Editions

The recent spate of arrests and criminal investigations involving public officials has ensnared a high percentage of minorities in the state Legislature, leading some in the community to ask if black and Hispanic lawmakers are being targeted.

State Sen. James Sanders (D-Jamaica) decided last week that the question of conspiracy or corruption was far better-suited for an open, frank and free-wheeling debate before nearly 200 people at the Black Spectrum Theatre in Roy Wilkins Park in Jamaica.

An inactive construction site that has been stalled for years is frustrating the residents of Briarwood.

The lot located at 84-03 Lander St. was supposed to be developed into a six-story apartment house. But years later, the building remains unfinished, with metal columns that have since rusted over and a plywood fence that has become weather-worn and covered in graffiti.

If published reports are right, state Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) and seven others were taped in former Sen. Shirley Huntley’s home either at the request of the FBI, or at Huntley’s recommendation to the bureau.

In an interview following Huntley’s sentencing to prison last week, Peralta said he is at a loss to explain why either would consider him a possible target for a corruption probe.

About two dozen bicycle enthusiasts came together last Saturday at Maspeth High School for a community forum to kick into gear plans that could see a new bike infrastructure for the area and surrounding neighborhoods in place by as early as next year.

Among those in attendance was Frank Rosado, a Ridgewood resident who commutes by bicycle to Manhattan every day.

The historic Forest Park Carousel, which has survived fire, closure and bad management in the past, may finally be heading into a safer position than the tenuous one it lived under for decades.

The carousel, built in 1903, will be considered for landmark status after the city Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to schedule a public hearing on the proposal.

Repairing the seawall in Queensbridge Park has been talked about for well over a decade. Last Friday those plans came to fruition when politicians, the Parks Department and dedicated neighborhood advocates dipped their symbolic golden shovels into a pre-dug pile of dirt to commence construction.

The $6.65 million project will raise the crumbling seawall separating the park from the East River in the most northern section of Long Island City across from the Queensbridge Houses. Plans also call for a 6-foot-wide promenade with benches, plantings and a small wharf at its northern end.

The new executive officer of the 103rd Precinct said crime statistics — particularly those involving guns — are headed in the right direction on Tuesday at the monthly meeting of the precinct’s Community Council.

“Year to date we have had five shootings; last year at this time the precinct had 16,” Capt. James Fey said. “In those incidents there have been six shooting victims. We had 19 in the same period last year.

The Juniper Park Civic Association is not happy with the approach of Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) and the city to cleaning up the district and has decided to take one matter into its own hands.

At the intersection of Metropolitan Avenue and Fresh Pond Road, there is an abandoned newsstand that has been an eyesore for about 10 years. In 2009, Crowley held a press conference calling on the Metropolitan Transit Authority and Long Island Rail Road to allow the community to demolish the newsstand and create a temporary green space in its place.

• Featured

Ten blocks west of Resorts World Casino New York City, a billboard over Rockaway Boulevard advertised casino table games less than two hours away in New Jersey.

To anyone with even the slightest knowledge of marketing, the ad seems to make sense — targeting gamers leaving Resorts World perhaps disappointed that New York City’s first casino lacks real roulette wheels and craps tables.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn,Queens) came to the May meeting of the Lindenwood Alliance, in the Fairfield Arms Co-op, to meet some of his new constituents.

Jeffries told the audience that he was concerned with resolving any issues that residents had with the Federal Emergency Management Agency regarding Hurricane Sandy.

City officials broke ground Tuesday for a new K through 5 school in Ozone Park that is being constructed on the site of a former Catholic school.

The new school, called PS 316, is located at 90-07 101 Ave and will serve 444 students from the Ozone Park community and is currently slated to open in September 2014. It will feature reading and speech resource rooms, a library, guidance room and a medical suite. Two of the 20 classrooms in the school will be dedicated to District 75 students.

by Michael Gannon, Editor

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is close to approving a new bus route that would offer more direct service to LaGuardia Airport while cutting the existing Q33 route short to focus more on neighborhood riders.

by Josey Bartlett, Editor

Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights for decades has been a dangerous mix of pedestrians, cars, bicycles and scooters. And not just a small amount of each, but mobs of each that don’t always obey traffic laws. Pedestrians rarely wait for walk signals and cars often run red lights — just to make a little headway down the congested avenue.

by Tess McRae, Reporter

The intersections surrounding St. Stanislaus Kostka School are about to get safer.

by Josey Bartlett, Editor

Corona residents gathered last Wednesday to talk trash.

by Michael Gannon, Editor

The New York City Water Board voted on Friday, as expected, to increase water rates by 5.6 percent for the new fiscal year, which begins on July 1.

by Tess McRae, Reporter

MillionTreesNYC was established to greenify public spaces in the city, but private spaces, including backyards, apartment building courtyards and community gardens, are not included in the initiative.

by Joseph Orovic, Assistant Managing/Online Editor

Famed choreographer and Jamaica native Brice D. Vick has guided the candied heels of Ashanti, Beyonce and Christina Aguilera. But his ambition goes beyond bold-faced names and music videos. Now he’s hoping to put a step in the moves of kids with the founding of Hip-Hop 4 Health Plus, a DVD dance program he hopes will help kids get and stay healthy.

by Josey Bartlett, Editor

The state Health Department has approved Mount Sinai Hospital’s expansion project in Long Island City.

Members of the 112th Precinct Police Explorers program and students from Forest Hills High School cleaned up the community last Saturday by painting over graffiti in several locations.

The bill mandating that companies in the city with more than 15 employees eventually provide paid sick leave is awaiting a promised mayoral veto — and an expected override of that veto by the City Council.

by Domenick Rafter, Editor

Compared to the March and April meetings of Community Board 9, which featured raucous debates over the future of Flushing Meadows Corona Park and the mitigation of toxic chemicals at an Ozone Park industrial site, Tuesday’s meeting of CB 9 at Maple Grove Cemetery seemed serene.

Police are asking the public’s help in locating a Maspeth man who has been missing since noon on Sunday.

Students at Ozone Park’s St. Mary Gate of Heaven school performed their annual school show last weekend. This year’s performance was “The Little Mermaid Jr.,” featuring an all child cast of the 1989 Disney classic.

JHS 202 and Robert Goddard High School of Communication Arts and Technology cut the ribbon on the new library in their Ozone Park school building last Friday.

Urinary incontinence affects one out of three women in the United States. Factors such as pregnancy, childbirth and menopause can trigger urinary incontinence. Since it is such a delicate issue, countless women won’t mention their symptoms to doctors and often suffer in silence.

by Stephen Geffon, Chronicle Contributor

Police Officer Frank Calafiore was honored with the 106th Precinct’s Cop of the Month award at the Community Council meeting in Ozone Park on May 8, for his arrest last month of an alleged armed robber and the seizure of a loaded firearm and other assorted contraband.

by Domenick Rafter, Editor

Ten people have been indicted on 82 counts in an alleged auto theft ring that targeted four well-known Queens auto dealerships, according to District Attorney Richard Brown.

Dermatologists and skin cancer experts, especially before and during the summer months, write articles and give speeches on the harmful effects of sun exposure on the skin: the risk for melanoma and other skin cancers and premature aging of the skin. Despite all efforts, beaches are filled with people tanning in the midday sun, streets are filled with people with a pink-red burnt or bronze skin and tanning salons are filled with clients. Why can’t we deliver our message? Tanning is harmful to our skin just like smoking is harmful to our lungs.

The NYPD is searching for the pictured suspected in connection with a robbery that occurred on May 4 at 12:16 p.m. at the Amalgamated Bank located at 69-73 Grand Ave. in Maspeth.

by Domenick Rafter, Editor

An Ozone Park teenager was arrested after a high-speed crash last Friday afternoon in Broad Channel that left 10 people injured and shut down a busy stretch of Cross Bay Boulevard at rush hour.

by Josey Bartlett / Editor

• Breaking

Long Island City from the Queensboro Bridge to Hunters Point was at a standstill for awhile last Thursday beginning around 9:30 a.m. as a suspected armed robber allegedly filched three high-end vehicles.

by Michael Gannon, Editor

The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation has reached an agreement with a Long Island real estate developer on a project that is slated to bring “a big-box retail store” and a 500-space parking garage to 168th Street.

by Domenick Rafter, Associate Editor

Turning onto Sapphire Street from Linden Boulevard, it almost seems like a roller coaster.