Category Archives: Feature
Click here to flip through The Forum’s first Bridal Guide in its entirety. We’ve all heard the stories. Love at first sight. High school sweethearts reunited years later. They accidentally collided on the street and instantly knew. But seriously? Are people just making this stuff up, or does this happen to real people? How does any bride really know she’s found the one for her? Some brides know instantly. Others have to be convinced over years. Marisa Ricciardi knew Kevin … Continue reading
Calvin Covington was driving a bus full of sixth-graders home from Intermediate School 77 on Thursday afternoon in Ridgewood when he smelled smoke. He passed Eliot Avenue on Fresh Pond Road around 3:15 p.m. and dismissed the scent as coming from the gas station at the intersection. After another mile, he still smelled the smoke and then the acrid odor of wires burning. He pulled over as soon as he could at 74th Street and 58th Avenue in Maspeth and … Continue reading
When 81-year-old Eleanor Polgar was getting off the Q59 bus on Grand Avenue in Maspeth she stepped onto a sidewalk where several feet of curb was missing and inches-wide holes were torn out of it. “She almost fell in there. You get off the bus, the bus doors open and it’s right there,” her son, Richard Polgar said. “My mother almost broke her leg in there.” This was in 2010. Until last week, that sidewalk and curb sat unpatched despite … Continue reading
For most 6-year-olds, Christmas is a day to open presents and spend time with their families. Unfortunately for Colin Flood, his Christmas was spent in the hospital after learning that a flu he was battling turned out to be something much worse. On Dec. 23 of last year, Colin Flood was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, a type of cancer that produces malignant white blood cells in the blood stream and bone marrow. Now Colin needs a bone marrow transplant … Continue reading
Schools Rebuke plan to Replace Teachers: Bloomberg Wants to Close, Reopen Schools to get $58 Million
By Jeremiah Dobruck Updated below Grover Cleveland High School’s assistant principal Michelle Robertson bellowed at Mayor Michael Bloomberg. An immigrant from Barbados herself, she told the mayor about students in her English class who arrive not knowing how to speak the language—and a year later, pass the state’s English Reagents Exam. She yelled out how the largely immigrant population at her school in Ridgewood competes with specialized high schools in math and science contests. “We know our students are not … Continue reading
Renovations and an expansion of the Queens Library in Kew Gardens Hills are scheduled for November. Joanne King, director of communications for the Queens Library, said this week that the construction plans at the library, located at 72-33Vleigh Place, would be taking place in the fall, rather than in early spring, as originally scheduled. The library had initially planned to start renovations in the spring while opening a temporary library space on Main Street during the summer, with the fully … Continue reading
A new $3.5 million facility in Howard Beach, recently completed, may be the solution to relieving residents of the smell of dead fish and stagnant water that has been a problem in past years. NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) officials announced on Monday the completion of a new $3.5 million destratification facility—designed to improve water quality and curb odors—along the Shellbank Basin, a tributary of Jamaica Bay. Water stratification occurs when water masses with different properties form layers that … Continue reading
A parade of angry speakers vented at a public hearing on the state’s political redistricting plan that has riled politicians and residents who feel their communities are being split. “Your proposed maps have created an unprecedented level of resentment toward the political process and disenchantment with the status quo,” said Ali Najmi, a community organizer advocating united representation for Richmond Hill and Ozone Park. More than 100 speakers signed up to voice their opinions at Queens Borough Hall Tuesday where … Continue reading
Citing several violations dating back to 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week moved to close a Woodhaven-based cheese plant. According to a 17-page docket filed Jan. 30 at the United States Eastern District Court in Brooklyn, the FDA is looking to close down Mexicali Cheese Corporation, located on 87th Avenue in Woodhaven, in light of numerous violations, including FDA inspectors finding life threatening bacteria in the facility and unsanitary conditions during several inspections. The cheese plant … Continue reading
After just a four-month respite, a battle for the Ninth U.S. Congressional District spanning Queens and Brooklyn is starting up again. Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Richmond Hill) has formed an exploratory committee for a congressional run. He filed the required paperwork with the Federal Election Commission Tuesday. On Wednesday, Lancman was already attacking Congressman Bob Turner, who won the seat in a special election in September. “People elect a representative to go to Washington or Albany or City Hall to produce … Continue reading
One man went on a graffiti binge through Middle Village, indiscriminately marking up about two blocks with yellow spray paint on the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 31, police said. At a meeting of the civic group Communities of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together, the commanding officer of the 104th Precinct said cops don’t know what set off the painting spree, but they caught him nonetheless. “We’re still not sure what he was doing,” Capt. Michael Cody said. “He’s in custody now. … Continue reading
Rebecca Kates stood on the corner of 61st Street underneath the Brooklyn Queens Expressway holding a sign, “I am 9 years old and I don’t want to die at this intersection.” Kates, a student at P.S. 229 in Maspeth, and her mother, Michelle, are unwilling to walk through an intersection at 61st Street and Laurell Hill Boulevard that has six entrances including two from Brooklyn-Queens Expressway off ramps for a total of nine lanes. Because the Department of Education will … Continue reading
The Gibbonses are back home. In October, Eamen Gibbons’ brother, George, was killed by a drunken driver after closing his bar for the night. George had just opened the bar, Gibbons’ Home, that month before the 37-year-old’s life was tragically cut short. After a month-long manhunt and pushed back hearings, the Gibbons family is still waiting to hear what will happen to the man who allegedly hit George in a wrong-way car wreck. Right now, he’s charged with second degree … Continue reading
The puzzle pieces on the wall of what will be the new nearly $5 million, 10,000-square-foot autistic services facility at 164-14 Cross Bay Boulevard in Howard Beach are meant to be symbolic, said Andrew Baumann, CEO of nonprofit New York Families for Autistic Children (NYFAC). “Autism is a puzzle; it’s about finding the missing pieces,” he said. The Ozone Park-based nonprofit, which provides services for more than 300 families in Queens and Brooklyn, hopes to help those families find those … Continue reading
For Arno Heller, 91, of Rego Park, the road to receiving one of the highest-ranking medals awarded to a soldier was along one—one that was 68 years in the making. Heller was born in October 1920 in Hamburg, Germany, where he lived in his Jewish household with his mother, Paula, his father, Emil, and his sister, Ingrid. Life growing up was simple, with sports and school filling his youthful days. “[Hamburg] was just like any place else in the world,” … Continue reading