FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com january 1, 2015 • The Queens Courier 3 Photos by Dominick Totino Photography The 109th was one of several Queens precincts that organized vigils last week in honor of the fallen officers. Precincts across Queens met in Fresh Meadows for candlelight vigil in memory of slain officers BY ERI C JANKIE WICZ ejankiewicz@queenscourier.com/@ericjankiewicz Police and members of the public came together on Dec. 30 in Fresh Meadows for one of the largest candlelight vigils in the borough to date to honor two dead cops and to call for an end to the disharmony that has rattled the city. The joint ceremony organized for eight precinct councils from Queens honored Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, murdered on a Brooklyn street on Dec. 20, and was also intended to mend the tension between the public and police, according to the organizers. The candlelight vigil was held just hours after Mayor de Blasio met with police union leaders at the Police Academy in College Point in a bid to end the acrimony between union leaders, some rank and file officers and the city administration. The vigil was held at the 107th Precinct at 71-01 Parsons Blvd. in Fresh Meadows at 7 p.m. and it was organized by the Patrol Borough Queens South. In keeping with the tone of reconciliation, event organizers stressed that the vigil was about coming together as a community and leaving politics out of the ceremony. “This is about bringing people together,” said Carolann Foley, president of the 107th Precinct’s community council and one of the organizers of the vigil. “This is going to be a positive thing and people’s politics are besides the point right now. That’s a conversation for another day.” The event was attended by officers and community councils from the 100th, 101st, 102nd, 103rd, 105th, 106th, 107th and 113th precincts. The flyer invited anyone from the public to join the vigil. Across Queens, similar events have taken place but, according to resident Mike Sidell, the Dec. 30 vigil was one of the largest ones. In Hamilton Beach, residents, elected officials and police from the 106th Precinct got together on Dec. 30 to hang 200 blue ribbons on utility poles around the neighborhood, showing their support for the NYPD. “I’m the daughter of a retired police officer,” said Charlene O’Dea, a Hamilton Beach resident. “I want to show my support for the NYPD.” Over the weekend, Ramos’ wake and funeral were held in Glendale, with thousands of police and others in attendance and lining the streets. Foley originally expected the candlelight vigil to only be attended by 200 people, but she soon realized that many more would be attending. “This is the community doing this, not the police,” Foley said. “And all of these people are coming to simply pray. What could be better than that right now for the city?” Additional reporting by Salvatore Licata Construction finally set for $20M Louis Armstrong Museum annex BY LIAM LA GUERE lguerre@queenscourier.com/@LiamLaGuerre A $20 million annex expansion of the landmarked Louis Armstrong House Museum, named for the famed jazz musician, is on the way after meeting zoning regulations. Plans have been filed with the Buildings Department on Friday to construct the proposed educational visitors center on vacant land near the museum at 34-49 107th St. in Corona. Design work on the new center dates as far back as 2007, but construction on the project was stalled due to fundraising issues and then last year a necessary variance application from the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA). The new two-story project needed approval for a waiver to be built closer to neighboring property lines than zoning laws allow. The BSA gave the project the green light last year, following support from Community Board 3 and the borough president’s office. Now the project is in the construction phase, according to a representative. The museum is hoping to build the new 8,737-squarefoot annex, which is designed by architecture firm Caples Jefferson, for more exhibit space and a store to better accommodate the more than 12,000 visitors who come to the museum each year. The center will “create a wonderful cultural campus in Corona that allows us to expand our programming for the community and our visitors from around the world,” said Jennifer Walden, director of marketing at the museum. The museum is a national historic landmark and a New York City landmark dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacy of the iconic musician. Armstrong and his wife Lucille lived in the house from 1943 until his death in 1971, and the house was declared a national landmark in 1976.
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