Insiders tell NYConfidential that the folks at Wendy’s International are planning a memorial in downtown Flushing for the five victims of the May 24 massacre at the chain’s Main Street store.

Plans have not been finalized, but sources say
that Wendy’s officials are mulling over a list of possiblities – including a tree to be planted at a yet-to-be selected site in downtown Flushing. The chain doesn’t want to place the memorial outside or nearby the Main Street restaurant, however, because they
don’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to the site. "It just wouldn’t
be appropriate to the memory of the victims,"
they said.

There were no choppers in College Point, no limos in Long Island City and no fanfare in Flushing.

For the first time in 10 years, New York City’s Mayor and Police Commissioner were a no-show at celebrations throughout Queens for the annual National Nite Out Against Crime, on August 1.

As a rule, the Mayor and the City’s top cop travel to host precincts in Queens on National Night
Out where they join in festivities and hail communities and local police for their action in crime reduction and prevention programs.

It’s the night when Hizzoner has traditionally wowed crowds, arriving by NYPD helicopter and offering crime stats that display a major win in
the war against crime.

But this year, lame duck Mayor Rudy Giuliani chose to join GOPers at their convention in Philly and Police Commissioner Howard Safir was
MIA. . . no reason offered. The task of visiting host sites was handed this year to NYPD Chief of Department Joseph Dunne.

Dunne, a Queens boy, arrived and conquered crowds at the host site,
then split to visit as
many other areas as possible.

Insiders at 1 Police Plaza said Dunne’s assignment is one more indication that he has been tapped to replace Safir when the Commish resigns.

Safir has not been running the day-to-day operation of the NYPD for some time. First Deputy Patrick Kelleher and Chief Dunne have been at the helm. Since Kelleher has turned in his papers, we hear Dunne is the likely replacement for Safir.

Dunne is said to be on the fast track to commish, leading the small pack of possibles that includes a top official at the NYC Dept. of Corrections.

Welcome to the word of publishing.

That’s an invitation to participate with us in a new journalistic effort. This NYConfidential page, which has appeared weekly in this paper and other News Communication’s publications throughout the City for some eight plus years, has just changed.

What has been Citywide is now becoming Queens. Although, perhaps the page name will – for a while – remain NYConfidential, we here at the Tribune and the PRESS of Southeast Queens will think of it as Queens Confidential. In Manhattan (Our Town and the The West Side Spirit), they’ll be publishing East Side and West Side Confidential. We'll work with them and share those earthshaking tidbits of Citywide import. We'll also borrow from the Open Secrets page of our sister paper, The Hill, when one of their DC targets is tied to our Borough.

But our page will predominantly contain the inside dope on Queens news and people: politics, celebrities in Queens, civic sizzle, the odd, unusual and outrageous. It will have tips on survival along with absolutely useless Queens information. It will have photos of Queens and Queens people, their work, art, writing, ideas. Think of it as the Queens Buzz — not a bad name.

This page is our blank slate on which we invite you to enscribe. Send us your ideas, gossip, juicy Queens items, whatever. We also need your photos, cartoons and art.

Email Queens-relevent items to: conf@queenspress.com ; fax to Confidential (718) 357-0972; mail to Confidential, 174-15 Horace Harding Expressway, Fresh Meadows, NY. Please include your name and how we can reach you. If you don’t want your name listed as a contributor on this page, just right "withhold" next to it.

This week we take our first step towards change... a big step. Follow us; watch it change and evolve, slowly. Be a part of the effort.

Come on. Burst someone’s bubble; send a picture or laugh at yourself. We’re waiting.

No one will ever know; we’ll keep it Confidential!

As reported last week in Not4Publication – the political commentary column found in this paper – the signature of one of our employees found its way onto the petition of Cynthia Jenkins who is challenging incumbent Malcolm Smith for State Senate.

Our staffer signed an affidavit stating that the signature was false and was called to court to testify.

At a lunchtime break at McDonald’s across the street from the Court on Sutphin Boulevard, two other ladies, who were also in the same courtroom, invited the witness to join them at their table.

The two ladies, as it turned out, were nuns. One – an assistant principal at a Catholic school – was there accompanying the other whose signature, like that of our gal, had been forged.

The assistant principal said, "not only was Sister Mary’s signature forged, but also that of a deceased nun from their order, who had died quite some time before ‘she signed’ Cynthia Jenkin’s petition."

That’s one newspaper person, one live nun and one dead nun, all with signatures forged!

Politics is a wonderful pastime.

Bye bye, Cynthia.

Confidentially New York . . .

E-MAIL your items to: conf@queenspress.com