Western Queens News

The city Department of Education announced Tuesday that it will significantly expedite the removal of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, from city schools from the original 10-year deadline to three and a half years from now — a total of five years from the project’s 2011 start date.

The announcement came as a result of a settlement between the city and the activist organization New York Communities for Change, which sued the city last fall to move up the project after PCBs were found leaking from lighting ballasts in dozens of city schools, including IS 204 in Long Island City.

Warmer summer weather in the city means more and more people will be using the city’s streets and parks to go running.

With that in mind, the Community Affairs Bureau and the Crime Prevention Section of the NYPD are offering the following tips to encourage people to run more safely:

The New York City Fire Department offers free CPR instruction courses to groups of between six and 40 through the FDNY Mobile CPR Training Unit.

Personnel from the FDNY’s EMS Division are available to teach compression-only CPR, as well as the use of automatic external defibrillators, both of which can help save a victim of a heart attack or cardiac arrest.

On Tuesday, Queens borough presidential candidate Barry Grodenchik announced that he is no longer running.

“At this time, I believe that it is in the best interest of my family, team and party to end my candidacy,” Grodenchik said in a statement. “I decided to run for borough president because I believe that this is a pivotal moment for Queens. I have run a campaign on the idea of bringing people together. In the most diverse county in the world, people should feel more than just welcome, they should feel at home.”

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 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.

The proposed Q70 Limited line — “a new faster and more direct route to LaGuardia” — would run from transit hubs in Woodside and Jackson Heights along the 7 subway line on Roosevelt Avenue and provide a shorter link with the airport.

Last Thursday a man allegedly terrorized his home neighborhood of Long Island City, stealing cars and money while wielding a gun that wasn’t all that it seemed.

Police briefly closed down part of Borden Avenue in their pursuit of the suspect. About eight hours later they arrested Nicolas Almonte, 27, who lives on Borden Avenue.

Corona residents gathered last Wednesday to talk trash.

As part of the ongoing $3 million effort to clean up Roosevelt Avenue, Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras (D-Corona) held a town hall meeting so residents could ask her and representatives from the Department of Sanitation and two community boards about sanitation issues. About 40 attended.