32 The Queens Courier • august 29, 2013 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com New Corona school set to open BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO [email protected] A new school in Corona is set to ease the burden of overcrowded classrooms in the area. According to the Department of Education (DOE), P.S. 330, currently located within a building at 86-37 53rd Avenue in Elmhurst, will move into a brand new location at 111-08 Northern Boulevard just in time for the beginning of the school year next week. “This is a fantastic new building, and we’re confident that P.S. 330 will deliver well for its students there,” said DOE spokesperson Devon Puglia. P.S. 330 opened at the initial building in 2010 in order to lighten overcrowding in District 24 elementary schools. The school currently serves 220 students in kindergarten and first grade, but is expected to open more than 400 seats once it makes the move. The new building will continue to alleviate overcrowding in Corona and is also located in an area closer to where 84 percent of the students currently live, the DOE said. “Over the past 12 years, we’ve created over 125,000 new school seats,” said Puglia. “As we put up brand new, state-of-the-art buildings around the city, we’re meeting the needs of our schools and communities.” Once P.S. 330, at its new location, completes its expansion and reaches its full capacity in the 2015-2016 school year, it will serve 570 to 630 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. “Because overcrowding is a serious issue in my district, I could not be happier to have P.S. 330 opening its doors this September,” said Councilmember Julissa Ferreras. In April, Ferreras established the Educational and Overcrowding Improvement Task Force. The task force was created to help improve the communication between the DOE and parents, as well as ease the overcrowding issues in Community Education Council Districts 24 and 30. “These efforts, combined with plans for the construction of five additional schools in my district, will undoubtedly improve the overcrowding issues our local schools are currently experiencing,” said Ferreras. According to the DOE, it will work with the community to figure out the best use for P.S. 330’s original building. GREEN FOR GREEN $2.5M to restore LIC park BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO [email protected] A Long Island City park is getting much needed help to restore it back to being the jewel of western Queens. On Monday, August 26 Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer announced he secured $2.5 million in funding to fully renovate and restore the park house at Queensbridge Park. The Parks Department hopes to construct a new facility that will feature a modern comfort station, storage space for sports teams using the playfields and an office for Parks Department staff. The appointed staff will offer different programming for adults and children in the future. “It is extremely important that every single senior and child who lives in Queensbridge know that our city has allocated every single cent we could to make sure that western Queens has a park that rivals Central Park in Manhattan and any other park in the City of New York,” said Van Bramer. In May, local officials, community groups and residents gathered to break ground on the restoration and improvement of the Queensbridge Park Seawall. The Photo Courtesy of Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer announced he has allocated $2.5 million in funding to renovate and restore the park house at Queensbridge Park in Long Island City. $6.65 million project will include a six-foot wide waterfront promenade with benches and plants as well as a small pier at the north end. The seawall restoration and improvement was funded through allocations from Van Bramer, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Borough President Helen Marshall, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the MTA. According to Van Bramer, once the restoration of the seawall is completed by next summer, Queensbridge residents and parkgoers will be reconnected to the East River waterfront after a decade of deterioration. “I look forward to working with him Van Bramer and the community on creating a scope of work and design for this project,” said Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski. ‘TALENT’ COMES TO QUEENS “America’s Got Talent” came to Queens College on August 14 to film the act of Slackwire Sam on the college quad. President James Muyskens (standing) joined judges (left to right) Howard Stern, Heidi Klum, Melanie Photo by Virginia Sherwood Brown and Howie Mandel. Co-name streets for female trailblazers BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO [email protected] The name of and story behind a beloved local activist, resident and first female Queens County Clerk will never be forgotten. On Tuesday, August 27, family, friends and elected officials gathered to honor the life of Gloria D’Amico by co-naming Shore Boulevard and 21st Drive in Astoria as “The Honorable Gloria D’Amico Place.” The street was chosen because it was where D’Amico lived. “I was lucky enough to have two mentors – my father, who taught me public service and how to serve people with honest and integrity, and Gloria, who showed me how to get in a position to help people,” said Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. “She was a trailblazer for women throughout Queens, and I am honored to have been her friend.” D’Amico served as the first female Queens County Clerk for 19 years under which she helped guide the borough to become the first county in the city to implement a jury duty call-in system. The longtime Astoria resident also served as a board member of the Salah M. Hassanein Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens and was on the board of directors of Shareing and Careing, an agency supporting women with breast cancer. D’Amico passed away in 2010. “This is a wonderful and special honor for a wonderful and special woman, who deserved not only this type of praise, but more,” said the D’Amico family. Celebrating the life of another woman who made an impact on the borough, on Sunday, August 25, 73rd Street and 34th Avenue in Jackson Heights was co-named “Mary Sarro Way,” after a former Community Board 3 (CB3) District Manager and community activist. Sarro served as the CB 3 district manager for almost 20 years. She helped make way for the borough’s first LGBT parade in 1993 and served as Sergeant at Arms for the 115th Precinct Community Council. She also played a large role in creating the 82nd Street Business Improvement District.
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