Calogero Sambito passed away on Thursday, April 21, 2022 at the age of 77. Beloved Husband of Christina Sambito. Lother Father of Antonio Sambito and Philip Sambito. Dear Brother of Anna LoGuidice and Rosaria LoGiudice. Also survived by many loving nieces, nephews and friends. Private Cremation held on Saturday, April 23, 2022 at Fresh Pond Crematory, Middle Village, NY under the direction of Papavero Funeral Home 72-27 Grand Avenue,Maspeth NY 11378.
Frederick H. Oldenburg passed away on Saturday April 23, 2022 at the age of 84. Beloved Husband of the late Jean. Devoted father of Susan Conrad, Jeanine, Fred Jr. and Stephen Moore. Grandfather of Justin and Jordan Cruz, Great Grandfather of Ireland Moore. Services will be offered at Our Lady of The Miraculous Medal Church on Saturday April 30th, 2022 9:45 AM. Interment at St. Charles Cemetery under the direction of Hess-Miller Funeral Home, 64-19 Metropolitan Avenue, Middle Village NY 11379.
Gerard O. Steiner passed away on Sunday April 17, 2022 at Bishop’s Glen Nursing Home, Holly Hill, Florida, just shy of his 97th birthday. He was born in Berlin, Germany raised by his Grandparents after his mother died, and came to the United States as a 10 year old boy (not speaking a word of English!) to join his father, new stepmother, and 5 year old half-sister, Doris. After turning 18, Jerry served in the US Army from 1943 to 1946 as an Ambulance Driver with the 596th Ambulance Company, and was stationed in England, France, Germany, Austria, as well as the Philippines. After returning to civilian life Jerry worked in various fields including banking, US Postal Service, and construction before joining the US Government’s New York Naval Shipyard in Brooklyn in 1951 as an apprentice electrician, learning his trade. Jerry was forever grateful for his career choice. Being an electrician afforded him many different job opportunities and experiences that he was always happy to share and laugh over with family and friends. He married his love, Olga in 1952 after meeting on a blind date, and had a good life raising their 3 daughters in Glendale, NY. When the Naval Base closed in 1966 Jerry went on to work as an Electrical Contractor with Local Union No. 3 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. In 1979 he went back to work with the US Government as a Ship Surveyor (Electrician) – Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion & Repair, and was able to pursue his love of travel to all different Naval bases around the world, sometimes taking his wife with him. He retired in 1986 and lived the next chapter of his life happily in Ormond Beach, Florida. Jerry was always keeping busy, puttering around his gardens, working on home improvement projects, fixing things (especially anything electrical!), and lending a helping hand to his many friends and neighbors over the years. Jerry was predeceased by his loving wife of 56 years, Olga, his beautiful daughter Elena Steiner, and his half-sister Doris Tomaino. He is survived by his 2 daughters, Linda Libby (Charles) and Elissa Maier (Thomas), 4 Grandchildren, Jerilyn, Gerard Libby, Jennifer Toscano, and Kristina Maier, and 2 Great-Granddaughters, Aubrey Maier and Emerson Toscano. Jerry will be sorely missed by his family, friends and neighbors. Services held under the direction of Hess-Miller Funeral Home, 64-19 Metropolitan Avenue, Middle Village NY 11379.
Juan Ardila is running for the 37th Assembly District in Queens.
State Assembly candidate Juan Ardila has earned the endorsement of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.
The Borough President’s endorsement is the latest for Ardila’s campaign, which also holds the endorsements of State Senator Jessica Ramos, State Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, City Council members Tiffany Caban and Jennifer Gutiérrez, as well as former Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.
Ardila, a progressive running for the 37th Assembly District in Queens, is looking to replace Cathy Nolan, who announced her retirement after 36 years earlier this year.
“Juan Ardila has always been a passionate advocate for the community,” said Borough President Donovan Richards. “He is a leader who understands the need for protecting tenants, expanding healthcare access, and fixing the climate crisis here in Queens. I’m excited to support Juan for Assembly because I know he will be a strong champion for progress in Albany.”
The 37th State Assembly district includes the diverse neighborhoods of Long Island City, Maspeth, Ridgewood, Sunnyside and Woodside.
Ardila’s campaign also has the support of the Working Families Party, DC37, New York Immigration Action, Make the Road Action, Open New York, Community Voices Heard (CVH), Churches United For Fair Housing Action (CUFFH) and local Democratic leaders including Emilia Decaudin, Jesse Laymon, and Derek Evers.
“I’m honored to have the support of a dedicated public servant like Borough President Richards. He works hard every day to help educate our kids, keep our community safe, and he has a plan for addressing climate change,” Ardila said. “It is wonderful to have the backing of the people who understand the needs of our community and the challenges we face.”
Ardila announced the launch of his campaign earlier this year, as the Maspeth native is looking to garner enough votes in a crowded field of candidates including Johanna Carmona, Jim Magee and Brent O’Leary. Last year, Ardila fell in a tight race against City Council member Robert Holden in the 30th Council District, garnering 45 percent of the vote.
The Democratic primary for the open seat will be held on Tuesday, June 28th.
Former New York City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley has stepped down from her position as chairperson of the board of Friends of the QNS, a nonprofit organization that she founded to advocate for expanded commuter rail-based transit across the borough.
Crowley said her decision to step down was made in order to focus fully on her candidacy for New York State Senate District 17.
“It has been an honor to serve as the chair of Friends of the QNS,” Crowley said.
The “QNS” proposal was introduced by Crowley to improve transit within her former Council district. Specifically, the plan sought to revive the former Lower Montauk rail line, which stretches nine miles from Hunters Point in Long Island City, through central Queens neighborhoods including Middle Village, Glendale, and Ridgewood, to the Jamaica hub.
This portion of central Queens is commonly referred to as one of the City’s “transit deserts,” since no passenger rail currently serves many of these neighborhoods.
In a 2018 report from the Department of Transportation, it was confirmed that the defunct rail line could be converted to include passenger service at a fraction of the cost of other major expansion projects like Manhattan’s 2nd Avenue Subway.
The New York State Senate district seat that Crowley is currently running for would include a vast majority of the former Lower Montauk Line within its boundaries. It was recently created by state lawmakers following the 2020 Census and will include Glendale, Maspeth, Richmond Hill, Ridgewood, Woodhaven, Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Ozone Park, and Greenpoint in Brooklyn within its boundaries.
But while Crowley is stepping down from her position as the board’s chair, she said she vows to continue to advocate not only for the QNS rail but for a greenway along the QNS line, if elected.
“Queens has been growing at a tremendous pace, especially Long Island City,” Crowley said. “For this borough to keep up with its growth, we need to provide better transit to our residents. It’s not ambitious, it’s common sense.”
This proposal to restore the former commuter rail is similar to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 14-mile IBX plan, which seeks to add a train line from Bay Ridge in Brooklyn to Woodside, Queens.
Both use existing, underused train rights-of-way, converting them to passenger service from strictly freight service.
Crowley also indicated that she would work to include a dedicated bike lane running parallel to QNS, because “an intolerable” number of bicycle accidents and fatalities have been occurring in recent years.
“If we want people to use alternative transportation, we want them to feel safe as they do so. A slightly revised QNS ‘rail and trail’ plan would help that goal,” Crowley said.
Denise Keehan-Smith, former chairperson of Community Board 2, will replace Crowley as the new chairperson of the Friends of QNS. Keehan-Smith promises to continue the hard work that Crowley started and will also advocate adding a bike lane to the proposal. The organization also hired a senior strategist to help assist with the group’s expanding workload.
“I shall be forever grateful to [Crowley] for serving as the founder and chair of our organization,” Thomas Mituzas, a Blissville resident and QNS board member, said. “She brought to the forefront the need for a new commuter line for the many living in the transportation desert of Queens.”
The New York Mets unveiled a statue in honor of Tom Seaver on their home opener last Friday.
Seaver, a Hall of Famer and considered to be one of the greatest Mets players ever, passed away on August 31, 2020.
The 3,200 pound statue stands 10 feet tall and features Seaver in his iconic drop-and-drive delivery from the pitcher’s mound. It is located to the right of the Home Run Apple in front of Citi Field.
Seaver’s widow, Nancy, their two daughters, Sarah and Anne, were in attendance for the pregame ceremony. Seaver’s grandsons, Thomas and Tobin, threw out the ceremonial first pitches prior to the start of the game.
Prior to the first home game of the season, the Mets honored and recognized fallen NYPD officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora, who tragically lost their lives in the line of duty in January.
“Tom led us to our first championship,” said team owner Steve Cohen. “He transformed the Mets, he transfixed New York and won the hearts of Mets fans.”
The Mets would go on to win on Friday 10-3 over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Currently, the Mets are 7-3 ahead of their first doubleheader of the season on Tuesday, April 19.
New York State Assemblyman Brian Barnwell recently announced that he does not intend to seek re-election next term.
“It has been a true honor to serve and I will never forget that I owe everything to the kindness of the people who allowed me to serve as their representative,” Barnwell announced on Twitter. “Just like any other job, you deal with various things you do not like and then one thing is the final straw that makes you decide to move on.”
The Queens Ledger recently caught up with Barnwell, whose district includes Maspeth, Middle Villiage, Woodside, Sunnyside, and parts of Elmhurst and Astoria, to help shed some light on his recent decision.
“What it boils down to is that people would rather play politics than solve the real problems we are facing,” Barnwell said in a message. “The recent budget was the final straw for me. We see all the gun problems and innocent people being killed around the city and the country. We need to be strong on that issue.”
Barnwell indicated that one of his biggest efforts as a state legislator was the ability to have illegal possession of a firearm, in its own right, be considered for bail.
“It doesn’t mean that bail would be set, but the Judge should have that option,” Barnwell continued. “It was denied and I found that unacceptable.”
He also expressed his frustration with city agencies, which he said: “do not want to do their job.”
“The number of no heat and no hot water complaints at NYCHA that went ignored time and time again was another truly unacceptable thing,” Barnwell said. “It is just a whole host of various issues with the government. I did my best to solve these problems during my time in the Assembly.”
In regards to plans following his tenure in politics, Barnwell said he doesn’t have any as of right now, except to finish the term.
According to City & State the local Democratic committee selected Steven Raga, executive director of Woodside on the Move and Barnwell’s former chief of staff, to run for open seat. He will square off against Ramon Cando, a Democratic district leader from Elmhurst and business manager of Laborers Local 78.
Mike Schulte says he always had a big appetite. It’s what prompted him to chronicle his New York City food adventures on social media. And with more than 259,000 followers on TikTok in the two-and-a-half years since he began, it’s clear that things have really taken off.
“I saw things blow up in a way I have never seen before on social media,” Schulte said. “It went incredibly well… so much better than I expected.”
Born and raised in Queens, Schulte said he can’t pick one favorite, because for him it’s all about letting his gut call the shots.
“That’s the beauty of New York,” he said. “You can eat so many different genres of food that it’s hard to be like ‘I gotta have this’ or ‘here try this.’”
He has shared numerous dishes from more than 250 food establishments all across the city, from delis to fine dining and everything in between.
TikTok personality Mike Shulte launches “99 Places You Must Eat in NYC”
Now, thanks to his success on social media, Schulte has just written his first book highlighting 99 of the best places he has reviewed across NYC.
The book is based on his own social media content, which he organized and hand-selected, with the goal of sharing these spots with both the native New Yorkers who have eaten at these establishments most of their lives and those who are just trying it for the first time.
“Good food is about good food,” Schulte said. “There’s not often exceptions.”
In addition to publishing his own book, Schulte has used his online presence to create his own marketing agency, Its Your Boy Mike Marketing, which shares its name with his social media presence.
“It’s really opening a door for me that I kind of pushed shut for a while,” Schulte said about his endeavors with marketing. “Sometimes I’ll just show up, shoot a video, post it, and show up again randomly.”
During the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became difficult for restaurants to remain open. However, thanks to social media influencers like Schulte, a number of local hotspots continued to keep their doors open.
“Social media, in general, had a big impact on how we consume,” he said.
Despite competition from such renowned guidebooks as Zagats and Michelin, Schulte remains confident that his book is more concise, offering more than just “34 different Thai places in the area.”
He said that he hopes the book will be successful enough to where he can continue to put one out every year.
“Over the course of a year, a bunch of things will probably happen… some places may just be significantly better than what was in the book previously,” he said.
Schulte also says that he hopes to expand the book into other cities, bringing other influencers in to share their experiences in other parts of the country.
In addition to working on the book, he plans to continue expanding his presence on TikTok and through his social media marketing agency, which specializes in “Invite Only” networking events that range from intimate dining experiences to lessons and training with the chefs.
To check out his exclusively digital ebook visit 99placesyoumusteatinnyc.com or https://www.tiktok.com/@itsyaboymikeofficial for more content from restaurants throughout the city.
The Queens Public Library Flushing Branch will officially reopen to the public on Monday, April 25, at 10 a.m.
The facility closed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, along with other QPL branches and it remained closed while other branches began offering partial in-person and pick-up services.
For a brief period in 2021, it was reopened as a vaccination site, offering more than 200 appointments a day, before problems with the HVAC system caused the facility to shut down entirely.
While a temporary HVAC system was put in place, the branch still remained closed for the construction of a second elevator. The work is still ongoing for now, however, a safety plan has been put in place so the work can proceed while the public resumes visiting the library.
With an average of approximately 6,000 visitors per day, the Flushing branch is one of the largest and busiest public libraries in the entire country.
NYC Councilwoman Sandra Ung said that reopening the library has been a priority for her, even before taking office.
“I’m so pleased that we finally have a definite date for the reopening of the Flushing Library,” Ung said. “The library is truly the heart of this community, especially for our large immigrant population. More than just a place to check out books, it is essential to our seniors and families, as well as a place for students to gather after school. Not having this facility in our community for over three years was a real hardship.”
Last month, Ung toured the facility alongside U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, and QPL President and CEO Dennis Walcott.
“The Flushing Library is one of America’s busiest, and getting this branch open again couldn’t be more critical for all those who rely on it,” Richards said on Twitter back in March when the announcement was first made.
Beginning April 25, the Flushing library will be open from Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., while Sunday service will be restored at a later date.
Flushing’s Adult Learning Center will also reopen on April 25. The hours will be Monday, Tuesday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Rego Park resident Bill Jung normally rides a Harley-Davidson Dyna Low Rider but he said that his “real ride” is in the shop for repairs. Until the big bike gets fixed, he still wears his Harley motorcycle “colors,” and continues his beloved two-wheeling tradition.
Jung said he rode out to the famed Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota a few years ago and had a great time there.
You never know what you’ll see on Queens Boulevard.
(Photos by Walter Karling)
