For better and for worse, Howard Beach, Queens, has long been a neighborhood on the periphery and an area defined by sharp contrasts. It’s where tradition is confronted by modernism, and old and new stand side by side on the borough’s border with Brooklyn.
This article appeared in the 15 May issue of am New York.There seems to be some confusion about Floral Park. Is it in Nassau County or New York City? Is it a suburb or is it an urban center? Well, the answer to both of these questions is yes.
Floral Park, Queens, lies on the outer edge of the city with its eastern and southern boundaries tracing out the Nassau County line. Just over the border is the incorporated village of Floral Park, but even the area’s residents have trouble telling them apart.
Read the whole story… This article appeared in the 21 February issue of am New York.St. Albans is a quiet middle-class neighborhood in eastern Queens, but just beneath lies a level of culture, politics and heritage that not all New York neighborhoods can boast.
Read the whole story… This article appeared in the 17 January issue of am New York.Most residents think of Little Neck as the best of both worlds, where they can enjoy the serenity of the suburbs and the commerce of the city without ever having to leave New York. Tucked away in the northeast corner of Queens, yet only a 45-minute commute to downtown Manhattan, this bustling peninsula on Little Neck Bay has managed to evolve with the rest of the city while retaining much of its original character.
La Baraka serves French cuisine with North African undertones.
Read the whole story…Local business owner Ben Harris, located in Jamaica, Queens for over 79 years now, recounts the damage and the spectacle of Aug. 8 vividly. “Thousands of people were out on the sidewalk with no transportation,” Harris recalled. “You needed a boat to get through there!”
The devastating storm that hit the city on August 8th, flooding sections of Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island to varying degrees, was followed by an eerie silence from both the state and federal governments. Almost two weeks passed before residents and business owners from the affected areas had a formal request for federal assistance submitted on their behalf from Governor Spitzer’s office. Finally, over three weeks after the storm, Queens County alone was declared a federal disaster and FEMA responded.
Flushing is now the home to the Borough of Queens Disaster Assistance Service Center, a “one stop shop for federal, state, and city agencies” according to Barbara Lynch, a FEMA regional spokeswoman present at the opening today. She went on to explain the process of receiving federal aid as a sort of last resort for residents and business owners after all city and state avenues have been exhausted.
Also involved are various government agencies at the local, city, and state level including the Human Resources Administration, the NYC Office of Emergency Management, the State Emergency Management Office, and the Red Cross.
The initial application must be made to the Small Business Administration and then, after a federal inspector assess the damages, the claim is passed on to FEMA for processing. Michael B. Peacock, a communications specialist for the SBA, said that low interest loans – up to $200k for property owners and up to $1.5 million for businesses – would be the primary source of disaster relief from the federal government.
