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Mayor Mamdani Joins Astoria Mosque for Ramadan Iftar

BQE Admin on March 25, 2026

BY MOHAMED FARGHALY

mfarghaly@queensledger.com

The scent of home-cooked food drifted through the halls of the Masjid Islamic Unity & Cultural Center as families gathered shoulder to shoulder, waiting for sunset to break their Ramadan fast. Children leaned over railings to catch a glimpse of the evening’s guest while elders greeted one another warmly. On this night, the mosque at 31-33 12th St. welcomed a familiar visitor: Mayor Zohran Mamdani, returning to the Astoria neighborhood he once represented as a state assemblyman.

Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, joined dozens of Bosnian New Yorkers on March 17 for iftar, the nightly meal that ends the daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan. The visit felt less like a formal appearance and more like a reunion. Children gathered around him excitedly while longtime mosque members, affectionately called “uncles and aunties,” welcomed him with handshakes and embraces before the community prepared for maghrib prayer.

The evening opened with remarks from the mosque’s main imam, Kemal Bektesevic, who greeted Mamdani and spoke about the community’s hopes for the city and their connection to the mayor.

“Brother is someone who is close to the heart, someone you care about honestly,” Bektesevic said. “Not just because you are a brother, but because we truly hope you will make a change in this city and that we will feel the warmth of that change.”

Reflecting on the political journey that brought the mayor to their mosque, the imam shared a personal story about voting for the first time after encouragement from younger members of the community.

“I was raised in a way where I never went to a polling station,” Bektesevic said. “Then the youngsters in my community came to me and said, ‘Let’s do something.’ A friend and member of our community told me about you, and I said, ‘Okay, let’s try.’”

He said Mamdani’s campaign gave many in the community a sense of optimism.

“I’m not saying we have done a lot,” Bektesevic said. “But you gave us a very big hope that, Inshallah, we will see you succeed. That’s why I say: keep going straight and make us proud, and make proud all those who worked hard for you.”

Moments later, Mamdani stepped forward to address the congregation, greeting the crowd with a familiar Ramadan blessing.

“Ramadan Kareem, Ramadan Mubarak,” he said. “It is such a joy and a pleasure to be here, not just as your mayor, but as your brother.”

Mayor Mamdani visited the Masjid Islamic Unity and Cultural Center in Astoria to break his Ramadan fast last week. Photos by Mohamed Farghaly.

For Mamdani, the visit carried personal significance. Before becoming mayor, he represented Astoria and Long Island City in the state Assembly, and he recalled working with members of the mosque years earlier on community efforts to help neighbors in need.

“This is a return home for me,” Mamdani said. “Before I was your mayor, I was an assembly member for Astoria and Long Island City, and as I was just sitting here next to brother Ismail, he was showing me text messages that I sent him in 2019 and 2020 where I was asking him if he would sponsor some iftars that we would give to those in need in the neighborhood.”

The mayor thanked mosque leaders and the young people who recited prayers earlier in the evening, calling them reminders of the community’s future.

“Our youngsters who are here with their beautiful recitations remind us that the future is always what we are striving for,” Mamdani said.

He also reflected on the history many Bosnian families carry with them in New York, referencing those who fled war and genocide in the Balkans before rebuilding their lives in the city.

“Many in this community came here after a genocide, came here out of necessity to find a place of safety,” he said. “Hardship brought many Bosnians to New York City, yet I’m grateful for the ease that you have delivered to our city, in shaping our neighborhoods and shaping the very places that so many know as their home today.”

As the call to prayer approached, the room grew quieter. Dates and water were passed along tables as families prepared to break their fast together. Mamdani spoke about the meaning of Ramadan beyond abstaining from food and drink.

“Many people think of Ramadan solely as a time characterized by fasting from sunup to sundown,” he said. “But I look forward to Ramadan because of what it means in terms of reflection, recommitment and giving meaning to the things that we lose sight of.”

The mayor also thanked the congregation for participating in civic life, saying their engagement helped reshape the city’s political landscape.

“I would not stand before you as the mayor of this city if it wasn’t for every single New Yorker who told themselves that this would be the time they would participate,” Mamdani said. “You saw yourself in the city that is also your own. You saw yourself in its politics. You saw yourself in its future.”

As the fast was finally broken and the community moved for the meal, the evening blended faith, food and conversation. Plates filled with traditional dishes, children darted around the room and elders shared stories late into the night.

For Mamdani, the gathering served as both a celebration of Ramadan and a reminder of the neighborhood that helped shape his political journey.

LaGuardia Crash Kills 2, Investigation Delayed Amid Federal Shutdown

BQE Admin on March 25, 2026

BY COLE SINANIAN

cole@queensledger.com

LAGUARDIA — Chaos and delays have gripped travelers at LaGuardia after a fatal crash left two pilots dead and shut down the airport overnight.

At 11:40pm Sunday night an Air Canada plane operated by the regional carrier Jazz Aviation crashed into a Port Authority vehicle in an apparent miscommunication with Air Traffic Control. In an audio recording from the volunteer-run website LiveATC.com, an air traffic controller can be heard telling the vehicle to cross the runway, before repeatedly saying “stop” in the moments before the collision.

The aircraft — Air Canada flight 8648 — had just landed on Runway 4 from Montreal when it struck the vehicle as it crossed the tarmac. The flight’s two Canadian pilots were killed in the crash, while two Port Authority officers, identified as Sgt. Michael Orsillo and Officer Adrian Baez, were hospitalized and are in stable condition.

“First of all, my heart goes out to the families of the two pilots, Canadian pilots — certainly a very tragic outcome — and also the dozens of individuals who were injured, some seriously, some have already been discharged in the hospital,” said Governor  Kathy Hochul, addressing the press on Monday morning.

She continued: “I spoke with a number of people, including Kathryn Garcia, the relatively new executive director of the Port Authority, who’s been doing all the media briefings… We’re working in close contact with them.”

The Air Canada flight carried 72 passengers and four crew members. Gothamist reported that 41 passengers were hospitalized and 32 had been released by Monday morning.

Speaking at a Monday press conference at the airport, Mayor Zohran Mamdani thanked New Yorkers whose travel plans were disrupted for their patience and vowed to support federal investigators.

“I want New Yorkers to know that the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of this accident and that we will not rest until the conclusion of that investigation,” Mamdani said. “We’ve been coordinating closely with our partners across govern ment since late last night, and we will continue to do so.

“I’m grateful for the work of dedicated first responders, including the men and women from the NYPD, the FDNY and NYCEM, who arrived on the scene within minutes, treated injuries, and handled a chaotic scene with incredible professionalism and poise,” Mamdani continued. “I also want to commend those who were thrust into a frightening accident and reacted not only with composure, but by extending a hand to the person next to them.”

The crash brought dozens of canceled flights at LaGuardia Monday morning. Meanwhile, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staffing shortages caused by an ongoing government shutdown have hampered the investigation.

At a news conference Monday, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy said that long lines at TSA have delayed the start of the investigation, with some NTSB specialists still arriving early Tuesday morning. According to a New York Times report, the NTSB had to call TSA at a Houston airport where an investigator en route to LaGuardia was caught in a 3-hour line to “beg to see if we can get her through,” Homendy said.

“It’s been a really big challenge to get the entire team here, and they’re still arriving as I speak,” she said Monday.

The Department of Homeland Security has been shut down since mid-February due to Congress’ failure to pass spending bills regarding immigration enforcement. The shutdown has left Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers around the country without pay, leading to widespread staffing shortages that have caused major delays and long lines at airports nationwide.

As of Tuesday morning, little information was available about what led to the crash as investigators have yet to have a full day on scene.

LaGuardia reopened early Monday morning, with its first flight scheduled to depart at 2pm Monday.  Sunday’s incident marked the first fatal crash at LaGuardia in 34 years.

QED Astoria Retains Identity One Year Into New Ownership

BQE Admin on March 25, 2026

BY MARYAM RAHAMAN

ASTORIA — Free municipal condoms, the Real Housewives, and conservative Christian radio all came up during last Thursday’s Paid Protest show at QED Astoria, where a sold-out crowd laughed uproariously as five comics and their host Anders Lee married political themes with comedy.

QED Astoria, founded in 2014 by comedic storyteller Kambri Crews, boasts a variety of programming, from free toddler storytimes to adult spelling bees to comedy shows in languages reflecting the full diversity of Queens. For the past few months, the venue has been the home of Paid Protest, a monthly Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) comedy show fundraiser.

Proceeds from last week’s show went to the organization’s Immigration Justice Working Group. Signatures were also collected to petition for DSA candidates Aber Kawas and Diana Moreno. Performers included Rufat Agayev, Gastor Almonte, Aidan Kelly, Taylor Petty, and Srilatha Rajamani.

Though QED is not strictly a comedy club, young New York City comedians have long flocked to it as a testing ground for performing. In November 2024, Crews announced she would close the venue unless a buyer stepped in. It was announced two months later that comedian Hannah Lieberman, a former QED performer, would take over.

Lieberman moved to the city after college to attend acting school, graduating right into the pandemic. In the midst of working odd jobs and auditioning for commercials, she leaned into the “inkling” that she wanted to do stand-up. After a bringer night (when comedians are required to bring audience members) that worked “better than it had any right to go,” Lieberman realized she wanted to perform and produce shows. When she moved to Astoria, QED and its community were a natural fit.

“It’s the first club where I headlined. It’s the first club where I produced a show,” Lieberman said. “This club meant so much to me already, and it was already my home base. It was kind of like kismet.”

Comedian Hannah Lieberman is the new owner of QED Astoria.

This rendition of Paid Protest featured several comedians who had been performing at QED for years, including Agayev, Almonte, and Kelly. Almonte says that while other comedy spaces might struggle long-term because they focus on big names, QED has invested in giving young artists stage time. One of his favorite memories was getting to have his son see what he does, taking pictures and holding the microphone after a show.

“As much as I love other stand-up spaces, I probably wouldn’t have felt as comfortable bringing my seven year-old into those environments.”

It’s been about a year since Lieberman officially took over last March after shadowing Crews. As a former nanny, she’s added a lot of after school and children’s programming, in addition to changes that reflect the 25 year age gap between her and Crews—such as a Disney Channel original movie night in the form of a drinking game.

Marrying comedy and politics is not a new ownership change. Though Paid Protest has become part of regular programming under Lieberman, Crews previously held fundraisers for Zohran Mamdani and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at QED. To Lieberman, being honest about the venue’s political leaning is important.

“This is very much a progressive place. I think that’s reflected in our comedy too,” she said. “If you averaged open mics across the country, ours are the most welcoming to women.” For her, political comedy is to not only “shed a light on injustice,” but to keep herself “sane.”

“What eventually will happen is they’re going to try and shut down spaces like QED where people criticize the government,” Kelly said. “It’s insanely, insanely important.”

QED’s upcoming events can be viewed on Instagram @qedastoria or on their website qedastoria.com.

A Response to Robert Hornak’s Column on Welfare

BQE Admin on March 25, 2026

GEOFFREY COBB | gcobb91839@Aol.com

Author, “Greenpoint Brooklyn’s Forgotten Past

I read Robert Hornak’s frankly disturbing piece about Social Welfare spending in New York City. He makes a spurious claim that he does not in any way adequately prove: New York City’s social welfare spending is creating poverty, not alleviating it. When I finished Mr. Hornak’s article, I was not surprised to learn that he is the former Executive Director of the Queens Republican Party because his piece is less a serious discussion of poverty in New York City than a thinly veiled attack on New York Democrats.

Mr. Hornak correctly points out that New York City spends more per capita than anywhere else in the nation, yet he fails to mention what is obvious to anyone who lives in New York City: it is the most expensive place in the country to live, so New York has to spend more to help its impoverished citizens. He makes the dubious and unsubstantiated claim that New York City is involved in malfeasance on “an unimaginable scale.”

If Mr. Hornak actually knows any impoverished New Yorkers, it does not show in his article. I am a retired public high school teacher who taught for many years in Flatbush, one of the city’s poorest areas. Many of my students were growing up in poverty, some of the 450,000 or so impoverished children in our city. Like the vast majority of the city’s poor, their parents worked minimum wage jobs, often two jobs, trying to make ends meet. As of January 1, 2026, a worker in New York City earning the minimum wage of $17 per hour has  a gross weekly income of $680 and after taxes that person brings home monthly between $2,200 and $2,350, after federal, state, and city taxes, as well as FICA deductions, in a city where the average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment is approximately $3,000 to over $4,000+ per month without considering other necessary expenses.

Mr. Hornak does not mention that the Trump administration slashed SNAP payments, which provide food stamps for some 1.8 million New Yorkers to put food on the family table. For many households, cutting snap means a  loss of their ability to afford an adequate supply of groceries, putting people at risk of skipping meals, incurring debt, or turning to emergency food services for the first time. I can tell you from first-hand knowledge that every school day  many of my students ate a school breakfast and lunch because their working parents could not afford to buy food for these meals for their kids. The family dinner was often purchased solely thanks to the SNAP funds President Trump recently bragged about cutting in his State of the Union.

Growing up in poverty obviously puts children at risk and the city is responsible to protect these children. Protecting kids sadly costs real money.  Presently, one in ten children in the New York City Public Schools System is homeless and many are at risk for domestic violence. Mr. Hornak called the large spending by the Department of Homeless Services and the Children’s Services “unfathomable,” which sadly reflects how far removed he is from the realities of daily living New York City’s hundreds of thousands of impoverished children face each day.

Mr. Hornak also fails to mention a huge factor in social spending by New York City. Republican Governors have gleefully shipped migrants to New York City. More than 210,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since spring 2022, with tens of thousands bused directly by Southern states. Texas alone reported transporting over 37,100 migrants to NYC since August 2022. Some 64,000 migrants remain in city shelters, a huge drain on the city’s budget. The influx has cost the city billions of dollars and necessitated the creation of over 100 emergency shelter sites.

Mr. Hornak touts Florida’s lower poverty rate without mentioning that many parts of Florida are rural and that Florida has a huge percentage of wealthy retirees skewing the poverty figures. He fails to mention that nearly a million children live in poverty in Florida and that six Florida counties have poverty rates in the thirtieth percentile, well above New York’s City’s 26%.

Reading Mr. Hornak’s piece, there is a mean spirited, underlying assumption that social spending actually leads to higher rates of poverty. It implies that the poor are somehow lazy and shiftless and they would be better off if the government stopped trying to help them. New York needs to have a serious discussion about poverty, but Mr. Hornak’s simplistic contention that social welfare spending worsens poverty is simply not borne out by the facts. I suggest he actually spend time with the millions of New Yorkers who need help to make ends meet. Cutting funds is only going to make poverty worse, not better.

An Evening With The Kew Forest Republican Club

BQE Admin on March 25, 2026

BY ANDREW KARPAN

In the basement of the White Radish in Kew Garden, the room was cramped with a tightly-packed group of some fifty or so people celebrating the downfall of Jasmine Crockett.

“With those two candidates going down, you know, Crockett and Al Green, I mean, I feel like there’s real change coming,” said an excited Kathryn Donnelly, one of the co-founders of the Kew Forest Republican Club, a new group that formed earlier this year, splintering from other Republican groups in the county.

When someone said that those were contests, involving candidates in Democratic Party primaries in the relatively faraway terrain of Texas, Donnelly didn’t demur.

“These are radical people, look, you know, probably, those are the worst, I think,” she added. “The radicals really have to go.”

Donnelly would know something about that. Until earlier this year, Donnelly was one of the three leaders of the Central Queens Republican Club, before ditching the group with a handful of stragglers and began booking meetings of her own in mid-size restaurants in Forest Hills. Their kick-off was in January, inside the similarly compact Aged Steakhouse nearby. (“Sorry, it’s a little tight down here but we didn’t have the funds to rent another restaurant, but maybe we will in the future,” said Donnelly, apologetically.)

“A lot of people who are here used to be members of that club,” said Bart Haggerty, a local Republican district leader. “And had issues with that club,” he added. Haggerty went on to detail one of those, a territorial fight: “And one thing we’re committed to here is that we’re not going to invite Democrats to speak in our club. And that club has chosen to do that repeatedly. We’re Republicans in the end, and I’m not interested in giving Democrats a platform to stand on.”

Irene Gakin, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union who runs both a travel agency in Queens and a community Facebook group (“I put in the rules of the group, it says, pretty clearly, that political posts will not be allowed.”) said she’s been a Republican since coming to the country. She was among the many in her party who split for Andrew Cuomo during last year’s election, believing that the party’s nominee, Curtis Silwa, didn’t have a chance. She made no bones about her feelings about Zohran Mamdani, the Democrat who had won.

“He’s a radical, his views are anti-Israel and that’s painful. And I’m disappointed to say the least,” said Gakin.

Andy Okuneff (left) said he “informally” supported Trump in the 2024 election. Photos by Andrew Karpan.

The group, in its first official meeting, had hoped for the blessing of one of Mamdani’s political opponents, Joanne Ariola, among the handful of outspoken Queens Republicans in the Democratic Party-controlled City Council. Ariola, however, could not make it, with Donnelly explaining something that had to do with family arrangements falling through.

The group would have to make do with Joseph Chou, an immigrant from Taiwan who runs a car repair business and who was also running a longshot campaign for Congress against Grace Meng, the longtime Democrat from Central Queens. His campaign slogan read: “Not Left, Not Right, Just Truth.”

“And you know they paint Republicans as so anti-immigration. No, we’re pro-immigration because we built this country,” said Chou. “But we built it the right way.” There was a smattering of applause.

The message perhaps resonated with Alfonso Nunez, a Dominican immigrant from Rego Park, who described himself as a Republican “for the last 20 years.” These days, he drives for Uber and was wearing a gold-colored Donald Trump toupée under a Trump 2024 vizor.

“Before, there were crazy bikes, riding on the sidewalks,” he said. “After Trump won, everything was different.”

“It comes down to breaking one party-rule,” said Andy Okuneff, a Republican from Brooklyn and the only person in the room wearing an Aphex Twin t-shirt. He had volunteered for the Trump campaign in 2016, handing out pamphlets in Reading, Pennsylvania. He had only “informally” supported Trump in the most recent election, he added.

“We have the highest taxes on earth and see trash on the streets. Ultimately, we want to lower taxes. That’s the direction we’re pushing,” said Okuneff.

Down Payment Assistance Programs NYC Buyers Should Use

Dan on March 25, 2026

By Dan Rose,

Saving for a home in New York City can feel like running on a treadmill. You put money aside every month, and then you look at listing prices and wonder whether it will ever be enough. But here is something I tell almost every first-time buyer who walks into my office. The gap between what you have saved and what you need to close might be smaller than you think, because New York has some of the most generous down payment assistance and first-time buyer programs in the country. The trick is knowing they exist and understanding how to layer them together.

NYC’s HomeFirst Program

The city’s flagship down payment assistance program is HomeFirst, administered by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development. It provides qualified first-time homebuyers with up to $100,000 toward the down payment or closing costs on a one-to-four-family home, condo, or co-op in any of the five boroughs. That is not a typo. Up to $100,000, structured as a forgivable loan.

The forgiveness timeline depends on the amount. Loans of $40,000 or less are forgiven after 10 years of owner occupancy. Loans above $40,000 carry a 15-year forgiveness period. If you sell or refinance before the clock runs out, you repay the full amount. But if you stay, the money is yours.

There are eligibility requirements, of course. You need to complete a homebuyer education course through an HPD-approved counseling agency, meet income limits based on household size and area median income, and contribute a minimum of 3 percent of the purchase price from your own funds. For a $400,000 home, that personal contribution is $12,000, a dramatically more manageable figure than the $40,000 you might need without assistance.

SONYMA Programs for New York State Buyers

The State of New York Mortgage Agency runs several programs that work well alongside city-level assistance, or on their own for buyers outside the five boroughs.

  • Achieving the Dream: Designed for lower-income first-time buyers, this program offers 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with down payments as low as 3 percent. There are no prepayment penalties, and income limits vary by county.
  • Down Payment Assistance Loan (DPAL): A zero-interest second mortgage with no monthly payments, forgiven entirely after 10 years. The maximum amount is 3 percent of the purchase price or $3,000, whichever is greater, up to $15,000. For a $400,000 purchase, that means up to $12,000 in forgivable assistance.
  • Graduate to Homeownership: If you earned a college degree within the last 48 months, this program offers below-market rates and can be combined with DPAL for additional down payment help.

The Federal Home Loan Bank’s Homebuyer Dream Program

This grant program operates through participating lenders and provides up to $30,000 per household toward down payment, closing costs, and homebuyer counseling. Unlike many assistance programs, the Homebuyer Dream Program does not require repayment. It is a true grant.

Eligibility is tied to earning at or below 80 percent of the area median income, and the program operates on a first-come, first-served basis each year. The 2026 round is already open, with the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York allocating over $31 million in funding across 110 participating member institutions. If you qualify, this is essentially free money toward your home purchase, but it moves fast, so timing matters.

How Programs Stack Together

One of the most powerful strategies for first-time buyers is layering programs. In many cases, you can combine a SONYMA mortgage with DPAL, then add HomeFirst assistance on top. The result can dramatically reduce or even eliminate the out-of-pocket cash you need at closing.

Consider a $400,000 condo purchase in Queens. With HomeFirst covering $40,000 and DPAL adding $12,000, a buyer with $12,000 in personal savings could effectively cover a full 10 percent down payment plus a significant portion of closing costs. The monthly mortgage payment on the remaining balance, financed through a SONYMA program at a competitive rate, could look very different from the scenario most buyers imagine when they start their search. I lay out that monthly payment calculation in detail in my guide to understanding a $400K NYC home mortgage, which walks through the income and debt math step by step.

What Most Buyers Get Wrong

The biggest mistake I see is buyers who assume they do not qualify for assistance because they earn a “decent” salary. Many of these programs define eligibility based on area median income thresholds, and in an expensive metro like New York, those thresholds are surprisingly high. A household earning $90,000 or even $100,000 may still fall within the income limits for certain programs, depending on family size and the specific borough.

The second mistake is waiting too long to start the process. Several programs require completion of a homebuyer education course before you can access funds, and some, like the Homebuyer Dream Program, allocate money on a first-come basis. Starting the counseling and pre-approval process three to six months before you plan to make an offer gives you the best chance of capturing every dollar available.

Turning Assistance Into Ownership

First-time buyer programs are not a shortcut around sound financial planning. You still need a stable income, manageable debt, and the discipline to maintain a home you own. But they can bridge the gap between where you are and where you need to be, turning a $400,000 listing from a number on a screen into an address with your name on the deed. In a market as expensive as New York City, that bridge matters.

Contributed by Dan Rose, A Senior Local Business Guide Specializing in NYC First-Time Homebuyer Programs and Down Payment Strategies.

Curious Which Programs You Qualify For?
Every buyer’s situation is different, and layering the right programs can save you tens of thousands at closing.
Visit us at https://rjcmortgage.com/ to speak with a mortgage specialist who can match you with the best available assistance today.

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