Sabel Scities (source: Press of Atlantic City)
Sunnyside is home to America’s leading drag queen.
Sabel Scities – also known as Timothy Byars, of Sunnyside, N.Y. – was named Miss’d America 2012 at the Atlantic City contest, according to an article written by the PressofAtlantic City. The event, hosted by Carson Kressley, drew contestants came from as far away as Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina.
For the article, please click here
Corpus Christi School, a Catholic elementary school located at 31-29 60th Street in Woodside, is closing at the end of the academic year, according to published reports.
Parents were notified two weeks ago that the parish could no longer subsidize the school and that it will be closed, according to DNAInfo.
Van Bramer at local community event
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer has just completed his second year in office and his biggest strength to date has been his visibility.
Most events, whether large or small, Van Bramer always manages to be there. Whether it’s a detective getting an award for community service or a local group holding an art show, the ever-present Van Bramer appears. When a rally is being held he is often its architect and the TV cameras—and print reporters—focus in on him.
This visibility is part of the reason why Van Bramer has built a strong reputation and his constituents continue to reach out to him. In his first year in office he said he handled 1,521 constituent cases. In 2011, that number almost doubled to 2,894. (click for Van Bramer’s report)
“He is all over the place and he is backed up by a great staff,” said Don McCallian, president of the United Forties Civic Association.
Van Bramer said his constituents reach out to him because “we are very responsive and people know we will do something.” He said his office has a policy where constituents must get a response within 24 hours.
Since Van Bramer has been in office, Sunnyside/Woodside has undergone a great deal of change. There are firm plans in place for the revitalization of two parks and the construction of an elementary school in Sunnyside. Graffiti clean-up programs have been introduced and expanded; local libraries are being improved; and new parking measures have gone into effect.
Local Parks
Van Bramer, who secured funds for the revamp of Lou Lodati/Tornsey Park (located on Skillman Avenue at 43rd Street) in 2010, said he expects construction to begin late spring, which will include a dog run, a resurfaced softball field, basketball courts, Ecuadorian volleyball courts and additional greenery. He said the project should take about a year.
In the 2012 fiscal budget, Van Bramer was able to obtain $600,000 in city funds to improve Thomas P. Noonan Park (located on Greenpoint Ave. and 43rd St.). The primary focus will be on upgrading the section of the park that includes the iconic rainbow sprinkler. The plans have yet to be unveiled but the revamp is also likely to include new benches and playground equipment.
Meanwhile, improvements to Windmuller Park (52nd street) in Woodside were completed in 2011. The $1.7m upgrade was primarily made to the one-acre sitting plaza, which is one section of the 3-acre park. In recent years, the other sections of the park have been revamped—including the running track and children’s playground.
Windmuller Park--sitting plaza
But Van Bramer’s funding of one park did create controversy. He allocated or sponsored $47,000 of taxpayer funds to the Friends of Sunnyside Gardens Park, a group that raises money to maintain and upgrade Sunnyside Gardens Park. That park is a members-only park that costs hundreds of dollars to join. The $47,000 of funds for fiscal year 2012 followed his 2011 fiscal-year sponsorship of $25,000. (search under budgets below)
Van Bramer said the funds were for fixing the perimeter of Sunnyside Gardens Park. He did not rule out allocating funds to the private park in fiscal year 2013. “I would have to see their proposal.”
Schools
Van Bramer has pushed hard for the addition of new classrooms and schools given the overcrowding problem throughout Sunnyside and Woodside. He has been a strong advocate for the construction of a new elementary school between 43rd and 44th Streets (btw Queens Blvd and 47th Ave.). The plans are 80% complete, he said, and it has a scheduled opening date of September 2014.
Additionally, there have been a series of discussions that are likely to lead to the construction of new buildings at PS 11 in Woodside, which is located at 54-25 Skillman Ave. However, there is also the possibility that those plans are shelved in favor of acquiring new land nearby– to construct a new school, Van Bramer said.
Van Bramer was also able to ensure that the PS 150 after-school program (43rd Ave, btw 41st and 42nd) remained funded—by restoring funds that had initially been taken out of the budget.
Libraries
Van Bramer was able to secure funding last year for the creation of a $125,000 teen reading room at the Woodside library. Meanwhile, the Sunnyside Library, which reopened in January 2010 following an extensive renovation, continues to have Saturday service—one of the few Queens branch libraries to do so.
Van Bramer attributes theses successes, in part, to his leadership role in restoring $130 million for cultural institutions and libraries, which also saved jobs throughout the borough.
He was also able to draw on his 10 years of experience as the chief external affairs officer of the Queens Public Library—prior to being a councilman.
Rezoning
The city council also rezoned a 130-block section of Sunnyside and Woodside in 2011, following an 18 month community consultation period. Van Bramer, who held a number of public meetings on the proposal, said he was pleased by the results since it “prevented out-of-character developments in our neighborhood, while allowing for some increases [on Queens Blvd] – but nothing that would render it unrecognizable.”
However, Van Bramer argues that developers are often able to run roughshod over prevailing city zoning code and the wishes of local community boards by obtaining a variance from the New York Board of Standards and Appeals, a city agency. He plans to introduce legislation to stifle this practice.
Quality of Life issues
Van Bramer implemented a $30,000 an anti-graffiti program in 2010, where certain streets are cleaned on a monthly basis by a city contractor. The streets and avenues include Broadway, Skillman Ave., Roosevelt Ave., Woodside Ave., and 48th Avenue. In 2010, 43rd and 47th Avenues were added. Sunnyside’s business improvement group, Sunnyside Shines, is in charge of cleaning Greenpoint Ave. and Queens Blvd.
But nagging problems such as the shortage of neighborhood parking remain. Some changes were made to the shopping district. For example, 60 of the 150 muni-meter spaces underneath the 7 train were converted from 12-hour parking zones to four-hour maximums. The idea was to reduce commuters driving to Sunnyside to take the 7 train to work each day.
The number 7 train continues to be a problem, one in which Van Bramer gets a lot of constituent calls on. Recently he held a public hearing on the 11-weekends the service will be down between Queens Borough Plaza and Times Square stations.
This week he proposed allocating $250,000 of discretionary funds for a shuttle bus from Vernon Blvd directly to Grand Central via the Midtown tunnel that would have run on those weekends.
The MTA rejected his plan arguing that it would not be any quicker, according to published reports. LIC residents currently have to take shuttle buses to, say, Queensboro Plaza and take the N train.
Van Bramer’s novel solution was cheered on by the press and met with universal applause by constituents.
The police are looking for a Woodside man who broke into his ex-girlfriend’s Astoria apartment Sunday, and threatening to kill the woman and her son with a meat cleaver, cops say.
The police are seeking the public’s help to find the suspected perpetrator, who has been identified as Damion Jackson (pictured here).
Jackson broke into the 24th Ave. and 31st St. apartment by smashing the fire escape window with a brick, according to police. They describe 41-year-old Jackson, as a 6-foot-2, 220-pound black male with brown eyes.
The former couple has a history of domestic disputes where the police have been called in.
Police ask anyone with information to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers tipline at (800)577-TIPS.
The manager of Dee Thai celebrated Chinese New Year outside the 46-17 Queens Blvd restaurant yesterday.
Kanruthai Makmuang, who is from Bangkok, celebrated the event on Sunday despite it officially taking place today. She argued that the holiday took place on Sunday (New York time), which was Monday in Asia.
Makmuang, known by most as Oh, has a Chinese mother and Thai father.
You’ll be transported to a New York of a different era upon entering Dazies, the 40-year-old Italian restaurant in Sunnyside.
Owned by Lily Gavin, the Queens restaurant has a romantic vibe that isn’t easily found at many NYC restaurants these days.
For the rest click here.
Amy Stephenson
Hometown girl Amy Stephenson is on Jeopardy tonight at 7pm on ABC. For more details, click on Jeopardy, scroll down and see her profile.
So far, Stephenson has won $32,799. On Tuesday, she scored $18,400 and hung on with $14,399 on Wednesday.
Queens Blvd (btw. 41-42nd Streets)
Daily News
The lines always extend out the door at Salt & Fat and for good reason.
Since its grand opening last March, the restaurant, located off the 40th St. station on the 7 line, has garnered attention from food lovers and Sunnyside residents for its globally-influenced new American dishes.
Despite a growing citywide following — Salt & Fat was chosen by Michelin for its 2012 Bib Gourmand list — chef and owner Daniel Yi still considers Salt & Fat to be a neighborhood joint.
“It’s still going really well. We built up a big regular clientele and the neighborhood has received us well,” says Yi.
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Neal Gillen recalls when mostly Irish-American families inhabited the area where he was born and raised. Woodside, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, had Irish-owned bars and pubs on nearly every corner.
While a number of those old watering holes remain, the bar culture in Queens has changed, as has the ethnic diversity of the area, Gillen says.
In his eighth novel, “Lonely No More,” released last November, the Potomac resident brings to life Kevin Conroy, an ex-NYPD officer who frequents those old haunts all too much before a wake-up call from an attractive woman urges him to get a grip on his alcoholism.
For the rest click here
Restaurant Azteca, 47-16 Greenpoint Ave.
The police department is trying to shut down a Greenpoint Ave. restaurant following a shooting that took place outside it in December, said Captain Donald Powers, the commanding officer of the 108 precinct.
The shooting occurred outside Restaurant Azteca, a Mexican restaurant located at 47-16 Greenpoint Ave., shortly after two men got into an argument inside the eatery. Eladio Espejo, a 26-year-old Hispanic man, shot the victim several times in the arm and thighs before fleeing. The victim survived the incident.
While Espejo was arrested last week, the police department has filed a nuisance summons against the restaurant to shut it down. Last year, the precinct filed nine summonses against various establishments. Six of the nine establishments were shut down either temporarily or permanently.
The department has had several problems with Restaurant Azteca. “This is establishment was known to us before the shooting,” Powers said.
Eladio Espejo
