More St. Sav's Demo Pics

St. Saviour's Meets the Proverbial Wrecking Ball

Well, it took the demolition of a historic church to get us off of our rumps and start posting to this rarely used blog, but here's the story from our parent news organization at www.queensledger.com:

LEDGER WEB EXCLUSIVE: St. Saviour's Under Demolition

FEBRUARY 27, 2008 - 10 A.M.
The fate of St. Savior’s Church building is being sealed today. According to sources, the mayor’s office signed off on final demolition permits late Tuesday and work began early Wednesday morning.
At approximately 8 a.m., workers were mulling around the site preparing to dismantle the building. At 8:45 the first of the workers began removing glass windows from the exterior of the church and carrying them inside. Although nobody at the site would speak to us, it is expected that the project will take a few days to complete.
Originally housing was proposed for the site when it was purchased a couple of years ago by a private developer, but nixed when they pulled an application to have the site rezoned from its current manufacturing uses. The property could potentially be used for a storage facility, a manufacturing facility, or some other kind of industrial use.
The Parks Department briefly eyed the site, but concluded that it would not be suitable for open space. There was also a push to landmark the church, which dates back to 1847, but the Landmarks Preservation Commission concluded that a fire had done irreparable damage.

Who knows, maybe this will spur us back into blogging? Check back here for more photos as they become available.

It Takes A (Middle) Village To Throw This Party!

Last year, roughly 5,000 Middle Village residents attended the First Annual Community Day, sponsored by the Middle Village Chamber of Commerce. Now the MVCC, along with the Dry Harbor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, are looking to trump that number at the Second Annual Community Day, scheduled for Sunday, September 9th at Juniper Valley Park.
Visitors of all ages can expect to be entertained with live music, clowns, local dance troupes and more. In addition, Western Beef and FUZE Healthy Infusions will provide food and beverages, while musical beats are to be provided by DJs WL2P.
This special day is intended to strengthen ties between Queens business owners and their surrounding community. Anyone interested in signing up to support the event, which already has the backing of local entrepreneurs Tiramisu Café, Acosta Cleaners, Middle Village Realty Corp. and Hess-Miller Funeral Home, as well as Astoria Federal Savings Bank, C-Town, and many, many others should call MVCC at (718) 894-5954 right away.
The Second Annual Community Day will run from 12 P.M. until 5 P.M.

Dogs Find "Underdog" Fakes

The war against movie piracy is now a little bit cuter, as the District Attorney’s office has recruited international DVD sniffing dogs to help them find illegal copies of counterfeit. Lucky and Flo, two black Labrador Retrievers rescued from shelters, were instrumental in three counterfeit DVD busts in Jamaica, Queens, yesterday. The dogs quickly sniffed out boxes containing DVD’s in a jam-packed basement, and their detective work lead to several arrests and the seizure of thousands of bootleg DVD’s. The dogs, each of which currently has a $30,000 bounty on their heads in the Philippines, are on a world tour right now. The next stop on their campaign to fight movie piracy will be Canada.
“My wife and I have a yellow lab at home,” said District Attorney Brown. “We’ve asked if she can help.”

Queens Pol Indicted

The personal and political life of Councilman Dennis Gallagher could get a lot worse before it starts getting better.

A gaggle of television and camera folk mobbed the councilman and his wife as he left Queens County Courthouse on Friday morning, some carelessly rushing into Queens Boulevard to get a shot of the embattled pol, who quickly posted $200,000 bail. (Queens District Attorney Richard Brown told reporters that Gallagher and his lawyers were informed of the bail amount last night, but noted that the practice was not uncommon.)

Gallagher was served with an eight-count indictment, including a first-degree rape charge that carries a maximum 25-year sentence if he is convicted.

On Thursday, he was indicted by a grand jury on charges he raped and physically abused a woman whom he met at a bar on July 9, and later took back to his office in Middle Village. Gallagher surrendered to the 112th Police Precinct in Forest Hills Friday morning.

The councilman, who won his seat in 2001, admitted to having sex with the accuser, but claimed it had been consensual.

The woman accusing Gallagher of rape, who appeared before the grand jury herself last week, called his claims of innocence "all BS" and denied the sex was consensual.

Meanwhile, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn issued a statement stating the matter would be referred to the council's Ethics Committee, which could ultimately choose to boot Gallagher from his seat.

DA Brown held a press conference after the arraignment. He denied reports in The New York Post that other women with similar sexual harassment allegations against Gallagher testified before a grand jury. He did, however, stop short of saying the investigation was closed.

Gallagher is due back in court on September 28.

Counterfeit Colgate for Your Fake Teeth

First there was the Watergate Scandal, now get ready for the Colgate Scandal. Councilman Leroy Comrie has warned that tubes of counterfeit toothpaste may be circulating in Southeast Queens. The toothpaste, which looks like Colgate, is made in Boksburg, South Africa and may contain anti-freeze instead of fluoride. There are reports from all over the nation about counterfeit toothpaste, and Colgate-Palmolive has issued a warning that fake tubes have been found in New York dollar stores.
Councilman Comrie said that counterfeit toothpaste may have even been given out at a supermarket in St. Alban's. If you think you have a tube of Colgate that was manufactured in South Africa, please contact Councilman Comrie's office at (718) 776 3700.

All Is World's Fair At Atlas Park!

For two consecutive weekends, the World’s Fair, that now-famous celebration of culture and technology that last took Queens by storm in 1964, is making a comeback.

Catch all the diverse fun at The Shops At Atlas Park in Glendale. There will be food and entertainment representing different peoples from around the globe provided by Shiro’s of Japan, The Amish Market, Rosetta Wines and others. Atlas Park has also promised a $1,000 giveaway each day to the top performance group as voted by mall visitors.

In keeping with the mind-expanding tradition of the World’s Fair, there will also be numerous booths set up by not-for-profit organizations selling cultural artifacts and handing out information. So far, Atlas Park officials have confirmed 25 groups representing 20 different cultures have been booked.

See you there! But if you can't make it this first weekend, you can still expect a full report in next week’s issue of The Glendale Register, published by Ledger/Star.

(Original image of photo can be found here.)