FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM DECEMBER 28, 2017 • THE QUEENS COURIER 31
year in review
OCTOBER
New playground with running track
unveiled in Flushing
Flushing kids got a state-of-the-art
hoop, gazebo and water fountain. It
play space to enjoy for years to come
was also built with innovative technologies
when a brand new playground opened at
to improve the health of the
136th Street and 58th Avenue. Students
neighborhood and its waterways. Th e
and administrators from P.S. 120, who
city’s Department of Environmental
provided input for the site’s design,
Protection crushed 3,500 old 5-gallon
gathered for the ribbon cutting ceremony
toilets and installed the porcelain under
on Sept. 28. Th e playground features
the turf fi eld to act as a sturdy, porous
a new turf fi eld, running track, outdoor
sponge, reducing the burden on the
classroom, play equipment, basketball
area’s sewer system.
New Northern Blvd. bike lanes causing
traffi c accidents, lawmaker says
Aft er four reported car accidents at the site of the new Bayside and Douglaston
bike lanes, a local lawmaker called on the city to do something to make the lanes
safer. On Oct. 5, state Senator Tony Avella penned a letter to NYC Department of
Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenburg and Mayor Bill de Blasio citing a
series of accidents at the Northern Boulevard safety project as cause for major concern.
Cement barries at the site create “a dangerous merging situation” at the busy
venue, the lawmaker writes, and no posted warning signage alerting drivers to the
new traffi c pattern creates a hazard. Th e community board previously voted in favor
of the DOT’s bike lane proposal in June, but later presented their own plan in July
and offi cially rescinded their stamp of approval on Sept.11. Th e city moved forward
with the plan anyway.
City investigating 12 cases of
Legionnaires’ disease in Flushing
Th e city’s Health Department continued
to investigate a Legionnaires’ disease
outbreak in downtown Flushing in which
a dozen people fell ill to the bacteria over
a 14-day span, the agency announced on
Oct. 24. Samples from all cooling towers
in the area of the reported outbreak
were taken and studied, Deputy Health
Commissioner Dr. Demetre Daskalakis
said at a press briefi ng that day. All 12
cases were in “residential environments,”
Daskalakis noted. Th e city was intentionally
vague on where the outbreak was
located in an eff ort to make all residents
hyper-vigilant for symptoms of the disease,
which include fl u-like symptoms such as
fever, cough, chills and muscle aches. Th e
disease is not passed person to person.
Cinema multiplex with high tech ‘4-d’
theater coming to Flushing
A huge downtown Flushing development will bring the neighborhood the latest
in cutting-edge cinema experiences next year. A 1.2 million-square-foot, mixed-use
development called Tangram - located at 133-15 39th Ave. between College Point
Boulevard and Prince Street - includes plans for a 34,000 square-foot movie theater
by CGV Cinemas. Th e project will be delivered in multiple stages and the fi rst stage,
which includes the multiplex, is expected to be completed in late 2018. CJ CGV -
a South Korea multiplex cinema chain with 412 locations worldwide - has leased
the space, which will feature seven total screens. He multiplex will bring “the best
in Hollywood and Asian fi lms together,” according to a press release. It will also be
home to the fi rst “4DX” theater location in Queens, which allows the audience to
connect with the fi lms through motion vibration and environmental eff ects.