The Federal Emergency Management Agency released its preliminary flood maps Monday which include much of coastal Queens that was flooded in Hurricane Sandy. The new maps, the first change in New York City’s flood zones in 30 years, put nearly all of the Rockaway Peninsula, Broad Channel and Howard Beach into high-risk areas that will force residents to purchase flood insurance and follow new guidelines for home construction.
With the Senate session winding down in Albany, and about a thousand bills left to debate, the hydrofracking moratorium bill may not even hit the floor for a vote. Most Queens lawmakers oppose allowing the drilling process in New York State without conclusive scientific evidence that it can be done safely, without contaminating groundwater.
The drilling process known as hydrofracking is used to obtain natural gas from rock formations, such as the Marcellus Shale, which stretches from New York’s Southern Tier to West Virginia. Fracking involves injecting millions of gallons of water along with a slurry of sand and about 600 chemicals into a narrow horizontal pipe at high pressure to induce “mini-earthquakes,” which release the natural gas.
New York is the only state in which Mixed Martial Arts is banned, and the controversy surrounding the sport is ongoing in Albany.
In response to a bill that would legalize MMA, 35 Assembly Democrats wrote a letter to Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), a longtime opponent of MMA, asking him to hold the line in opposition.
If Gov. Cuomo’s latest casino proposal comes to pass, Resorts World Casino New York City may never have table games, but potential casinos just over the border on Long Island may.
Under a bill proposed by the governor last week, downstate will be shut out of casinos with table games for five years to allow three casinos to be built upstate. Then, Long Island and the Lower Hudson Valley will be open for full gaming facilities, but still not New York City.
The Shops at Atlas Park, the indoor-outdoor mall that opened six years ago in Glendale, is being revamped — and this time, the owners say they are making it all about the community.
“We’re doing wonderful things, and I’m sure all of the community will be very happy,” said Liza Diaz, the property manager for the shopping center. “We have such belief that this property is going to do so well; it’s a hidden gem.”
For years, Walmart has tried to open a location in the five boroughs, but pushback from workers unions and the City Council have cast the superstore behemoth back to the suburbs.
Most recently, the retail giant intended to open shop in Brooklyn but was shot down by the Council in the fall of 2012, and it seemed as though the company had largely abandoned Operation: Get into New York City, for good.
The Jamaica Center Business Improvement District rolled out the red carpet at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center on June 1 for “The Jamaica Collections,” the title of its second annual fashion show.
The afternoon featured creations by designers including Onix Noir and the Elegance by Aneesa clothing line.
Keep the geeks!
The borough’s tech gurus and economic activists are watching Congress with baited breath as it debates a set of immigration reforms which would increase the number of the nation’s highly skilled workers in science, technology, engineering and math, also known as STEM fields.
As the city’s Rapid Repairs program continues to provide service to homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy, Mayor Bloomberg announced this week another city program to help in the recovery efforts.
Called “Build it Back,” the program aims to give residents who still need help rebuilding or reconstructing damaged homes easier access to federal aid money. It will utilize $648 million of the $1.77 billion community block grant given to the city earlier this year by the federal government.
Parts of Ridgewood are being considered to become an Industrial Business Zone in an effort to foster growth in the neighborhood’s industrial sector. Community Board 5 will be hosting a public hearing next week to discuss the possible IBZ creation.
According to a press release, the area that would be converted includes blocks south of Myrtle Avenue by the Brooklyn-Queens border.
Over the past few weeks, the Queens Chronicle has written an editorial, blog post and three articles about the Queens Tribune running “adult s…
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