4 The QUENS Courier • january 1, 2015 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com City considers new pedestrian plaza in Flushing BY ERIC JANKIEWICZ ejankiewicz@queenscourier.com @ericjankiewicz In response to a Flushing group’s demand for more public leisure space, the city is considering a pedestrian plaza for Leonard Square. Between all of the construction and rush hour traffic, residents and local politicians say there are too few places for people to just stop and take a break. “There’s no space for people to get together,” said Paul Yoo, president of the Korean American Association of Queens. “We need something big enough for the kids and adults.” The Korean association applied to the Department of Transportation’s plaza program. The department will make a decision early next month, according to a spokesman. And if the Flushing square is chosen, city officials would work with local officials and the community to hold public workshops and develop a design. “As Flushing becomes more and more developed, we need to make sure that we’re setting some space aside for the public THE COURIER/Photo by Eric Jankiewicz good,” Yoo said. Cardozo HS senior to take part in Times Square ball drop BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA ctumola@queenscourier.com @CristabelleT The world will be watching one Queens teen count down to midnight this New Year’s Eve. Sonam Lama, a 16-year-old senior at Benjamin N. Cardozo High School, will be one of five representatives from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to push the button, signaling the lowering of the Times Square New Year’s Eve ball, and help lead the 60-second countdown to 2015. “It is such a great honor and there are so many thoughts and emotions going through my mind and my heart right now,” Lama said. “I feel blessed to have the opportunity to participate in New Year’s Eve in Times Square and am really looking forward to pressing the button along with other awesome and inspiring people.” The IRC, an organization that helps refugees from around the world, resettled Lama from her native Nepal when she came to the United States in 2012. Lama’s family was forced from their village after her father, an active member of the Nepali Congress party, faced pressure to join the Maoists. Even after they moved to the city of Kathmandu, they were followed, and with no help from the police, they had to keep moving from location to location, according to Lama. In 2005, her father applied for political asylum in the U.S. and left Nepal. Lama said she didn’t know a lot about America, but imagined her father would be wearing a suit, carrying briefcases and living in tall skyscrapers “like the movies.” When Lama and her family finally joined her father in May 2012, life in America was not what she imagined, including the small, older building that IRC President and CEO David Miliband, Nykhor Paul and Sonam Lama practice pressing the button. would be her home. But she did find improvements, such as medical help for her sister who needed a hearing aid. Though the Elmhurst resident found no language barriers after learning English in school since kindergarten and from watching television, high school was a challenge. Lama admits at first she had difficulty adapting to her large school, but after joining clubs and activities, such as the Red Cross, UNICEF, badminton and volleyball during her junior year, she was able to make friends. Photo courtesy of Countdown Entertainment Joining Lama during the famed ball drop will be models Alek Wek and Nykhor Paul, both former refugees from South Sudan, Jencarlos Canela, an award-winning musician and actor who has volunteered with IRC, and IRC President and CEO David Miliband.
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