You are reading

Moya Denounces Vandalism at Winter Wonderland Display in Corona Park

Damage at Winter Wonderland installation in William F. Moore Park (Council Member Francisco Moya)

Dec. 7, 2020 By Allie Griffin

A winter wonderland display in a Corona park was trashed over the weekend with vandals ripping ornaments off the main Christmas tree, damaging smaller trees and tearing down dangling snowflakes.

The festive holiday display at William F. Moore Park was vandalized overnight Saturday — less than two days after an official unveiling, Council Member Francisco Moya said.

Moya’s office had hosted a tree lighting ceremony Friday night to celebrate the opening of the winter wonderland installation at the park.

On Sunday morning, the council member was notified that ornaments had been pulled off the main tree structure, hanging snowflakes were torn down and several smaller trees that were part of the installation were bent over and knocked down.

“We only did the tree lighting on Friday — it didn’t even last two days,” Moya said in a video posted to Facebook.

The installation, designed by local artist Yessenia Calle, took hours of work to construct and was “very expensive,” he added.

“To wake up and see things like this makes me very sad that people would go out there and really try to destroy and damage a piece of artwork,” Moya said.

Moya said he had hoped to spread holiday cheer with the display and that he was disappointed that someone would try to destroy it.

“Corona was hit so hard by COVID. We wanted people to be able to enjoy and celebrate the holidays by sending a positive message here and instead we have this,” Moya said in the video, gesturing to the damaged display behind him.

A spokesperson for the council member’s office said the installation will be repaired in the next few days.

Vandals also targeted Moya’s district office. An autumnal display — featuring a leaf-covered arch— was torn down from the building overnight Saturday as well.

The winter wonderland installation on Friday night during the tree lighting ceremony (Council Member Francisco Moya)

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Hollis man charged with raping 14-year-old told teen, ‘I can help you get work’

New details have emerged in the case of the Hollis man accused luring a 14-year-old boy into his car in St. Albans and then allegedly raping him on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 1.

Virgilio Taveras, 63, of Hillside Avenue, was arrested by detectives from the Queens Special Victims Squad two days later and booked at the 107th Precinct in Fresh Meadows. Taveras was arraigned on the Fourth of July in Queens Criminal Court on a complaint charging him with rape in the second degree, luring a child as an E felony, endangering the welfare of a child and other related crimes.

Deadly Belt Parkway crash claims lives of Springfield Gardens man and Manhattan mother: NYPD

A Springfield Gardens man and a passenger in his car died after they were involved in a multi-vehicle chain-reaction crash on the Belt Parkway near Kennedy Airport on the morning of Saturday, July 5.

Noah Thompson, 24, of 179th Street, was behind the wheel of a white BMW 428i traveling eastbound on the Belt Parkway in Howard Beach at 6:05 a.m. when he failed to navigate the roadway approaching the Nassau Expressway exit.