Kew Gardens group uses grant to plant flowers By Anna Gustafson Thursday, April 29, 2010 11:11 AM EDT Comment (No comments posted.)     Email To a Friend Kew Gardens resident Tony Rodriguez prepares the soil around a tree for planting. Residents will plant flowers around a number of trees in Kew Gardens May 16. Photo courtesy of Kew Gardens Improvement Association When Kew Gardens residents hit the streets to plant brightly colored flowers around numerous trees May 16, it will be one of a long line of beautification efforts launched by a tightly knit community which has worked hard for years to ensure their neighborhood remains a desirable place for people to live, members of the Kew Gardens Improvement Association said. Read the entire story HERE.

Baskin Robbins 31 Cent Scoop Night is tomorrow - April 28th

Poetry Reading in Kew Gardens

THE REZ
READING
SERIES

Poetry Month 

7:30-9:30pm in the Pine Room, Church of the Resurrection,

85-09 118th Street, Kew Gardens, NY 11415 

Tuesday, April 27
 

Aaron Adler
Aaron Adler organizes community music events at a wide variety of venues throughout Kew Gardens. He may be retired, but he is tireless in promoting local musical talent.
 Liza Charlesworth
Liza Charlesworth lives in Forest Hills Gardens with her husband and twin 8-year-old sons.  Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Plum Review, Mudfish, Cover Magazine, Southern Review and Boston Phoenix. 
Andrew Colarusso
Andrew Colarusso is a poet born into a family of correction officers. His work has been published in The Broome Street Review, A Similar But Different Quality, and West 10th.
Mandy Gor
Mandy Gor is a published poet who graduated from Rice University with a degree in Literature.  She is currently working on a book of poems that explore the dynamics between men and women within a family.
Peter Hack
Peter Hack is an IT professional, chef, guitarist and songwriter who grew up in Kew Gardens. This is the first time he’s read a poem aloud since Mr. Tener’s 7th Grade English class.
Rajiv Mohabir
Rajiv Mohabir was named a "Poet of Note" by Pudding House Press, which recently published his chapbook na bad-eye me. He is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at Queens College.
John Todras
John Todras had been the featured reader at many Borders Books and Barnes & Noble poetry events. His work has appeared in Haiku Headlines, New Press Literary Quarterly, and the PPA Annual Collection.
Angelo Verga
Angelo Verga is the author of six collections of poetry, and has been widely published in leading literary journals both here and abroad. 
Ellen Wright
Ellen Wright’s chapbook, In Transit, was published in 2007 by Main Street Rag.  Her poetry has recently appeared in Cimarron Review, Margie, Water-Stone Review and The Paterson Literary Review.

Q&A will be held after readings and autographed books offered for sale. Refreshments available; $5.00 donation encouraged.

For further information please telephone (718) 575-5417

Cleaning and Greening Kew Gardens!

A Blockbuster of a Day in Kew Gardens, Queens!

Residents join together to transform their block as part of Love Your (NYC) Block Campaign
On Sunday, May 16, 2010, from 9:30am-4:30pm (rain date May 20), the Kew Gardens community will unite for “The Kew Gardens Blockbuster Clean and Green Day”  and will focus their energies on both sides of Metropolitan Avenue from Audley Street to 83 Avenue.

Young and old, neighbors and business owners will work side-by-side to transform their block.  They’ll grab their brooms and dustpans, sweep away dirt and garbage to prepare for the planting of ten tree wells. Then volunteers will work in tree teams to plant red and pink begonias, peach impatiens and white petunias, a bright pattern of color that will line the block. After planting, the next step will be watering, mulching and the finale, the reading of original Root for Tree Poems, written by local children, to encourage the trees growth and instill a respect for nature. There will be opportunities for individual families to become tree stewards. They will watch the flowers that have they planted bloom and grow and will learn to nurture and maintain them through the seasons. 

May 16^th will not only be about cleaning and greening. The local businesses will welcome their neighbors and will offer special sales, discounts and giveaways. There will be live music and presentations by NYC environmental groups that will focus on recycling and how individuals can learn how to improve their own environment. For the children, face painting (flowers and trees of course!) and arts and crafts projects using recycled materials. 

The Kew Gardens Blockbuster Clean and Green Day will be a unique and successful hit!
The event will be part of the Love Your (NYC) Block Campaign, a partnership between NYC Service and Citizens Committee for NYC. The campaign provides each group with a $500 grant to cover project costs as well as direct links to services provided by City Agencies, including the Department of Transportation, Sanitation and Parks and Recreation. The Kew Gardens Improvement Association, Inc. was one of sixty neighborhood groups that were selected to take part in the campaign. The city agencies working with these groups are providing support services such as: graffiti removal, cleaning vacant lots, repairing damaged or missing street signage and street lights, ticketing illegal dumping and replacing worn-out or missing litter baskets.

Mark Sunday May 16^th on your calendar and be prepared to roll up your sleeves, get down in the dirt with your friends and neighbors and enjoy the pleasure of your efforts everyday that you walk “on the street where you live!” For more information or volunteer on May 16^th, please contact: kgblockbusters@gmail.com or call (917) 881-3358.

Yoga in the Park - 2010 Season

Hi All. Now that Spring is REALLY upon us it is time to get back to Yoga in the Park! We still don't have funding sponsors so it looks like it will be on donation basis. It will be every Saturday morning at 10am starting on the 1st of May at the same location - behind the baseball diamond at Sobelsohn Park in Forest Park (between Union Tpk and Park Lane which is at the most northeast section of Forest Park.) Rain days will be at Living Yoga :)

If anyone knows any local businesses that would like to sponsor anything from $50 - $100 we already have several sponsors that are willing to contribute the same so let me know. 


(Thanks to Peter Bragino for the above image!) 


KJ

The new film "Coming Up Roses" starring Bernadette Peters is to be shot in Kew Gardens Monday, March 29th. 

"NO PARKING 3am till 11pm" signs have been posted along portions of Austin Street and of Lefferts Boulevard. 

Miss Peters, no doubt, is familiar with Kew Gardens, having been brought up in Ozone Park. 

 

The Playbill write-up on Google reads as follows:

 

Two-time Tony Award winner Bernadette Peters, who will be seen in several of the upcoming benefit concerts celebrating Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday, will play a musical comedy performer in a new film that begins shooting the week of March 1 in Queens, NY. Belladonna Productions - producer of "Transamerica," which received two 2006 Academy Award nominations - is producing the new film, which seems to pay homage to Peters' last Tony-nominated and Grammy-winning Broadway outing, the Sam Mendes revival of Gypsy. In fact, the title of the film is "Coming Up Roses," most of the title of one of the songs from Gypsy's classic Stephen Sondheim-Jule Styne score. "[I play] a [former] musical comedy performer [who had done] summer stock and second national tours," Peters told Playbill.com. "She has two daughters - one is 15, and the other one is 21. The 15-year-old adores her, and the 21-year-old couldn't wait to get away from her; she got married and moves away." Peters said with a laugh, "It's sort of a bleak story, but they sing pieces of songs to make themselves feel better." Lisa Albright is directing the film, which also features Tony nominee Peter Friedman (Ragtime). Peters was last on Broadway in the acclaimed revival of Gypsy, for which she received a 2003 Tony Award nomination for her performance as Rose in the Sam Mendes-directed production. She won her two Tonys for her performances in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song & Dance and Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun, and she has also starred on Broadway in Mack & Mabel, On the Town, Sunday in the Park with George, The Goodbye Girl and the original production of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. Peters' latest live recording, "Sondheim, Etc., Etc.-Bernadette Peters Live at Carnegie Hall (The Rest of It)," is available on the Angel Records label. Masterworks Broadway has also released a "Legends of Broadway" CD celebrating her theatrical career. Peters' screen credits are numerous. She is also the co-founder (with Mary Tyler Moore) of the pet adoption charity Broadway Barks and the author of the best-selling "Broadway Barks" and the forthcoming "Stella Is a Star." --------mhberger for KGCA

From the Kew Gardens Civic Association:

We are pleased to bring to your attention four upcoming events in Kew Gardens:

    +  March 27 (reminder): Concert sponsored by Friends of Maple Grove; call 917-881-3358 for details.

    +  April 1: Aaron Adler's Kew Gardens Musicians

    +  April 7: KG Community Center trip to the NY Botanical Garden 

    +  April 9: Start of Diana Shaman's new Photography Class at the KG Community Center

        For details, read on.---mhberger, for KGCA

============================================================================

    Aaron Adler announces that the next free Kew Gardens Musicians show will be at Austin's Ale House, 82-72 Austin Street, on Thursday, April 1st, beginning at 7:30 pm.

    In addition to the excellent regular musicians, Jessica Valiente, flutist, of Los Mas Valientes, will be making a rare appearance in Kew Gardens.  Aaron tells us that she lived in KG for many years, moving to New Jersey a little while ago, and that her music is "sensational."

================================================================================

KEW GARDENS COMMUNITY CENTER

   Invites you to view and enjoy

The 2010

ORCHID SHOW

“CUBA IN FLOWER”

 at the

                    New York Botanical Garden

---------------------------------------- 

 Wednesday, April 7

-------------------------------------- 

Cost: $25 – includes:

v   Transportation

v   Admission to the Garden & Show

v   Guided tour with docent

v  Meet at KGCC at 9:00 am for coffee/tea and snack

   Sign up by March 31  

KEW GARDENS COMMUNITY CENTER/Queens Community House

Funded by the Queens Borough President

80-02 Kew Gardens Road, Suite 202, Kew Gardens, NY 11415

718/268-5960

========================================================================== 

 

KEW GARDENS COMMUNITY CENTER:

                        NEW!  NEW!  NEW!

BEGINNER’S

PHOTOGRAPHY

CLASS

Led By

DIANE SHAMAN

An 8-week course, to be held on

FRIDAYS, 1:00 – 2:00 pm

>>  FIRST CLASS STARTS FRIDAY, APRIL 9TH  <<

Space is limited to 10; register in office.

Must have a camera (digital preferred); a home computer helpful.

 KEW GARDENS COMMUNITY CENTER: 718-268-5960  

                    Funded by the Queens Borough President

                    80-02 Kew Gardens Road, Suite 202, Kew Gardens, NY 1141

Creating a Tree-Stewarding Community - The "How-To's" How do we take care of our community's trees? How do you find a community group to join? How do you create one? How do you keep it going? Join our distinguished panel of community leaders as we discuss how they got started, where they focus their attention, what obstacles they've encountered, how they've achieved their goals and how they envision their future. Moderated by Steven Boyce, President of Friends of Greenwich Street and creator of its "Tribeca Street Trees" project. Panelists: Susan Norton Allen of Carnegie Hill Neighbors, Andrew Simons of the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, Annette Williams of Sustainable South Bronx and Christie Van Kehrberg of Green Shores NYC and Lisa Pillarella of Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, Staten Island. If you are a member of a community group active in stewarding street trees, please feel free to bring brochures about your group. Join Trees New York for a panel discussion with leaders of successful community street tree groups. Date: Thursday, March 25th Time: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Location: The Arsenal in Central Park 830 Fifth Avenue at 64th Street RSVP  Light Refreshments will be served

Concert to Celebrate 130th Birthday!

A concert to celebrate a 130th Birthday? Yes! You are invited to a classical concert on March 27th to honor the life of Rosina Lhevinne (1880-1976); a gifted pianist, "teacher in the truest sense," wife, mother and world renowned performer who is interred at Maple Grove.  If a teacher is defined by the success of her students then Rosina was very very accomplished! Her most famous students at the Juilliard School include Van Cliburn, John Williams, James Levine, Misha Dichter and John Browning. They will not be at her birthday celebration but you will enjoy the talents of three gifted classical musicians who will be playing her favorite Chopin. Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Stenhammar and Bartok pieces in the Celebration Room at the beautiful Center at Maple Grove (127-15 Kew Gardens Road, Kew Gardens)
Every "party" has refreshments and this one will begin with a wine and cheese reception at 7:00pm (Birthday Cake for dessert of course!). The concert will commence at 7:30pm. 
On March 27th, we will also be celebrating Chopin's 200th Birthday Anniversary, joy, talent, our lovely guests, beautiful beautiful music and the loving "spirit" of Rosina Lhevinne. It will be a night to remember!

Sponsored by Friends of Maple Grove, Inc.
Tickets: $25, Seniors- $20, Members of the Friends of Maple Grove- $15
Checks can be made payable to Friends of Maple Grove and mailed to 127-15 Kew Gardens Road, Kew Gardens, NY 11415. For further information and to purchase online tickets please visit the Friends of Maple Grove website at www.friendsofmaplegrove.org ;

Email: friendsofmgc@aol.com, (917) 881-3358 

2010 - Yoga in the Park - Forest Park

Dear readers, As many of you remember we started a free Yoga in the Park program last year which was very successful and highly and regularly attended from Spring to Fall 2009. Now that Spring is upon us we want to get the program started again and we are looking for local businesses that would like to fully or partially sponsor the program. Please contact me at kewgardensblog@gmail.com if you are interested or have any ideas.

Best,

KJ

Vantage Properties listed in the Village Voice as one of the city's top ten worst landlords

New York's Ten Worst Landlords, Part 1

In a city of slumlords and broke-ass apartment buildings, these stand out.

Comments (8)By Elizabeth Dwoskin Tuesday, Mar 16 2010

Read the entire story HERE. 

Party raises Haiti relief cash

Kew Gardens group collects money for aid trip to ravaged nation

By Anna Gustafson
Thursday, March 4, 2010 9:16 AM EST

Comment (No comments posted.)    

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Mood Restaurant co-owners Martin Forde (back l.) and Moe Ahmed (back c.) pose during a fund-raiser for Haiti with Kew Gardens residents who traveled to the Caribbean nation this week. Photo by Anna Gustafson

Long after many shops shut their doors in the face of last week’s snowstorm, customers at one Kew Gardens restaurant thumbed their noses at the slippery streets and danced the night away at a fund-raiser for Haiti.

“This is a much better turnout than we thought there would be,” said Mandy Gor, a Kew Gardens resident who helped to organize last Thursday night’s event at Mood Restaurant and Lounge to raise money for Haitian relief efforts.

More than 60 people attended the event that ran past midnight and raised funds for a weeklong trip to Haiti by Gor and 14 others, who left Sunday. The individuals on the trip are part of Edeyo, a nonprofit that in 2007 opened a school in Bel Air, one of the poorest parts of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.

They will provide medical support and distribute items like food and water to Haitians, including students at the school supported by Edeyo. To date, Kew Gardens resident Kevin Jamison, who also left for Haiti Sunday, said they had located 188 of the 250 students at the primary school and had confirmed 10 pupils died in the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed an estimated 250,000 people.

Read the entire article HERE. 

Winter Landscape Painting at Maple Grove!
Date of event:  Saturday, March 13, 1:00-3:00pm, The Center at Maple Grove

Have you always wanted to paint a winter landscape but didn’t like the idea of frostbitten fingers?
Imagine this scene: You are sitting (or standing!) looking upon the winter vista from the beautiful Celebration Room at Maple Grove, a room with very good light and many huge windows. You are inspired by the landscape and create wonderful artistic masterpieces for two well spent hours using your own art supplies (paints, acrylics, watercolors, charcoals, chalks, pencils, pen & ink, etc). Life is good! 

If the above scene appeals to your artistic soul, please join us on March 13, 1:00-3:00pm at The Center at Maple Grove (127-15 Kew Gardens Road, Kew Gardens). 
This event is coordinated by Mandy Gor, an artist, who will be by your side if you need some encouragement, artistic advice or even a good laugh! 
All levels from beginning to advanced welcome!
Sponsored by Friends of Maple Grove, Inc.
Admittance: $8 adults, $5 seniors, Friends of Maple Grove Members FREE
To reserve a spot: friendsofmgc@aol.com or (917) 881-3358 

LIVING IN | KEW GARDENS, QUEENS

Off the Grid, but on the Radar

Tina Fineberg for The New York Times

HILLSIDE A view of Audley Street in Kew Gardens, an architecturally rich neighborhood near two major airports.

By JAKE MOONEY

Published: February 24, 2010

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KEW GARDENS is compact — flanked on one side by Forest Park, on the other by Maple Grove Cemetery. A walk from the greenery on one side to the greenery on the other isn’t very far at all, as long as you don’t get lost.

Read the entire story HERE. 

Kew Gardens Haiti Fundraiser at Mood - 2/25 - TONIGHT!!!

It is not often that there is a social gathering which has the possibility to literally change and save peoples lives happening in Kew Gardens. Tonight will be one of those rare occasions. I am sure that many of the readers of this blog know that I have a history working with Haiti, and possibly even that I consider my first trip there in 1998 as the real catalyst to all that I have done in my life since then with international relations and global development issues. Now that this disaster has struck, it has made an almost intolerable situation a desperate and deadly one. These people are in more need now for our help than ever! 


We have already sent one team down who hosted a week long medical clinic and saw countless patients, found and registered the mission students from our school, and since then we have created a main distribution point for the local community to receive medical attention, water and shelter. 


When our team arrives on February 28, we will be kicking off a major food, water, medical clinic and supply distribution as well as working to secure a new building for the school to be housed either temporarily or permanently so we can get these children, who are sitting in the streets day after day with no food or activities, back into school as soon as possible. We will also be doing daily activities with the children with arts and crafts to get some smiles back on their faces. 


We ask that ALL of you, please call your friends and family and get everyone out to Mood tonight for a fundraiser that will benefit this amazing country that is in desperate need right now. Put your snow boots on and come out starting at 9pm for live music and raffles and juts a great party! See more info below. 

Event: Mood Restaurant and Lounge will sponsor a Kew Gardens HAITIAN RECOVERY FUNDRAISER 

Date: Thursday, February 25, 2010, 9pm-midnight

In the spirit of Edeyo, a Haitian-Creole word which means “Help Them” Mood Restaurant and Lounge (120-29 83^rd Avenue, Kew Gardens) will sponsor a Kew Gardens HAITIAN RECOVERY FUNDRAISER on Thursday, February 25^th. From 9:00pm-midnight, the kitchen will be closed; the bar open and the restaurant will be full of music, the sounds of friends enjoying $3 and $5 drink specials and a fabulous raffle! The performers; singers, songwriters, guitar instrumentalists and a three piece musical group have all appeared in several Queens and Manhattan venues and are favorites in the Kew Gardens area. The evening’s music will range from folk, to rock, to jazz and will include performances by Melissa Jillian Corona, Bobby Day, Peter Hack, Erin Lee Kelly, Stacee Mandeville and Howie Sydell. There will be a $20 donation at the door and 100% of the evening’s substantial proceeds will go directly to the Edeyo Foundation.

The Edeyo Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of children in Haiti. In 2007, Edeyo opened the doors of its newly-renovated school in Bel Air, one of the poorest shantytowns of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince to its first group of students. Within months, it was providing free education and a daily meal to 300 girls and boys. The 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12 destroyed Edeyo’s school. All of the teachers have been accounted for but efforts continue to find unaccounted for children and their families. Edeyo is now working to rebuild and find ways to support the children and their families and as they do so; to continue--and improve--their educational programs; and to introduce mental health programs to help these families cope with the trauma they have experienced.

On February 2 and 28, Edeyo will send crews to Bel Air (the first non-profit aid group to arrive there) to do immediate assessment, offer support, rebuild the school and deliver monetary donations and supplies. These two crews will include Kevin Jamison and Mandy Gor from Kew Gardens (we are very proud of them!). For more information, please visit www.edeyo.org

We will also be participating in the “Phones for Haiti” cell phone recycling initiative during the fundraiser. If you donate your old cell phones at the bar, they will be mailed to Recellular and they will contribute the total value of the phone to benefit the American Red Cross. Thanks in advance!

In the spirit of EDEYO we hope that you will respond to your desire to help and will join us at the Kew Gardens HAITI RECOVERY FUNDRAISER on February 25^th.

For more information please call mood at (718) 849-mood.

FYI---upcoming Kew Gardens events

(in addition to the daily events at the KG Community Center)

Friday, February 19, 7:30pm.  The Golden Age of TV, a lecture and slide show by Brian Rose for the Richmond Hill Historical Society, at The Leonard Center, 112th Street and 86th Avenue, (Program provided by the NY Council for the Humanities.) Free.

Tuesday, February 23, 6-8pm, Orientation "open house" for prospective 9th grade students and families interested in the new Queens Metropolitan High School, opening for 9th graders in September at 91-30 Metropolitan Avenue in Forest Hills. Although Kew Gardens students are not zoned for the school, they may apply by February 25th for standby status. For more info: (718) 935-4082 or http://schools.nyc.gov/ChoicesEnrollment/High/default.htm  

Tuesday, February 23, 7:30-9:30pm, Rez Reading Series  (Deborah Emin, Director), Monthly poetry (and prose) readings at Church of the Resurrection, 85-09 118th Strreet. Free.

Thursday, February 25, 9pm to midnight. Fundraiser for Haitian Relief at Mood Restaurant, 120-29 83rd Avenue, Kew Gardens. The kitchen will be closed at 9pm, at which time the musicians will begin their show. Drinks will be greatly reduced ($3-$5), and there will be bar snacks. All of the donations will be going to Haitian Relief.  Donation at the door, $20.00.

------------------------------

NOW AVAILABLE: FREE NYPD SECURITY SURVEY OF YOUR HOME.

For an appointment, call Detective Ronald Agunzo, 102nd Precinct, (718) 805-3217.

The Precinct Community Council meets the third Tuesday of the month for your participation.

----------------------------------

Mark your calendar now: KGCA's Annual Meeting will be on Thursday, May 6th.

Nice Shot of Forest Park in the Times

East Coast Confronts Storm’s Aftermath

Kirsten Luce for The New York Times

Forest Park in Queens. More Photos »

By ANAHAD O’CONNOR

Published: February 11, 2010

See the entire article HERE. 

Vantage Settles, and on Probation!

Cuomo’s tenant-friendly settlement with Vantage raises questions

February 11, 2010 06:30PMBy Adam Pincus

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's settlement agreement announced today not only forced landlord Vantage Properties to pay $1 million, but it put all residential landlords on notice that the state's top law enforcement officer wants property owners to be more tenant-friendly than the law demands. 

The deal struck with Vantage forces the controversial landlord to adhere to a three-year oversight program that will force the company to stop serving baseless legal notices and frivolous Housing Court actions, Cuomo said in the statement. 

Read the entire article HERE.