Category Archives: Richmond Hill
Construction will begin later this year in a Richmond Hill playground that will see a number of new additions added just in time for the summer season. Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) announced that London Planetree Playground, which is on Atlantic and 95th avenues between 88th and 89th streets in Richmond Hill, will get $1.7 million in funding from the City Council and the Queens Borough President. According to Ulrich and a spokesperson from the New York City Department of … Continue reading
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
Click here to flip through The Forum’s first Bridal Guide in its entirety. Back in the day, the father-daughter dance at a wedding had a bit more concrete meaning than it does today. Then, the festivities would begin with the father leading his daughter out onto the dance floor. At some point in the intricate dance, the father would pass his daughter off to her new husband, who would dance her away. The pass symbolized the father’s acceptance of the … Continue reading
Community Board 6 announced their capital and expense budget for 2013 at their monthly meeting on Feb. 8, which aims at saving a local school program that could disappear at the end of the 2011-12 school year. Each year, the board must put together a list of 10 local items that they believe need additional funding for the 2013 fiscal year. The board submits this list to the state government. This year, the board put more funding for the Beacon … 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
The vote to change two streets in Ozone Park and Woodhaven will have to wait until at least March in order to be resolved. Originally scheduled to take place at the Feb.14 Community Board 9 meeting—which covers both neighborhoods—Community Board 9 officials confirmed that the vote has been pushed back until March in order to accommodate residents who live in Woodhaven and Ozone Park. The February vote, which was to be held at Kew Gardens, was rescheduled to be held … 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
There would be no layoffs of uniformed workers or teachers and no tax increases to balance the budget for next fiscal year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Thursday,Feb. 2, when he laid out his fiscal plan for 2013 and beyond. However, Bloomberg’s $68.7 billion preliminary budget for the upcoming fiscal yearwill exhaust the last of New York City’s reserves to close a $2 billion deficit and face a new challenge. For the first time, Bloomberg said, pension and fringe benefits … Continue reading
The plans to turn a 3.5-mile abandoned rail line in Queens into a greenway have taken a detour, with some officials envisioning trains running down the long-dormant rail line once more. State Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder is one of several people that have recently proposed the idea of reactivating the abandoned Rockaway Beach branch of the Long Island Rail Road line, which was shut down in 1962. Goldfeder represents the 23rd District encompassing Ozone Park, Lindenwood, Howard Beach, Broad Channel and … Continue reading
If a city plan goes through later this year, a number of Queens-based high schools could have their teacher staffs cut in half in time for the 2012-13 school year. After the Jan.1 deadline passed for the city and the teacher’s union to agree on teacher evaluations, the city proposed a turnaround plan, which would see grant money come to the 33 schools on the Persistently Lowest Achieving list (PLA) but would also include cutting up to 50 percent of … Continue reading
Two weeks before a scheduled vote on two proposed street changes affecting Woodhaven and Richmond Hill, a crowd of angry residents let city Department of Transportation officials know that they were against any such changes. While roughly a dozen of the more than 70 residents who attended the informational hearing Feb. 1 in Ozone Park on the proposed traffic changes to two streets in the area were from Richmond Hill, an overwhelming majority of the people were Woodhaven residents, as … Continue reading
The husband who allegedly stabbed his wife in the neck in front of her three children in Richmond Hill this month could get life in prison if he is convicted of second-degree murder. Police said 37-year-old Oscar Novakovsky allegedly told them at the scene of the crime “ . . . The kids were screaming. The kids were trying to pull me off and were crying,” a statement from District Attorney Richard Brown’s office said. According to the charges against … Continue reading
Gathering on a busy corner street in Richmond Hill Tuesday, local legislators announced that a new bill, if passed, will mean the city will begin to crack down on individuals illegally dumping into public trash containers in Queens. On Tuesday, City Council members Peter Vallone, Jr, Eric Ulrich and Karen Kozlowitz introduced legislation that will increase fines on those caught dumping household or commercial waste in public trash containers. Noting that she, Ulrich and Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley had put in … Continue reading
Parents that live in the Community Education Council (CEC) District 27 will have one last chance to voice their opinions and concerns on the controversial middle school choice proposal. The District 27 President’s Council will host a presentation of the middle school choice proposal on Monday, Feb. 6 at P.S 65 in Ozone Park at 6 p.m. The Department of Education’s (DOE) Division of Portfolio Planning will put on the presentation for parents that attend the meeting. Since it was … Continue reading
Gov. Andrew Cuomo brought his agenda to Queens in January when he reviewed a previous speech in Albany pushing his $25 billion economic development package including the Ozone Park convention center. He spoke to a packed house at Queens College on Thursday, Jan.19, but not everyone was happy to hear it. One protester stood up in the middle of Cuomo’s speech and started yelling. She identified herself as a teacher aligned with the Occupy movement and shouted “Mic Check” as … Continue reading