Results tagged “astoria”

A man between 30 and 40-years-old allegedly tried to abduct an 8-year-old boy in Astoria Wednesday morning and the police are on the search for him. Police said the man, who was wearing a beige baseball cap, gray hoodie, and a long gray overcoat, grabbed the boy by the wrist and pulled him along saying "Come go with me." The boy broke away from the man and ran crying for help; his mother tried to confront him but he got away. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or online.

While some Brooklynites are lobbying to get trees removed from their neighborhood, Canadian street artist Poster Child is planting them around the city. There's already a dwarf pine in a long-retired newspaper dispenser on Bedford Avenue, and now he's gone and planted another in a telephone booth in Astoria. Personally, we'd like to see an entire greenhouse in one of the four remaining enclosed booths (as long as no one's using them anymore, that is). Challenge.

The latest Improv Everywhere mission brought the troupe to the Best Yet grocery store in Astoria, Queens to end fruit segregation... in musical form!

Astoria property owner Santino DiFiore has a permit to build a six-story "DiFiore Tower" next to his other four-story building, where hairdresser JoAnn McGurty Sullivan, 42, has been living in a rent-controlled apartment off-and-on since childhood. The other tenants on her side the building have all vacated, but she's proving to be the fly in DiFiore's ointment, because doesn't want the landlord to brick in nine out of her ten windows to accommodate the new building. Apparently one window just isn't good enough for Sullivan, who's managed to get the Department of Buildings to issue a stop-work order. She tells the Post, "[DiFiore] took my life, shook it up and threw it on the floor—all for greed."

Last year, a drunk driver fatally struck a livery cab in Astoria, killing the cab driver Bessy Velasquez and passenger Panayiota Demetriou. While driver Daryush Omar pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter (he'll be sentenced this month), Demetriou's family will sue the Queens bar that served Omar. According to the Post, "the suit would be filed under the rarely used Dram Shop Act, which holds establishments civilly liable for serving the visibly drunk." At his court hearing, Omar admitted to drinking at the Cavo Lounge even after he was intoxicated—he was found with a 0.18 blood alcohol level, over twice the legal limit. Demetriou was 30 and a doctoral student in psychology at Pace; her family said, "We are looking for justice. We want to protect other families so they won't go through this."

The 23-year-old FIT student found dead in her family's Queens home on Sunday night was asphyxiated and the police are investigating her death as a murder. The Post suggests that a recent Facebook message might suggest "a potential stalker": Carmen Saldana had written, "Ain't that a shame. The guy that does like me I don't like but won't leave me alone and the guy that I do like has no clue I like him lol. I think I'll survive lol."

Last night, the body of a 23-year-old woman was found in her family's Queens home on 30th Avenue. WABC 7 reports, "Authorities say the lock on the front door was broken, and that it appears someone broke in" and "there were brusies all over the body" of Carmen Saldana, a student at FIT. Saldana's mother apparently made the discovery after coming home from cleaning homes in the Hamptons. A cousin told WCBS 2, "Her mother came in and saw the lights on in her room. She called her. She went into her room and touched her feet and they were cold." The cousin also suggested that she was sexually assaulted. And according to the Daily News, "Saldana grew up in the quiet neighborhood and recently moved back in with her mother after breaking up with her boyfriend."

When Tony Bennett's non-profit helped found your school, you can bet the famous crooner will show up at graduation. Bennett sang at the commencement of the Frank Sinatra High School for the Arts in Astoria, Queens—his hometown (he grew up on 32nd Street by Ditmars)—and Bruce Willis was the commencement speaker, telling students, "I don't think you should listen to anybody else. Just be brave and go out there and do whatever you want." The ceremony was held at the high school's sleek new building, which Bennett visited with the NY Times recently. Bennett brought his sound man to make sure the acoustics of the school's concert hall were perfect and said of his Manhattan high school, the High School of Industrial Arts, "We went to lunch and the ceiling fell down on the desks. We would have been smashed — that’s how terrible the building was." The Times has a charming video of Bennett walking around Astoria, "I come back here and I like this better than any place I’ve ever lived."

With college graduation season in full swing, New York is about to be invaded with this year's crop of postgrads following the legends they've heard of this safe version of New York City that now apparently even promises affordable apartments in neighborhoods they've seen in movies since they were kids. The Times talks to recent transplants and realtors about just how affordable Manhattan apartments have gotten recently. One apartment hunter tells them, “I can type in my search criteria now and see 50 listings in Manhattan...they are definitely there and two years ago, they weren’t.” Others say that they're just satisfied with how spacious apartments are in neighborhoods they find pleasantly surprising such as Gowanus and Harlem. A recent grad described how many college friends she has in Astoria saying, “I guess it’s the same idea as immigrants—they find ways to stay near one another." One realtor tells the paper that things certainly have changed since the 32,000 graduates who arrived in 2007 when "Wall Street gave them $60,000 a year and $10,000 in moving fees.”

The "not my baby back" cabbie who made headlines last year for his questionable Good Samartian act has now officially been charged with first-degree attempted rape. Klever Saliema is accused of forcing himself on a female passenger who had passed out during her cab ride home from Astoria to Woodside in Queens.

                     

As mentioned, yesterday we found ourselves on Sesame Street, where even the sunny days couldn't sweep the rain clouds away—but Elmo & Co. sure made it all seem a little bit brighter. Speaking of the lil red guy, he had a message for you all:

Around 11 a.m. yesterday, a fire broke out at 37-01 31st Street in Astoria and turned into a four-alarm blaze. According to NY1, "Fire officials say combustible materials in the building, such as paints and wood, created an explosion and the second floor collapsed."

In what has to be a new contender for the most contemporary crime story, a young man was arrested for making graffiti and three other charges after another rider on the N train in Astoria snapped shots of him on her cellphone scratching a window on the train and sending them into Crime Stoppers via text. The vandalism task force was able to connect the cellphone pics to 18-year-old Andrew Morello, who had previously been arrested this summer for tagging "Shelly" on a commercial vehicle in Queens. The NYPD delegated a Crime Stoppers line over the summer specifically for text messages and had previously arrested a driver whose license plate was captured after he hit a cyclist and left the scene of the accident.

While friends and family mourn the deaths of a livery cab driver and passenger who were killed by a suspected drunk driver, they are also angry that the suspect was allowed to be driving at all. Daryush Omar, who is charged with drunken driving, criminally-negligent homicide, and driving with a suspended license, faces murder charges in a 2006 incident--and is apparently in the country illegally.

The driver suspected of DWI when he crashed his Range Rover into a livery cab, killing the driver and passenger, actually faces murder charges from a 2006 incident.

Around 3 a.m. this morning, a 23-year-old driver in a Range Rover crashed into a livery cab in Astoria, Queens. WABC 7 reports, "Police say...the Ranger Rover t-boned the livery cab that was traveling on 34th street" and "the impact was so strong, the livery cab was sent 80 feet down the avenue." Two female passenger who were riding in the cab were killed. The SUV driver. who had been driving west on 31st Avenue, was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

About 60 tenants at 8-29 Astoria Boulevard in Queens were evacuated after the city found their building full of safety violations. A tenant had initially complained about bedbugs, but then the Department of Buildings found (report) inadequate sprinkler system, illegal electrical and gas work, illegal plumbing, no fire escapes, and no emergency exits (gas and water were shut off) . WABC 7 spoke to residents who said the landlord for the building--which was zoned only for commercial use--charged $900-1300/month and that they had paid their rents in cash on October 1. The Red Cross is helping residents, but one said to WCBS 2, "I'm nervous because what I can do with my baby?"

Neighbors weighed in about Astoria club Tahona, which had a violent early Sunday morning when a fight broke out during last call. Five people were stabbed: five teen males argued with other club patrons--though they walked away, the Post reports a Dodge Caravan came by, "several young men with knives jumped out," stabbing them, near Steinway Street and 35th Avenue. A witness told the Daily News, "Fifty kids brawling over there. Stomping at each other, girls hitting guys - it was crazy." Another told the Post, "I usually put my police scanner on at 4 a.m. to catch the fights. It's like a game every week." Apparently neighbors have been complaining about fighting, "clubgoers throwing glass bottles and blasting loud music in their cars."

A fight that broke out at last call of the night club Tahona in Astoria left as many as seven men stabbed. Two of those are still in critical condition at Elmhurst Hospital and police are still determining the total number stabbed as somewhere between five and seven. The fight broke out at 4 a.m. last night in the Queens club that opened just this year on Steinway Street. The AP describes it as "a flashy club with state-of-the-art sound, video and lighting, featuring live bands and a big dance floor" and the club's website says that it "the only place where the meaning of real 'fiesta' comes to life."

Damn teenagers. For years now, Astoria residents have been living in fear of rock-throwing punks who climb onto Amtrak’s railbed along the Hell Gate trestle and toss projectiles at their houses, cars and yards. Locals like Loretta Csikortos place the blame squarely at the foot of Amtrak, who she thinks should pay for repairs to her son’s Ford Mustang, which has a shattered windshield and dented trunk. Residents are calling on Amtrak to beef up security to stop the miscreants from sneaking onto the tracks, but Csikortos isn't holding her breath: “They’ll do something when somebody gets killed,” she tells the Queens Courier. Yet maybe help is on the way? Council Member Peter F. Vallone Jr has written another letter imploring Amtrak to install security cameras.

Astoria's Queensview Co-op is up against some wildlife advocates after hiring a nuisance wildlife control operator (NWCO) to trap and kill squirrels. The Empty Cages Collective is volunteer-run grassroots animal advocacy organization, and they want to put an end to what they deem an "ineffective attempt to manage the squirrel population."

Whether you spell it Issan or E-san (as the folks at Poodam’s Thai Cuisine do), the cuisine from this Northeast region of Thailand by Cambodia and Laos is some of New York City’s most delicious and spiciest.