14 DECEMBER 28, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
2017 Year in Review
MARCH – APRIL
March
Queens Mourns Loss
Of Helen Marshall
Helen Marshall, the first African
April
Glendale fi refi ghter falls to his death in Ridgewood
The city mourned the loss of Firefi ghter
William Tolley, a member of Glendale’s
Ladder Company 135, who died while
responding to a fi re at a Ridgewood apartment
house on April 20. According to police
sources, Tolley ascended up a bucket ladder
to work on the fi re from the roof when he
fell. Paramedics rushed Tolley to Wyckoff
Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The following day, hundreds gathered outside
Ladder Company 135 headquarters on Myrtle
Avenue as fi refi ghters hung memorial bunting
from the facade. The beloved fi refi ghter’s
memory was honored in many ways by the
Glendale community throughout 2017.
New Kosciuszko Bridge makes its big debut
New York City’s fi rst new bridge in
more than a half-century opened
on the Brooklyn/Queens border, as
the completed fi rst half of the Kosciuszko
Bridge reconstruction project was unveiled
in a ceremony on April 27. The new cable
stayed bridge was built adjacent to the
rusting, 78-year-old traffi c nightmare that
carries the BrooklynQueens Expressway
(BQE) over the Newtown Creek between
Maspeth and Greenpoint. It will temporarily
carry three lanes of BQE traffi c in
each direction over the next several years
while the second new bridge is built in the
footprint of the old span.
Photo by Angela Matua/QNS
American ever to serve as
Queens borough president, died
on March 3 at the age of 87. Marshall
succumbed to an extended illness while
residing in California, according to
Alexandra Rosa, who served has her
chief-of-staff throughout her 12 years
as borough president. A fixture in
Queens politics for nearly 40 years,
she served stints in the Assembly and
City Council before she was elected in
2001 as the 18th borough president in
Queens history, succeeding Claire Shulman,
who was the first woman ever to
hold the office.
Maspeth High Admissions Snafu Irks Parents
Frustrated parents got the chance
to air their grievances over the
Maspeth High School (MHS)
admissions fiasco and get answers as
to what happened from Department
of Education (DOE) personnel during
the March 28 Community Education
Council (CEC) 24 meeting at P.S. 88 in
Ridgewood. Concerns regarding the
MHS enrollment lottery arose when
it was discovered that the school
committed a “clerical error” which
left 500 private school students from
across the city out of the lottery. It
was discovered that the admissions
lottery at MHS did not include 207
students who should have been a part
of the selection process. DOE quickly
fixed the problem and added in those
students, 66 of whom received offers
to the school.