Queens Borough President Donovan Richards hosted a southeast Queens town hall in St. Albans on Thursday, Aug. 25, in which residents were able to ask questions and raise concerns with city agency representatives.
Representatives from city agencies included the Department of Transportation (DOT); New York Police Department (NYPD); Department of Sanitation (DSS); Department of Education (DOE); the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA); the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR); and the Department of Health (DOH).
During the town hall held at St. Albans Congregational Church, located at 172-17 Linden Blvd., residents and city agency representatives discussed issues pertaining to illegally parked trucks, public safety, composting and flooding in neighborhoods.
The southeast Queens town hall closed out Richards’ Borough on Your Block initiative that brought a weeklong series of events to residents in their communities.
“Southeast Queens residents are well-informed and expect nothing but the best from the city government — that’s what my administration is hard at work delivering,” Richards said. “Thank you to everyone who came to our town hall and everyone who participated in Borough Hall on Your Block: Southeast Queens this week. The residents of these communities and the issues they experience on their blocks have been overlooked for far too long, but those days are done.”
Over the course of the five days, Richards held four press conferences to announce nearly $13 million in capital funding for local libraries and hospitals, participated in a topping-off ceremony for the new 116th Precinct in Rosedale, hosted three resource fairs, events for both seniors and youths, a backpack distribution, and an emergency preparedness supplies giveaway.
On the final day of public programming, Richards traveled to Far Rockaway on Thursday, Aug. 25, announcing a $2.4 million allocation toward the planned expansion of the Arverne branch of the Queens Public Library, and $741,000 in funding for new critical care technology at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital.
“As a proud son of southeast Queens, it was an honor to come home and set up shop in these proud, hardworking communities for a week to showcase how my office is not only listening, but tirelessly working to support the families who call them home,” Richards said. “All 2.4 million Queens residents deserve a government that sees them, hears them and stops at nothing to serve them. That is the mission of my administration and I can’t wait to take Borough Hall back on the road once again.”
The date and location of the second iteration of Borough Hall on Your Block will be announced in the coming months.
