FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MAY 9, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Enjoy Fort Totten’s
Independence Day
celebration on June 26
Next month, an annual Independence Day celebration is
once again coming to Bayside.
Councilman Paul Vallone along with the Queens Chamber
of Commerce and Bayside Historical Society announced
the return of the Fift h Annual Independence Day Fireworks
Show and Concert. Th e organizers invite revelers to Fort
Totten on June 26 to enjoy a night of fi reworks by Grucci,
food and live entertainment.
Admittance to the event begins at 5 p.m. with musical performances
between 6 and 9 p.m. Musical guests include the
MM Rock Camp, Chicken Head Rocks, and Phil Costa & the
Something Special Big B.
Following the live music, Fireworks by Grucci will put
on a 15-minute exhibition, and launch fi reworks off a barge
on Little Neck Bay. Th e show begins promptly at 9:15 p.m.
Organizers encourage guests to bring blankets, lawn chairs
and picnic-related items to the event. Several food trucks will
be on site for patrons to purchase food, snacks and beverages.
Alcohol is not permitted at the event and NYPD will
inspect all bags, coolers and backpacks before attendees enter
the park. Due to a large expected turnout, guests are encouraged
to bike, walk or take a bus to the event.
Attendees can park at the Little Bay Parking Lot underneath
the Th rogs Neck Bridge and along Bell Boulevard west
of Fort Totten with additional parking at the Clearview Golf
Course beginning at 5 p.m. Additional parking is also available
at the Bay Terrace Shopping Center. Beginning at 6 p.m.,
Vallo Transportation shuttles will bring guests to and from
the off site parking locations.
Jenna Bagcal
LIC Springs! street
festival returns to Vernon
Boulevard on Saturday
Th ousands will descend on Long Island City on Saturday,
May 11, for the sixth annual LIC Springs! festival and street
fair, taking place from noon to 5 p.m. on Vernon Boulevard
from 50th to 46th avenues. Th e free event, which is chock
full of memorable goods and innovative art, is a celebration
of the great things the fastest-growing neighborhood in the
country has to off er.
“LIC Springs! brings together the best Long Island City has
to off er for a day of fun, beautiful art and culture, fantastic
food and activities for all ages,” Long Island City Partnership
President Elizabeth Lusskin said.
Many of the neighborhood’s best restaurants will off er service
at tables on Vernon Boulevard, while other new eateries
will operate booths. Manducatis Rustica will host a gelato
and pasta eating contest.
A single block will showcase cultural institutions in western
Queens including MoMA PS1, Th e Noguchi Museum,
Materials for the Arts, the Museum of the Moving Image, the
SculptureCenter and Socrates Sculpture Park.
“Amongst other new things at this year’s event is a puppy
adoption bus on site through the LIC Veterinary Center, and
Estee Lauder will provide a virtual makeup station,” Lusskin
said. “Also for the fi rst time Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island
is joining us with an interactive photo booth. And Mr. Met
will be here aft er a scheduling confl ict last year, so we’re very
excited about that.”
LIC Springs! will include a stage with nearly a dozen performances
throughout the day from Bringing Education and
Art Together (BEAT), Dynasty Breaking NYC, LIC Kids
Gymnastics, Queensboro Dance Festival, and Sing LIC.
Other activities including massage therapy, yoga and fi tness
classes with Cosmic Fit Club, pony rides for the kids
with support from Douglas Elliman, a giant checkers game
for kids off ered by Modern Spaces, and quick drying clay
projects by BrickHouse Ceramic Art Center just in time for
Mother’s Day.
Bill Parry
Photo via Google Maps, rendering courtesy of Cushman and Wakefi eld
HIGH-RISE COMING?
15-story assisted living tower planned for Douglaston
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
A 15-story assisted living
facility is reportedly coming to
Douglaston just months aft er the
$45 million Douglaston Acres
development site hit the market.
In April, Community Board
11 addressed a letter to residents
informing them of a proposed zoning
height authorization that would
make it possible to construct a
15-story building at 242-22 61st Ave.
According to the letter, the facility
would be licensed by the New York
State Department of Health.
But some, like Councilman
Barry Grodenchik’s aide Steve
Behar, think that the development,
which is currently in an R4 zone,
would be uncharacteristically tall
for the area.
“It’s not a shelter. It’s a proposal
to build a 15-story assisted living
facility between the Douglaston
Shopping Center and the golf
course. Th e zoning there doesn’t
allow for such a high building so
they are asking for the approval to
build to such a height. Such a large
building is out of character for the
community,” said Behar.
Th e CB 11 Douglaston Zoning
Committee plans to discuss the
proposed zoning height authorization
at the district offi ce tonight,
Tuesday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m.
David Marx of Marx
Development Group facilitated
the property’s sale back in March
and reportedly developed plans for
an assisted living facility complex.
Th e Real Deal said that Marx’s
plans for the 250,000-square-foot
facility included “parking, medical
space and a 200-bed long-term
care facility.”
According to the NYSDOH
website, adult care facilities or
assisted living facilities “provide
long-term, non-medical residential
services to adults who are
substantially unable to live independently
due to physical, mental,
or other limitations associated
with age or other factors.”
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