Jun. 7, 2024 By Iryna Shkurhan Governor Kathy Hochul surprised everyone on Wednesday when she announced that congestion pricing would be paused indefinitely. “Circumstances have changed and we must respond to the facts on the ground — not from the rhetoric from five years ago. So, after careful consideration, I have come to the difficult…
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Apr. 29, 2024 By Council Member James F. Gennaro Negotiations regarding the New York State budget have just concluded a few days ago and a budget has passed after more than two weeks of delays. But while Gov. Kathy Hochul has proclaimed this year’s ‘bold agenda’ aims to make New York ‘safer,’ there hasn’t been…
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Feb. 13, 2024 By Ethan Marshall Queens residents and elected officials, including New York State Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, gathered in Flushing to watch the parade celebrating the Year of the Dragon on Lunar New Year Saturday. The event which is hosted and organized by the Flushing Chinese Business Association along with many other local groups, sees thousands of attendees each year. Hochul expressed a commitment towards making the holiday a state-wide celebration. “We want everyone from Asian backgrounds to feel included and welcomed,” Hochul said. This sentiment was reinforced by many of the…
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Oct. 27, 2023 By Ethan Marshall Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into a law a legislation authorizing a tax abatement program to provide improvements to affordable housing on Monday, Oct. 23. The legislation was sponsored by Queens state Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky and Assemblymember Edward Braunstein. This legislation is meant to improve upon the J-51 Tax Abatement Program, which provided a property tax discount for co-ops and condos that needed to make certain capital improvements, while also helping to offset costs. The J-51 Program expired on June 29, 2022. The J-51 Affordable Housing Rehabilitation Legislation improves upon the program by increasing…
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Sep. 11, 2023 By Bill Parry
May. 4, 2023 By Carlotta Mohamed Members of the Senate Queens Delegation were successful in playing a pivotal role in removing Gov. Kathy Hochul’s controversial statewide Housing Compact from the final state budget that would have had a significantly negative impact on the Queens community. In January, Hochul introduced the housing proposal that would have made sweeping…
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Mar. 27, 2023 By Ethan Marshall Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday announced that New York state’s first woman-owned conditional adult-use retail cannabis dispensary will open in Queens on Thursday. The cannabis shop Good Grades, located at 162-03 Jamaica Ave. in Jamaica, is scheduled to open at 2 p.m. on March 30. In addition to being the…
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Mar. 22, 2023 By Bill Parry
Lawmakers from every corner of Queens gathered on March 22 in the state capitol to call on Gov. Kathy Hochul to include funding for an MTA fare freeze and a free bus pilot in the final state budget as negotiations continue through April 1.
Feb. 22, 2023 By Ethan Stark-Miller
A week after Mayor Eric Adams appeared to publicly waver on his support for charter schools during a joint state legislative budget hearing, he firmly committed to backing the controversial schools during a Wednesday radio interview.