Next week, New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority will swap the weekday East River tunnels used by the F and M subway lines, hoping to ease morning crowds from Eastern Queens and unclog the notorious Queens Plaza bottleneck, which slo…
With up to seven inches of snow forecast for Queens this weekend, New York officials revealed their all-hands-on-deck strategy at Borough President Donovan Richards’ office, touting over 2,000 plows, 700 million pounds of salt, and a small army of paid shovelers ($19.14 an hour, for those interested). We are reassured that, should flakes fall thick and fast, the city’s pipes—and payroll—won’t freeze.
At her first State of the District, Kristen Gonzalez—New York's youngest senator at 28—touted 19 legislative wins, including new voting rules, digital transparency and a statewide artificial intelligence czar, all while threading the budgetary needle across Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. She called for unity against Washington’s “hostile” airs; as ever, her neighbors’ noise complaints may prove trickier than wrangling data or democracy.
Hoping to turn a car lot into something less oily, Apex Development Group and Kevin Guo have applied to rezone a site at 47-03 108th Street in Corona, Queens, aiming for a 13-story building with 119 flats—30% deemed “permanently affordable.” Plans include retail, an indoor soccer centre, and an adult day care, all for $80m—if city planners and neighbours fancy a taller skyline with their new amenities.
New York City has opened a housing lottery for 248 “affordable” units at the Orchard, a soon-to-rise 70-storey tower in Long Island City destined to be Queens’ tallest. Rents start at $2,912 for studios, with eligibility tied to household incomes up to $261,170—proof again that in Gotham, the term “affordable” continues its long, ironic march up the income ladder.
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso announced he’ll seek Nydia Velázquez’s New York 7th District congressional seat after her planned 2026 retirement, making him the first out of a likely progressive scrum including Tiffany Cabán and Kristen Gonzalez. Reynoso touts his public health and development credentials, though we suspect Brooklyn politics will remain less bloodsport, more arm-wrestling over who can champion left-leaning causes with the most earnest flair.
Catholic Health prepares to unveil a $500 million patient pavilion at West Islip’s Good Samaritan University Hospital on December 14th, a polished gambit in Long Island’s intensifying hospital rivalry. With a whopping 75 emergency bays, 16 operating rooms, and enviable pediatric facilities, the six-story addition signals both modernity and market ambition—though with local competitors like Northwell Health circling, it seems the bed race has only just begun.
After a dramatic standoff in North Stamford, police found 63-year-old Jed Parkington dead from a self-inflicted gunshot in his foreclosed home, alongside a decomposed body and an arsenal of homemade explosives. The eviction, following $700,000 in debt, evidently proved too much for the long-time resident, but authorities—dodging gunfire and grenades—escaped unscathed, with only the neighborhood’s reputation wearing a little thin around the edges.
In a generous holiday flourish, Resorts World New York City, joined by chef JJ Johnson and the Queens Economic Development Corporation, fed 6,600 New Yorkers via Thanksgiving meals distributed through over 20 charities across Queens and Harlem. Most feasts landed at Borough Hall courtesy of Donovan Richards, with a side helping in Harlem from Yusef Salaam—one way, we suppose, for a casino to redistribute some luck, if not the odds.
