Queens News - Short Reports
... done by and / or with the help of community activists
Primary Elections Held Tuesday
September 14, 2010 / Queens Buzz. The primary elections are being held Tuesday September 14th. The polls will be open from 6 am to 9 pm.
New York State has disposed of the old hand lever voting machines that we've been voting on since the beginning of time [see photo to right]. In their place are paper ballots which you fill out and are then scanned. It's good opportunity to vote using the new procedure before the general election which is scheduled later this fall on November 2nd.
It's also worth noting that some of the polling stations in Queens have changed. And again, by voting in the primary, you'll be sure to know where to go for the general election. Click here to visit the New York state poll locator. And in both parties, may the best people win.
Free Summer Concerts In Queens
Free Movies In Some Parks Too
July 6, 2010 / Queens Neighborhoods / Queens Buzz. We hope you had an enjoyable fourth of July weekend. The weather was pretty good, albeit a bit on the warm side.
Right around the July 4th holiday, a full platter of free public entertainment becomes available. There are free concerts series given in many of Queens public parks, as well as by a couple of non-profits. They've already begun in Gantry State Park in LIC [Live At The Gantries], as well as in Astoria Park with the concert that preceded the fireworks last week. Athens Park held its first concert in Astoria two weeks ago, and the Louis Armstrong House in Corona [private non-profit] has already hosted two of them in its garden. Soon concert series will begin in Windmuller Park in Sunnyside / Woodside, at Travers Park in Jackson Heights and at Flushing Town Hall [private non-profit] in Flushing. We'll post details, including dates and times later this week.
Summer films begin as well. Socrates Sculpture Park offers a weekly foreign film in Astoria / LIC and the Queens Museum Of Art in Flushing is hosting a weekly mix of music, dance and film that spans cultures from around the globe, reflecting the ethnic tapestry of Queens NY.
Cooler Weather To Return
Spring To Return To Queens On Friday
April 7, 2010. The highs today will be in the 80's today and tomorrow. But on Friday we're expected to receive rain which is expected to cool things back down to seasonal temperatures [highs in the 60's / lows in the 40's]. It will be sunny this weekend and into next week with Spring temperatures returning for a while. These are some of the best days of the year. Enjoy.
Queens News Briefs 2009
Short Reports From Around The Boro
Snowstorm Blankets Queens
Queens NY / December 20, 2009. About a foot of snow blanketed Queens. The snow started as a drizzle Saturday afternoon, growing to a full puffy snowfall into the evening, and finally stopping in the wee hours of Sunday morning. According to various sources, between 10 and 12 inches of snow fell in Queens county. Most of the main streets were cleared before noon, but the side streets were still difficult to navigate throughout the day.
The kids seemed to enjoy the fluffy white wintry magic and at least one adult indicated he was happy with the snowy weather. We placed a call to the north pole where Santa took a couple of minutes to speak with us. He said things were moving along nicely during his last week of production of toys, clothing, gift certificates, eyeglasses, food, furniture, wedding items and wine. He added that the snow would help him expedite deliveries on Christmas Day. He made mention that in Queens people could also find all of these items in their local shopping districts, such as in Astoria, LIC, Sunnyside and Jackson Heights. He couldn't talk long, because he still had a lot of details to tend to prior to Christmas Eve, but he noted that this year he expects to make a record number of deliveries as the planet is home to 6.7 billion human beings.
Record Rainfall Acts As Spoiler In June
Queens NY / June 22, 2009. We've been the recipients of about eight inches of rainfall this month, which is about four times what we normally receive. So it's not your imagination that this has been an unusually wet month. Because of the cloud cover, we are also running at temperatures that are about four degrees cooler too. That's why Queens, home to the most trees of any NYC borough, seems as lush as a Wisconsin forest.
But there's some good news on the weather front. The rains on Tuesday aren't expected until nightfall, so we should see the sun. And then Thursday through Sunday will be good, relatively speaking that is, with clouds, and on Friday and Sunday only scattered T-storms. For complete weather updates click on the 'Weather / Nation' link along the left side bar.
My Parks Day In Jackson Heights
My Parks Day enjoyed a pretty good turnout, in spite of overcast skies and predictions of rain. Volunteers showed up at parks around the borough to help tidy them up and plant flowers and other plants. At Two Coves Garden they held workshops on canning, picklying, composting and container gardens. The Waterfront Parks Alliance worked with numerous Queens parks to clean up along the waterfront.
We visited Traverse Park in Jackson Heights where we found these young helpers and their mothers watering some new sunflowers they had just planted in the park. We'll have additional photos to view which we'll post later.
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