FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JANUARY 26, 2017 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3 Photos by Suzanne Monteverdi/QNS Dinette & Furniture Center in Bayside to shut down after 40 years of business BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI [email protected] @smont76 A Bayside furniture business open for nearly 40 years is closing for good. Bayside’s Dinette & Furniture Center Inc., located at 216-21 Northern Blvd., is owned and operated by David Yousefzadeh and has served the Bayside community since 1978. The store will shut its doors at the end of January. Yousefzadeh was born in Kashan, Iran, in 1944. A diligent student, he qualified for academic scholarships and moved to the United States to pursue his college and graduate education. Yousefzadeh returned briefly to Iran in 1969 to marry his wife, Madeline, and the couple settled back in the U.S. a few years later. Since opening the store with his wife in 1978, Yousefzadeh has worked seven days a week at the business, serving multiple generations within the community. “David embodies the American Dream,” said Rebecca Sassouni, Yousefzadeh’s daughter. “He worked devotedly and tirelessly, served his customers, built a family with his wife and three daughters and provided each child with wonderful college and graduate educations.” According to the business’ Facebook page, the store is running some deals for customers before closing. Last week, Yousefzadeh was presented Bayside’s Dinette & Furniture Center Inc. on Northern Boulevard will close at the end of the month. with a commemorative citation by Councilman Paul Vallone’s office in recognition of his decades of service to the community. “The Dinette & Furniture Center has Photo via Google Maps provided incredible service for years and will be sorely missed by the Bayside community,” Vallone said. “I wish David and his family all the best in their future endeavors.” Astoria Cove work done without permit: union Developers for a waterfront residential project in Astoria are skirting the rules and doing work without the proper permits, according to Build Up NYC. The organization, made up of construction workers advocating for safer work conditions, has “been out there policing the Astoria Cove project and just seeing what they’re doing,” according to member Bernard Calgary. Astoria Cove, a 1,723-unit project spanning 2.2 million square feet, was approved by City Council in 2014. More than 460 units are slated to be affordable housing. According to Calgary, contractors working on the project at 8-01 26th Ave. shut the street down without permits. They were also denied permits to put up scaffolding but did so anyway. Jason Fink, spokesperson for Alma Realty, said Build Up NYC’s claims “are completely untrue.” “The building is under a demolition order by the City of New York,” he said. “Our permits are accurately filed for this site and all are fully in order.” Angela Matua Kim to state: Give small biz $50M in aid New York state should spend millions of dollars to give small businesses across the city a boost, according to a lawmaker representing Flushing and Whitestone. Standing beside small business advocates and owners, Assemblyman Ron Kim announced last week that he had penned a letter to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie requesting $50 million in funding be added to this year’s state budget. The funds would be set aside to assist small businesses, such as dry cleaners and nail salons, as they continue to transition to environmentally friendly machinery and ventilation systems, as mandated by state and federal regulations. “My colleagues in the Assembly and I are asking this governor to follow his father’s footsteps and restore funding to financially assist small businesses to comply with up-to-date environmental codes,” Kim said. Suzanne Monteverdi Tenants to sue Astoria nonprofit over housing Residents of a building owned by a Christian nonprofit organization in Astoria will file a lawsuit later this month after the landlord told them they had to leave so he could turn the place into a homeless shelter. New York School of Urban Ministry (NYSUM) sent letters to its 35 tenants on Nov. 28, 2016, notifying them that they had to leave the building at 31-10 47th St. on or before Dec. 31. Pastor Peter DeArruda, executive vice president of the ministry, has said that the organization has signed a contract with a homeless shelter provider to convert the 39-unit building. Sateesh Nori, the lead attorney for Legal Aid Society in Queens, said he will file a lawsuit on behalf of 12 tenants at the building. Rent for the rooms start at $425 and tenants have said that they cannot afford market-rate apartments if they are kicked out. Nori did not say exactly when the lawsuit would be filed and added that some tenants may have already moved out of the property. Angela Matua This popular convenience store in Bayside has closed up shop for good BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI [email protected] @smont76 Bayside has one less convenience store as of this weekend. The Bay Village Mini Mart convenience store — located at 205-11 35th Ave. and known simply to residents as the “Mini Mart” — served customers for the final time on Sunday, Jan. 22. In the days leading up to its closure, owners were offering much of its stock at discounted prices. Residents who asked management why the store was closing were told that owners could no longer afford to pay the rent. Mini Mart — situated between Robert’s Butcher Shop and Luigi’s Pizzeria — was one in a string of small businesses along 35th Avenue between 205th Street and the Clearview Expressway service road. A convenience store assumed the space for decades, though run by different management over the years. Two other Bayside businesses have recently announced they would be closing for good. Party City, owned and operated by Douglaston residents who cited high rent and parking competition at the location as concerns, closed earlier this month. The Dinette & Furniture Center also announced it will shut down at the end of the month after 40 years of business. Photo provided by Councilman Paul Vallone’s office
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