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Spiritual Center Regrounds in LIC

Iryna Shkurhan on August 16, 2023

The owner of Earth Angel Crystal, Daisy Tamberino, is a certified reiki master, psychic medium and certified crystal practitioner. Photo by Iryna Shkurhan

By Iryna Shkurhan | ishkurhan@queensledger.com 

On 50th Avenue in Long Island City, just off Vernon Boulevard, the smell of incense spills onto the sidewalk. At first you might think that a church is close by, but you’ll actually find the area’s first metaphysical healing center at the top of a towering flight of stairs.

The owner, Daisy Tamberino, envisioned the space as not just a spot to buy authentic crystals, but as a community center where anyone can walk in to recenter themselves away from the city’s chaos. Tucked away on the third floor of a century old brick building is Earth Angel Crystal.

Tamberino has been around crystals, and highly attuned to the spiritual world since she was a child. She is a fifth generation medium and energy healer whose connection to the mystical stems from her mother’s lineage. Throughout her childhood, her mother worked in a botanica, a ritual goods store stocked with oils, incense and herbs, that she describes as an old-school Spanish version of her current shop. She recounts hours just flying by as she basked in the energy of the space.

Born and raised in Manhattan, Tamberino is first generation immigrant and the first in her family to own a business. Her mother, who is retired, now works out of the shop one day a week giving tarot and psychic readings. Tamberino focuses more on mediumship, which she describes as the connection to loved ones on the other side through a higher realm.

“But it wasn’t until my reawakening that the crystals just helped transform my life and then working with my angels and my guides, the combination of them have led me here,” said Tamberino in an interview with the Queens Ledger out of her light filled shop. “This is really a journey with how they’ve guided me here.”

The shop has dozens of crystals on display that are ethically sourced from around the country and range from under ten dollars to a few hundred. Photo by Iryna Shkurhan

In 2010, Tamberino met her husband while salsa dancing and the couple ended up moving to Long Island to settle down in the suburbs. For 18 years, she also worked as an architect for a  government agency that sent her traveling around the country, even to Puerto Rico, where her family is from. During projects where she would be designing courthouses and other government buildings she recalls bringing peace to male-only construction sites with rampant cursing.

During the pandemic, she experienced “the darkest night of my soul” where a feeling of lack lingered amid a growing death toll across the world. Despite the secure career and a house in the suburbs with kids she felt misaligned from a destiny that she glimpsed as a child –  helping others in an energetic and spiritual way.

“My angel told me that I was going to sell my house, that I was going to move to Long Island City, that I would open my own business, and that I was going to have a healing center to help people,” recalls Tamberino. “And I sold my house two months later in two days.”

But before she moved into the current space, she spent a year renting out two rooms just down the street. And while space was tight, and it wasn’t necessarily what she envisioned, it was all she could afford at the time. But less than a year later, she had a nudge to inquire about a for rent sign posted across the street. Several nudges from her angels later, she secured a bigger and better space to expand her practice. She has been in her new center since May.

The new location is just down the block from where Tamberino has been practicing out of for the past year. Photo by Iryna Shkurhan

Tamberino continues to further settle into the LIC community by facilitating a space that locals can visit whether for an event, or just a solo meditation in the gold room. Last month she hosted a book reading by another medium, and later this month she will be hosting an Angel 101 workshop.

“I’m creating a space where people feel like they don’t even have to buy anything, just come to receive the peace that they need,” said Tamberino. “This isn’t private, only to select people, this is for everyone. I’m dedicating it to whoever needs it, it’s open. The doors are wide open.”

Boys and Girls Club Celebrates Hip-Hop’s 50th 

Iryna Shkurhan on August 16, 2023

The rain didn’t stop the celebration at Knockdown Center Maspeth. Photo by Iryna Shkurhan

By Iryna Shkurhan | ishkurhan@queensledger.com 

In honor of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, hundreds of kids from the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Queens celebrated with an afternoon of double dutching, breakdancing and graffiti in Maspeth’s Knockdown Center. 

The “For the Love” event, hosted by SiriusXM and Pandora, allowed the youth to learn about the history of hip-hop in an interactive and fun way. The free event also served as a culmination of their summer youth employment program that ended last week. 

Later in the evening, the legendary Wu-Tang Clan headlined the venue to an older crowd. 

On August 11, 1973, hip-hop was born at a small back to school party in a Bronx apartment. Clive Campbell, also known as DJ Kool Herc, got the idea to improvise with two turntables that played snippets in a continuous loop. In his honor, a range of free celebratory events were held across all five boroughs. While Wu-Tang hails from Staten Island, Queens takes credit for Nas, LL Cool J, 50 Cent and Nicki Minaj. 

“The vision really was for this to be a community event, because hip-hop started as a basis of the community,” said Nicole Hughey, Head of Diversity, Equity and  Inclusion at SiriusXM. “We want to help inspire them to think about the historical nature of hip-hop, and to think about what they can do to take it even further. We see them as the next generation of talent that will really take us to a new level in this genre.”

Nicole Hughey, Head of DEI and Social Impact at SiriusXM, was a key organizer of the event. Photo by Iryna Shkurhan

Over 250 kids who attended the event are members of the BGCMQ, which serves underprivileged youth with year-round programming that focuses on academic success, a healthy lifestyle and developing good character. 

In the summer, the organization places high school students who are eligible for SYEP in various jobs and internships across the city. Some even work at the center on Atlantic Ave. in Richmond Hill that serves as a recreational space where students can foster a sense of community while receiving resources.  

“They have been looking forward to this,” said Kimberly Paramhance, Director of Workforce Development at the Boys and Girls Club. “It’s so exciting to have the kids here today for them to be able to broaden their horizons and see what’s out there. The timing of it couldn’t have been better.” 

SiriusXM  presented a check to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Queens. Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM 

SiriusXM and Pandora, partnered with Cricket Wireless, presented the Boys & Girls Club with a check for $20,000 at the event.

“I just watched one of my kids break dance and so I didn’t even know he could break dance. That was fun,” said Paramhance, who grew up in South Ozone Park and has worked at the club for the past six years. 

Each attendee had the chance to decorate their own backpack. Photo by Iryna Shkurhan

For those who wanted to pick up some breakdancing moves, local dance professionals were on site to demonstrate and guide the newbies on how to nail floor rocks and flares. With strong determination, a handful of kids kept trying until they finally landed it to a round of applause from their peers.

Each attendee also received a white backpack filled with school supplies, which also served as a blank canvas to decorate with provided stencils and spray paint. In a tucked away corner, the kids focused on designing their new backpacks with words and drawings. In honor of the art of graffiti, a blank wall was designated for spray painting. By the end of the event, it had no white space left. 

Richard Whittingham, a 15 year-old from East New York, said that he was excited to attend the celebration because he had never been to a concert before. Like many others his age at the event, he hasn’t heard of Wu-Tang, the notable group that shaped east coast hip-hop.

“Is that a dance move,” replied Whittington, who says some of his favorite hip-hop artists are Lil Tjay and Lil Tecca, all of whom were born in this century. He chose to design his backpack with the words “Be Kind” in green paint. 

City Rolls Out New Gun Violence Prevention Plan

glendaleregstg on August 16, 2023

A woman in a light blue suit sits at a large wooden round table, between a man in a dark gray suit and anothe man in a whte polo shirt. Behind her, the New York State flag and the bottom of a large painting in a gold-plated frame are visible, along with a fireplace.

First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and “Man Up!” co-founder A.T. Mitchell explaining the blueprint.

By Anna Di Iorio-Reyes and Carmo Moniz | news@queensledger.com

The city’s most recent investment in gun violence prevention, totalling $485 million, will go toward youth programs, employment opportunities, housing and mental health care in its most vulnerable communities.

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration announced the new plan, called “A Blueprint for Community Safety,” on July 31. It is an extension of Adams’ previous “Blueprint to End Gun Violence,” which was released in early 2022.

The blueprint designates six precincts, four in the Bronx and two in Brooklyn, as priority areas for funding. These areas are responsible for 39% of recorded shots fired in the city, and were chosen based on factors like childhood poverty rates, rent burden, unemployment, income and school absenteeism, according to the blueprint. 

While the blueprint boasts an impressive budget, most of its funding is not new. Of the $485 million included in the plan, $443 million had already been planned for use, according to Gothamist.

At a roundtable event, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and “Man Up!” co-founder A.T. Mitchell, who co-chairs the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force that created the blueprint, said that every city agency was asked to contribute to the plan.

“It will mean nothing if we don’t apply these and make sure that these things are real,” Mitchell said. “Those communities out there are waiting for us, they are counting on us for this administration to get it right.” 

The plan has seven focus areas: navigation and benefits, housing, employment and entrepreneurship, trauma-informed care, early intervention, community and police relations and community vitality. Of the seven, early intervention and employment programs take up the most funding, at $118.3 million and $118.5 million, respectively. Community-police relations received the least funding of all the focus areas, at $2.6 million.

Funding for early intervention, designed for young people at risk of becoming involved in gun violence, will go toward support for parents, gun violence education, mentorship initiatives and other programming. The blueprint also includes programs to help young people and formerly incarcerated people access job training and employment. 

The plan’s housing budget will go toward improving the quality and security of public housing and developing 3,000 affordable homes by 2025. While housing takes up a significant amount of the funding in the blueprint, those $57.5 million are only a fraction of the over $78 billion the New York City Housing Authority, which runs the city’s public housing, has said it needs to renovate its buildings.

Throughout February and March, the task force took input from Brooklyn and Bronx residents to inform the blueprint.

Wright said that the task force will monitor the number of housing units being built, employment rates, shooting deaths and other factors in each of the six most affected precincts to determine the success of different programs over the next several years.

“We’re going to be working on the ground with the community, making sure that we’re accountable for results,” Wright said. “We’re gonna evolve and get better and better.”

In addition to more extensive monitoring, the blueprint also proposes meetings where local residents in the six prioritized precincts can review collected data and engage with the results directly.

“This is a living document, and no two plans for those neighborhoods will look alike, because they will be tailored specifically for those neighborhoods in those communities,” Mitchell said. “Rome wasn’t built in a day. These communities have suffered decades of disinvestment and we can’t expect miracles to happen overnight.”

Migrants Being Housed in Brooklyn Rec. Centers Amid Crisis

glendaleregstg on August 16, 2023

A red brick building with columns at the entrance stands in front of a blue sky. The U.S., NYC Parks and New York State flags hang off the building. The words "Sunset Play Center" are written on the building's facade, and people can be seen walking up the steps to the entrance.

The Sunset Park Recreation Center.

By Carmo Moniz | news@queensledger.com

As New York City’s migrant crisis continues, the city has taken to housing the influx of asylum seekers in unconventional locations, most recently in the recreation centers of Brooklyn’s McCarren and Sunset parks. 

Over a hundred asylum-seekers are being temporarily housed in the centers as shelters and emergency hotel space in New York City have exceeded capacity. In a statement, a City Hall spokesperson said the number of asylum-seekers coming through the city’s intake system has left it to deal with a national crisis on its own. The spokesperson also said almost 100,000 asylum seekers have passed through the city’s system since last spring.

“We are constantly searching for new places to give asylum seekers a place to rest their heads, and recently located a wing of the McCarren Recreation Center and the Sunset Park Recreation Center in Brooklyn to house adult asylum seekers,” the spokesperson said in the statement.

The new shelter spaces, which have been met with mixed reactions from local residents, will house around 80 and 100 migrants, respectively. Those housed in the centers receive three meals per day and have access to onsite shower and bathroom facilities.

When a group of 60 or so migrants moved into the Sunset Park center last week, around 100 local residents protested their arrival, while others offered them food and other resources, according to Gothamist.

Councilmember Alexa Avilés, who represents Sunset Park, said she asked those planning the protests to instead focus their efforts on community funding and problems with the immigration system in a statement.

“Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity,” Avilés said in the statement. “I recognize community frustrations and share them over a lack of communication from the Mayor’s Office and a temporary disruption of services, but we must not fear monger. Whether you’re the Governor of Florida or a local, I will not stand for the use of human beings for political gain.”

A group of six city, state and federal Brooklyn politicians, including assemblymember Emily Gallagher, councilmember Lincoln Restler and councilmember Jennifer Gutiérrez, said they were notified that the McCarren Park center would be used to house asylum seekers ahead of time and that access to pool and fitness facilities would remain open in a joint statement.

“We will continue pushing to secure more appropriate facilities to house people in need and expedite moving New Yorkers from our shelter system into vacant permanent housing,” the statement reads. “In the interim, we will do whatever we can to galvanize compassion and support for our new temporary neighbors.”

Benjamin Rodriguez, an asylum-seeker staying in the Sunset Park center, said that he came to New York from Peru seven months ago, and that he was previously being housed in a hotel. He said that while he has been able to find employment in the city, many others have not and would benefit from more government assistance with employment, such as work permits.

“We have a roof to live under, and for that I give thanks,” Rodriguez said in Spanish. “We know we are going through a very difficult situation, but it will pass one day.”

Mohammed Yamdi, who traveled to the city from Mauritania and is also staying in the Sunset Park center, said that there is little work available for migrants. He also said he has been told his request for asylum could take six months to a year to be processed.

“I want to bring my family here,” Yamdi said in French. “My children would learn to write and go to school and be alright, not like in Mauritania.”

Currently, there is a backlog of over two million cases in U.S. immigration courts, according to a 2023 Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse report. The average wait time for a hearing is more than four years, and receiving a final decision can take even longer.

Luke Petrinovic, a city employee who lives near Sunset Park, said he had worked in a migrant shelter in El Paso, Texas last summer, and he thinks it is important to be welcoming of asylum seekers.

“It’s talked about like it’s a crisis, but migration is a fact of human civilization,” Petrinovic said. “People oftentimes get very discouraged because it’s an unsolvable problem, but that means it’s the sort of thing that you have to accept and learn to be a good person in that circumstance.”

New Law Targets Landlords of Unlicensed Smoke Shops

Iryna Shkurhan on August 16, 2023

Councilmember Lynn Schulman alongside Assistant Chief James Mccarthy of Manhattan South, Senior Advisor to Union Square Travel Agency, Robert Cornegy, and Councilmember Carlina Rivera. Photo courtesy of Councilmember Schulman’s office.

By Iryna Shkurhan | ishkurhan@queensledger.com

New legislation passed by the city council last month is seeking to hold landlords, not business owners, accountable for the unlicensed sale of cannabis under their roof. 

The city estimates that there are 8,000 smoke shops, 2,000 of which sell cannabis products, operating illegally across all five boroughs. So far there are only a handful of licensed cannabis dispensaries approved by the state – the majority are located in lower Manhattan. Good Grades in Jamaica is the only cannabis shop operating legally in Queens. 

Intro 1001-B, first introduced by Councilmember Lynn Schulman in April, prohibits knowingly leasing a commercial space to a tenant who will utilize it for the distribution or sale of illicit cannabis or tobacco products without a license. Landlords can face a $5,000 civil penalty at first, and a $10,000 penalty for each subsequent violation, if they do not cease the operation. 

“This legislation is a game changer and adds another tool to the enforcement toolbox against these harmful businesses,” said Councilmember Schulman at the press conference outside the Union Square Travel Agency Cannabis Dispensary in the East Village. It served as a formal announcement of the legislation which was adopted on July 23.  

“We stand here today because we have an obligation to protect a healthy legal cannabis market and ensure that the industry meets its equity goals,” said Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, who also pointed out that those who were disproportionately affected by the war on drugs have priority to receive Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary licenses. In legal shops, there is also a 13 percent sales tax that goes towards community reinvestments. 

Councilmember Carina Rivera has several legal cannabis dispensaries in her district. Photo courtesy of Councilmember Schulman’s office.

Officials believe that the illicit market of unregulated products undermines those who took the rigorous legal route of securing a license through the state, as well as the social justice element of cannabis legalization. There is also a health risk to the public when consuming substances that are not officially tested and regulated. 

“As you can imagine having in close proximity to here so many illegal shops, it flies in the face of consumer safety, because we don’t know what’s in those products,” said Robert Cornegy, Senior Advisor to the Union Square Travel Agency, and former Councilman. “Our products here are tested by the state and have been proven to be safe for consumption.”

“If a space is being utilized illegally, and an owner is aware, it is appropriate for that owner to be penalized along with others who are knowingly involved in the arrangement,” said Steve Soutendijk, Co-Chair of the Real Estate Board of New York’s Retail Committee. 

Schulman also mentioned that in Forest Hills, which falls in her district, there are several cannabis shops operating illegally. 

“Illegal smoke and cannabis shops have been an ongoing challenge in our communities,” said Heather Beers-Dimitriadis, Chair of Queens Community Board 6 which encompasses Forest Hills and Rego Park. “It is important to protect our community from businesses selling adulterated cannabis, to protect our city from the theft of tax dollars, and to protect future regulated cannabis shops that continue to open throughout our borough.”

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