1992

Lov Carnesecca retired from coaching SJU’s Red Storm.

Fire protection in Queens became especially controversial in February. Amid accusations by Queens political leaders that the City had reduced fire protection in Queens to dangerous levels, Lieutenant Thomas A. Williams of Queens elite Rescue Company 4, a 30-year veteran of the Fire Department, died of injuries sustained during a three-alarm arson fire in Maspeth. The FDNY budget was operating with $900,000 less than in the previous year, with plans to cut an additional $1.8 million from the department’s budget next year…

Workers at the Taystee Bakery were fighting to save their jobs. Backed by a coalition of community and labor groups, the soon-to-be-unemployed workers were calling for a boycott of Taystee products if company officials went ahead with plans to close the Flushing facility….

On a snowy night in March, USAir Flight 405, bound for Cleveland from LaGuardia, crashed on take-off and burned when a gas tank ruptured on impact. The fiery crash killed 27 and injured 24. This tragic weather-related crash led to two investigations. The national investigation focused on de-icing procedures used for aircraft prior to take-off. The crash of USAir 405 was almost certainly due to ice on the wings because of weather conditions. The jet was de-iced 35 minutes prior to take-off.…

Bill Clinton speaks to Queens Democrats in his bid for the White House.

Manuel de Dios Unanue , 49, the former editor-in-chief of El Diario, and publisher of two Queens-based Spanish language weeklies, was shot in the back of the head and killed as he sat in an Elmhurst restaurant on March 11. The police said the murder “had all the aspects of what we call a ‘hit’”. April saw the New York Presidential Primary, with Congressman Tom Manton, the Democratic Party County Leader, picking Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, who got 45 percent of the borough’s vote…In an emotional news conference at St. John’s University, Lou Carnesecca, 67, announced his retirement as head coach of the basketball team. The Jamaica resident coached the team for 24 years, but his court style (enhanced by one unforgettable sweater), his ability to consistently make a team more than the sum of its players and his quoteability made him synonymous with basketball in America….

Taystee Bread Bakery in Flushing was on the verge of being shut down.

In February, a group of separatist officials met to discuss how the borough could break away and become its own city. The Queens United Envisioning Secession Tomorrow (QUEST) was formed to steer the movement in response to “the historic domination of the so-called ‘outer boroughs’ by Manhattan money interest.” State Senator Serphin Maltese introduced the separation legislation on Feb. 4, which would bring into existence the fourth largest city in the country… In May, Mayor Dinkins moved City Hall to Queens for a week, as he had promised months before….

Alexander’s , a fixture in New York retailing for 64 years, closed the doors of its 11 metropolitan stores for the last time and declared bankruptcy. More than 5,000 people lost jobs as a result….

Barbara Arnstein:

Since working at the Trib as a reporter in 1992, Barbara wrote a play in which a writer and an editor fall in love. She married an editor, and sold the story into an international anthology. Barbara is currently a freelance writer for another local newspaper.

Of the many assignments I did for the Queens Tribune, one of the most memorable sent me on a one-week whirlwind tour of Queens with Mayor David Dinkins in 1992. I tagged along as he visited schools, senior centers and hospitals, and attended special ceremonies, luncheons and dinners. Some of the highlights:

Mr. Dinkins was the guest of honor at a luncheon held at Flushing Town Hall, where some of the guests were representatives of the Matinecock tribe, a Native-American tribe of Queens. The chief said a blessing before everyone ate, praying to the four winds, and as I enjoyed the buffet, which included Szechuan and Indian food I savored the wonderful diversity of Queens.

At a school ceremony, I heard a group of students sing the most enthusiastic rendition of “Havah Nagilah” that I’ve ever heard. The students were African-American.

As I raced to keep up with the Mayor’s schedule, I had such little time to eat that, on several occasions, I found myself biting into a snack just as he entered the room. I certainly didn’t think he ever noticed. However, one afternoon, as soon as he got into his limo, I hungrily took a bite of something before it left the curb. To my surprise, he suddenly rolled down the window, and said jokingly, “Are you eating AGAIN?”

The mayor spoke at a ceremony held at Riker’s Island for women who graduated from a special program. As he wished them well, it was nice to see that although they wore their usual identical, prison-issued sweatsuits, each participant had an intricate, individual hairdo. From there, the mayor went to Manhattan to welcome journalists to the 1992 Democratic Convention (which I attended on behalf of the Queens Tribune – another unforgettable experience). He was a very good sport, reciting a rhyme in which he joked, “There are four boroughs in New York – or is it five?” after riding onstage on a donkey he called “The Burro of Manhattan.”