1999

State Senator Leonard Stavisky died of a stroke. He was replaced by his wife Toby.

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... Caldor called it quits in Queens…Con Ed sold its two Queens power plants... 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.…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… 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 Loews 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... Mike Piazza thrilled Mets fans with a 24-game hitting streak… 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....

Three Queens residents died and at least nine were hospitalized after a form of the life-threatening disease Encephalitis was spread through the borough by 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….

Family members of Flight 990 victims gathered at The Ramada Inn at JFK airport to hear the sad news.

Six Queens schools faced state takeover when tests revealed phenomenally low scores in math and reading…

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….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 in one year was mowed down by a bus… 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.

Richard Schack

Richard, who works for the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, wrote for the Tribune between 1998 and 2001 – and then went to college to study Journalism. He is still an occasional contributor.

When I walked through the doors of the Tribune for the first time in late 1998, I had no idea what I was getting into. Little was I to know that for the next three years that office on the Horace Harding Expressway would became like a second home, that writing about Queens would become my life. No matter how much work was to be done, though, no matter how many late nights I spent there, it was an experience I would trade for nothing.

I started out at the Trib as a 17-year-old high school intern who had never been published before, who had never even worked at a school newspaper. Although I may have been a little intimidated at first, those fears were put to rest quickly thanks to how friendly everyone was. My first editor, Jeremy Olshan, and every reporter at the Trib took the time out to teach me and make me feel welcome when I first got there, and that is something I will always be thankful for.

That’s what I miss most about the Tribune – the camaraderie. The long hours could take a lot out of you, but when you enjoy the company of the people you work with it makes it more than worth it. I have worked a number of other places, and the team spirit of the Tribune remains unmatched.

It is easy to pick up a paper and read it, but it is amazing when you realize just how much work goes into the finished product. From the time the story idea is pitched to when it is researched, then written, then edited, designed by the art team and finally copy-edited, seeing the story in print was the ultimate pay-off. It was hours of teamwork coming to fruition.

Once the night was over and the issue was “put to bed,” Mike (Schenkler, publisher) would thank everyone in the office for their hard work and the lights would finally go out. Sometimes our eyes would be bleary, the world outside fast asleep, but somehow, someway, it always got done…and the next morning the process would start all over again.

That’s the way it has been for 35 years now, and that is the way it will continue to be. As long as the news never stops, the Tribune will never stop providing it to the people of Queens. Congratulations on the Queens Tribune’s 35 th Anniversary.