Councilman Tom White. Tribune photo by Andrew Mosel |
Tom White
Last summer when the City Council swept the incumbent Councilman Allan Jennings (D-Jamaica) out of his seat following a Council investigation that found him guilty of sexually harassing two former staffers, Jamaica began preparing itself for a new face.
But when it came down to filling the position, an all too familiar one reappeared. Former Councilman Thomas White, a lifelong resident of Jamaica who had consistently applied his good reputation, character and experience to the betterment of the community, was ready to reclaim his Council seat. The Rev. Floyd Flake, leader of the Greater Allen AME Church and a former congressman, was right behind him.
When election time came around White dropped the ‘former’ from his councilman title as he beat out a field of three other candidates to regain the seat he was term-limited out of in 2001.
Business leaders join Councilman Eric Gioia to launch the LIC BID. Tribune photo by Ira Cohen |
LIC Business Improvement District
Just a year ago, Long Island City made a promise to itself: become the fourth central business district in the borough and transform the relics of the past into monuments of New York’s future. With that promise came the title of the city’s 50th Business Improvement District.
Working towards that promise, the district includes 84 businesses around Queens Plaza and down Jackson Avenue, comprised of both small businesses and corporate behemoths like Citigroup and Met Life.
“Take Queens Borough Plaza, it’s at the front doorstep of Queens, but often people would just drive through. They’d get here and look around, get scared and put their foot on the pedal,” said Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside) last year. Since then the streets have been swept clean and the graffiti slowly washed away luring in shoppers, not to mention, the newest business district got itself an eye-catching logo featuring a white silhouette of the Queensborough Bridge against a red background.
Queens College dedicates the Kupferberg Center. |
Kupferberg Center
As of March 30, there were two more popular names circulating on the Queens College campus. Students walking to class finally caught a glimpse of those much talked about names as they passed the Colden Center.
In recognition of Selma and Max Kupferberg’s $10 million gift, the largest single gift received to date by Queens College, the Colden Center was renamed the Selma and Max
Kupferberg Center for the Visual and Performing Arts.
Even though the bold letters on the outside of the building might have been new to the building and the names new to many of the present students, Max, a native of Queens, was well known decades earlier on the campus completing his bachelors in physics at Queens College in 1942.
Though his name was rarely uttered in the student union building or at parties, it was still heard in the academic buildings as he provided annual scholarships to the physics department and long-time support to Colden Center.
We at the Tribune prefer the shortened, hipper name of the new center: The Max.
Politcal officials celebrate the opening of Atlas Park. Tribune photo by Ira Cohen |
The Shops At Atlas Park
Western Queens saw itself at center of business conversations again in May when the 400,000 square foot, $220 million shopping center Shops at Atlas Park in Glendale opened its doors.
Shoppers who have strolled along the two-acre green in the center of the retail buildings were excited to see innovative and unique architecture in their neighborhood. And it was all thanks to the dozens of visits Dale Hemmerdinger, the owner of Atlas Park, and his team made to new shopping centers in the United States determined to craft a distinctive design for the 55 shops.
Some of the shops that are new to Queens include California Pizza Kitchen, Chili’s Bar & Grill, Coldwater Creek, J. Jill, Stein Mart and The Bombay Company.
