January

Queens residents dug deep into their pockets – and hearts – for relief donations to victims of the Tsunami that struck South Asia in December 2004, killing more than 150,000 people and devastating millions of lives in the area.

Yoojin Choi became the first baby born in Queens in 2005, adding a touch of pink to the new year for her parents and family in Sunnyside. Trib Publisher Mike Schenkler shared bagels, lox, and a wide range of topics with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in an interview at Trib headquarters in Fresh Meadows.

The rezoning of Queens neighborhoods quickly became a hot button issue for residents, politicians, developers and City planners, which was clearly spelled out in a January feature article. Trib reporters continued to hammer away at the issue throughout the year

A grease fire and a 5-year-old playing with a cigarette lighter brought tragedy in separate incidents, taking two lives in Queens in the first week of 2005. In perhaps a foretelling of things to come, a short-lived strike by drivers of the Green BusLines stranded thousands of Queens riders.

A backwoods Mississippi Klansman was finally indicted for the 1964 murder of Queens College student Andrew Goodman and two other civil rights workers.

We mourned with the family of Pfc. Francis Obaji, 21, who was killed in a missile attack outside Baghdad Jan. 16. Obaji, then a college student, escaped the collapse of the World Trade Center, and went on to serve in the Army National Guard’s 69th Infantry Division. Obaji was the fifth soldier from Queens to die in the Iraqi conflict.

February

The City announced it had reached a tentative deal to purchase seven private bus franchises from Queens Surface Corporation – a first move in the MTA’s bid to control bus service in Queens. Officials announced plans toopen six new schools in Queens, and College Point residents cried, “foul” when they learned of plans to develop a waste transfer station in their neighborhood.

In a Queens Tribune exclusive, we reported how officials at the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens planned to shutter nine Queens Catholic schools. Outraged parents called on the Bishop to help ease their burden, but the diocese told the schools they were on their own to raise funds to keep the buildings open.

Muss Developers announced plans for a $600 million transformation of industrial downtown Flushing – from Roosevelt Avenue to the Flushing River – that will bring a mix of retail, residential and office space.

Residents wondered and worried about what would fill the site formerly occupied by the oldest restaurant in Queens. Niederstein’s Restaurant, in Middle Village, opened in 1888 and closed on Feb. 5.

Community Board 7 members approved a second set of plans for redevelopment of the blighted RKO Keith’s Theater site. The new plans kept the concept of the glass curtain, but also include space for a senior center and other community facilities.

A February Tribune feature article introduced readers to a 21st Century computer program pushed by the New York City Health & Hospitals Corp. that stores patient information on a microchip – allowing faster and more accurate sharing of critical data with hospital personnel and between hospitals. The new technology was adopted by the end of the year and is now used by a consortium of hospitals – public and private – to help speed medical care.

Queens narcotics cops smoked out a gang of drug dealers at the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, ending a reign of terror that held the “hub” of the housing project at gunpoint for years.

March

Mayor Michael Bloomberg leaked a cryptic message about a renewed effort to build an Olympic stadiumin Queens, which opened a Pandora’s Box as the City’s quest to secure the 2012 Olympic games seemed to meet a huge stumbling block – a lack of state support for the financing plan for the West Side Stadium.

Faced with stiff opposition from unions and local residents, Wal-Mart tossed its plans to open a big box store in Rego Park, with plans quickly being submitted for a combination of retail and residential towers.

Plans were released for the expansion of NY Hospital Queens, which include the construction of a new wing and a multi-level parking garage.

A roadside bomb in Baghdad killed army Specialist Wai Lwin, of Douglaston and Army Specialist Azhar Ali, of Flushing, both 27, March 2 when the Jeep they were riding in was struck. The deaths of these friends marked the sixth and seventh Queens soldiers lost in the Iraqi conflict.

Citing “family obligations,” Assemblyman Michael Cohen of Forest Hills announced his resignation, leaving a vacancy for the central Queens district in Albany – one that was quickly filled in an April run-off election by Andrew Hevesi, son of the State Comptroller who used to serve the district in the Assembly.

The families of soldiers killed in Iraq reflected on the lives – and loss of their loved ones – in a Tribune feature marking the third anniversary of the start of the current Mideast conflict.

April

Queens’ residents mourned the loss of Pope John Paul II, recalling tales of when he visited as Pope and beforehand. At the same time, schools were given the opportunity for an “Easter miracle” – where they were allowed to come up with a financial plan to convince the diocese to keep their schools open.

Borough straphangers gathered with elected officials to voice their gripes about service on the No. 7 subway line, which offers scattered weekend service, often with outages and a total lack of access to Manhattan for the weekend.

The Tribune broke a story about a Dutchess County man who had a deed that seemed to prove that his Flushing ancestors might be buried in an unmarked grave at Fort Totten. The Wilkins family descendants may be buried in a spot traditionally thought to bear the remains of the Willets family.

A Queens couple that were forced, at the last minute, to move their wedding to a different church, told their exclusive story of relocating their wedding because of a fire to the Tribune.

The faithful shouted “Hallelujah!” when they learned that Rev. Billy Graham would hold his final crusade at Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

A Tribune feature examined a plan submitted by the Queens Chamber of Commerce to scrap the “Iron Triangle,” reshaping the Willets Point area, much to the chagrin of local business owners.

May

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall threatened to seek Congressional intervention to learn why air traffic controllers have raked-up so many near misses at Queens two major airports. The Tribune featured the story of an 82-year-old, wheelchair-bound Flushing woman, who was “trapped” inside her home when a new housing complex abutted her property line.

9-year-old Caroline Borges of Astoria won first prize in her age category in the Tribune’s annual “Mother Of The Year” contest, with a touching tribute to her mother, Noreen Borges, who passed away five months prior to the contest.

Glen Oaks Marine Lance Cpl. Michael Postal, 21, was killed in action May 7 during his second tour in Iraq. Bayside residents Amato and Giovanna Delligatti shared the secret of their 70-year-old marriage with Tribune readers, and the mother of 11-year-old Vasean Alleyne, who lost his life to a drunk driver in 2004, won a bittersweet battle in May, when Gov. George Pataki signed “Vasean’s Law,” mandating stiffer penalties for drunk drivers who kill.

Middle Village native Tom Westman, 41, beat out 19 other contestants to take home the $1 million prize in the CBS reality show, “Survivor.” Westman, a firefighter with Ladder Co. 108 in Brooklyn, shared his survival story with Tribune readers in May.

June

Officials at the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens tossed a lifeline to St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr School in Ozone Park and St. Virgilius School in Broad Channel, sending notice the schools would not close at the end of June. The rest of those planned to shut down did so.

Questions were raised after a violent rape on June 7 at a Long Island City subway station revealed that NYPD Security Booths – installed after Sept. 11 with a $6.6 million price tag – are left empty, because there aren’t enough cops to fill them.

The New York Mets stepped up to the plate to rescue the city’s bid for the 2012 Olympics when they announced that they would build a new stadium by 2009, and that it could be converted to an Olympic stadium for the 2012 games. With a July 6 announcement just weeks away, and the defeat of the West Side Stadium, the Mets plan was too little, too late.

A massive crackdown sparked by the June 14 shooting of a Queens cop led to 181 arrests in southeast Queens in a four-day span in June – along with protests and cries of racial bias by activists and area politicians.

A Mississippi jury convicted former Ku Klux Klan member Edgar Killen, in the 1964 murder of civil rights worker and Queens College student Andrew Goodman. Evangelist Billy Graham brought more than 200,000 of the faithful to Flushing Meadows Corona Park in what was billed as his “Final Crusade.”

A gang of bat-wielding thugs opened old wounds in Howard Beach June 29. Alleged mob wannabe Nicholas “Fat Nick” Minucci, 19, and his pal, Anthony Ench, 21, were charged with a hate crime for beating and robbing Glen Moore, 22, when they found Moore and two other black males walking around their neighborhood late at night.

July

The Tribune examined the roots and operation of the Bonanno crime family in a July feature article, after Queens District Attorney Richard Brown targeted almost a dozen of the mobsters for arrest in a boroughwide illegal gambling crackdown. The mishandling of a live pipe bomb July 10 by Bayside firefighters set of an internal explosion at the FDNY.

Richmond Hill native, Dr. Charles Camarda, put his dream of reaching the stars on hold in July, when a flaw in a sensor on the orbiter Discovery shelved a scheduled July 14 liftoff on a 12-day mission to the International Space Station.

The major rehabilitation project at the 74th Street/Roosevelt Avenue elevated subway station reached substantial completion in July, and was reopened.

The Tribune blasted City Council investigators for botching their probe of unanswered complaints at the Department of Buildings. The heart of the Council report was based on incorrect numbers that were obviously wrong and quickly updated by the Department of Buildings.

August

Queens lost its foremost arts advocate in August, when Jo-Ann Jones, who founded the Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts, and who is credited for single-handedly saving Flushing Town Hall, succumbed to cancer.

Queens’ James McNaughton, 27, became the first NYPD officer to lose his life in Iraq when he was shot and killed by a single bullet from a sniper’s rifle while guarding prisoners outside Baghdad Aug. 2. McNaughton was the 10th Queens soldier killed in the Iraq conflict.

The Trib broke the news in August that trains carrying radioactive material were traveling through Queens on Long Island Rail Road freight lines. Queens astronaut, Dr. Charles Camarda, touched down with fellow crewmembers on the Shuttle Discovery at Edwards Air Force Base in California in August, wrapping up a successful 14-day mission to the International Space Station.

A brazen Astoria man accosted and sexually abused a 9-year-old girl in Astoria Park - in broad daylight - on Aug. 8. Cops arrested Peter Belegrinos, 23, at his Astoria home a short while later, after he abandoned his car at the crime scene in his haste to evade police.

The Queens Department of Buildings cleaned up its act, following a July Tribune feature that exposed numerous complaints stymied by the agency. Pfc. Hernandez Rios, 29, of Woodside, became the 11th Queens soldier to die in Iraq, when a Humvee he was traveling in was struck by two small explosions and came under fire by insurgents in Baghdad on Aug. 7.

September

A Flushing woman took matters into her own hands in September, forcing a contractor to stop illegal work with the help of the Queens Department of Buildings, the 109th Precinct, and the Queens Tribune. Former Rep. James Scheuer, 85, who served 13 terms as a U.S. Congressman representing Queens residents, died at his home in Washington from heart and kidney failure.

A smoky, four-alarm fire tore through a row of storefronts on 31st Street in Astoria on Sept. 1, completely destroying three of the buildings and causing heavy damage to an abutting restaurant. The blaze was the second in two years to wipe-out merchants on the strip, between 24th Avenue and Ditmars Boulevard.

A New Orleans cabbie drove with his family in his cab, all the way from the Big Easy to Queens Boulevard, where they found housing at a motel. As gas prices rose to an unprecedented high at pumps throughout the borough, Queens businesses and residents dug into their pockets to help the people of New Orleans. Four Long Island City girls, ages 6-12, raised $322 at a Lemonade stand – and sent out a challenge to Queens business owners, to match or “better” that amount. After the smoke cleared, the girls handed over more than $5,000 to the American Red Cross for its Katrina Fund.

Queens voters voiced their choices at the polls on Primary Day, Sept. 13, supporting every incumbent except for Allan Jennings in the 28th Council District. Queens mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner disappointed supporters by backing out of the race the day after the Primary.

Residents expressed mixed emotions at the news that a Wendy’s Restaurant on Queens Boulevard, where crews filmed the Eddie Murphy flick “Coming To America,” was about to be bulldozed to make room for a residential complex.

Politicians and area activists riled when they learned that convicted developer Tommy Huang was planning to build 18 Townhouses on the former site of the Klein Farm in Fresh Meadows.

The Department of Buildings slammed a Queens Boulevard condominium with massive fines, for hanging a spicy billboard on a side of the complex that faces the Long Island Expressway

September came to a crashing end as the Tribune covered the story of 4-year-old Valery Lozada, who was abandoned on a Middle Village street in the middle of a chilly night by a man who killed her mother. Caesar Ascarrunz dumped the woman’s body in the trash – and in a final, despicable act, dumped the little girl in the street.

October

Queens officials paid tribute to one of the borough’s best-liked “bosses” in October, when Chief Thomas Lawless lost his battle with pancreatic cancer.

Parking meters were made free again on Sundays, thanks to a bill co-sponsored by Queens Councilmember Hiram Monserrate.

A four-alarm fire at a construction site on the Queensborough Bridge stalled traffic in all directions for hours Oct. 19. A 29-year-old Queens man became the first drunk driver to face new penalties under ‘Vasean’s Law.”

The MTA announced it would treat riders to $1 fares over the holiday season – a good deal if a strike were to be averted.

November

Wizards replaced lingerie models on an illegal highway billboard – and it turned out that the way the law is written, the City was helpless to do anything about it.

A 28-year-old Fresh Meadows man headed south to take the reigns as General Manager of the Texas Rangers, making Jon Daniels the youngest man to ever be a team’s GM.

After the votes were counted, things remained pretty much the same in Queens. Incumbents, including Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, returned for another term to serve Queens constituents. The only change came when former Councilman Tom White beat out a field of three other candidates to regain the Council seat he held before being term-limited out of office.

A ruling by the Transportation Safety Administration that allowed the return of knives and other small “weapons” onto aircraft worried crews at LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports. Embattled Supreme Court Judge Laura Blackburne was booted off the bench by a judiciary panel that rules she broke the law in 2004, and the former site of the Elmhurst Gas Tanks drew closer to becoming parkland in November.

A lawsuit filed by a former law clerk, charging a Queens judge engaged in sex with a borough prosecutor, rocked the Kew Gardens courthouse. The owner of the shuttered Niederstein’s Restaurant - Queens’ oldest eatery - blamed a Fire Department foul-up for the too-quick demolition of the historic building. The Tribune told the story of a Queens dentist, who traveled to New Orleans to help identify victims of Hurricane Katrina.

December

After a year of delays and setbacks, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Dec. 1 that the City would soon take over operation of private bus lines in Queens. City Council members waited for answers from the MTA in December, on the reason for weekend delays and cancellations in borough subway service.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and members of the City Council battled over a plan that would provide greater access to Food Stamps for those in need. Local lawmakers warned that a cut in police funding would spell trouble for Queens neighborhoods. JetBlue Airlines unveiled plans for a new, $800 million terminal at Kennedy Airport. City Councilmember Tony Avella took a stand as the only Councilman to come out against overturning the will of the people and legislatively changing the rules regarding Term Limits.

A Tribune feature examined the dangers of illegal housing conversions. “Cause For Alarm?” examined the deaths of three children and one adult in an illegally converted, two-story wood frame house in Elmhurst. They were the first fire deaths of the year in Queens since January.

Queens straphangers were forced to walk or find another way to get to work for three days the week before Christmas as the Transport Workers Union went on strike, shutting down the MTA’s buses and subways.

The year ended with the mayor signing a series of bills that would rename streets, toughen noise standards, give the public better access to crime stats for parks and crack down on the criminals who scrawl their graffi.