News

LIC building gets new art installation

webadmin on August 18, 2021

Opened in the spring of 2020, HERO LIC has quickly become a feature of the ever-growing Queens skyline. In addition to its eye-catching modern exterior, the building is also home to various interesting pieces of art.
Last week, HERO LIC revealed a new series of exclusive artwork created by celebrated UK-based abstract expressionist painter and photographer Jack Coulter. The installation will be on display in the Queens Plaza building’s lobby and lounge area.
Originally from Belfast in Northern Ireland, Coulter was born with synesthesia, a rare sensory, neurological condition that not only shapes his work, but also the way he experiences daily life. When Coulter hears sounds, he sees shapes, a phenomenon that allows him to create award-winning pieces that depict orchestral performances and popular hits
His new display at HERO LIC sees him applying this talent to some classic New York City songs, including “Empire State of Mind” by Jay Z and Alicia Keys, “Autumn in New York” by Billie Holiday, and “Back To Manhattan” by Norah Jones .
“My condition allows me to transcribe sound into visuals, which I channel into my musical paintings,” Coulter said of his new display. “I wanted to create a piece that would have a special meaning to the building, residents and the local community.”
Josh Schuster from Silverback Development, the real estate company that owns HERO LIC, discussed what the new art installation contributes to the property.
“Coulter’s artwork embodies the creative spirit of Long Island City,” said Schuster. “This collaboration allows us to complement the overall residential experience for residents in one of the most coveted neighborhoods in New York, which is further underlined by the recent milestones achieved at HERO LIC, especially in the midst of a pandemic.”

Queens Tech Council hosts first networking event

webadmin on August 18, 2021

A forecast for thunderstorms didn’t stop members of the tech community from attending the first networking event hosted by the Queens Chamber of Commerce’s new Queens Tech Council.
“I’ve built an amazing network for myself just by being at these events,” said Mo Faisal, founder and CEO of The Money Hub and FinGem and co-founder of Impact Hub New York Metropolitan Area, who attended the event at ICONYC Brewing in Long Island City. “Every small business owner, entrepreneur or anyone who prospectively wants to build something or be a leader has to go out there and talk to people.”
The Queens Tech Council launched in February with the goal of promoting the tech industry in the borough. Council members include representatives from Google, Facebook, Amazon, Pursuit, LIC Partnership, Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, Crown Castle, Cornell Tech, and The Business Incubator Association of New York State.
The council will focus on ensuring Queens is producing the talent companies look for, getting the resources and capital tech companies need, and helping businesses in traditional industries successfully integrate new technologies
“We work with local colleges and businesses who have educational opportunities, whether it’s apprenticeships, upscaling opportunities for the current workforce or anything that can bring more skilled workers into the tech industry,” said Michelle Watson, a technical specialist at the NYC Small Business Resource Network and Queens Tech Council member.
The Queens Tech Council has two working groups. The policy and government group works to highlight the tech industry’s needs to elected officials, while the investment and industry group works to secure both public and private funding.
Chamber president and CEO Tom Grech discussed some of the local tech industry’s recent accomplishments, including the rapid mass production of ventilators during the height of COVID-19 by Boyce Technologies in Long Island City. Borough President Donovan Richards highlighted the role the tech community will play in the future of the borough and, ultimately, the city.
“We want Queens to be the template for where we need to go, but we can only do that with you,” he told the crowd. “That means networking, relationships, and making sure we’re all rowing in the same direction.”
Rachel Loeb, president and CEO at New York City Economic Development Corporation, was the keynote speaker at Tuesday’s event. She said EDC and NYC Small Business Resource Network collaborated to ensure the survival and success of local small businesses during unprecedented times.
“We’ve been working together as a partnership so that we could get crucial skills when COVID hit and resources to small businesses so that they can survive, whether it be digitizing their business or just staying open,” she said.
Just last week, Loeb attended a groundbreaking ceremony for Bartlett Dairy’s new headquarters in Queens. Additionally, Hyatt Regency JFK recently celebrated its grand opening at Resorts World New York City, and JetBlue announced that its headquarters will remain in Long Island City.

Queens Tech Council hosts first networking event

webadmin on August 18, 2021

City vaccine mandate goes into effect

webadmin on August 18, 2021

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the Key to NYC vaccination mandate for indoor dining, entertainment and fitness began on August 17. Enforcement will begin, with a multi-agency coalition, on September 13.
“New York City has one mission: defeat the delta variant and build a recovery for all of us,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “The Key to NYC sends a powerful message that vaccination will unlock our city’s potential, and we’ll stop at nothing to save lives and keep New Yorkers safe.”
The city will conduct an aggressive outreach and education campaign, including a $10 million multi-platform paid media campaign. This campaign will include radio, TV, digital, social, subway live boards.
Approximately 600 canvassers will be going door to door for affected businesses with the goal of reaching every zip code in the city in the next three weeks.
Indoor entertainment venus affected include movie theaters, music and concert venues, museums and galleries, aquariums and zoos, professional sports arenas, indoor stadiums, convention centers, exhibition halls, performing arts theaters, bowling alleys, arcades, pool and billiard halls, recreational game centers, adult entertainment, and indoor play areas.
Indoor dining establishment affected by the mandate include restaurants, catering halls, hotel banquet rooms, bars, nightclubs, cafeterias, grocery stores with indoor dining, coffee shops, and fast food/quick service with indoor dining
Indoor fitness facilities affected include gyms, fitness centers, fitness classes, pools, indoor studios, and dance studios
Places excluded from this mandate include dining where food is consumed offsite or outdoors only. Businesses that choose to remove indoor seating entirely are not subject to the mandate.
Other exclusions include residential and office buildings, childcare programs, pre-K through grade 12 public and non-public schools and programs, senior centers, churches hosting Sunday potlucks or similar events, community centers, charitable food services, and catering at someone’s home
People excluded from this mandate include children under the age of 12, and anyone entering for a minimum amount of time required for a limited purpose, such as bathroom use or picking up or placing an order.
Other people not required to comply with the mandate include performing artists who do not reside in New York City and are not regularly employed by the entity, professional athletes or members of professional sports teams who do not reside in the city but enter a premises for the purpose of competing, and individuals accompanying performing artists or a sports team or professional athlete as part of their regular employment and who do not reside in New York City.
Contractors who do not reside with in the five boroughs are also excluded.
Each Key to NYC business should consider appropriate reasonable accommodations, mindful of the purposes behind this policy and public health.
There are multiple ways to show proof of vaccination. These include a photo or hard copy of a CDC vaccination card, NYC COVID Safe App, New York State Excelsior App, official vaccine record, or a photo or hard copy of an official vaccination record of a vaccine administered outside the United States.
Affected small businesses with questions can contact the Department of Small Business Services hotline at 888-SBS-4NYC (888-727-4692), 311, or go online at nyc.gov/keytonyc.
Penalties for failure to comply after September 13 start at $1,000 and can reach $5,000 for repeated violators.
“The Key to NYC will unlock many of our favorite activities,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi. “Vaccination makes every activity safer and this is a common-sense precaution to keep patrons of gyms, restaurants and indoor entertainment healthy.”

Boys & Girls Club receives $15K for STEM Program

webadmin on August 18, 2021

Thirty-nine teenagers from the Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens graduated from a summer STEM program last week in which they learned about electricity and renewable energy as part of a New York Power Authority (NYPA).
At the event, 174 Power Global presented a $15,000 check to support the program.
“The Variety Boys and Girls Club is so much more than a physical space, it’s where young minds come to grow,” said Variety CEO Costa Constantinides. “Programming like NYPA’s five-week STEM program gives kids hands-on experience with career paths and subject matter that is all around them, but not necessarily accessible.”
The middle-school students spent five weeks learning the basics of energy production and consumption through interactive and animated lesson plans. They engaged in games and hands-on learning opportunities, such as a contest to make the fastest wind turbine.
The students also investigated how different new renewable energy systems will work throughout New York State, as well as the battery storage project proposed for Astoria, which will store renwable sources of energy from upstate, and is being built by 174 Global Power.
To wrap up the program, students participated in a career panel event with subject matter experts from NYPA, 174 Power Global and Con Edison who spoke about their work and answered questions.
“Western Queens generates roughly 60 percent of the city’s power, and programs like this show our local kids opportunities to participate in the fast-growing green energy sector they may not have previously known about,” added Consantinides.
“We’re committed to supporting programs that inspire the next generation of STEM professionals,” added Henry Yun, CEO of 174 Global Power. “174 Power Global is committed to providing green economy jobs to the local community, in particular at a location that is close to our energy storage project, and this STEM program is a perfect fit with our mission of creating real change by working together.”

Join the Scouts

webadmin on August 18, 2021

Dear Editor,
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio recently visited Ten Mile River Scout Camp in upstate New York in support of scouting.
Bishop DiMarzio was a Boy Scout, and earned the title of Life Scout, the organization’s second-highest rank. I applaud the bishop for his support of scouting.
I was a Cub Scout, Boy Scout and Explorer Scout. I learned a lot about community service, charity, and patriotism.
Today, I am Grand Knight of St. Anastasia Knights of Columbus Council #5911 in Douglaston and twice a year run a Blood Drive. I do this with the help of Boy Scout Troop #153, whose help is immeasurable.
Membership in the Boy Scouts has dropped nationwide, which I find quite troubling. I urge parents to encourage their children to join the Boy Scouts. We need leaders with high ideas, and the Boy Scouts provide that.
Sincerely,
Frederick R. Bedell, Jr.
Bellerose

Let them attend

webadmin on August 18, 2021

Dear Editor,
The decision to not invite all first responders and other emergency workers to this year’s 20th Anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks is inexplicable.
Many of these people were there when the attacks occurred and they have been coming to the ceremony every single year, except in 2020 due to the pandemic. It is a veiled insult to every single first responder in our city.
All of our first responders should be allowed to attend this year’s ceremony.
Sincerely,
John Amato
Fresh Meadows

Queens celebrating its comeback with a free celebration

webadmin on August 18, 2021

The borough is open for business, and the Queens Economic Development Corporation is celebrating with Queens Comes Back!, a huge party in a unique venue with local vendors selling great food, drinks, and novelty items while artists provide top-notch entertainment.
And everybody is invited!
Kaufman Astoria Studios will host Queens Comes Back! in its Backlot on Saturday, October 9, from noon to 4 p.m. Restaurants are still signing up to participate, but this first-ever banquet has already attracted several dozen vendors of everything from main dishes to desserts to hot sauces.
Alewife Brewing, which is located in Sunnyside, will pour suds, and Jackson Heights-based QNSY Sparkling Cocktails will peddle mixed drinks in cans.
At some spots, members of Made in Queens, a QEDC program that promotes local manufacturers and crafters, will sell their products, which range from shirts to jewelry to handmade soaps and candles.
Representatives from Queensboro FC, a professional soccer team that will begin competing in 2022, will be there with uniforms, soccer balls, and other sports paraphernalia.
It’s not all dining and shopping, though. Queensboro Dance Festival members will perform throughout the day on a mini outdoor stage. A little Salsa. A touch of ballet. Some tap.
There’s no admission charge, but the organizers request that those interested register. More information is at queensny.org.

Residents celebrate anniversary of stopping shelter

webadmin on August 18, 2021

Local residents gathered outside the Holiday Inn Express in Maspeth to mark the 5th anniversary of the successful protests that stopped the city from housing the homeless at the hotel.
“They came to Maspeth and they thought they could force a shelter on us, but they had another thing coming because the people know how to fight,” one attendee told the crowd.
The rally also offered the opportunity to speak out about the city’s current homeless policies.
“That’s not what these hotels and motels were built for,” said mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa at the rally. “That’s what they should not be repurposed into.”
The Republican candidate recommended the city consider housing the homeless in commercial areas where warehouses are empty.
Attendees at the rally also called for the removal of Staeven Banks, who is commissioner of the Human Resources Adminstration/Department of Homeless Services. Banks has defended the city’s response to the homeless crisis, arguing that agencies at the state level are more to blame.
“There’s so much public focus on how the city should do more, but the state disinvestment is totally lost, we’re making up for them,” Banks said during a virtual City Council budget hearing earlier in the year. “There’s a real danger that New York state is going to continue to withdraw from providing support for the social safety net in New York City.”
Phil Wong, president of the Chinese-American Citizens Alliance, lives behind the Pan-American Hotel on Queens Boulevard, which serves as a homeless shelter for families. He said he saw children struggle to adapt to remote learning during the pandemic because of a lack of resources.
“Meanwhile, what do you see? Homeless under the LIE, in the subways and sleeping in parks,” he said. “So we are looking at outright abuse of our tax dollars. We’re talking about systems of sources that have failed for the last seven years. Steven Banks has to go.”

Sad milestone for old Avenue Diner

webadmin on August 18, 2021

Last week, I saw the following message posted by a good friend on Facebook: “Feeling a bit bummed. One year ago yesterday was an end of an era for me. Missing all of my Woodhaven family and friends; wishing you all the best!”
This was written by Paul Vasiliadis, whose Avenue Diner closed one year ago after a long struggle with COVID-19 and New York City.
There were many replies from friends and family and customers and staff. Wanda Flores, longtime waitress at the Avenue Diner, said “I miss you and Mr. Jimmy [Paul’s father] every day. You always gave your best and that is why you are so missed. Love you always.”
Former customer Wilda Melendez said: “It breaks my heart when Nadira and I walk past the diner and there is nothing there. It truly was a family diner. It was a light in our community. You and your family made it that.”
And another customer, Daisy Croke posted: “We miss you too. Woodhaven is not the same without you.”
It’s not easy to watch bad things happen to good people. And Paul and his father Jimmy and the rest of the staff of the Avenue Diner were good people who had become family to many people here in Woodhaven.
I never met a more hardworking man than Paul Vasiliadis. In over 11 years operating the diner, Paul took off a total of 30 days. That’s 30 days off out of 4,150, covering weekends and holidays and snow days.
That covers all the days he woke up, his body sore and tired, and yet he still came in day after day, making Paul Vasiliadis Woodhaven’s Iron Man.
In the early days of COVID-19, when restaurant after restaurant temporarily closed, The Avenue Diner remained open. It was a struggle, but Paul kept at it and the many customers who depended on the diner, particularly seniors, were never disappointed.
But the City of New York was relentless in their harassment of small businesses over signage and other minor issues, hitting essential businesses like the Avenue Diner with onerous fines that made it impossible in many cases to survive.
Their fines and harassment may have not closed all the businesses, but it certainly set them up to perish once COVID-19 came along. And even then, the city was unstoppable when it came to penalizing and punishing small businesses like the Avenue Diner.
Young men can ride bikes and ATVs up and down our streets, terrorizing pedestrians, but they won’t catch a fine from our city. People can defecate on Forest Parkway, and there will be no one coming along to write them tickets.
Our city doesn’t like moving targets. Hardworking people who show up to their businesses day in, day out to serve our communities are easy targets for income by our greedy and heartless city.
And so, I see Paul’s words and I am sad. But I am also angry because it didn’t need to be this way. The Avenue Diner may have been foiled by COVID, but it was the city that weakened them enough to allow that to happen. Never forget that.
On his next to last day in Woodhaven, residents, customers and friends gathered outside the eatery to let Paul and his staff and his family know how sad we were and how much we were going to miss them all.
“You were the first business I engaged with when I came here and you were so supportive. I will never forget the conversations we had, they meant so much to me,” said Raquel Olivares, executive director of the Woodhaven Business Improvement District.
Paul’s wife, Alexandra, and their three children Demetra, Andreas and Eva, and his father Jimmy were touched by the gathering of residents, many of whom were there right from the beginning.
My wife and I were blessed to be there that day, in March of 2009, when the Avenue Diner opened. It was filled with hope and optimism, they had already put in so much work just to reach opening day.
I wonder if they would have stuck with it had they known how hard it was going to be, and already I know the answer is yes. People who are successful have a special work ethic, and Paul Vasiliadis embodies that and he will succeed again.
We should have a city that supports and lifts up and rewards people like Paul. I guess this was just a long way of saying that this city stinks and I miss my friend.

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