The Blue Book you are holding (or the online edition you are viewing) is the most comprehensive guide ever prepared about our Borough of more than two million people who call Queens their home — the most ethnically diverse group anywhere on earth.

At the Trib, we have — for more than 32 years — chronicled the lives of the people of Queens and tried our best to bring some order to the hodgepodge of County and City government, civic and cultural officialdom. We’ve tried to help the people who live here cope with Queens.

“Our Official Guide To Queens” was born more than a decade ago and has become a working annual reference book for all who have occasion to navigate through Queens and its information, bureaucracy and life.

We believe it to be indispensable to anyone living in, doing business in, researching or even passing through Queens, New York. We keep a copy of The Queens Blue Book next to our desk at home and one in the office. We use it as a regular phone directory to everything Queens, an elected-officials-names spell checker, an atlas (for school districts, community boards, legislative districts and much more), an emergency contact guide and a mini-encyclopedia/history fact checker. It provides us with tidbits for our column: statistics, neighborhood names, etc. It provides you with contact information for all the resources to unjangle your chaos, soothe your soul, enrich your mind and get you where you want to go.

You now hold in your hand (or on your computer monitor) the “Official Guide To Queens 2002.” But that is just the beginning. At the end of this year, we will publish the “First UnOfficial Guide to Queens.” It will share with you some of the less common and less official aspects of our borough. You’ll also want to keep this one by your desk or your bed. It’ll keep you informed, chuckling and give you part of Queens’ other side. As you are viewing this Blue Book, we at the Tribune are compiling its companion edition.

If you have any thoughts, ideas or contributions for our companion “UnOfficial Guide to Queens” please email them to me at the address below. If you’ve yet to enter modern civilization, the Tribune’s snail mail address can be found on a nearby page (page 10 to be exact).

Hundreds of people have contributed to this, the Queens Blue Book. This Official Guide is the culmination of the work of Tribune staff members over a 12-year period. We’ve seen it improve, evolve and grow. Through the years, each editor, art director, designer, photographer, writer, compiler even salesperson and office staff member brought to the effort their own uniqueness and perceptions. Then our talented editor – with a little help from me – twists and tweaks it to make it more understandable, easy to use and – we hope – an invaluable reference manual to our home, Queens.

It’s been imitated — by many — but never equaled.

Mike Nussbaum, our associate publisher who has been around the Queens scene for almost ever, has commented on the several imitation versions others have produced. He reminds us that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The fact that several smaller Queens papers now publish their own form of guides is a tribute to our vision and ideas. Now a number of papers throughout the City and State have also followed our lead.

The Tribune has pioneered much more than just the Official Guide concept. In addition to our annual bound and glossy covered favorites “The Best of Queens” and our historic “Anniversary Edition,” community journalism on the east coast saw its first four-color pages in 1988 in the Trib. The glossy covers first appeared way back in in 1990; our website appeared some seven years ago and was followed by an “e-mall,” Queens’ first online shopping portal. We‘re not stopping now. This year’s offering of the “UnOfficial Guide to Queens,” we hope will have as great an impact as some of our previous contributions.

In this year’s Official Guide, like last, Tamara Hartman, our unheralded editor, has outdone our previous efforts. She started early, being born a Queens journalist thirty plus years ago (yup, she’s that old). Her mom, a journalist, raised her on ink and newsprint. Tamara, who is in her ninth year as a community newspaper journalist, graduated from Queens College where she also recently taught journalism. She has had every phone number, every fact and every comma checked and double-checked. Still, we are certain that our readers will find something less than perfect.

Please let us know. We want to print corrections, correct our online edition and update our files for next year’s Blue Book. You can send suggestions, comments or corrections to: bluebook@queenstribune.com, or fax or mail them to us at the Tribune.

The production and art effort of getting the words and pictures to you in an attractive readable form was spearheaded by Trib art director, Lianne Procanyn whose relationship with the Trib began some 15 years ago. Lianne, a Queens native, has been restyling, developing and perfecting her skill and our look. She has done battle with a pre-press department in an attempt to electronically transmit all pages and master the fingertip tabs explained on page 7.

The sales staff, under the direction of Lew Galati, has outdone previous efforts. The book that you are holding is the largest Official Guide we’ve ever published. The advertising revenue has surpassed all previous highs. In a time when the naysayers are crying economic downturn and advertising slump, the Tribune sales staff has demonstrated that when you offer a product of value to a knowledgeable marketplace, common sense and judgment prevail. The Queens marketplace is alive, well and prospering. The Tribune is proud to publish its paper of record.

Of course there are many, many others who contributed to this year’s effort: editorial, art, sales, classifieds and office staffs have all undergone a bit more stress and for the most part offered to do a bit more than usual; our readers who throughout the year emailed, faxed and mailed us advice, omissions and errors; and our advertisers loyally support this annual effort because they believe in the Trib and they believe in Queens.

To all of you, thanx!