Building Green

Queens Shows Its Green

By Ben Hogwood
Environmentally friendly development practices are steadily on the increase in both the City and across the nation, and nowhere is that more evident than at the Queens Botanical Gardens in Flushing.
The new Visitor and Administration Center, which was completed in September of 2007, is not only structurally impressive, it’s also a marvel of green practices. For each aesthetically charming angle, there’s an environmentally favorable purpose.
The structure has been designed to attain the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) “platinum” certification - the top certification in green design.
“It’s a demonstration project,” said Scott Stefan, director of marketing with the gardens. “We’re trying to show people the way of the future. We’re trying to demonstrate to architects and builders and public policy makers that there are many things you can do to mitigate global warming.”
One of its most impressive features is its ability to conserve water.
The building uses 82 percent less water than a conventional building, Stefan said. To accomplish this, it uses compost toilets in its offices; instead of using between one-and-a-half and three gallons per flush, it only uses three ounces.
The public toilets couldn’t be designed the same, as the City mandates public buildings have flush water toilets; however, the building is designed to recycle the water from faucets, the dishwasher and a shower on the property instead. The water is recycled through a system of marsh grass and gravel, and then used as flushing water.
And to reduce the amount of storm water running into the city’s sewer system, the building is equipped with a canopy that catches rain and leads it into a marsh area, where it drains into an underground tank before being distributed to a fountain and the waterway that outlines the building.
The center is also designed to be heated and cooled in an energy-efficient way. Stefan said the building uses heat exchangers, which pipe up water from an aquifer 300 feet below the location which is always at 55 degrees. In the summer, the water is piped around the building to keep it cool; in the winter, it is heated and distributed around the building, keeping energy costs low.
The list goes on: the roof of the main building is equipped with cells to harness solar power; organic waste in the offices is thrown in worm bins, which eat just about anything; and bamboo, one of nature’s most versatile and easily recyclable materials, is used readily.
“Lots of people when they see this [building] say, ‘I can’t do that in my house.’ You can’t do everything but you can do two of three things,” Stefan said. “If you multiply by everyone doing that, we will see a big drop in carbon emissions.”
Stephen Del Percio is the publisher of greenbuildingsnyc.com, a Web site that profiles green projects in the City. Del Persico ranked the botanical garden’s visitor’s center as its top project of 2007, but he said there were a number of other projects in Queens worth noting.
Many of the projects are occurring in Long Island City. Court Square Two, Citigroup’s new 528,000 square foot, 15-story building received a LEED Gold certification in October of 2007, better than the Silver rating it was seeking.
The $290 million building includes a number of green development practices such as a gray water system to cut down consumption, high-efficiency lighting, formaldehyde-free wood doors and high performance window glazing that will prevent 768 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Citigroup has also purchased wind power to provide for the building’s energy load over the next five years.
And on top of Silvercup Studios is the largest green roof built to date in the City, covering 35,000 square feet. The project grew from an initial research study conducted by Balmori Associates to determine the feasibility of creating a network of green roofs in Long Island City. This area has a great number of flat-roofed, low buildings ideal for extensive green roofs, according to a press release from Balmori.
“Our goal was to bring this sustainable technology to Long Island City to help alleviate some of the severe health problems, such as high asthma rates, found there,” it states.
Mark Thomann, design director with Balmori Associates, said Long Island City was the perfect location to serve as a testing ground for green roofs.
“It is feasible that Long Island City could be an experimental zone … where developers, planners, government agencies, landscape architects, architects and community advocates came together to promote a vision,” he said.
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Major Airports

Airports Mean Business For Queens Economy

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By Noah C. Zuss
While major development projects will change the face of Queens and provide a future base for the economy, current business hums along at the borough’s airports.
Both John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport are incredibly important to the economy of Queens and New York City more broadly. Each facility is vitally valuable, and both provide major revenue streams to the borough as business centers and major employers.
The airports serve as air travel centers for voyagers in the New York metropolitan region, coming to and from other U.S. cities and international destinations. In addition to travel, the airports also provide ready-made commercial centers for the hospitality and trade industry. Major cargo movers, hotels, even aerospace and technology companies sprout up near the airports, looking to take advantage of intellectual capital and a highly skilled workforce.
The eldest and first major modern airport constructed in Queens was LaGuardia Airport, named after former New York City Mayor, Fiorello LaGuardia.
LaGuardia is smaller than its counterpart JFK, and most flights out are destined for other U.S. cities.
The airports taken together are major contributors to the economy of Queens, and are inherently important to the overall business of New York.
The New York City airport system is the largest in the United States and processed an estimated 111 million travelers in 2007 – second only to London in the world in terms of passenger traffic. In the same period LaGuardia handled 25.3 million passengers and JFK handled 47.8 million passengers.
While LaGuardia tends to handle more domestic flights, JFK has made its mark for international commercial and passenger business, and contributes tens of millions to the Queens economy every year.
As international a city as New York is, Queens and JFK International serve as the gateway to the rest of the country for overseas visitors.
It also is the destination for travel from the U.S. to many international locations overseas. JFK accounted for 17 percent of outbound international travel of all U.S. travelers who went overseas in 2004, the largest portion of any U.S. airport in the country. In 2000 JFK averaged almost 50,000 international-flight passengers each day, and the JFK to London Heathrow trip is the top U.S. international airport route, transporting over 2.9 million passengers each year.
The airport is also the jump-off point for several other top international destinations, including Paris, Frankfurt, and Tokyo with nearly 100 airlines from over 50 countries operating regularly scheduled flights from JFK.
Although JFK is most known for its traditional position as the international gateway airport in the United States, it also handles a large number of domestic flights, which contribute even more dollars to the U.S. economy.
JFK is hugely important for commercial flights as well and is the country’s busiest international air freight center as determined by the value of shipments, and second busiest overall by value including all air, land and sea U.S. freight. Over one fifth of all U.S. international air freight by value and 11% by tonnage moved through JFK in 2003.
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Healthcare Industry

Healthcare Thriving, Hospitals Struggling

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By Michael Lanza
With more than 100,000 employees and nearly three-quarters a billion dollars contributed to the borough annually, it’s no wonder that health care is the second largest economic sector in Queens.
Queens is home to 13 major hospitals and countless physicians, nurses and other health care specialists.
The health care industry contributed nearly $746 million in wages to the Queens economy in 2004, growing by 6.2 percent, according to a report by the Office of the State Deputy Comptroller for the City of New York.
The industry has some of the highest and fastest growing wages in the City. The average salary sector-wide amounted to $38,000, including an average of $60,532 at doctor’s offices and $52,578 at hospitals. Individual and family social services, outpatient care and hospitals led in job growth in 2004, while medical labs and residential care job growth declined.
The Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens in Long Island City received the designation Primary Stroke Center last month from the Joint Commission, a non-profit organization that accredits and evaluates health care providers nationwide.
But the picture isn’t all rosy.
Hospitals have been facing financial pressure nationwide, especially small-community hospitals that are struggling to keep from closing. The borough’s large immigrant populations, many of whom lack insurance, are pushing the limits of many local hospitals. Jamiaca’s Mary Immaculate and Elmhurst’s St. John’s Queens hospitals filed for bankruptcy in 2005, but were bailed out and acquired by Caritas Health Care, part of the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center which saddles Brooklyn and Queens, for $40 million.
The financial pressures on hospitals and lack of bed space are straining the Queens emergency care system. In 2004 Queens had a paltry 1.8 beds available for every 1,000 residents, contrasted to a 6.5 average in Manhattan and 2.9 statewide, the deputy comptroller’s report said.
But on the positive side, the lower than average bed numbers mean the Queens health care industry still has a lot of room for growth.
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Shopping Malls

Queens Malls Bring Big Business

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By Michael Lanza
New York City can seem a little foreign to the rest of country. The roadside strip malls and retail mega centers that now characterize most of Main Street America are conspicuously absent from most of the dense urban sprawl of the five boroughs.
But for those outsiders looking for a little familiarity, Queens is great transition to the New York experience.
With its almost suburban feel and spacious lots, Queens has distinguished itself from the rest of the city as a prime spot for major retail outlets and shopping malls.
The Queens Center and Queens Place Malls in Elmhurst, The Atlas Park Mall in Glendale, Bay Terrace in Bayside, The Flushing Mall in Flushing, The College Point Shopping Area in College Point, The Metro Mall in Middle Village and The Douglaston Plaza in Douglaston offer all of the familiar fixings American shoppers expect from their mega malls.
The Queens Center Mall, one of the busiest and most profitable in the nation, features more than 150 storefronts over 623,000 square-feet. The mall, which was expanded in 2004, has all the familiar outlets people have come to expect, including a JC Penny, Macy’s.
The malls have helped lead rises in the retail industry throughout Queens.
The Queens Center Mall workforce contributed to the nearly 13 percent of jobs in Mid-Central Queens represented by the wholesale and retail trade industry, the second largest employment sector in that area, according to statistics from the deputy state comptroller’s office in 2004.
In fact, retail ranked second or third as an employment sector in most of the districts surveyed, including Rockaway, Northern, Eastern, Southeastern and Southern Queens.
The Queens retail scene offers a taste of American suburbia. Whether that’s a good thing depends on where your standing, but if you move a few blocks in any direction you can be sure you’ll find somewhere that feels like New York again.
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Institutes of Higher Education

Higher Learning Fuels Queens Economy

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By Juliet Werner
Borough President Helen Marshall means business when it comes to higher education. Marshall, well-aware of a school’s ability to contribute to the local economy, has encouraged CUNY Law School to move from Flushing to Long Island City, specifically the Queens Plaza area, which is about to undergo a $30 million beautification and traffic improvement project.
“Because of this new energy and transit accessibility, I am pleased to tell you that at my urging, CUNY Law School is moving forward with a plan to move to Long Island City,” Marshall said in her State of the Borough Address earlier this year.
Queens is home to five CUNY schools and one private university, St. John’s. Queens College Economics professor Clive Belfield said institutes of higher education can indeed benefit the economy.
“It’s like a tourism industry,” Belfield said. “Students buy clothes, take transportation, eat in restaurants.”
Colleges and universities also deposit highly-skilled workers into the community.
“Most graduates find their first jobs close to their first university,” Belfield explained. “It’s the straight employment effect.”
Silicon Valley emerged as a center of the technology industry only because of its proxomity to Stanford University, according to Belfield.
The Law School has included the move in its capital plan and is currently seeking full funding.
“It’s mutually beneficial to both Long Island City and CUNY Law School,” Borough President Chief of Staff Alexandra Rosa said. “For Long Island City, it will bring a much needed 24-hour life to the Queens Plaza Area, bringing with it economic development that the students who spend money and participate in community life will bring. And for CUNY Law itself – it’s very difficult to get to in its current location. It will also have increased access by several modes of transportation to all points of the City.”
Easier access to Manhattan’s best law firms may sound like reason enough to move to Long Island City, but according to CUNY Law School Dean Michelle Anderson, 61 percent of graduates enter public interest and public service practices.
“Many of our graduates who settle in the New York area go to work right after graduation in the local Queens community,” Anderson said. “From Flushing to the Rockaways, they serve a variety of needy constituencies – immigrants, domestic workers, newly formed community groups, the elderly, the impoverished, etc. It is our mission to train students to serve under-represented communities. This work begins while the students are still in school where they develop a lifelong commitment to justice for the under-served.”
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Queens Best Business Programs

Q&A with Queens Business Students

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By Juliet Werner
The business major at Queens College has become so popular that the department now requires candidates to have a B+ average. Business is also the most popular major nationwide, but here in Queens, business programs focus on training students to tackle the global economy.
Queens College offers bachelor degrees in both Business Administration and Business and Liberal Arts. The two tracks differ in their emphasis, but both educate a highly diverse student body.
“Every student who comes through your door you’re thinking how is this student going to be different – and they are” Professor Clive Belfield said, adding that knowledge of another language sets many Queens students ahead of the game.
“Many are lured by the idea of working on Wall Street,” Belfield said. An internship program places students in the financial sector prior to graduation.
But Stephen Papamarcos, Dean of the Peter J. Tobin College of Business at St. John’s University, expects his students to find work in Queens.
“When one considers the speed with which the world’s economies are globalizing, Queens is well-positioned to get out in front of the wave of history,” Papamarcos said. “Demographic diversity, economic diversity, and vibrant trade and transportation sectors all indicate to me that… Queens is the future!”
St. John’s offers B.S., M.B.A. and M.S. degrees, as well as an Advanced Professional Certificate.
Companies are already looking toward Queens for new hires.
“Invoking what has been termed the ‘value-in-diversity hypothesis,’ many major companies have very deliberately diversified work environments in the belief that a multiplicity of perspectives generates more and superior problem-solving alternatives — a belief, by the way, generally supported by the associated research literature. Our students are almost uniquely positioned to succeed in the modern workplace due to our location in this amazingly diverse borough, and the fact that so many of our students were raised here.”
Why did you pursue a degree in business?
Arash Vakil – Queens College
I decided to be a part of the Honors Business and Liberal Arts Program (BALA) because I felt it was the perfect complement to being a Media Studies major.
Rosie Patane – freshman at Tobin
I knew I wanted to do something to make a good salary when I finished school, doing a job I enjoyed doing. I tended toward accounting because I like numbers and I like working independently.
Monica Pemborde – MBA student at Tobin
With a degree in business, individuals can pursue careers in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, as well as pursue law degrees or go into teaching. Who better to teach than someone who has practiced in the field?
How has school prepared you for a career in business?
AV: Critical Thinking in Business, taught by David Leventhal. - This course was vital in solving the different challenges I face.  It also enabled me to “think outside the box” and come up with alternate solutions to problems that businesses face today.  Reading the NY Times as a daily requirement for the course kept me well informed and is a habit I have continued to this day. 
RP: My business class has had a number of outside speakers from all types of businesses. The exposure has helped me to understand the business world and how I might fit into it. There are a number of business student organizations on campus, and there are always opportunities at St. John’s to meet with people who graduated from here and who come back to speak about their careers.
While my major was accounting, I took courses in operations management, organizational behavior, capital and money markets, and managerial statistics. These courses provide a solid business foundation. More important is that St. John’s provides opportunities for students to apply educational experience in real-world settings. One such opportunity is the Executive-in-Residence Program.
Where do you see your career taking you?
AV: While I am currently employed by a Fortune 250 company (EMC Corporation), I do foresee a large number of opportunities developing in the Long Island City region. With the current real-estate boom and development in the area, there will certainly be opportunities for new business to grow and expand in Long Island City.
RP: I will probably work in Manhattan—at least at first—but I will continue to live in Queens. I want to raise my family here.
MP: I see my career taking me to the executive level. I will be entering the field of public accounting as an auditor. I will be focusing on advancing in this field while looking to give back to the community. I also see myself sharing my experience and knowledge with others. Whether that is in the form of teaching or through charitable organizations is yet to be seen. I currently live in Queens and plan to do so for the near future. As my career progresses, I will be looking to contribute in other ways, such as teaching basic business skills to low-income families and talking to youth about educational and career opportunities.
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Cultural Institutions Build Better Communities

Higher Learning Fuels Queens Economy

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By Juliet Werner
A cultural institution can have a profound impact on its surrounding community. Queens Museum of Art Executive Director Tom Finkelpearl, who used to teach a course called “Urban Development and the Arts,” said Lincoln Center is frequently used as the prime example of how an arts institution can revitalize a neighborhood.
“At the onset a lot of people got displaced,” Finkelpearl said. “On the other hand, Lincoln Center became this fulcrum for the gentrification for the Upper West Side.”
One need look no further than the musical “West Side Story” for evidence of the area’s more seedy past.
“How do you go from having gangs to having safe environment,” Finkelpearl asked, adding that building a concert hall, or a museum for that matter, can’t hurt.
“We’re in a park, no one got displaced by QMA,” Finkelpearl said. “But we’re very active and we’re trying to help along our community.”
The Museum is currently moving forward with both the “Heart of Corona” initiative and the tentatively-titled “Parks and Immigrants” initiative, which seek to improve the quality of life for the museum’s neighbors and patrons.
“We’re making the community more livable for people who are already living there,” Finkelpearl said. “The side story is that if crime goes down and health goes up and everyone’s happier, it’s more likely that prices will go up and people from the outside are going to move in. And that’s already happened in Long Island City.”
Cultural institutions also give local businesses a boost.
“Having the flavor of Queens when you have a reception is important,” Finkelpearl said, adding he frequently purchases the Museum’s refreshments from a Corona empanada restaurant.
And Betsy Enright, Director of External Affairs at Flushing Town Hall, said she is in the “talking stages” with Kum Gang San, a Korean restaurant across the street, regarding a business partnership.
Queens Theater in the Park, which entertained more than 100,000 people last year, is in the middle of a $22 million expansion project, which will bring the first full-service restaurant to the park.
“It’s not a performing arts venue; it’s a destination for culture,” Mary McNamara, QTIP Development Director said, adding she hopes the new café/cabaret will encourage visitors to extend their stay in Queens.
“People who live in Queens demand they have what people in Manhattan have.” McNamara said.
Finkelpearl, a Queens homeowner, certainly fits this description.
“What’s happened on the West Side of Manhattan should happen in Queens,” he said, adding he’d like to see the waterfront refurbished with promenades, bike paths, etc. Finkelpearl’s vision for waterfront recreation may soon be a reality owing to a number of development projects taking place across the borough such as the Willets Point Redevelopment Plan.
“Whatever’s going to happen to the iron triangle it’s going to be good for the museum,” Finkelpearl said. “But I’m very concerned about the workers…We’re community activists. We want to make sure that the little guy doesn’t get left out of the picture.”
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A Family Friendly Borough

Queens, A Destination For the Family

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By Brad Groznik
Much of what comes to mind when we think about development is office buildings and apartment complexes but there is plenty of development occurring in the borough’s cultural institution making it easier to plan a Saturday with the family in Queens.
The New York Hall of Science, located just on the edge of Flushing Meadows Corona Park, at 47-01 111th St., is the largest cultural destination in the borough, drawing more than 450,000 visitors a year.
Marilyn Hoyt, president and CEO of the Hall, said since the center opened in 1986 the surrounding area has been completely redeveloped.
“You just look across the street and everything is new,” she said. “It’s the phenomena when a cultural institution is placed in an area.”
The center expanded in 2004 and plans for another expansion in the future that will include a Rocket Park miniature golf course.
“We’ve become and engine for business development,” Hoyt said.
Just down 111th Street, the Queens Zoo, 53-51 111th St., is making its own strides in establishing itself as an entertainment destination.
Dedicated to the animals of North America, the zoo boasts a petting zoo and numerous activities for kids and families alike.
Scott Silver, Queens Zoo director said the zoo continues to welcome new animals into its natural exhibits. Recently the zoo got Pronghorns, a deer-like animal and the second-fastest land mammal on the planet next to the cheetah.
The zoo is also expanding its reach south to exhibit Central and South American animals like the newly installed big-billed parrots. Silver said he also hopes to get a jaguar in the next couple of years.
Sometimes what is best to do on a Spring day is get back to nature and nowhere else is that easier than at the Queens Botanical Garden.
A total 39 acres was secured for the Garden when Robert Moses chose the spot just prior to the 1964 World’s Fair.
The newly finished visitor’s center is surely to get the family thinking how to live more eco-friendly.
The center is the most advanced green building in New York City, said Scott Stefan, QBG spokesman. The center has a planted green roof, geothermal heating and cooling, photovoltaic cells, two water recycling systems, compost toilets and an interior free of carpeting, upholstery, paints and veneers that emit volatile organic compounds. Every first and third Saturday of the month, QBG gives tours of the center and all the green technology free to the public.
QBG is also one of five composting teaching centers in New York City funded by the Department of Sanitation and the foremost composting teaching facility in Queens. Stefan said it’s easy to start composting in an urban garden.
The Museum of the Moving Image, located at 35th Avenue at 36th Street in Astoria, is currently under construction until 2009 but is already one of the most popular destinations for residents and tourists.
Just a walk around the area and, once again, it’s easy to see the positive impact the museum has had on the neighborhood.
“We’ve had a tremendous economic impact,” Rochelle Slovin, director of the museum said.
The libraries in Queens are the busiest in the City and constantly have programs for families and kids to take advantage. For more information about your local branch call (718) 990-0700 or visit queenslibrary.org.
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Small Businesses Hold On

Immigrant Merchants Face Turning Point

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By Michael Lanza
Most would agree that growth is a good thing. But in a borough as large and diverse as Queens, growth can be painful when people aren’t prepared.
“There’s a wave coming west,” State Assemblyman Jose Peralta (D-Jackson Heights) said.
But many fear that wave will wash away some of the diverse immigrant communities and the distinct businesses they bring.
Peralta is working with the Queens Chamber of Commerce to help those neighborhoods prepare for the big changes coming to Queens. The chamber is planning to create educational workshops for small business owners and entrepreneurs, particularly from the immigrant community, who might be left behind otherwise.
“We want to teach merchants to create business plans, how to maintain a budget, how to think outside the box, how to avoid a summons – and basically how to understand the rules,” Peralta said. “We want to offer them creative ideas to sell their merchandise and teach them how to market themselves.”
Peralta and the chamber will also push to educate business owners about the value of working together to attract customers and share prosperity.
“Right now nobody’s interested in unifying and cleaning up,” he said. “They need to understand there’s strength in numbers.”
The immigrant owned small business community has been under assault throughout the City. High rents and increasing competition from large chains are putting on a squeeze that many shop owners can’t recover from.
“There are outrageous amounts of rent being paid because of the assumed consumption” Peralta said. “Off the Roosevelt Avenue corridor, on 82nd Street, they’re $20,000 a month rent. Those are Manhattan prices.”
With small businesses disappearing in his district everyday, it became apparent that something needed to be done.
“The simple fact is there’s high turnover,” Peralta said.
One of the more controversial solutions being presented to merchants is to assimilate by adopting franchises. There was a small furor in the Columbian, coffee crazed, area of Jackson Heights when a Starbucks opened its doors recently.
“The quality of the small shops has been deteriorating,” Peralta said, “You can still walk into the mom and pop shops, but we want to bring the big shops too.”
The gentrification of many Queens immigrant communities seems inevitable, but striking a balance between spreading successful franchises and good business practices while maintaining the character of the community will be difficult. But for the moment, Peralta prefers growth through assimilation if the alternative is continued deterioration.
“Sometimes you’re the victim of your own success,” Peralta said. “How to stop it? That’s the $80,000 question.”
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BIDs Pave The Way

Small Business Unite In Queens
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Queens is a borough filled with emerging businesses and economic development. The City of New York helps new store owners get their feet planted and clean up underdeveloped areas at the same time by setting up Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) all over town.
The businesses agree to form a BID and raise their taxes to be spent on improving the area’s quality of life.
According to the City, money from BIDs improves sanitation and maintenance, public safety and visitor services, marketing and promotional programs, capital improvements and beautification for the area.
Today there are 59 current BIDs in New York City and more are expected to form in the coming years.
Any commercial, retail, or industrial area in the borough can apply for BID status. For more information about forming and managing a BID, visit the New York City Department of Small Business Services at .nyc.gov/sbs or call 311.
The following is a list of the Queens BIDs and their contact information.

82nd Street
Ernest J. Cury, President
Sharada Devi,
Executive Director
37-06 82nd Street
Jackson Heights, NY 11372
Tel: (718) 335-9421
Fax: (718) 507-2977
Email: sdevi82dma@verizon.net

165th Street
Aaron Schwartz, President
Derek Irby, Executive Director
c/o Jamaica Arts Center,
161-04 Jamaica Avenue
Jamaica, NY 11432
Tel: (718) 298-5489
Fax: (718) 658-7922
Email: mall165@hotmail.com

180th Street
Steven Dorf, President
Derek Irby, Executive Director
c/o Jamaica Arts Center,
161-04 Jamaica Avenue
Jamaica, NY 11432
Tel: (718) 298-5489
Fax: (718) 658-7922
Email: mall165@hotmail.com

Downtown Flushing Transit Hub
Jim Gerson, Chairperson
Mabel Law, Executive Director
39-01 Main Street, Suite 507
Flushing, NY 11354
Tel: (718) 888-1805
Fax: (718) 888-1248
Email: mlaw@flushingbid.com
Website: www.flushingBID.com

Jamaica Center
Claude Brodwell, President
Janet Barkan, Executive Director
90-50 Parson Blvd., Suite 402
Jamaica, NY 11432
Tel: (718) 526-2422
Fax: (718) 526-0215
Email: jamaicabidnyc@aol.com

Myrtle Avenue
Herman Hochberg, Chairman
Theodore M. Renz, Executive Director
c/o Ridgewood LDC,
60-82 Myrtle Avenue
Ridgewood, NY 11385
Tel: (718) 366-3806
Fax: (718) 381-7080
Email: myrtleavenuebid@aol.com
Website: Ridgewood-NY.com

Queens Plaza/Court Square DMA
David Brause, Chairperson
Gayle Baron, Executive Director
29-10 Thomson Avenue
Long Island City, NY 11101
Tel: (718) 786-5300
Fax: (718) 937-1799
Email: gaylebaron@licbdc.org
Website: www.licbdc.org

Steinway Street
Sam Pirozzolo, Chairperson
Marie Torniali, Executive Director
28-27 Steinway Street
Astoria, NY 11103
Tel: (718) 728-7820
Fax: (718) 728-7413
Email: steinwaystbid@aol.com
Website: www.steinwaystreet.org

Sunnyside DMA
P.O. Box 4399
Sunnyside, NY 11104
Tel: (718) 899-8404
Fax: (718) 457-2278
Email: vogtj@whitecastle.com
Website: sunnysidechamber.org

Sutphin Blvd
Norman Burak, Chairman
Melva Miller,
Executive Director
89-00 Sutphin Boulevard
Suite 305
Jamaica, NY 11432
Tel: (718) 291-2110
Fax: (718) 291-2109
Email: sutphinblvdbid@verizon.net
Website: www.sutphinblvdbid.org

Woodhaven
Matthew Xenakis, President
Maria Thomson, Executive Director
84-01 Jamaica Avenue
Woodhaven, NY 11421
Tel: (718) 805-0202
Fax: (718) 805-2929
Email: gwdcbid@hotmail.com

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Olympic Sized Facilities

Queens Gains From Olympic Bid

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By Ben Hogwood
The bid for the City to get the 2012 Olympics began in 1994. Spearheaded by Dan Doctoroff, Queens was to get a major portion of the venues and a considerable number of upgrades to put them on.
The largest construction would have been the Olympic Village in Hunters Point South, said Alexandra Rosa, chief of staff for the office of Queens Borough President Helen Marshall.
“But that did not take place,” she said.
The event would have established Flushing Meadows-Corona Park as a national rowing and canoeing center, with both flatwater and slalom canoe racing at the site.
And three basketball training centers would have been established at three schools in the borough: the Aviation High School, the Queens Vocational High School and the LaGuardia Community College. The schools would have been outfitted with new courts and support services.
“It’s more a long litany of hopes that were dashed,” Rosa said upon reviewing the development that wasn’t to be.
However, the borough did receive some renovation as a result of the bid. A swimming pool and ice skating rink already under construction in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park was expanded so it could hold Olympic trials.
Also, plans are underway to improve Breezy Point Marina in the Rockaways, though not quite to the extent it would have been upgraded for the Olympics.
While the Olympic Village wasn’t constructed in Hunters Point South, the area just took its first step to being rezoned for 5,000 new housing units. The project will include more than 10 acres of landscaped waterfront parkland, new retail amenities and community facility space.
But generally, when the City lost its bid, the borough lost most of the upgrades that were planned along with it.
“There are many dashed dreams. That’s why President Helen Marshall strongly supported the 2012 Olympic bid,” said Rosa. “It just wasn’t to be.”
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Restaurant Heaven

Queens Restaurants Draw In Business

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By Brad Groznik
At the Taste of the World event April 14 held in Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, it was obvious Queens had something special.
“Look around, you can go around the world just from the Queens restaurants in this room,” said Spencer Ferdinand, executive director of the Queens Economic Development Corporation, which sponsors the annual event.
Nowhere else can you get such a wide array of food from around the world than in Queens, he said.
“And Queens is so reasonably priced,” he said, adding it makes it easy to experiment when it doesn’t break your wallet.
Nicola Maurello, chef and owner of Pasticcio located in the Shops At Atlas Park in Glendale, said it was the second year his restaurant entered the contest. Last year Pasticcio won best entrée. This year Maurello was making hand rolled mushroom, spinach and ricotta cheese cappaletti in the shape of a Pope’s hat in anticipation of the cleric’s arrival. This year the eatery again took the crown with their entrée.
Also cleaning house this year was Steinway Restaurant, 102-05 Ditmars Blvd. in Elmhurst, which won the overall Taste Master’s Award; best appetizer, for its mushroom and spinach gnocchi; and best alcoholic beverage for its pomegranate margarita.
Cascon Baking Company, 7-04 149 St. in Whitestone, won best dessert for its cheesecake.
Coming up short-handed but still making it every year was Dazies Restaurant, 39-41 Queens Blvd.
“We just really love meeting all the people at the event,” Owner Tele Aquilino said. The show “30 Rock” recently filmed in the restaurant.
It was the first year for Kevin Coppins, general manager for the Clearview Park Golf Course in Bayside, which just opened a bar and grill.
“It’s been difficult being so close to Bell Boulevard,” he said referring to the restaurant laden street in Bayside. “But it’s been a lot of fun too.”
Other standouts at the event were Austin Steak and Ale House, 82-70 Austin St. in Kew Gardens, which served plump steak samplers and tangy shrimp.
The Portuguese flare of O’Lavorador, 138-40 101 Ave. in Jamaica, had a steady line to taste its garlic chicken and rice sampler.
The Taste Of The World event is used to raise money for the borough’s restaurant week held in September, also sponsored by Queens Economic Development Corporation.
“We bring all the restaurants together for the Taste Of The World,” Ferdinand said, “and we have you explore Queens for Restaurant Week.”
During Restaurant week the participating restaurants offer three-course lunches and dinner specials or equivalent for roughly $20. More than 85 restaurants participated last year.
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