Van Bramer cleans up parks
On Saturday, May 15, Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer joined forces with the Sunnyside United Neighborhood Network (SUNN), the Friends of Windmuller Park and neighbors in a community effort to clean up local streets and parks.
In a local campaign against graffiti, volunteers of the SUNN organization came together with paint brushes and rollers to paint over graffiti on lamp posts, mailboxes, buildings and doorways.
In Woodside, the Friends of Windmuller Park grabbed trash bags and clippers in a spring cleaning effort to beautify their park.
“I’d like to thank all those who volunteered to clean up our streets and parks this past Saturday,” Van Bramer said. “Our neighborhoods will continue to be great places to live and raise a family because of their efforts.”
Movie discussion in FH
Tom Newby will speak on the career of Mario Lanza, an American tenor and Hollywood movie star of the 1940s and 50s, at a meeting of Horizons, a club for those 55 and over, on Thursday, June 3 at noon at The Reform Temple of Forest Hills. The Reform Temple of Forest Hills is located at 71-11 112th Street.
Newby, who has delivered other lectures on opera at Horizons meetings, performs concerts as a singer and is active in community theater as a director and choreographer.
Attendees are invited to bring lunch. A charge of $3 will include coffee and cake. For further information, call the Temple at 718-261-2900.
Energy conservation forum
Have you wondered what practical steps you can take to conserve energy and save money in your apartment building or house? On Tuesday, June 15, at 7 p.m., a public forum at the Central Queens YM & YWHA in Forest Hills will address questions such as how to save energy in your building and what financial incentives are available, as well as information on local greening initiatives.
Representatives will be available from city and state agencies and from utility companies to discuss financial incentives for energy and water conservation. In addition, there will be information on how to set up an effective recycling program, information on local community gardens and on how to participate in a community effort to paint reflective roofs in order to conserve energy. There will also be information on how to obtain street trees from the city.
The Greening Your Building Forum will take place at the Central Queens Y, at 67-09 108 Street in Forest Hills. The forum is presented by the city Department of Housing Preservation & Development, together with the Central Queens Y Greening Initiative and the Queens Green Alliance.
The forum is free and open to the public. For more information on the forum or on the Queens Green Alliance, call 718-268-5011, ext. 151, or email pkurtz@cqyjcc.org or visit our website at www.cqyjcc.org.
Vallone reads to kids
Shortly after returning from a trip to Italy to commemorating the 101st anniversary of the death of Lieutenant Joe Petrosino, a pioneer in mafia crime fighting, Councilmember Peter F. Vallone Jr. participated in a “read aloud” event at Astoria’s P.S. 70, which was named after the officer. The event is part of a statewide celebration of the joy and importance of reading.
Vallone read Cowardly Clyde by Bill Peet to a group of third graders, which tells the story of bravery and overcoming fears – a fitting theme for a school that holds Petrosino’s name.
Lieutenant Petrosino was shot to death in Palermo, Sicily, where he was recording the names of criminals involved in the mafia in the United States. He is the only member of the NYPD killed on-duty while serving overseas.
Vallone, who attends numerous read aloud and career day events in his district, said, “Spending time with our students is the greatest part of my job.”
GAHS tour and lecture
The Greater Astoria Historical Society (GAHS) has some entertaining and informative events for May and June.
On Monday, June 7, at 7 p.m., the GAHS will host a lecture entitled “The Press and the City: Stories of New York’s Newspaper.”
This lecture, by Thorin Tritter, describes the rise and fall of Park Row’s remarkable newspaper towers, looking at the conditions on the street in 1890, when the last newspaper invested in a new building there, and examining the actions of the first two papers that moved away in the years before 1905. The lecture will take place at 35-20 Broadway on the 4th Floor.
To commemorate D-Day, the GAHS will host a film viewing of The Longest Day follow by a discussion. The event will take place on Saturday, June 19 at 1 p.m. of The Longest
The GAHS is open every Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. and Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. To learn more about these events and others, visit www.astorialic.org or call the GAHS at 718-278-0700.
