The new year began auspiciously enough for Queens’ top elected official, Borough President Donald Manes, who was sworn in for an unprecedented fourth term – and then rushed to the hospital hours later for an emergency appendectomy. It was a harbinger of a year full of ups and downs for the county’s chief executive.... A cold front stormed the area, and an elderly Briarwood couple was found frozen to death in its Lander Street home....The subway was in the news as the MTA announced plans to shut down the IRT No. 7 line from Times Square to Long Island City between midnight and 5 a.m. Night workers were up in arms....Meanwhile, construction started on a new subway line connecting the 63rd Street line in Manhattan with the Archer Avenue line in Jamaica. The cost? Only $327 million....

February was a cold month, and one that was distinguished by a pair of ongoing controversies: A proposed new shopping mall in the Rego Park area met with stiff opposition from residents and local merchants, who claimed that the congestion and lost business would hurt the community. It was the start of a long, drawn-out battle, paralleled by a similar dispute over a proposed new mall in Flushing.... Community residents also rose up against a proposed $200,000 salt dome for the southeastern end of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Those advocating the plan claimed it would enable the Department of Sanitation to have easier access to salt in the bad weather; those opposed to it claimed that the mineral would ruin the ecology of the park area....The New York Landmarks Conservancy began looking into saving the well-known RKO Keith’s Theater on Northern Boulevard in Flushing.... 

The threat of radioactive nuclear waste in the borough was alive in 1982.

March certainly came in like a lion as 2,400 employees at Long Island Jewish-Hillside Medical Center walked off their jobs and began the longest, most significant strike of the year for the Queens area.... Plans for a $100 million office building, to be known as One Thomson Place, were announced. The building would occupy the deserted American Chicle Company facilities in Long Island City.... Benny Goodman came to Queens, for a performance at Colden Auditorium....A local fellow by the name of Mario Cuomo  announced that he was running for governor.... Three buildings at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center were proposed for use as part of a prison facility for parole violators, sending local residents into an uproar.... Queens Democratic groups threw their support behind Mario Cuomo, as an upset against favorite Ed Koch was in the making....In June, the prison plan proposed for Creedmoor was abandoned, in light of strong community pressure against it.... Politically, Tom Santucci, son of Queens D.A. John Santucci, made a last-minute entrance into the race for the 15th State Senate District.... Meanwhile, State Senator Carol Berman declined to run as the incumbent in her district, which had been severely altered due to redistricting.... Life in the borough got warmer during July, and not just the temperature. Politicians spent most of the month shuffling their election plans, as the lengthy reapportionment process came to a conclusion. As a result, a new congressional seat was added to Flushing. State Senator Gary Ackerman announced that he would run for the seat, but withdrew from the race to allow incumbent Congressman James Scheuer to move in. Redistricting had ousted Scheuer from his old seat.... Also on the political front, community activist Nettie Mayersohn announced that she would run against incumbent Assemblyman David Cohen, against the wishes of the County Democratic Organization.... Things really got hot after the feds announced a recommendation to sell all but 11 acres of surplus land at Fort Totten. Community groups were outraged....

August started off with 28 merchants from 25 stores, mostly in Flushing and Forest Hills, being charged with grand larceny for participating in a stolen credit card ring. At the same time, seven cops from the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst were suspended after being charged with accepting bribes.... Borough President Donald Manes was angry about a shipment of nuclear reactor fuel that passed through Queens on its way to LILCO’s Shoreham nuclear plant.... Later in the month, a series of exclusive Tribune articles exposed some questionable practices in the organization of a charity rock concert and benefit at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium. As a result of the Tribune investigation, the Department of State reviewed financial arrangements for the event.... North Shore residents started their losing battle against two new theaters in Douglaston and Fresh Meadows.... American Bakeries Inc. canceled plans for a $7 million move of its corporate headquarters to Flushing. The company’s Taystee Bread factory in College Point remained in operation....

Democrats swept Queens, led by local boy Mario Cuomo. The election left no Republicans representing Queens in the Assembly, or in districted city council seats.