Queens Haitians Hold Their Breath

With lines of communication down across Haiti and thousands of expatriates sitting on pins and needles in Queens and in the rest of New York City, elected officials and community groups are doing what they can to pitch in and help following Tuesday’s catastrophic earthquake. For Elsie Saint Louis Accilien, the last few days have [...]

E-Day Nears – Candidates Make Last Push, Before Nov. 3 General Election

The war chests are filled; the mailers are flying; and in some cases the heated tones of party rhetoric are getting louder as the candidates running for City Council in Queens make the last efforts for winning over the voters. Queens is a largely Democratic county, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t pockets of Republicans [...]

Time For Change? Two Challengers Face Incumbent In Dem Primary For Boro President

With the Democratic Primary just days away, the Queens Tribune met with all three Borough President candidates on the Democratic Primary ballot, including the incumbent with an extensive career in politics, the challenger who has a long record of civic and legal advocacy and the near-invisible opponent who admittedly has taken the last 20 years [...]

Mike Bloomberg -Mayor Reflects On His Two Terms As He Runs To Serve A Third

Mayor Mike Bloomberg knows what it takes to succeed. Having graduated from business school at Johns Hopkins University, he had stellar career, working his way up to the point where he founded his own multi-billion-dollar media company and eventually won the vote of New Yorkers – twice – to be elected Mayor of New York [...]

Public Advocate Race – Candidates’ Approaches Vary On Role, Priorities Of The Office

The funding of the Public Advocate has been decimated since the time Betsy Gotbaum took office in 2002. The position is viewed by some as good in concept, but lacking strength in practice; many have wondered if the office should even exist at all. Legislation was introduced in recent weeks to eliminate the position altogether. [...]

Petitions In, Challenges On As Queens Council Races Heat Up

As of the July 15 Campaign Finance Board filing, and the filing of petitions by prospective candidates, there are now 67 contestants in 14 races for City Council, most of whom will square off against one another in the Sept. 15 primary. For many, the victor of the Democratic primary is almost ensured to come [...]

State Kicks In $$ As ER’s Shut Down

Shortly after midnight Saturday, Marcel Pointis took a turn for the worse. The 87-year-old has spent most of the last two years living at a rehabilitation center on Queens Boulevard in Woodside. In the past, when he needed to be hospitalized, he had been taken to St. John’s. The nurses there know him and his [...]

Healthcare Crisis – Emergency Rooms At Two Hospitals To Shut Saturday, Facilities Gone By Feb. 28

As the first few drops of an early morning rain began to fall Wednesday, four buses pulled out from in front of St. John’s Hospital Queens in Elmhurst, filled with hospital staff, union members, former patients and nearby residents all carrying the same somber message – save us, before it is too late. The mood [...]

Queens In Limbo On Hospitals’ Future

Local officials met Friday with the parent company of St. John’s and Mary Immaculate Hospitals to see what could be done to avoid seeing the two hospitals close, but as of Wednesday very little had changed. The board of directors of Caritas, the parent company of the two hospitals, was meeting Wednesday afternoon to determine [...]

Culture Shock – City Budget Cuts Decimate Staffs, Programming At Queens’ Top Arts And Cultural Institutions

Last month, when the mayor asked the City to cut budgets across the board, he asked that the Department of Cultural Affairs cut 2.5 percent from the current fiscal year and another 5-12 percent in the next one. The $11 million in immediate savings would be a drop in the bucket to offset the City’s [...]