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The Green Agenda Collides with Affordability Promises

BQE Admin on March 5, 2026

Political Whisperer

By Robert Hornak

There’s no other way to say it, there are many people who are obsessed with CO2 and how much humans are emitting. This is in spite of the simple reality that carbon dioxide, the most fundamental building block of life on earth, only makes up a tiny, tiny fraction of earth’s atmosphere, and human emissions only a tiny fraction of that.

This obsession also ignores the fact that over the last 20 years, CO2 emissions in the U.S. have decreased by at least 20%. After a significant shift from coal to “cleaner” natural gas, CO2 emissions decreased from their high in 2007 of 6.1 billion metric tons to 4.7 billion metric tons in 2024. This was the target established in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, 5% below the 1990 level of 5 BMT.

Natural gas is now the top source of electricity in the U.S. giving us 43% of our energy with coal dropping to 16%, in large part due to the lower cost of natural gas. So, energy costs should be either holding steady or even dropping, but they aren’t.

This is thanks to the Democrats obsession with further reducing CO2 and by primarily doing that relying on wind power, which is now fourth in our supply of energy at 10%. Wind power is dramatically driving up the cost of energy in NY, and will continue to make the cost exponentially worse over time. NY is focused primarily on offshore wind, which is estimated to be 2.6 times the cost of onshore wind and 3.4 times the cost of natural gas.

Estimates by green power proponents are raising alarm bells in NY. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority recently sent a memo to Gov. Hochul that coming increases in electricity cost will be crushing for NY families, predicting $3,500 a year in additional cost per home annually. Some predict it could be as high as $4,000. 

So according to best estimates that’s almost an additional $300 a month in electricity cost, for every single family. Heads are exploding among people promising affordability for New Yorkers. This undermines their entire agenda.

It’s so bad that Hochul’s state budget director recently said the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) was “well-intentioned” but that changes will be needed, calling his estimate of an additional $3,000 for NY’s families “unacceptable.” Well, isn’t that a relief?

The CLCPA was the law passed in 2019 that mandated NY to change how the state’s energy is produced. It set the target at 70% of all electricity to come from “renewables” by 2030, and for all energy produced carbon free by 2040. 

Never missing an opportunity to undermine their own objectives, NY lost over 9% of it’s renewable production when Indian Point was closed in 2021 (nuclear still provides 18.6%). That was mostly replaced with natural gas, not wind or solar, which still only make up approximately 4% and 3% of NY’s energy, respectively. 

Realizing their horrendous miscalculation, Hochul is now indicating she will move forward with her proposal to increase nuclear energy production in NY. But they are still wedded to their costly offshore wind plans.

In a recent decision, they managing to convince a judge to put five offshore wind projects back online after the Trump administration recognized this plan for what it is – a losing proposition for NY rate payers. 

This seemingly schizophrenic approach is a desperate attempt to satisfy both the green ideologues and families across the state grappling with ever increasing costs, driven by bad public policy. 

And this doesn’t take into account the changing digital landscape, with AI, crypto, and the growing digital economy on the verge of radically transforming our society, and transforming how we use energy.

NY needs to take this seriously and focus on the three sources that reliably and efficiently provide 72% of all the states power – natural gas, nuclear and hydropower. Wind power is ideologically driven expensive folly that the people can no longer afford to indulge. 

Robert Hornak is a veteran political consultant who has previously worked for the NYC office of the Republican Assembly Leader and served as Executive Director of the Queens Republican Party. He can be reached at rahornak@gmail.com and @roberthornak on X.

Jenifer Rajkumar’s Next Act

BQE Admin on March 4, 2026

“The Lady in Red” looks to represent District 38 a fourth time.

BY JACK DELANEY

JDelaney@queensledger.com

Every so often, Jenifer Rajkumar will get a text from one of her constituents with a photo of a red dress and the details of where to find it. It’s become the Queens assemblymember’s calling card: Her wardrobe is “all red,” she says, including more than 40 red dresses, red shoes, red handbags, and at one point red masks.

But long before Rajkumar opted for monochrome — before the state rep secured Diwali as a school holiday, cracked down on illegal smokeshops, or made headlines as one of former Mayor Eric Adam’s most visible allies amid a corruption probe — she was an civil rights lawyer taking on a pharmaceutical giant.

This was 2008, and at only age 26, Rajkumar was representing a class of over 4000 women who were demoted or fired by the drug company Novartis after they became pregnant. She won a $250 million verdict, in what is still considered one of the largest gender discrimination cases to go to trial. But her time in law wouldn’t last.

“I began to realize that if you really want to make a difference, you need power, you need to be at the table,” Rajkumar told the Ledger at a recent roundtable, “and that’s why I decided to leave everything I knew and go into government.”

Nearly two decades later, Rajkumar is now running for a fourth term as a Democrat in State Assembly District 38, which covers parts of Glendale, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Ridgewood, and Woodhaven. And while the Tarrytown native has been described as “omnipresent” for her borough-hopping press conferences during the previous mayoral administration — a label she embraces — her impact on her home district has been substantial.

One of Rajkumar’s proudest achievements in recent years is the “Put a Lid On It” bill, which requires pollutants transported by rail to be covered. Since at least the 2000s, residents living near the tracks complained of toxic odors wafting into their homes; at Christ the King High School, some students found it difficult to concentrate due to headaches and nausea. Rajkumar says the new legislation, passed in 2023 in collaboration with state Senator Joseph Addabbo, addresses those concerns.

“Passing things in Albany is like rolling a ball up a hill,” said Rajkumar, who chairs the Subcommittee on Diversity in Law and sits on six other committees. “It’s inertia you need to get past, and I think that’s what I’ve been able to do really well.”

Another focus has been supporting the Asian American community, in her district and throughout New York. Rajkumar was the first South Asian woman to be elected to the state legislature, assuming office in 2021, and in 2023 she successfully lobbied its leaders to designate Diwali as a day off for students — a notoriously difficult feat, considering the crunched academic calendar, and one which moved Bollywood megastar Priyanka Chopra to say her “teenage self living in Queens is crying tears of joy.” A year later, Rajkumar helped form the state’s AAPI Commission to bridge the gap between policymakers and residents.

Jennifer Rajkumar stopped by the Queens Ledger office on Friday. Photos by Mohamed Farghaly.

But the stakes for this election are high. After winning her primary uncontested in 2022 and 2024, Rajkumar now faces a stiff challenge from David Orkin, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) who is explicit about mobilizing state funds to realize Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s agenda. Rajkumar is less sure.

Yet despite Rajkumar’s longtime association with Adams, a Mamdani foe, the two candidates have more in common than might be expected. Orkin is an immigrant workers’ rights attorney; at the outset of Trump’s first term, Rajkumar was tapped by then-Governor Cuomo to build a $31 million statewide legal aid program for immigrant families.

When Rajkumar remembers that job, two stories spring to mind: a mother who called her an “angel” for returning her young son from detention, and a woman who was seeking asylum but was sent back to her home country in South America. (“I still wonder what happened to her,” said Rajkumar.)

While Rajkumar noted that policies should be “humane,” however, she emphasized creating economic opportunity rather than explicitly rebuking ICE. “The immigrant communities in my district, they work so hard — 25 hours a day,” she said. “They just need guidance. Like, how do you get from A to B to C?”

Rajkumar’s stance on transportation is similarly measured. Though she believes the priority should be making buses faster, she added that she is “open” to the idea of abolishing fares if MTA chair Janno Lieber, thus far a skeptic, considers the plan feasible.

In 2023, Rajkumar announced her campaign for comptroller, then abruptly shifted to an ill-fated run for public advocate. But despite accusations of opportunism — which she argues are gendered — Rajkumar has retained deep connections with many of her constituents, whether mentoring a middle schooler at Elizabeth Blackwell who hopes to attend Harvard or this week hosting a large-scale Iftar dinner in Ozone Park.

Rajkumar’s latest initiative is “Atlantic Avenue 2.0,” a proposal to revitalize the corridor by reviving the defunct LIRR stop in Woodhaven. She supports the IBX, is equally bullish on QueensLink and QueensWay, and aims to further promote mobility of a different sort by pushing to make CUNY fully free again.

And what’s with the red? For Rajkumar, it’s about making a statement: “I’m often underestimated. There are not many people like me in these halls of power. So I bring that passion and purpose with me everywhere I go.”

Sunnyside Yards Redevelopment Back From the Dead

BQE Admin on March 4, 2026

Mamdani pitched Trump a $21 billion plan to build housing over the Sunnyside Amtrak yard. Not everyone’s pleased. 

By COLE SINANIAN 

cole@queensledger.com 

Posing for a photo op next to a smiling Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon, Mayor Zohran Mamdani held up a fake copy of the New York Daily News with the headline “TRUMP TO CITY: LET’S BUILD.”

The mayor had brought the paper to the meeting in an apparent appeal to the president’s ego as he pitched what could one day become one of the Mamdani Administration’s landmark achievements: the Sunnyside Yards redevelopment. 

Mamdani’s proposal would resurrect the Sunnyside Yards plan, a DeBlasio-era project that stalled  during the pandemic and aimed to build 12,000 units of affordable housing on an elevated deck over Sunnyside’s 180-acre Amtrak railyard. 

But while several politicians and organizations have since come out in support of Mamdani’s proposal, others have questioned the mayor’s appeal to the president before consulting the local Sunnyside community. 

“New York City is facing a generational affordability challenge,” Mayor Mamdani said. “Working families are being priced out of the neighborhoods they built. To meet this moment, we need a true federal partner prepared to invest boldly and act urgently. I appreciated the opportunity to speak directly with President Trump about building more housing in any single project than our city has seen since 1973.”

Amtrak first released plans to upgrade the railyard back in 2014, opening up the possibility of extending the Sunnyside neighborhood over the railyard. But with a price tag of $14 billion and the COVID-19 pandemic grinding the city to a halt just weeks after the master plan, was released, the Sunnyside Yard redevelopment never materialized. Now, as Mamdani looks to formulate his housing development strategy amid a worsening housing crisis, the new mayor is bringing the project back from the dead with an updated price tag of $21 billion— money Mamdani hopes to get from Trump through federal grants. 

If completed as proposed, the redevelopment would include 12,000 units of affordable housing — 6,000 of which would be “Mitchell-Lama-style,” according to the mayor’s press release — built on “the world’s largest deck over the site.” The project would add some 30,000 union jobs, as well as new parks, schools, health care facilities and 60 acres of public space in what would be the largest housing and infrastructure investment in the city in more than 50 years. 

The proposed Sunnyside Yards redevelopment would expand the Sunnyside neighborhood over the 180-acre Amtrak railyard. Photo via NYC EDC.

Several organizations and elected officials were quick to applaud the mayor for his ambition and urgency in addressing the city’s affordable housing crisis. In a written statement,  Annemarie Gray, Executive Director of Open New York — a pro-development housing nonprofit — welcomed the potential for new housing units built over the railyard. 

“We are excited to see the Mayor consistently recognize that building new homes is central to an affordability agenda,” she said. “With a housing shortage on the order of a million units, we must explore every possible solution, and Sunnyside Yard presents an opportunity worth further exploring.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, meanwhile, praised the plan in a statement, highlighting the need to balance development goals with adequate community engagement. 

“Sunnyside Yard’s untapped potential as New York City’s next great community is even more immense now than it was a decade ago, when the city first proposed such a redevelopment plan,” Richards said in a statement. 

“In the event that New York City does secure significant federal investment for this project, I would strongly encourage the administration to conduct a comprehensive, community-centered planning process that takes into account the current and future needs of The World’s Borough,” the borough president continued. 

But it’s precisely this “community-centered planning process” that critics allege was lacking in the Sunnyside Yards’ initial redevelopment plan. Back in 2019, US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez opposed the project, raising concerns about the potential privatization of parts of Sunnyside and displacement of local residents as a result of the project. 

“The proposal as it stands reflects a misalignment of priorities: development over reinvestment, commodification of public land over consideration of public good,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a joint letter with then City councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer.

“No one wishes to see the specter of luxury development that is Hudson Yards duplicated in Sunnyside.”  

Among Sunnyside elected, reactions to the mayor’s proposal were chilly. In a lengthy press statement, Sunnyside and Long Island City councilmember Julie Won called out the mayor for seemingly going over the community’s heads to secure funding before consulting Sunnysiders. 

“Any proposal that reshapes Sunnyside Yards must begin with the neighbors who live here,” Won said. “Our community deserves a seat at the table long before anyone, including the mayor, makes headlines in the Oval Office especially for a project they have previously rejected.

Won continued: “Community centered planning requires transparency, early engagement, firm commitments to affordability, social infrastructure, feasibility, and protections against displacement. I welcome the opportunity to build more deeply affordable housing and other federal investments for public transit and other infrastructure, but it cannot be done behind closed doors unilaterally.”

Zuby Ejiofor Elevates Red Storm Over Nova in Bounce-back Win

BQE Admin on March 3, 2026

St. John’s captain records first ever triple-double to blow out the visiting Wildcats

Zuby Ejiofor recorded his first ever competitive triple-double, becoming the fourth known member of St. John’s to do so. He follows Kadary Richmond’s 2025 performance, Ron Artest’s in 1999, and David Cain’s in the 1993 NCAA Tournament. (Photos by Noah Zimmerman)

By Noah Zimmerman

noah@queensledger.com

It was wire to wire dominance for the UConn Huskies in Hartford, Connecticut last Wednesday night. After falling at Madison Square Garden a few weeks ago, the #6 team in the nation blew out the #15 ranked St. John’s Red Storm, 72-40.

For the visiting Johnnies it was by far their worst shooting performance of the season. Their 40 points were the lowest scored by either team in a Red Storm game this year. It also marked the least points ever scored by a Rick Pitino-coached team.

Joson Sanon was the only Johnnie in double figures, scoring 10 points on 3/10 shooting. The Red Storm hit just 25% of their perimeter shots and 20% of their field goal attempts. 

In the second half they only converted two field goal attempts, missing their last 24 and only scoring 14 total points. The missed-FG streak is the longest in Division 1 and the worst stretch for any nationally ranked or BIG EAST team in eight years.

“All I know is we didn’t play good offense,” said Pitino after the game. “We did things that we’ve never done. And again, that’s something I got to question about myself, and I will question it because the team did not do the things we’ve done in the last 13 games. Give [UConn] credit. We’ll move on.”

“I’ve never been through that experience,” said Zuby Ejiofor when asked to describe what happened on Wednesday night. “This loss is one that you really want to forget and move on to the next opponent because Villanova is a great team as well. Championship-level teams respond in a positive way, and my job is to make sure that we are a lot more prepared for the next opponent than we were tonight.”

St. John’s were more than prepared as they opened an early 11-2 lead against the Wildcats on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. The lead ballooned as large as 30 points in the first half, punctuated by a series of invigorating dunks.

Ian Jackson had five steals against Nova, setting a career high. He took one all the way to the bucket with an emphatic windmill jam.

All over the ball on the defensive end was Ian Jackson, who amassed an impressive three first half steals en route to a career-best five. His transition dunk was the cherry on top; an emphatic windmill slam that brought the raucous MSG crowd to their feet. Jackson scored 19, one of his best nights as a Johnnie.

Things didn’t get much easier for Villanova in the second half. Freshman forward Matt Hodge went down with an injury later confirmed to be a season-ending ACL tear, and despite his teammates coming to life and briefly cutting the deficit to 20 points, the Red Storm maintained a comfortable advantage.

In the waning moments of the matchup, Zuby Ejiofor put the finishing touches on a dominant night. With just over three minutes to go he found Joson Sanon for a midrange jumper, tallying his 10th assist.

Zuby knocks down a deep jumper against Villanova. He was firing on all cylinders, dominating on offense and defense.

The MSG crowd roared once more as Ejiofor celebrated his first ever competitive triple-double. The Red Storm captain scored 16 points with 12 rebounds to go with his career-high in assists, also picking up three blocks and a steal on the defensive end.

Zuby’s triple-double marks just the fourth in St. John’s history. He followed Kadary Richmond’s 2025 performance, Ron Artest’s in 1999, and David Cain’s in the 1993 NCAA Tournament.

On the same day as Zuby’s, Richmond picked up his first professional triple-double with the Capital City Go-Go in the NBA G League. Another senior from last year’s Red Storm squad, Deivon Smith, recorded his own the following day for the G League’s Santa Cruz Warriors.

Rick Pitino brought out the white suit for Saturday night’s contest. It delighted the sold-out MSG crowd, who gave him a standing ovation.

The Red Storm out-assisted Villanova 26-11 and out-rebounded them 40-26. It was complete dominance and a much-needed bounce back win as St. John’s heads into their season finale this Friday night in New Jersey.

Following an emotional senior night on Tuesday against Georgetown, all that’s left to decide the BIG EAST regular season championship is the Red Storm’s contest against the Seton Hall Pirates and UConn’s matchup with last place Marquette.

If UConn and St. John’s finish tied, the Red Storm will likely claim the top seed for the BIG EAST Tournament due to their sweep against Creighton. The tournament runs from March 11 to the 14 at Madison Square Garden.

On Mondayís AP College Basketball Rankings the Red Storm slid to #18, with UConn back up to #4. Villanova is also receiving votes and should appear in the NCAA Tournament later this month.

Fantasy Interiors on Steinway to Close After 75 Years

BQE Admin on March 3, 2026

By COLE SINANIAN 

cole@queensledger.com

STEINWAY  — On a recent Friday afternoon on Steinway Street, two women recognize each other at the checkout line of Fantasy Interiors, a home decor and custom drapery business founded in 1951.

“You look familiar,” the older one says to the other. “I was your monitor at PS 6 on Steinway Street!”

“That was years ago!” the other woman says.

Behind them, glass shelves once stacked with linens, towels, toilet seats, shower heads, and all manner of home decorations lay empty. As the older woman heads towards the door, she turns around to look one last time, as if to say goodbye.

“To the staff of Fantasy!” she says. “To health and happiness!”

After 75 years in business, Fantasy Interiors will be closing for good in the coming weeks. For owner Robert Last, the decision to close the beloved store was not an easy one. But with rising business costs, a local economy that never fully recovered from the pandemic, and a new generation of shoppers more inclined towards online shopping than brick-and-mortar stores, Last says the store no longer makes economic sense. While Last will continue to sell custom drapery to clients out of his workshop above the store, Fantasy Interiors’ iconic blue and white storefront will soon become a thing of Steinway Street’s past.

“We pretty much hit a wall when it started to get around COVID and everything kind of changed,” Last said. “The economy changed and peoples’ buying habits changed and unfortunately, we’re I guess a sign of the times.”

Fantasy Interiors has been a mainstay on Steinway since the 1950s. Last’s father Melvin and grandfather Harry opened the initial location in 1951 on 28th Street. Its arrival to Astoria was almost an accident, Last says. The men had always dreamed of opening a business together, hence the name— it was their “Fantasy. After taking a wrong exit they ended up on Steinway Street and were charmed. It was the perfect spot for their business, full of bustling retail activity and eagerly window-shopping pedestrians.

At eight years old Last began helping his father out in the store. The neighborhood was different then, Last said. He recalled the communal energy among the shopkeepers, how he and his family slowly got to know the tight-knit community of businesspeople around Steinway Street.

“All the merchants knew each other, which was really nice,”  he said. “Everybody was in the same boat. You had somebody to lean on, if you saw somebody in the neighborhood you just chatted.”

Fantasy founders Melvin Last (left) and Harry Last (right). Photo via Robert Last.

Neighbors that stuck out included Sokol’s, a toy store; Eisenberg’s, another store that sold houseware and home decor; and Schatz Steinway, a longtime paint store that closed in 2024. As a kid working long summer days in the Fantasy workshop with his father, Last would save up his money and walk across the street to pick out a toy at Sokol’s at the end of each week.

The Last family took well to the neighborhood. Repeat customers returned to Fantasy again and again, drawn not just to the ample selection of home decor and custom drapery, but also to the genuine personal attention and sense of community the family provided their customers. It’s the sort of genuine connection seldom found at big-brand department stores, Last said, and part of what’s kept Fantasy alive for so long amidst an ever-shifting streetscape.

“We felt it was important to give that personal help,” he said. “People do need a connection. It makes a difference in how you feel about what you’re buying.”

The store grew and within five years the family moved Fantasy to its current location at 30-32 Steinway St. Since his father passed away, Last has inherited the family business and accrued a variety of loyal clients for his custom drapery business. Last’s work can be found throughout the city, at restaurants like Red Sorghum in Long Island City and Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse in Bayside and Midtown, as well as at art galleries like Chelsea’s Hauser and Wirth and concert venues like the Midnight Blue jazz club on 19th Street in Manhattan.

But during COVID-19, things at Fantasy took a turn. Without much of an online business, pandemic quarantines took their toll. Tariffs also contributed to the economic strife, Last said. Some of the wholesalers he buys materials from have doubled their prices as a result of tariffs on foreign goods. Suppliers are also prioritizing higher-volume sales, refusing to sell anything but bulk purchases, in quantities far larger than what smaller businesses like Fantasy needs. And with his longtime focus on face-to-face personal connection, Last said he’s been reluctant to shift to an online-focused business model, a position that’s made it hard to stay profitable in 2026.

There’s a cultural element too. With a tightening economy, climbing rents and a cyber-centric  world, people are more transient and money is always tight, meaning the demand for high-quality, custom-made home decor is on the decline.

“Younger people just do things differently,” Last said. “People spend more money on rent and they don’t have that much disposable income. They’re also moving around quite a bit more. They know that they’re renting more than owning— they don’t really want to spend a lot of money on curtains or comforters or anything.”

Customers can still visit Fantasy  until inventory runs out. Last said he will stay open for another few weeks, after which point he will shift his focus to his custom business and continue to work with existing clients. Last expressed gratitude towards his workers and customers for having stuck with his father and grandfather’s “Fantasy” all these years.

“I just want to thank everyone,” Last said, “all the people that have responded, all the people over the years. We appreciate it and I think my staff appreciates it. I know that I do and it’s made a difference in me.”

A United Sunnyside at St. Pat’s for All

BQE Admin on March 3, 2026

At the annual St. Pat’s for All parade, elected officials marched alongside Sunnysiders in a diverse celebration of Irish and LGBTQ pride. 

GEOFFREY COBB | gcobb91839@Aol.com

Author, “Greenpoint Brooklyn’s Forgotten Past

SUNNYSIDE  — I could hear it long before I could actually see it. On Sunday March 1st, I was heading to Skillman Avenue, to march along with hundreds of other New Yorkers in the St. Pat’s for All annual parade through Sunnyside and Woodside, Queens, once heavily Irish American parts of Queens. I arrived on Skillman Avenue just in time to see the FDNY Emerald Society Pipes and Drums marching up the avenue, resplendent in their kilts and red jackets, while they belted out unmistakably Celtic rhythms on their bagpipes and drums.

I went to find my group, the New York Irish Center, which was one of about a hundred incredibly divers groups marching in the parade. All kinds of people lined the parade route, many proudly wearing both the rainbow colors and different shades of green. Though the atmosphere was joyous and festive, I recalled a time in the 1990s when Irish gays and lesbians were shunned. Marching in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Fifth Avenue in the 1990s, I remember The Irish Gay and Lesbian Organization, ILGO, protesting their exclusion from the event. ILGO’s exclusion proved divisive and cast a pall over the parade. Many civic leaders refused to march in the Manhattan parade until 2016, when the St. Patrick’s Parade in Manhattan finally allowed the gay and lesbian Lavender and Green Alliance to march with its banner.

City councilmember Julie Won (center) made an appearance at St. Pat’s for All. Photo by Geoffrey Cobb.

In the year 2000, Brendan Fay, an Irish filmmaker, public speaker, Irish immigrant, and LGBT rights activist, founded the St. Pat’s for All Parade as a response to the exclusion of Irish gays and lesbians from parades around New York City, even though gays took part in St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Ireland. The Queens celebration immediately set a precedent for inclusive celebrations of Irish culture. Celebrating inclusion, St. Pat’s for All’s motto is, “cherishing all the children of the nation equally,” words taken from the 1916 Easter Proclamation of the Irish Republic. St. Pat’s For All claims to transcend categorizations as solely a gay pride parade or an Irish parade, embracing the fusion of both and providing a platform for individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, to come together and celebrate Irish culture.

I asked the Director of the New York Irish Center Irish-born George Heslin about his organization’s participation in the event. Heslin said, “I am honored to say that the New York Irish Center has marched in this all-inclusive parade for more than fifteen years. “

As we marched up Skillman Avenue, we were joined by City Council Representative Julie Won, who is greatly respected in the Queens Irish Community for her solidarity with Irish Americans.  Former City Council member and co-founder of the parade, Daniel Drumm, also stopped to pose for pictures with our group. In 2002, he made history becoming the first openly gay elected official in Queens, serving as Democratic District Leader in the 39th Assembly District. In 2009, he was elected to the New York City Council, where he became one of its first openly gay members, representing the diverse communities of the 25th Council District.

St. Pat’s for All continues to welcome individuals from diverse ethnicities and cultures, creating a platform for a vibrant and multicultural celebration.  It is not surprising that it has become a cherished yearly celebration in New York’s most ethnically and culturally diverse borough and a symbol of the toleration that makes New York great.

Queens Native to Open the Borough’s First Freestanding Birth Center

BQE Admin on March 3, 2026

Birthing centers have been shown to improve health outcomes for both mothers and infants. Queens may be about to get its first. 

By MARYAM RAHAMAN

In New York City, babies have been born on the Jackie Robinson Parkway, on the W train, in an Uber, and of course, at home and in hospitals. Queens native Charline Mitchell, a former school counselor turned full spectrum doula and lactation counselor, is hoping to add another option for Queens families: a freestanding birthing center. 

Birthing centers are facilities that aim to provide a more comfortable environment for births. Centers often follow a midwifery-led model of care and predominantly staffed by midwives. Only those with low-risk pregnancies can be admitted to a birthing center. Currently, there are two freestanding birth centers in New York City—both of which are in Brooklyn. 

“I like to joke and say ‘A lot of babies are being conceived in Queens, but not born in Queens,’” Mitchell said.

The center, led by the Birth by Queens foundation, will open in December 2027 if it receives the necessary funding and approvals. Mitchell anticipates that the center will either be placed in Jamaica or Astoria. Per state regulations, birthing centers must be able to transport a patient to a hospital in twenty minutes. 

Beyond supporting families through delivery, the center will offer comprehensive resources including prenatal and postpartum services as well as breastfeeding and parenting support. 

The center also aims to serve the most diverse borough by addressing inequities in maternal and infant healthcare. Research has shown that midwifery-led care can offer greater patient autonomy and improve both maternal and infant health outcomes. In New York City, Black women are over five times more likely to die of pregnancy-associated causes than white women, according to an NYC Department of Health report. The majority of those deaths were preventable. 

“These stories keep happening. Families who are losing their life, or the baby is losing their life. It weighs on us, because what if this person had other options?” said Mitchell, who is a Black woman herself. “At this point in life, we have robots that are completely doing surgeries, not even in the same room. But we can’t figure out how to fix maternal health.”

Mitchell also says that the birthing center will help immigrants coming from countries with a midwifery-care model, where midwives are the specialists.  

“We talk about how important our diversity is, but you know, when it comes to the diversity of options, that’s like second nature,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell will not have exact estimates on cost until later in the process, but anticipates that many families will be able to have their births fully covered by insurance—including the over forty percent of Queens County residents who are Medicaid recipients. 

Low rates of insurance reimbursement, as well as costly medical malpractice insurance, both remain significant barriers for those trying to open a birthing center. Previous birthing centers, such as the Soho Midwives in Manhattan and the Morris Heights Birthing Center in the Bronx, have closed due to financial reasons.   

“We spend more time with our patients, but we actually get reimbursed less,” Melissa Bair, a midwife who lives in Queens but works in Manhattan said. “Our work is not reimbursed at the same rate as physicians, even for vaginal birth.”

Bair says that while offering more holistic services may be one way for birthing centers to be financially solvent, “frankly, discussing ways to reimbursement equity is probably the easiest.”

Mitchell is currently running a 1000 day social media campaign chronicling the birthing center’s journey. The project is still $5 million short. One challenge she anticipates is completing the certificate of need (CON) process. While the CON process aims to limit unnecessary facilities and healthcare costs, it can pose a barrier of capital and costs to those looking to open birthing centers. 

Some future Queens moms, like Joy Wang, would still prefer a hospital even if a birthing center was available. “I personally do want to have an epidural, but I know that a lot of women don’t want that anyways,” Wang said. “But I could understand the desire to be in a more comfortable setting, especially for people who have had bad experiences in hospital settings.” 

Mitchell is currently conducting an outreach survey to determine community needs in maternal and infant health. The survey can be found at birthbyqueens.org/need. She has also been conducting in-person assessments and presentations in every community board district. 

On Saturday, Mitchell held an in-person needs assessment at Queens Public Library at South Hollis. A few members of the community stopped by, with one woman enthusiastically speaking with Mitchell for over an hour about the center and her own birth story. She asked Mitchell how she transitioned to opening her own birthing center. Last March, when she had moved from Los Angeles to New York, she had caught the tail end of a presentation Mitchell gave on birthing centers.

“Wow, she’s been at this for an entire year,” the woman remarked of Mitchell’s work. 

“Doing something for the first time could be very fear driven right? If it’s something that you do and you’re comfortable, you’re paying your bills, even though you’re not necessarily in the best of situations, it really can distract you from your purpose,” Mitchell said of her career transition.  “And now I look at babies come into the world.”

Long Island Jewish Forest Hills Northwell Health Hosts Middle Village Activists

BQE Admin on March 2, 2026

Pictured here from Long Island Jewish Forest Hills Northwell Health is community relations specialist Stancy Saji and CEO Lorraine Chambers Lewis with Middle Village activists Paul Pogozelski, VFW president Sean Baltrusitis, Giedre Pogozelski and Walter Sanchez, Chairman of Community Board #5. Chambers Lewis has been CEO since 2021. She spoke about the hospital’s emergency department, which sees 61,000 people a year and its focus maternity, where the department delivered more than 1800 babies in 2025.

Pol Position: Leadership at the Citywide DSA

BQE Admin on February 27, 2026

Wondering why it took all this time for the DSA to admit their Brooklyn poster children Chi Osse’ and Shahana Hanif to it’s official DSA Council block? So are we. As those who are just looking at this on the surface can’t help but celebrate the increase in City Council DSA members, sources say there was some jealousy there. It’s par for the course in any political jockeying for sure. Both council people are not always in lockstep with the organization’s leadership, (Osse’ joining, then quitting then joining again) he might not be trusted. But he did seem to manage to get over- whelming support from the membership at large and his crushing win in the election showed true. Hanif won easily too.

Complex, but quite organized

The complex, but quite organized, voting structure that the DSA has in place for its endorsement process has proven to fill a void in the electoral engagement process in NYC, which has energized a mass number of voters. ‘Get people to feel they actually have a voice in who their group endorses, and you will get engagement,” said one veteran political consultant we deal with often and who spoke with us about the DSA, “and you get relevance. Hey, for generations, the other political parties have a ‘leadership structure’ that has left out the little guy and they survived pretty well till now, but as we all can see, especially here in Brooklyn and Queens, they are losing their grip. Let’s see how things go when electeds in the DSA have to meet with leadership weekly and they might not always ‘tow-the-line.’ Tiffany Caban, one of the now four anointed DSA Council members made waves as soon as she won the election in Astoria in 2021 by snubbing the council budget. She was punished by then city council speaker Adrienne Adams, and some of her funding stream was threatened. AOC came to her defense on social media and the threatened money was restored to the children’s services in her district that were threatened. But the act of defiance against the bedget earned Caban that badge of honor the DSA leadership loves. Some question just how long that leadership group of the city’s DSA remains in tact.

Mamdani Flips the Bird at Affordability Voters

BQE Admin on February 27, 2026

ROBERT HORNAK

FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE QUEENS REPUBLICAN PARTY

RAHORNAK@GMAIL.COM

Robert Hornak is a veteran political consultant who previously served as deputy director of the Republican assembly leader’s NYC office and as executive director of the Queens Republican Party. He can be reached at rahornak@gmail.com and @roberthornak on X.

If you voted for Zohran Mamdani thinking he really cared about making living in NYC more affordable, you’re in for a rude awakening.

Mamdani campaigned on making NYC more affordable, while only offering a few ideas that might save a few people a few dollars here and there. No grand plan to really cut the major expenses for New Yorkers. But there was a grand plan to pay for it all.

Tax the rich.

That’s been his mission, and as we just learned he’s perfectly willing to sacrifice his alleged agenda to get what he really cares about. Higher taxes.

New Yorkers have been here before. New York had a “tax the rich” surcharge not long ago. It was supposed to solve all our budget problems. The problem was twofold. First, it kicked in for individuals at $200,000 and families at $300,000. Well below millionaire income levels. Tax the rich never only includes the rich. And, even worse for these big spenders, it was set to expire in 2011.

That’s right. When NY Democrats originally passed it, they claimed we only needed it as a temporary measure to shore up budget shortfalls. But when the expiration approached, they realized they increased spending too much and would have to make some spending choices rather than have the all-you-can-eat option at the budget buffet.

This was a central part of the Occupy Wall Street protests, which was really just a mash up of every left wing cause expressed as general rage against the system. But they one thing they all had in common was they were all in for taxing the productive members of society. Their mafia-esque approach to governing – you may have earned it but it’s ours so feel lucky with what we allow you to keep – was and continues to be the driving force of their exis-tence.

A compromise was reached, creating new tax brackets for high earners, and this was going to solve the budget problem. But that wasn’t good enough for them, it never is. They still managed to grow spending faster than income and, therefore, the rich are never paying enough for them.

And they will say anything to justify their lust for raising taxes. And that’s exactly what we are seeing now with Mamdani. To enact his “affordability” agenda, he is dead set on making life here less affordable in the process. If he can’t get the tax increase he wants from Albany, he will stomp his feet, throw a fit, and screw everyone in the city with higher taxes on – well, everything.

Ultimately, higher property taxes make everything more expensive Businesses will pass on the cost to their customers. Property owners will pass on the cost to their renters. Free buses and free childcare for a small group of city residents will hardly offset this pervasive increase.

It makes you question if Mamdani was ever really serious about affordability, as he prepares to enact massive tax increases on everyone to pay for some fairly trivial programs.

In 2002, when Michael Bloomberg passed his 18.5% property tax increase (and the rates have not gone down since), it was for the same reason as now. The city wants to spend more – much more – than it is raising. And this is how they always try to solve the problem. But, somehow, the problem never seems to go away. Spending less never seems to be a consideration.

In NYC, where people are paying the highest taxes in the country, with a tax for everything under the sun, it should be clear that raising taxes again is not the solution. This is how the city became so expensive to begin with. So we are forced to ask, was Mamdani serious about making living in the city more affordable for everyone, or is his real agenda something else entirely.

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