Soccer stadium coming to Jamaica

  

Queens Chronicle

Professional soccer is coming to Queens — and York College in Jamaica — next spring.

City officials on Tuesday joined the owner of Queensboro FC to announce plans to build a 7,500-seat stadium on a plot of land just south of York’s Health and Physical Education building.

The stadium will be bounded by 160th Street to the west, Tuskegee Airmen Way to the south and Guy R. Brewer Boulevard to the east.

Queensboro FC is an expansion team in the United Soccer League and will begin play in 2022. In addition to QBFC games and practices, the facility will host York’s commencement ceremonies, CUNY Athletic Conference tournament play, and other events both free and ticketed.

“York College is honored to be the host site for Queensboro FC’s home stadium,” York President Berenecea Johnson Eanes said in a statement issued by CUNY and the club. “We believe their contributions as a community-led sporting organization will greatly advance our facilities, our campus experience, and our neighborhoods. This project will showcase the importance of private and public sectors coming together, and working together, to celebrate diversity and bridge communities.”

Jonathan Krane, the club owner, said it was an exciting day for the team.

“The announcement of our home stadium site at York College represents a bold new chapter for professional sports in New York City,” Krane said. “More importantly, we are proud to deliver our QBFC fans a dedicated soccer specific venue, built by and for the Queens community, bringing us all together to celebrate the beautiful game.”

Governor Cuomo debuts vac center at York College, deflects blame for his policy decisions that caused 15,000 deaths

 This opening was done at 7:30 a.m. and was closed to the press. Pretty slick Andy.

Soccer at Willets Point?

Queens Eagle

A brand new professional soccer club will kick off at York College in 2021, the team owners announced Tuesday — thirteen months after the Eagle first reported on the team’s likely arrival.

Queensboro FC will compete in the United Soccer League Championship division, a tier below Major League Soccer in the hierarchy of U.S. soccer leagues. The ownership group includes businessman Jonathan Krane, the CEO of KraneShares, and legendary Spanish striker David Villa.

"I lived and played in New York for four years. I know what a special place Queens is," said Villa, who played for NYCFC after starring for Valencia, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid at club level and winning the 2010 World Cup with Spain. "I love the cultures, the food, the people and their passion for life and, of course, soccer.”

“It's a dream to help build this football club in Queens and I couldn't choose a better location," he added.

The club will play its home games at York College, with a few matches taking place at Citi Field, the team said in a statement.

Councilmember Francisco Moya called the new club “exciting” and welcomed its arrival. In September 2018, Moya met with Villa and Borough President Melinda Katz at Borough Hall to discuss the team, and a potential new venue for the club.

The trio discussed a proposal “to build a 10,000 to 25,000-seat soccer stadium in the Willets Point redevelopment area that would serve as home for the Queensboro Football Club, a proposed new team that would play in the United Soccer League, a second division professional league,” read a statement provided by Katz’s office.

Apparently, now there's a Queens soccer team. Which could mean the City proceeds with a soccer stadium at Willets Point. (Could this be the reason for rumors of Mayor de Blasio stopping at Willets Point on Nov. 18th?)

Hoping to finally figure it out

From DNA Info:

The city is coming up with an "action plan" for Jamaica in an attempt to revitalize the neighborhood, and is looking for community input ahead of the plan's announcement next month, city officials said.

Residents and business owners will get a chance to submit their ideas about how to improve their neighborhood during a city-organized workshop at York College on Nov. 22.

Officials said that participants, including property owners and community leaders, will discuss issues such as housing, commercial revitalization, workforce development, training and education for young people, transportation and use of public space.

Residents will be asked to mark locations where they believe the improvements are most needed on the maps of the area.

The recommendations from the workshop, organized by the Mayor’s office in partnership with Queens Borough President, Melinda Katz, will be presented to city and state agencies and taken into consideration in drafting the "action plan" for Jamaica.

The workshop, which is open to the public, comes on the heels of a meeting held at York College in June, during which Alicia Glen, New York City's deputy mayor for housing and economic development, said that the current administration is very committed to developing the area.

Students restoring Prospect Cemetery

From the Times Ledger:

...after renovations that included the removal of the vegetation and the restoration of the on-site vacant Chapel of the Sisters, a group of volunteers and workers from Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery are repairing dozens of the toppled headstones.

“This is very interesting,” said volunteer Luci Cooke, 19, a college student from Brown University. “It’s actually excellent because I recognized some of the names in the tombstones.”

Cooke was working alongside Vivian Normant and Ali Dore, two of the five students visiting from France and helping in the project through an exchange program sponsored by Preservation Volunteers.

They were restoring the tombstone of Angeline Cornwell, who died in 1908 at age 78.

“This is a very good experience,” said Dore. “The work is hard, but I like it.”

Normant was an English teacher in France, but now she is getting her B.A. in art history back home to teach art to high school students.

“I love the work that is being done,” she said. “We are touching a part of history.”

The group, which includes students from Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design, has restored about 50 damaged headstones. The project will also relandscape the grounds and institute an interpretative history of the place.

The colonial burial ground, next to the York College campus, dates back to 1660.

Tweeding 101: Funding trips to Atlantic City!

From the Times Ledger:

The first event for the week will be a Sept. 10 health fair at York College hosted by the nonprofit community activist group Greater Queens Chapter of the Links. Seniors who attend the free fair can take part in blood, HIV, prostate, cholesterol and other screenings, according to the Links.

That same day City Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica) and state Assemblywoman Vivian Cook (D-Jamaica) will be having their annual Banner Day and Gospel Fest at Baisley Pond Park.

“Every day should be senior day,” Cook said.

On Sept. 12, Smith and Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica) will be having two separate luncheons for senior citizens. On Sept. 14, Meeks will host an afternoon at the movies at the Jamaica Multiplex Theatre on Jamaica Avenue at noon.

The next day, Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) will be holding an informational fair and Assemblywoman Michelle Titus (D-Far Rockaway) will be holding a Zumba Fitness exercise class.

Her fellow Assembly member, William Scarborough (D-St. Albans), will be offering elders a treat with a trip to Atlantic City that day, too.

Bull runs amok in Jamaica

From Fox 5:

A bull or steer that apparently wasn't too keen to be led to slaughter broke free and caused quite a scene in Queens on Wednesday.

It was videotaped charging down Liberty Ave. in Jamaica, Queens. Pedestrians were walking down the sidewalks, unaware, as the animal raced by. A school bus was seen following the bovine down the street.

Later, the animal showed up on the campus of York College campus of the City University of New York, which is further down Liberty Ave. It tried to run into one of the buildings at the health and physical education complex the but ended up hitting construction scaffolding that was set up around the buildings.

A student emailed video of the scene to MyFoxNY.com

Two men, one still wearing a slaughterhouse cover-up, were finally able to wrestle the animal to the ground before any more damage was done.

No injuries were reported.

York College has major flooding issue

From the Queens Chronicle:

York College has been plagued with a flooding problem that administrators fear may shut down a large portion of the campus, if a permanent solution is not found.

The college has been working with the City University of New York and the city’s Department of Environmental Protection to come up with a plan — one that school officials proposed at a Community Board 12 meeting on Wednesday. Attendees, however, were skeptical about the plan, fearing that it would increase flooding problems at nearby residential homes and spur rodent infestation.

In 2004, during an unrelated project to install new boilers in the Academic Core Building, the college discovered that water was pouring into the sub-basement.

The 75,000-square foot building is the principal administrative and academic facility on the campus and it provides power for itself along with two adjacent buildings — the Health and Physical Education Building and the Performing Arts Center. The three buildings are also designated as Office of Emergency Management shelter locations for the South Jamaica community.

“The electrical conduits that bring energy from Con Edison to the building are under the slab and therefore the college runs the risk of losing its electrical supply at any moment,” Ronald Thomas, dean of administrative affairs at York explained. “If that happens, three of the buildings, which conduct 70 percent of all activity on campus would be lost, until we could make repairs.”

The other problem is that employees who are responsible for performing maintenance on the engineering plant in the sub-basement must walk through two or three feet of water to conduct their business in an environment that is electrically charged. Also, persistent water can lead to mold exposure.

Channels along with sumps and pumps currently carry the water to a combined sewer, for which York has a temporary DEP discharge permit. However, the agency has told the college that it will not renew the permit and has asked that officials find a permanent solution, compelling York “to move forward rather aggressively,” Thomas said.

York College has a deep basement — 30 feet below the street level, which is typical of large structures. The average residential basement is eight to 10 feet below ground. Over a million gallons of water must be pumped out of York’s sub-basement daily in order to keep it dry and support the regular operation of the campus.