Queens
ALMANC

Peter Noone and Herman's Hermits play a concert at the Queensborough Performing Arts Center, one of the many prime cultural institutions in Queens. Photo by Ira Cohen

The Queens Almanac informs and updates our readers on the essentials of our borough. With interesting facts and information, the following is a compilation from the Queens Chamber of Commerce and other sources on the basic facts of Queens.

AREA:
Physically located on Long Island, Queens' land area is 112.1 square miles (71,780 acres), 34.8 percent of the city's area and is the largest borough of New York City.

ASSESSED VALUATION:
2000-2001 assessed valuation was $14.4 billion for ordinary (commercial, residential and industrial) properties and $1.6 billion for utility and special franchise properties.

AVIATION:
John F. Kennedy International Airport (4,930 acres) and LaGuardia Airport (680 acres) provide more than 329,000 direct and indirect jobs and contribute $41 billion in economic activity, making aviation one of the borough's top industries. In the last year-to-date summary from the Port Authority, compiled in November 2008, there were a total of 47,716,941 passengers at JFK and 25,810,603 at LaGuardia.

BANKS:
More than 560 bank branches are located in Queens, with many different changing hands and renaming throughout the last year.

BRIDGES:
Throgs Neck and Bronx-Whitestone bridges connect with the Bronx; Hell Gate Bridge carries New York Connecting Railroad to the Bronx via Wards and Randalls Islands; Triborough Bridge connects with Bronx and Manhattan; Roosevelt Island Bridge connects Long Island City and Roosevelt Island; Queensboro Bridge to 59th Street, Manhattan; Greenpoint Avenue, Kosciusko, Meeker Avenue and Pulaski bridges connect Long Island City and Brooklyn; Grand Avenue Bridge from Maspeth to Brooklyn; Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge links the Rockaways with Brooklyn; Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge connects the Rockaways with Broad Channel; Joseph P. Addabbo Memorial Bridge connects Howard Beach to Broad Channel; Hook Creek Bridge to Nassau County.

EDUCATION:
There are 304 public schools with 224 private schools that educate 42,646 students. Also, there are 10 colleges and universities with campuses in Queens, with total enrollment of more than 65,000 students.

ELECTRICITY:
Con Edison provides electricity to residential and commercial customers with 6,936 miles of overhead wire and 24,759 miles of underground cable through 717,689 meters in all areas of Queens except for the Rockaways, where 23,718 meters are served by National Grid.

A new bike rack near Austin Street and 71st Avenue in Forest Hills is just one to be installed throughout the borough to encourage a reduction in vehicle traffic. Photo by Ira Cohen

GAS:
Con Edison provides gas through 808 miles of mains to about 200,000 meters in sections of Queens. In other areas, including the Rockaways, KeySpan Energy Delivery furnishes gas to 362,653 meters through 1,442 miles of mains.

HIGHWAYS:
34.6 miles of parkways include Grand Central, Jackie Robinson (formerly Interboro) and Belt Parkways (comprised of Cross Island, Laurelton, Shore and Southern Parkways). 41.1 miles of interstate highways include Brooklyn-Queens, Clearview, Long Island, Nassau, Van Wyck and Whitestone Expressways.

HOMES:
Queens is the city's "home-owner borough" with 42.8 percent, taken from the 2000 Census, owning their own house. About 30 percent of the total population, about 660,000 people, live in a single-family home.

HOSPITALS:
Queens is home to more than 20 medical facilities and four psychiatric hospitals.

LIBRARIES:
The Queens Borough Public Library, with a central library in Jamaica and 63 branches, had a record number of 21,033,861 items circulated in FY 2007.

PARKS:
New York City parks total more than 28,000 acres, with 614 ball fields and 991 playgrounds. Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens ranks as the third largest city park with 1,255 acres.

POPULATION:
The most recent Census data from 2006 lists Queens at a population of 2,255,175. This is a 1.2 percent increase from April 1, 2000.

RAILROADS:
Over 700 miles of Long Island Rail Road tracks with 124 stations in Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Nassau and Suffolk, and 26 stations in Queens. New York Connecting Railroad freight and passenger branches link Queens and Long Island to the North American mainland, via Hell Gate Bridge. Sunnyside Yards provides storage for Amtrak and New Jersey Transit.

RELIGION:
With more than 1,500 places of worship listed atQueenschurches.org, Queens is home to 109 Baptist churches, 102 Catholic churches, 57 Lutheran churches, according to its listings. It is also home to about 96 synagogues, 36 Hindu temples, 18 mosques and 12 Buddhist temples.

Fans file in for the last game at Shea Stadium, with the ever-growing Citi Field present and expected to be ready for opening day this year. Photo by Ira Cohen

MUSEUMS
Over 20 major art, science, cultural and historical museums are located in Queens, including the Queens Museum of Art, the New York Hall of Science, the Queens Zoo and the Queens Botanical Garden.

TRANSIT:
In New York City there are 2,058 route miles of train track, 2,967 route miles of bus lines, and 734 rail and subway stations. The average weekday ridership is 7,785,175.

TUNNELS:
Queens-Midtown Tunnel connects to 38th Street, Manhattan. Also linking Queens to Manhattan are four Long Island Rail Road tunnels to 34th Street (Penn Station) and subway tunnels to 42nd Street, 53rd Street, 60th Street and 63rd Street.

WATER SUPPLY:
New York City's water supply comes from reservoirs in the Catskill Mountains. A number of city-owned wells supplement the supply in southeast Queens.

WATERFRONT:
Queens has 196 miles of waterfront on Little Neck Bay, the East River, Flushing Bay, Newtown Creek, Jamaica Bay, Head of Bay Basin, Hook Creek and the Atlantic Ocean. There are nearly 10 miles of beaches in the Rockaways.

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