The Woodhaven Blog

The Ozone Park Residents Block Association’s Call to Action summit on Friday pulled in a crowd full of elected officials, community activists and community board members. The meeting resulted in the formation of the 5 Boro Coalition with plans to come together to be proactive and find solutions to the ongoing homelessness crisis. Four of the five boroughs were represented, with Staten Island being the exception.

Here are some photos of some of the speakers from the summit:

5 Boro Coalition’s next meeting will be held on Feb. 23 with Brooklyn set as the next borough to host.

Stay tuned for the full article on what happened during the summit later this week on queensledger.com.

Are you planning on attending the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association’s holiday party on Saturday? If you can’t make it, no problem! You can still attend the Holiday Party With Assemblyman Mike Miller and State Senator Joe Addabbo.

Miller and Addabbo will hold their annual Holiday Party at Woodhaven Manor (96-01 Jamaica Avenue), from 6 to 8 p.m. on Monday, December 17th.

Stop by and chat with the elected officials and community members.

The most shocking thing about the video is how casual the man is while committing a crime in broad daylight.

He is unhurried and unafraid, not at all concerned that he is quite visible as he walks onto someone else’s property and steals their belongings.

One of the reasons he seems so calm is that he’s probably done this dozens of times before. In this case we know for a fact that he’s done this before, as the same exact man has been caught on video stealing packages from the same exact house in Woodhaven twice in four days.

Some of these culprits follow delivery trucks around, waiting for them to leave packages for people who aren’t home. Others are simply opportunists, looking for unattended packages sitting on people’s porches.

He doesn’t care what’s inside the package, he’s a gambler. He might get nothing or he might strike gold, and the severity of the crime and the resulting punishment if he gets caught is based on the value of the items that he steals.

But this thief was caught pretty clearly on video, and we’re hoping that someone out there will recognize this brazen thief who so calmly and casually robbed a local family of their property twice this past week.

If they do, we hope they will call the 102nd Precinct at (718) 805-3207 and pass along enough information that will result in his apprehension and conviction.

For the full story, please visit Ed Wendell’s story on the Leader-Observer website.

The Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association is throwing their annual holiday party this Saturday!

The event will feature music, food and drinks. It will be held at the Emanuel United Church of Christ at 91st Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard.

And although the community will be celebrating the holidays, you can still do some good by supporting a good cause.

The American Legion Post 118 is collecting for the Veterans and this year they are accepting monetary donations (cash or check) to purchase gifts and supplies for the veterans. You can give your donation to Janet Chan-Smith either at the WRBA Holiday Party or drop it off in an envelope (Attention: American Legion Ladies Auxiliary) through the mail slot at the WRBA Office (84-20 Jamaica Avenue).

Another worthy cause is the Winter Clothing for Young Children drive hosted by former WRBA Woman of the Year JoAnn Bartos. The drive, which is hosted on behalf of Catholic Charities, will be collecting gloves, hats and scarves. You can drop off the donations at the WRBA Holiday party or at the Woodhaven Senior Center (at Woodhaven American Legion Post 118 – 89-02 91st Street) on weekdays from 9 am to 4 pm.

Don’t forget the holiday party will be held on Saturday, December 15 at noon.

One year after Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards were transformed to install Select Bus Service (SBS), the Department of Transportation (DOT) is celebrating its success.

According to a DOT progress report, the Q52/Q53 SBS has seen a 5 to 8 percent increase in ridership. Travel times have also improved by 10 percent.

Eighty-seven percent of riders say they prefer SBS, according to DOT, which brought off-board fare payment, median stations and all-door boarding to the corridor’s 30,000 daily bus riders.

“This project was a massive group effort by staff at DOT,” said agency Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, “as the project combined innovative planning and engineering with extensive repaving, street marking, expanded sidewalk and median work, which have together made buses faster and more reliable.

“While we were also relieved to see that overall traffic industries have declined,” she added, “two recent pedestrian fatalities along Woodhaven prove just how much more Vision Zero work we have to do to make this crash-prone street safer.”

Other design changes on the thoroughfare included new dedicated bus lanes, wider medians with bus shelters and longer turn bays.

According to DOT, the changes led to a 6 percent decline in crashes resulting in injuries along the corridor. Between 2012 and 2016, there were 129 people killed or seriously injured, among the highest rates in the city.

After two traffic fatalities in August and September, DOT made specific changes at the intersection of Woodhaven Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue, including adding a Leading Pedestrian Interval (LPI), improved lighting and installing flexi-bollards.

Read more on the “success” on Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards on the Leader-Observer. The website also features Ed Wendall’s column that puts the BS in the SBS report.

The Indo-Caribbean Alliance is hosting a Women’s Empowerment event to show off your creative side.

The organization is inviting all members of the community to join them on Saturday, December 1 from 2 to 5 p.m. to help paint a canvas mural dedicated to promoting women’s empowerment.

The design for this mural is presented by The Coolitude Collective and funded by Citizens Committee for New York City.

The event will be held indoors at their office and painting supplies and refreshments will be provided to volunteers.

The office is located at 131-12 Liberty Avenue in Richmond Hill.

Does the child in your life love pretending to be the next big pop star?
If so, have them participate in the library’s Lip Sync Battle!

For those aged between 6 and 12, there will be three practices before the final lip sync battle. See if you have what it takes to become the lip syncing champion!

The first practice will take place on Monday, Dec. 3 from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Woodhaven Library (85-41 Forest Parkway). The next scheduled practices will be on Monday, Dec. 10 and Monday, Dec. 17 at the same time.