20 The QUEE NS Courier • october 16, 2014 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com ADOPT A RESCUED DOG AT CITI FIELD THIS WEEKEND QUEENS MUSEUM, PARKS DEPT. WANT REDESIGN OF FLUSHING MEADOWS BY ERIC JANKIEWICZ ejankiewicz@queenscourier.com @ericjankiewicz What will Flushing Meadows Corona Park look like in the future? The Queens Museum and the Parks Department are asking members of communities around the park to come up with ideas and solutions to make the green space more accessible to local communities. “This is a bit of an experiment,” said Jose Serrano- McClain, the museum’s community organizer. “Instead of having people give us their ideas in some kind of meeting, we asked, why don’t we equip them with the tools to improve the park creatively and practically?” Serrano-McClain and the Parks Department are asking the public to submit ideas on how to improve the park’s connection with the surrounding neighborhoods. The deadline is Oct. 25, and 20 people will be chosen to create an exhibition project that will be shown next year at the museum. Over the course of a year, the 20 selected people will learn more about the park and its pros and cons through a series of hands-on learning events. Those interested in participating can get an application from the Queens Museum’s front desk. Serrano-McClain said that they will be only accepting people from communities like Flushing, Corona and Forest Hills because they are directly connected to the park. “They’re meant to be community designs,” he said. “And we want to give people the confidence to talk to decision makers.” At the museum’s exhibition, the community members will present their ideas to these “decision makers” and, Serrano-McClain hopes, effect change in how the park can be improved. The park was created for the 1939-40 Worlds Fair and as a fair ground, Serrano-McClain said, it is designed to control who enters the area. But now, as a public park, a design for controlling fairgoers no longer makes sense. “The park will be changed to make it more open to people,” Serrano-McClain said. “Can we put the community’s signature on the solutions?” THE COURIER/Photo by Cristabelle Tumola Photos courtesy of North Shore Animal League The North Shore Animal League America welcomes dogs that were rescued from a puppy mill in Oklahoma. BY ASHA MAHADEVAN editorial@queenscourier.com @queenscourier Dozens of pups will be looking for new families at Citi Field this weekend. The North Shore Animal League America, the world’s largest no-kill rescue and adoption organization, is putting up for adoption 70 dogs that it recently rescued from a puppy mill in Oklahoma. The adoption drive is part of the organization’s Fall Festival, which is taking place at Citi Field’s Lot G, located at 123-01 Roosevelt Ave., on Oct. 18 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The rescued dogs belong to a variety of breeds including bulldogs, poodles and terriers. The Animal League’s veterinarians provided the dogs with the necessary care and all the four-legged creatures are now being groomed in preparation for the event. Joanne Yohannan, the organization’s senior vice president of operations, said that in the past 70 years, they have rescued more than one million animals. “These dogs symbolically represent the first of the next one million we will save in years to come,” she said. The Fall Festival will also host other adoptable dogs, cats, puppies and kittens and feature activities such as carnival games, face painting and psychic readings. If you already have pets, you are encouraged to bring them along to the festivities.
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