Queens Economic News

With all the disasters — natural and otherwise — wreaking havoc across the country as of late, as well as the ongoing state of the economy, two presentations at this month’s Community Board 13 meeting on Monday night took on added significance.

Representing the city’s Department of the Aging, Darnley Jones said areas around the borough are still trying to recuperate from the effects of Hurricane Sandy, particularly in the Rockaways, where he estimated it will take another five years to fully recover.

The neighborhood of Corona south of Roosevelt Avenue is filled with two-story wood- paneled houses. The side streets are narrow and slope down to Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and main streets such as Corona Avenue and 108th Street are lined mostly with brick two- and three-story buildings that have businesses on the ground floors and apartments above.

Establishments like the 60-year-old Lemon Ice King of Corona surround William Moore Park, which twinkles with strings of white lights at night.

The unemployment rate fell substantially in Queens, along with the rest of the city, state and nation as a whole, in April, according to the state Department of Labor, marking a true improvement that was also reflected in the number of people actually working.

The jobless rate in Queens dropped to 6.9 percent in April from 7.8 percent in April 2012, according to figures the state released Tuesday. The new rate also showed an improvement over March’s 7.7 percent, but year-to-year comparisons are the most valid measure because of seasonal factors.

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.