch Deals team scours the web for deals we think you'll love; we may earn a commission on purchases. All deals are as of publication and could change.)

🗓 To Do Today in Queens:

• Snakes, Spiders, and Slime (9:30 a.m.)
• Step To Sweat (11 a.m.)
• Intro to Computers (11:30 a.m.)
• MoMA PS1: Kid On The Town (12 p.m.)
• Chair Fitness (2 p.m.)
• Detective Keith Williams After School Program (3 p.m.)
• Bully Halloween Freakfest 2022 (6 p.m.)
• Spooktacular Halloween Experience (6:30 p.m.)
• The Ridgewood Asylum Haunted House (18+) (8 p.m.)

🗣 Queens Chatter:

• 🌽 Take a relaxing walk through a corn maze this Halloween: "Access to the Amazing Maize Maze is included in your Halloween on the Farm tickets! Take a break from trick-or-treating and pumpkin picking to wander its twists and turns on this beautiful autumn day. Developed in collaboration with the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and sponsored by Con Edison, this year’s design was inspired by O’Keeffe’s painting, Ram’s Head, Blue Morning Glory. Find all the mailbox clues to complete the puzzle and unlock the course to Victory Bridge!" (The Queens County Farm Museum via Facebook)
• 🇰🇷 Prayers for Korea: "This weekend is supposed to be filled with fun outings with family and friends. I’m devastated, and my prayers are with the loved ones of those affected by the tragedy in Itaewon. If you’re celebrating, please remain aware of your surroundings and be safe." (Council Member Linda Lee via Twitter)
• 🖌 ArtAccess workshop series begins this week: "🎨 Our first ArtAccess workshop series is on 11/5 & 11/6! Join us for Museum Explorers (For children 8-12) and Open Studios! (For teens 13+ and adults.) Participants must be accompanied by a care partner to the museum and throughout the workshops. 🔗:http://qnsmu.se/artaccess" (Queens Museum via Twitter)
• 😲 Get to know Scrappy, the anthropomorphized compost bin: "Welcome back to #Queens, Scrappy! Great to have you, New York City Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Councilmember Nantasha Williams out in Jamaica today for our free compost bin giveaway. Don’t be crappy, Queens, be scrappy!" (Queens Borough President Donovan Richards via Facebook)

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Events:

• Institutional Insights - Market outlook, investment ideas and wealth planning strategies (November 3)
• Success Academy Springfield Gardens In-Person Tour (November 8)
• Success Academy South Jamaica In-Person School Tour (November 11)
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Alrighty, you're all good for today. I'll be in your inbox tomorrow with another 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