FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com december 4, 2014 • The Courier sun 21 Future Ridgewood brewery site begins transformation Queens Library now loaning mobile hot spots Photo courtesy of Queens Library Several Queens Library locations that are lending Google tablets are now also lending mobile hot spots. BY CRIS TABELLE TUMOLA [email protected]/@CristabelleT Queens residents have a new way to connect on the go, and all they need is a library card. Mobile hot spots are currently available for loan at select Queens Library locations. The devices, which are smaller than most cell phones, provide Internet access to any Wi-Fi-enabled device, such as a computer, tablet or smartphone, in almost any location. First-time users will just need to show a photo ID and fill out an agreement to borrow the device. They are available on loan for one month at a time and can be renewed up to three times. Library card holders can pick up the hot spots at branch locations at 89-11 Merrick Blvd., Jamaica; 1637 Central Ave., Far Rockaway; and 108-19 71st Ave., Forest Hills. They also will be available at Queens Library in Flushing, at 41-17 Main St., on Dec. 5, and at the Jackson Heights branch, at 35-51 81st St., on Dec. 12. The library locations lending the devices are also lending free Google tablets. Google’s $1 million donation, along with a $500,000 grant from the Knight News Challenge, an initiative of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and Robin Hood Foundation, made the hot spot program possible, according to the library. “Far too many New Yorkers do not have regular access to the Internet, and as a result find themselves excluded from a wealth of education, employment and community resources,” said Ben Fried, Google’s chief information officer. “This innovative program to loan hotspots to low-income households is a simple, effective way to help those who need broadband and technology the most. With this donation of $1 million and W-Fi-enabled Chromebooks, Google hopes to give some of the most underserved in our city a way to bridge the tech divide.” BY LIAM LA GUERE [email protected] @LiamLaGuerre A few days after announcing the leasing of a Ridgewood warehouse for the new home of Bridge and Tunnel Brewery, the owner has begun moving into his new digs. Queens native Rich Castagna, who founded a 150-square-foot Maspeth microbrewery a few years ago, has already moved some vats, many kegs and tons of other equipment into the 2,300-square-foot site of the brewery’s future home near the intersection of Decatur Street and Wyckoff Avenue. The father of three, who has a day job with a shipping company, is working on the brewery with a little help, but is aiming to set up and begin brewing from the new site within six months. “The priority is to get beer flowing out of the doors, because I have to offset the rent,” Castagna said. There is still much to be done with the new space though. Castagna is hoping to soon bring a boiler, two fermenters and two stem jacketed kettles into the brewing section, which will be located at the back of the building. The front part will become home to the bar and the tasting room. He already has long wooden beams in the site that he plans to fashion into tables. Following the expansion, he hopes to bring beer to new outlets that he couldn’t serve before because of the limited brewing capacity at the former site. “If I can get this thing up and running, there are a lot of other accounts that are frankly waiting in line for me to add them,” Castagna said. “In the nano system it’s kind of like I’m busting my pants. I’ve outgrown my school uniform.” THE COURIER/Photo by Liam La Guerre
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