FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 19, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 21
Ground breaks on new student-designed playground in Flushing
BY WILLIAM HARRIS
editorial@qns.com / @QNS
Starting in the fall of 2018, about 17,000
residents of Flushing and Kew Gardens
Hills will be within a 10-minute walk of
the new student-designed playground.
Construction crews began this week
breaking ground on the project in front of
students, faculty, administrators and organizations
responsible for its development.
Th e $1.2 million facility called the I.S
250 Playground will feature a running
track, a turf fi eld, basketball practice
hoops, tennis courts, game tables, outside
classroom space and new fi tness equipment.
It will also consist of a new green
infrastructure that will capture about 1.2
million gallons of stormwater every year
in order to improve the health of Flushing
Creek. Twenty to 30 trees have also been
planted and grown as well.
“Today’s groundbreaking is a signifi -
cant investment in the future of Flushing,
providing a new state-of-the-art playground
for use by schoolchildren and
the entire neighborhood,” said Queens
Borough President Melinda Katz.
What makes the construction of this
new playground even better is that all 398
students of I.S 250 school were were able
to contribute to the design process, along
with their parents and neighbors.
The groundbreaking and student
involvement is part of Th e Trust For
Public Land’s Playgrounds Program,
which provides students with hands-on
learning of science, math and architecture.
Since 1996, the program, with the
help of the city, has designed and/or built
194 school and community playgrounds
throughout the fi ve boroughs.
“Th e students and at I.S. 250 are making
the city a better place, one playground
at a time. Th eir work with Th e Trust For
Public Land will create a beautiful, new
green for the entire Flushing community
to enjoy, and over 17,000 residents will be
just a short 10-minute walk from a place
where they can exercise, relax under trees,
play games, have fun and connect with
their neighbors,” said Carter Strickland,
Th e Trust For Public Land’s New York
state director.
Th e funding of the $1.2 million project
is being provided through the
Queens borough president’s offi ce, NYC
Councilman Rory Lancman, Department
of Environmental Protection and
Supporters of the Trust for Public Land.
“Th is student-designed and environmentally
friendly playground will be a
critically important recreational resource
that will help our children be physically
active. Council member Lancman,
the New York City Department of
Environmental protection and Th e Trust
for Public Land deserve to be commended
for supporting this eff ort to make this
playground a reality,” Katz said.
Th e new I.S 250 Playground is scheduled
to open sometime in the fall in 2018.
It will be open to the public during aft erschool
hours and school breaks.
A Honda Accord parked in Flushing Photo courtesy of David Marmor
Francis Lewis JROTC teams seek titles
BY MADELINE NELSON
editorial@qns.com / @QNS
Two teams from Francis Lewis High
School in Fresh Meadows are competing
at the 2018 U.S. Army JROTC
Leadership & Academic Bowl in
Washington, D.C. aft er earning some
of the highest scores worldwide in two
phases of online competition.
Francis Lewis’ JROTC Leadership Team
earned top scores out of 1,329 Army
JROTC Leadership teams at high schools
worldwide. Additionally, the school’s
JROTC Academic Team attained top
scores out of the 1,393 Army JROTC teams
that competed from around the world.
Th e Francis Lewis High School JROTC
Leadership Team includes Alan Cao, Tylon
Guan, Osna Hakimi, and Ruba Elroubi.
Th e team is one of only 40 Army JROTC
Leadership Bowl teams in the nation to
advance to the National Leadership Bowl
competition, which includes an all-expense
paid trip to the championship event
in the nation’s Capitol.
Th e Leadership Bowl’s questions are
based on the cadet’s knowledge of current
events, leadership values, and leadership
skills.
Meanwhile, the Francis Lewis JROTC
Academic Bowl team — which includes
Shannon Gunawan, Angela Chen,
Nandy Zheng, and Ruth Perez — is
one of only 32 Army JROTC Academic
Bowl teams in the nation to advance
to the National Academic Bowl competition.
Th e winner of the Academic
Bowl Championship will compete in the
JROTC Joint Service Academic Bowl
Championship against the winners of
the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, and
Navy JROTC Academic Bowls.
Th e Academic Bowl’s goal is to prepare
cadets for state exit/graduation
exams and college entrance standardized
tests. Students are tested on their
knowledge of JROTC curriculum, Math,
Science, and English.
Both the U.S. Army JROTC
Leadership Bowl and Academic Bowl
Championships will be held from June
22-26 on the campus of Th e Catholic
University of America.
Photo courtesy of Queens Borough President Melinda Katz
Tire, rim and wallet thefts on
the rise in northeast Queens
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Pickpockets, tire-and-rim thieves and
other crooks are taking advantage of residents
throughout the Flushing-based 109th
Precinct, according to its commanding offi cer.
Inspector Judith Harrison outlined
a series of observed crime trends at the
Community Council meeting on April
11. Th e command, which covers areas of
Flushing, College Point, Whitestone and
the Bay Terrace section of Bayside, has
recently seen a spate of tire-and-rim theft s,
Harrison noted.
Th ieves are targeting 2017 and 2018
Honda Accord models in the area for the
parts. Th e inspector encouraged car owners
to always activate their alarms and
install locking wheel nuts, which are a
cost-eff ective way to deter perpetrators.
Cars should be parked in well-lit areas,
Harrison continued, and wheels should be
angled toward the street.
“We’ve had several instances in the command,”
she said. “Nothing is foolproof, but
you want to try a few things that will deter
people.”
Harrison added that the downtown
Flushing area is also being hit with many
wallet theft s.
“We’ve got an unattended purse and wallet
theft pattern in downtown Flushing,”
Harrison said. “We’ve got seven incidents
in that pattern.”
She encouraged shoppers and pedestrians
in the area to secure their belongings
and be aware of their surroundings. Bags
and purses should be angled in front of
the body so they are in sight, the inspector
Photo via Wikimedia Commons/Kevauto
added.
Th e Hong Kong bank scam continues to
impact the command. In the scam, a resident
receives a phone call from an individual
claiming to be from the Chinese
Embassy. Th e caller tells the resident that
their name has been linked to certain
crimes and instructs him or her to wire a
sum of money to a bank in Hong Kong in
order to terminate the investigation.
“People run out and they get gift cards or
they wire them money,” Harrison said. “It’s
a scam, and it’s just another one of many.”
Residents unsure of the validity of the
call should contact the precinct’s Crime
Prevention Unit at 718-321-2343 or the
Offi ce of the Chinese General Consulate at
212-244-9392.
“Verify before you comply,” Harrison
said.
Car theft s increased over the last 28
days, she also noted. Th e precinct has
made a number of social media posts in
recent weeks reminding residents not to
leave their cars running unattended, as
this attributes to the rise.
“If each one of you could help me touch
the people that aren’t here and arm them
with the information, we start to see a lot
of these crimes go down,” Harrison said.
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