By
CORY McCRUDEN
A sign found by a Queens cop amid the rubble read "Please
Remember Us – Tower One, 101st Floor."
The message, hastily scribbled on the back of a desk calendar revealed
the final thoughts of those trapped inside the Twin Towers on the morning of Sept. 11,
moments before the buildings crumbled into dust and twisted steel.
More than 3,000 people were murdered on Sept. 11, in the worst act of
terrorism to occur on U.S. soil in this nation’s history. More than 350 firefighters,
23 police officers, Port Authority Police officers and Emergency Medical personnel
perished in the towers while trying to help victims escape.
Remember them? How can we forget?
The PRESS examined
parking problems in
Jamaica in January.
PRESS Photo by Ira Cohen
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January
Major crime in Queens plummeted nine percent with the steepest drops in
murder, auto theft, burglary and robbery... Federal funds fell short for the construction
of a noise barrier along the Grand Central Parkway and the Whitestone Expressway...Home
Depot planned to open in the heart of Southeast Queens by July 2001...Queensborough Public
Library offers a series of seminars, exhibitions and shows to entertain and educate Queens
residents.…
African-Americans are to be honored by the Hall of Fame in St. Albans
as plans are unveiled for a museum dedicated to the makers of Black history...nurses at
Mary Immaculate Hospital threaten to go on strike citing "dangerous" working
conditions.…
The PRESS examined the parking spot shortages that were
driving would be shoppers out of Jamaica and plans to build an air-cargo warehouse inside
Idlewild Park in Rosedale were approved by the City Planning Commission….
Statistics showed that residents of Jamaica East and West have the
highest HIV death rates in the borough and Queens District Attorney Richard Brown told the
families of the victims who were murdered in Wendy’s basement that one suspect would
spend his life in prison while the other would face the death penalty.
A PRESS feature focused on the open doors of opportunity at a Jamaica career center.
PRESS Photo by Ira Cohen
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February
Mary Immaculate Hospital and nurses negotiated a strike agreement...A PRESS
feature highlighted the services available at the One Stop career center on Jamaica Avenue
offering the general public job training, GED/ ESL instruction and child care
assistance...Federal aviation administration announced plans to give Queens a voice in
upcoming changes to lower jet noise, cut down on congestion and redesign flight paths
while plans to build an air cargo warehouse near JFK Airport were reported to bring an
estimated 1,000 new jobs to Southeast Queens.…
Southeast Queens residents gathered at York College to discuss
reparations for African American slavery... a cultural organization sought funds to
transform a dilapidated church in Jamaica into a multi-purpose arts and education
community center....
One of the Wendy’s gunmen was sentenced to five life sentences
after confessing to the murder of three Wendy’s employees....
Two dozen of the 35 City Council representatives being forced out of
office with the expiration of their term limits at the end of the year attempted to
overturn the term limits referendum.
Parents camped out on the street to get a chance to enroll their kids at P.S. 251 in
March.
PRESS Photo by Ira Cohen
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March
Funding was authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration and the
Port Authority for soundproofing Queens schools against jet noise.… Clarence Irving,
York College’s music history archivist, was honored for his contributions to Black
History... the Landmarks Preservation Commission preserved another piece of Queens history
by landmarking the Suffolk Title and Guarantee Building on 161 Street.…
New York City Department of Design and Construction conducted water
main reconstruction in Southeast Queens... officials throughout the city believed that
Census Bureau population figures will undercount millions of minorities living in Queens
and the rest of the Big Apple… in a close vote, the City Council Committee on
Governmental Operations turned down the controversial bill to overturn term limits for
councilmembers.…
Parents camped outside P.S. 251 hoping to enroll their children in
classes.…
Borough President Claire Shulman in her office in April, the same month she called for
the resignation of Queens Board of Ed. Rep. Terri Thomson.
PRESS Photo by Ira Cohen
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April
Construction in the AirTrain project, which will take passengers to and
around JFK Airport from the Jamaica Terminal, ran right on track as cars arrived at the
airport awaiting the railways to be completed… Councilman Walter McCaffrey and Mayor
Rudolph Guiliani proposed amendments that would close down 29 of the 41 Queens’ adult
entertainment businesses under a stricter zoning law…bad weather stalled a $1 million
project to refurbish part of St. Albans Memorial Park for three months…three out of
four Southeast Queens schools fell below par according to a new grading system for
schools….
Budget battles between the Governor and the State Assembly over how to
clean up toxic waste sites were at a stalemate while funds used to clean the sites dried
up… Edison Charter School’s President Rev. Floyd Flake showed disappointment at
the defeat of its bid to take over the city’s worst failing schools, but was
encouraged by parent voter turnout… AirTrain cars are said to be incompatible with
other transit tracks, according to Port Authority…
Fire Department statistics showed that some neighborhoods in Southeast
Queens experienced more fires than elsewhere in the borough… Borough President Claire
Shulman called on Queens Board of Education Member Terri Thompson to resign her position
because of her vote in the election for a new Board of Ed…. the ecosystem in Jamaica
Bay, the nation’s largest urban wildlife preserve, is being threatened by the
deterioration of its marshlands say local environmentalists… school’s Chancellor
Harold Levy proposed a new safety initiative for New York City schools, in response to a
recent school shootings around the country….
This architectural model illustrates what a new original justice high school, unveiled
in May in South Jamaica will look like when constructed.
PRESS Photo by Ira Cohen
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May
Volunteers built homes in Jamaica with the non-profit group Habitat for
Humanity... Green Bus Lines service came under fire at a Borough Hall community meeting
for not having enough buses running on local lines... Queens Grand Jury gave a sealed
indictment that charged John Taylor with the murder of Wendy’s employee Anita
Smith.…
Hundreds of young people in Southeast Queens reached out for assistance
from government sponsored summer job programs...construction was slated to begin on a new
school on Jamaica Avenue despite objection from the local community board...construction
on a multi-story shopping mall and cineplex at 159th Street and Jamaica Avenue hoped to
attract businesses and shoppers from out-of-town and Southeast Queens alike...
Ground was broken for a new high school in South Jamaica that will make
law enforcement a key component of its curriculum... a 15-year-old Jamaica High School
student was arrested May 15 after admitting to sending a bomb threat to the school via
email... Jamaica Hospital introduced its new $14 million Labor Delivery and Recovery Suite
(LDR) facility....
Surveillance cameras at the South Jamaica Houses cut crime nearly 60 percent, police
said in June.
PRESS Photo by Ira Cohen
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June
A small protest was held in Jamaica by construction workers and a
candidate for city council against the builders of the AirTrain project for not hiring
more minority contractors....
A kitchen program in Southeast Queens provided low-income residents
with technical support to start up or build an existing business in food service....
A surveillance system at the South Jamaica Houses has accompanied a
near 60 percent drop in crime, but enraged residents felt their privacy has been
invaded.…
The Jamaica NAACP sued the city over the loss of its contract to run a
day care center in St. Albans... engineers updated the construction status of the AirTrain
project at a Queens Borough Board meeting saying that everything was running as
scheduled.…
In July, Rapper LL Cool J was on hand to help break ground for a new residence for
seniors in Jamaica.
PRESS Photo by Ira Cohen
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July
Residents in Queens Community Board 12 reported more false alarms to
the New York City Fire Department than any other community board in the city... newly
elected Greater Jamaica Development Corporation (GJDC) Chairman Tazewell Smith declared
his confidence that the Jamaica Center will help to jump start economic growth at the
group’s 34th annual meeting.…
Southeast Queens was up to receive sewer and buildings improvements
when the 2002 budget has gone into effect... concern over Queens’ parks grew as
shortfalls in funding have resulted in maintenance cuts, bathroom deterioration, fountain
desecration etc....
A ground breaking ceremony for a new senior residence in Southeast
Queens attracted a host of local leaders and notables... the number 7 train slid down to
third on the list of subways rated for cleanliness, getting a seat and overall service...
Republican mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg made a campaign stop in
Jamaica to learn more about issues concerning residents in the area and meet with
community leaders...phone workers in Jamaica protested outside a Verizon repair facility
in an attempt to keep their jobs in Southeast Queens.…
Reverend Charles Norris, director of the Southeast Queens Clergy for
political awareness has played an important role in making politicians and candidates
available to local residents….
An audit by the City Comptroller raised questions about safety at this Southeast Queens
pool in August.
PRESS Photo by Ira Cohen
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August
A specialized New York City task force issued summonses to local
storeowners for illegal signs and other building violations in response to complaints
allegedly received by members of the Jamaica Business Improvement District... Queens was
designated the most ethnically diverse county in the country according to a recent
demographic study... a federal judge ruled that it is unconstitutional to prevent real
estate agents from calling on home owners indiscriminately…
The West Nile Virus was found to be alive and well in Queens coming in
the form of a sick sparrow and mosquitoes bred by a pool of water... Southeast Queens
heated up when the Mayor’s office of Emergency Management found to have received over
200 calls within a span of three days reporting people suffering from the 100-plus degree
heat.…
Temperatures hit record highs and brought residents out to cool waters
but an audit done by City Comptroller Alan Hevesi raised concern over the safety of
Liberty pool in Jamaica... hundreds of workers from a Southeast Queens nursing home went
on a day-long strike to protest what they called a series of failed contract negotiations
over wages, workers benefits and pension plans....
Sept. 11 - a day we will never forget.
PRESS Photo by Nick Abadjian
|
September
According to New York City Police Department statistics, Queens’
high school students faced more school violence than they did the last year or the year
before.… Democratic candidates for mayor, borough president, and city council pulled
out all the stops to catch the eyes of Queens voters before primary day ….
Sept. 11 — as the planes crashed into the mighty towers, we wept
and prayed for the innocent victims, trapped in the fear and flames….
And then the world, as we knew it, changed forever…before our
eyes, the towers crumbled – killing our mothers and fathers, husbands and wives,
brothers and sisters…we would never be the same….
The terrorist attack shut down Queens’ highways, airports, subways
and buses…we walked home – across bridges and along avenues, shocked but not
shattered…the Primary election was cancelled…some victims’ families would
later question why the votes of those lost could not be counted in a final tally weeks
later… we lit candles, prayed for the victims – and ourselves…we dipped
into our pockets to buy supplies for rescue crews at Ground Zero, donated blood, our time
and energy to help stabilize the city, as the list of the "missing" grew by the
hour…Shea Stadium was turned into an outdoor warehouse of donated clothing and
equipment for rescue crews….... Jamaica became ground zero in assisting those who
lost their jobs as a result of the terror attacks.…primaries that were to take place
Sept. 11 were rescheduled for Sept. 25, but left voters with a list of questions….
National Guardsmen
became a common sight at
JFK Airport in October.
RESS Photo by Ira Cohen
|
October
Helen Marshall moved closer to becoming the first Black borough
president in Queens history and accepted the Democratic Party nomination, as ceremonies
remembering the victims of Sept. 11 wore on...National Guardsmen joined airport staff at
JFK and LaGuardia and patrolled the areas armed with assault rifles... signs warned
residents of raw sewage flowing in from Brooklyn into Jamaica Bay because of a severe
leakage problem noticed in a steel liner at a wastewater treatment plant in Brooklyn...
mail was handled with care at Borough Hall and other places as threats of anthrax set in a
new wave of terror... Mark Green was the unofficial winner of the election on runoff day
by a slim margin beating out Ferrer.
Helen Marshall (above) became the first African American Borough President
of Queens in November.
|
November
Renovation plans for the St. Albans Long Island Railroad Station were
publicly announced... a task force on domestic violence held its annual information
conference at York College and touched on the affects brought on by Sept. 11...
neighboring sewer construction caused the end of a cleaner, which the Parks Department had
promised...Southeast Queens lost the persistent voice of former Assemblywoman Cynthia
Jenkins….
It was official, Helen Marshall was elected into making history as
Queens’ first African American borough president and Mike Bloomberg was elected as
the new Mayor of New York City...We were just beginning to cope with the terrorist attack
when a plane fell from the skies over Belle Harbor, Queens…American Airlines Flight
587 exploded in mid-air, tore apart and slammed into homes in Belle Harbor…more than
267 people were killed in he crash, including seven people on the ground…a dozen
homes burned (two went to ashes) as investigators started putting the pieces of the puzzle
together to try to determine the cause of the crash…. an additional city grant has
brought $150,000 to assist in restoration plans for Prospect Cemetery in Jamaica.
Just in time for the holidays the borough received the gift of a new Queens Hospital
Center
in December.
PRESS Photo by Ira Cohen
|
December
Borough President Claire Shulman’s dream for a new Queens Hospital
Center finally came true as the facility opened its doors...law enforcement officials in
Queens were put on high alert following an FBI warning of possible terrorist attacks on
fuel lines running through the borough into JFK International and LaGuardia
Airports...ground is broken for a new arts center in Jamaica at the former home of the
Dutch Reformed Church…Residents questioned the efforts of the Department of
Environmental Protection’s study to raise the level of accessible drinking
water…A Southeast Queens teacher filed a discrimination complaint against the
prinicipal of the school where he worked…Southeast Queens celebrates Kwanzaa. .
.Queens Marine, Charlie Hermosa, a First Lieutenant serving in the US Marine Corps spent
the holidays away from home coordinating missions in Afghanistan as part of
"Operation Enduring Freedom"
As we close the book on 2001, we congratulate Southeast Queens’
moms and brides, dads and grads…we applaud the borough’s more than two million
people for their ability to live without fear…we mourn with the families of those
lost on Father’s Day and on Flight 58, and we salute our outgoing Borough President
Claire Shulman….
It has been called the "first great battle of the first war of the
21st century"…there are thousands of stories of Sept. 11…stories of
heroism, of the lives and dreams of the victims…stories of hope, and the vision of a
city healed, but humbled, in the wake of so much devastation….
In time, the last pile of rubble will be lifted from Ground Zero, and
the city’s financial hub will rise and flourish...the funerals will end, and the
broken heart of a city in so much mourning will heal….
The victims of Sept. 11 fell through the looking glass, to a place
beyond pain…perhaps from there, they can lead us to peace…in time….
– Liz Goff contributed to this article
