🌱 Northern Playground Synthetic Turf Field + LI Expressway

Morning, neighbors! It's me again, Miranda Fraraccio, your host of the Queens Daily.

First, today's weather:

Partly sunny; breezy, cooler. High: 46 Low: 34.

Here are the top stories in Queens today:

1. Some unsightly concrete medians on Hillside Avenue in Queens Village will be transformed into green drainage spaces. The overhaul is estimated to cost $2.5 million, with workers expected to break ground in late 2022. The project, anticipated to take 12 months, involves converting seven large concrete medians into drainage spaces designed to manage storm water, and aims to combat local flooding and beautify the landscape. (Flushing Post)
2. A Connecticut man was indicted on vehicular manslaughter charges in the death of a dirt bike rider on the Long Island Expressway. Jorge Serrano, 30, fatally struck a 19-year-old dirt bike rider while driving drunk westbound on the Long Island Expressway during the early hours of Sept. 11, 2021. He fled the scene before being picked up by police in Maspeth—about two miles from the crash site and now faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted, due to him driving without a valid license at the time of the crash. (Sunnyside Post)
3. Virginia State Police have identified one of the two people killed in a wrong-way crash on I-95 in Greensville County as 26-year-old Meloney Vannessa McCormmock from Queens. She was the passenger in the 2018 BMW that was being chased by police and hit a Lincoln head-on. Neither McCormmock nor the driver of the BMW, Jermaine Ricardo Bernard, 30, of Richmond, VA, were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the crash, and both were thrown from the vehicle. (8News)
4. Parks officials joined local leaders on Tuesday to cut the ribbon on a new synthetic turf field in a Jackson Heights playground. Northern Playground, located on Northern Boulevard between 92nd and 93rd Streets, has undergone a $1.75 million overhaul that includes the reconstruction of the existing synthetic turf field and drainage system. The revamp also includes new drinking fountains, benches, and a new rubberized surface basketball court area with new backboards. (Flushing Post)
5. A Queens woman charged with driving through a Manhattan Black Lives Matter protest is refusing to plead guilty in the case. Kathleen Casillo, 52, had been Christmas shopping on Dec. 11 last year when she was caught on video driving her black BMW sedan through the protest against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detentions in Midtown. She is now risking a year in jail to prove she’d been under attack by an “angry mob" and is due back in court on Jan. 28. (New York Post)

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Today in Queens:

• Marion’s Art History Class - Astoria Branch Library (10:00 AM)
• New Mamas Virtual Support Group - Astoria Branch Library (12:30 PM)
• Creative Aging: Drawing with an Open Mind - Astoria Branch Library (2:00 PM)
• CreArt and Culture Lab LIC Presents "Classic Music Moving Forward" - Culture Lab LIC at The Plaxall Gallery (7:30 PM)

Queens Patch Notebook

• Queens Museum: "This Saturday, December 4th, join our “Toy Portrait” activity from 1pm-2pm,to share the story behind your favorite toy during a virtual gathering. Every week, our Education team leads a lineup of drawing, bookmaking, sculpting, collage making, printmaking, craft, and storytelling workshops both on-site and online." (Facebook)
• Queens Borough President Donovan Richards: "The opening of the UFT - United Federation of Teachers, Teacher Center at PS/IS 295 grants our teachers the opportunity to develop their skills with the necessary resources they need so our students can get the best possible education. This is a proud moment and we thank everyone involved in making this possible!" (Facebook)
• Queens Botanical Garden: "Interning with the Garden through @citycleanupcorps has given Valery the opportunity to play an important role in her hometown, the World's Borough--QUEENS! 🌎 Her dedicated work goes back into the Garden, a learning and living environment, something that aligns with her personal values. Valery is grateful to continually find beauty and meaning in the natural space that she is helping to steward. “My supervisor told me that even weeds have their own benefits. I took that in--that everything has a job, no matter how small.” We are SO THANKFUL for YOU, VALERY. Since August, the Garden has been a partner of City Cleanup Corps @citycleanupcorps, the City’s effort to employ New Yorkers to empower city recovery, create jobs, and beautify neighborhoods across the five boroughs." (Facebook)
• Queens, New York: "Check out great Korean folk art in Flushing Dec. 1-Dec. 20. Info: https://bit.ly/3CTWi1l" (Facebook)
• Queens Chamber of Commerce: "Don't skip straight to the holiday season just yet. Wendt Partners, a leader in B2B growth, is hosting an information session about careers in #marketing. Learn about #businessstrategy, #brandstrategy, #CRM, #sales, and marketing and how you can get a leg-up over the competition with free HubSpot Academy training." (Facebook)

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Thanks for following along and staying informed! I'll be in your inbox tomorrow morning with your next update. If you're feeling these newsletters, consider inviting some of your friends and neighbors to follow along. You can send them this link to subscribe.

— Miranda Fraraccio

About me: Miranda Fraraccio is a born and raised Rhode Islander. She works as a freelance copywriter for content creation agency Lightning Media Partners and as an assistant producer for a live-lit storytelling show in Chicago. She holds a degree in Writing & Rhetoric and Communication Studies from The University of Rhode Island. In her free time, you can find her traveling, hiking, or photographing her neighborhood as a street photographer.