| 1999
Queens College officials announced plans to open an elementary school on
the Flushing campus…Fur flew in Long Island City when a non-profit
group turned a house into an animal
shelter, starting with 100 cats…Embattled former School Board
28 President Lynn Gross
passed away....
|
Caldor shut its doors in Queens in 1999,
leaving the borough with
one fewer chain.
|
Former Tribune reporter Kendra
Webdale was killed by a schizophrenic who pushed her beneath the
wheels of an oncoming Manhattan subway train...New York Hospital Queens
played a tug of war with Jamaica Hospital for control of the bankrupt Flushing
Hospital. Jamaica eventually won…Folks from southern Queens
protested the proposed “Train
to the Plane” over the Van Wyck....
RKO Keith’s owner Tommy
Huang stayed out of the slammer by cutting a sweetheart deal with
state prosecutors...The US Supreme Court refused to hear arguments
regarding new zoning laws that forced the shutdown of most “XXX-rated”
clubs in Queens…Local activists balked at the construction of a hockey
rink and bike path in Little Bay Park....
Caldor
called it quits in Queens…Con
Ed sold its two Queens power plants….
Goldfingers
lost its Midas touch in February when officials shut down the
“adult” club...Residents blew sky high when the Port Authority
announced plans to increase flights in and out of JFK International and LaGuardia
Airports.…
Federal Aviation officials announced
plans (though sketchy) to transport the reconstructed remains of TWA
Flight 800 to Queens, where aeronautics students could probe the
doomed jet as part of their studies.…
The first driver arrested in Rudy
Giuliani’s crackdown on drunk driving was a Queens man –
Francisco Almonte – who had his car impounded.…
The Queens
Supreme Court building on Sutphin Boulevard in Jamaica turned 60 in March…The Trib
reported that senior Borough Hall administrator Barry Grodenchik’s
brother is Max Grodenchik,
the man behind “Rom” on Star Trek’s “Deep Space
Nine”….
|
The Tribune
reported on March 11 that this “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” alien
had a very close connection to Queens Borough Hall.
|
The Tribune published photos of missing
kids from Queens in April, along with numbers to report sitings,
tips on how to safeguard kids and short synopses of the featured
youngsters... Queens’ civics gathered to protest a City plan to
“rearrange” truck routes
in the borough….
Silvercup
Studios began a $20 million renovation on a building in Long Island City where
sound stages will host TV, movie and commercial productions…The First
Central Savings Bank opened its doors in Queens – the first
newly chartered bank to open in 10 years… Queens Board of Education
member Teri Thomson
fought for kids in Queens and won, securing 35,084 new seats at a price
of $1.05 billion….
The annual Queens Festival was cancelled in May, the first time in 21 years
the two-day celebration didn’t fill Flushing Meadows-Corona Park… New
York Hospital Queens broke ground on a $72 million modernization
project at the Flushing facility…A Flushing man made the Guinness
Book of Records in May for owning the world’s largest coin
collection…A Trib story looked into the “roadside
monuments” that dot the borough’s streets and intersections
– memorials paying homage to people who were killed in traffic
accidents and by hit-run drivers.…
The Tribune exposed a Con
Ed cover-up involving the utility’s failure to clear PCBs from
the borough’s air…Federal officials announced plans for the
development of a state-of-the-art FDNY training facility at Fort
Totten…Jamaica Loew’s Valencia
theater was landmarked....
Borough President Claire Shulman
announced plans for the expansion of the Queens Museum –
right into the borough’s only “real” skating rink….
State Senator
Leonard Stavisky, 73, passed away after suffering a stroke…Fort Totten
was – at long last – landmarked...Construction crews began work on
dormitories at Touro College
in Kew Gardens Hills… Mike
Piazza thrilled Mets fans with a 24-game hitting streak…
Temperatures soared into triple digits on Mother’s Day causing
sporadic blackouts, and part of the roadway on the Van Wyck buckled
beneath the heat…Members of the Elks Lodge sold their “homestead’ on Queens Boulevard....
|
The Tribune
rattled the borough on Dec. 3 with its in-depth look at domestic
violence, an issue that came to light
after the cold-blooded murder
of a
Queens woman.
|
The Tribune reported that sponsors
were hosting thousands of people at “pool parties” at the Forest
Hills Country Club – bashes that broke up at 4 a.m., sending
neighbors into a spin. The story led to City officials stopping the
raucous parties….
First Lady
Hillary Clinton brought her “Listening Tour” to Queens as a precursor
to her campaign for a possible New York Senate seat…The Trib
entered the underworld of prostitution
in Queens during a one-on-one interview with “Nikki,” a lady of the
night…a Queens woman
startled police, paramedics and onlookers when she walked out from
beneath the wheels of a subway car, unhurt....
A Trib feature unmasked the
dangers of asbestos cleanup
efforts at city schools…The Trib visited with St. John’s University students who moved into new dorms at the
university....
Three Queens residents died and at least
nine were hospital after a form of the life-threatening disease Encephalitis
spread through the borough. The carriers? Mosquitoes….
Chants of “You Gotta Believe!” filled
the skies over Shea Stadium in the fall as the Mets made a run for the World Series. Their hopes were cut short by
the Braves, however, ending dreams of a Subway Series….
Six Queens schools faced state takeover when tests revealed
phenomenally low scores in math and reading…The “XXX” adult club “Wiggles”
gyrated back onto Queens Boulevard after waging war with City officials
who shot the place down….
The Ramada Inn at JFK became a place of
sadness as relatives of the doomed EgyptAir
Flight 990 gathered there to wait for word on loved ones. No one
survived when the plane crashed….
The Flushing Remonstrance went on display in the Flushing Library in
November. The circa 1650 document signifies religious freedom in the U.S…Glendale
resident Nicole Barrett
fell to the blows of a homeless man who bashed the 27-year-old Texas
native on the head with a brick – revenge for a day of “poor
revenue” at his panhandling. The cops eventually caught the culprit
while Barrett recuperated….
Domestic
Violence took a front seat in Queens – and in a Trib feature, after a
Jackson Heights woman was shot down in cold blood by a spurned
lover…The Trib broke the news about police plans for
enforcement of the upcoming millennium
madness....
The Trib probed the condition of
school bus safety in Queens after a second youngster this year
was mowed down by a bus…A transit strike loomed over millennium celebrations and daily
straphanger trips. Eventually, workers accepted a last minute offer from
the MTA to avoid the work stoppage…Queens’
teachers were caught red-handed, helping kids to pass tests
required by the state….
The City survived the premonitions of Y2K
– New Year’s went off without any doom or gloom.
|
