It was a year bookended by political earthquakes, far and near, as, in January 2025, President Trump took office for his second term and unleashed policies of great impact on Western Queens and, in November, the region catapulted one of its own, state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani (D-Astoria), into the mayoralty. The new chief executive at City Hall will take office after the ball falls in Times Square to usher in 2026.

This is Part I of our 2025 Year in Review for Western Queens; Part II will run next week. You can find such articles for the other geographic regions of Queens this week and next in our various print editions or at qchron.com.

January

The Jan. 2 editions of the Queens Chronicle reported the latest development in one of the biggest issues in Western Queens: a judge’s ruling that allowed congestion pricing — new tolls on driving into Midtown and Downtown Manhattan — to begin.

On Jan. 9, the paper reported that permits had been issued for a nine-story, mixed-use building at 25-08 43 Ave. in Long Island City.

Year-end crime statistics for 2024, through Dec. 29, showed that murder had fallen 3 percent citywide but ticked up 6 percent in Queens, going to 53 cases from 50 in 2023.

Thomas Mituzas, A nine-year member of Community Board 2 quit the panel on Jan. 9 after a heated argument with Department of City Planning officials over the OneLIC rezoning plan and what he contended was disregard for his neighborhood, Blissville.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Jan. 10 that it had reached a settlement with the Queens Public Library and City of New York outlining what must be done to make the Hunter’s Point branch comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The $41 million library had been built in 2019 without regard for the rights of people with disabilities to enjoy equal access to its material, leading to litigation and renovations to make it ADA-compliant.

That same day, Mayor Adams and City Councilman Francisco Moya (D-Corona) announced that Operation Restore Roosevelt, a months-long anti-crime, anti-degeneracy effort involving the NYPD and multiple other city and state agencies, had seen great success in cleaning up the thoroughfare and would continue.

Anticipating that President Trump, newly inaugurated for a second term, would conduct mass repatriations of immigrants, some street vendors and immigrant rights advocates on Jan. 20 urged local leaders to expand protections for vulnerable migrant business owners.

Reports said the administration made about 1,000 arrests in New York City on the first day of its illegal immigration crackdown here.

Also on Jan. 20, Trump issued an executive order to suspend consideration of permits for offshore wind energy projects that had not been approved, but the CEO of Rise Light & Power in LIC, which plans to bring wind energy to New York City within a decade, said he had more immediate concerns, even as he was “keeping an eye on the policy climate.”

Adams gave another update on Roosevelt Avenue in Western Queens on Jan. 22, saying nearly 1,000 arrests had been made and 12,000 tickets issued during the crackdown there.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board on Jan. 29 OK’d the Queens Bus Route Redesign plan, which the agency says improves service but also eliminates hundreds of stops, challenging those with mobility issues who would have farther to walk.

Con Edison on Jan. 31 announced proposed hikes to electric and gas bills of 11.4 percent and 13.3 percent on average, respectively. Rate increases are subject to state approval, and those did not go through.

February

Trump and Gov. Hochul spoke at the start of the month about congestion pricing and continued to discuss the program as he was considering trying to nix it.

Laura Shepard, chair of Community Board 2’s Environment, Parks and Recreation Committee, and an outspoken member of the Transportation Committee, announced her resignation Feb. 6 to take a job with Queens Borough President Donovan Richards’ office, as a transportation and parks liaison.

The Justice Department on Feb. 10 ordered federal prosecutors to drop the corruption charges against Adams, prompting lamentations from Queens officials and fueling the anger that led to his failure to win re-election.

The MTA stuck to its guns in an exclusive Feb. 13 Chronicle story about congestion tolls hitting Queens residents leaving Manhattan, because they enter the toll zone for less than one block between 59th and 60th Streets to get on the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge eastbound.

The Sunnyside couple who stabbed, kicked and battered a man nearly to death over a parking space in March 2023 were sentenced to 14 years in prison, District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Feb. 13.

A 14-year-old, Julian Corniell, was stabbed to death Feb. 14 during a gang assault near the McDonald’s on Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside; a boy his same age later was charged. Eventually, a 16-year-old also was indicted.

Adams tried to get Immigration and Customs Enforcement back onto Rikers Island to make federal arrests easier and safer of criminal aliens, but the effort ultimately failed. Four of his deputy mayors resigned Feb. 17 as scandal continued to plague his administration.

The Trump administration on Feb. 19 notified Gov. Hochul it intends to pull the plug on congestion pricing, and the MTA immediately filed suit in federal court to block the move.

That same day, Western Queens Democrats discussed their strategy to fight Trump’s agenda and fielded questions from concerned voters at a meeting at Sunnyside Community Services.

Also on Feb. 19, the city announced the closure of four more migrant shelters, including the historic Austell Place building in LIC, as the crisis of mass border crossings continued to ease up.

A horrific crash on Feb. 26 in Corona took the life of Justin Diaz, 23, who worked at LaGuardia Airport, was just graduating from Vaughn College and hoped to become a pilot. An allegedly drunk firefighter, Michael Pena, 28, barrelled into Diaz’s car at a reported 83 mph at Northern Boulevard and 107th Street.

March

In a March 6 exclusive, the Chronicle revealed that The Floating Hospital, now a clinic on land in LIC, was requiring proof of citizenship for people seeking medical services.

The paper also began a look back that week at the Covid pandemic on its fifth anniversary, with articles that ran each week in March and into April under the banner “SARS-CoV-2: Five Years Later.”

Area parents spoke to Community Board 2 on March 6 about the city ticketing a preschool in Sunnyside over a play structure that officials suddenly deemed unsafe after it being in use for about 10 years. “The climbing,” as at least one child called it, was shut down as a result.

That same CB 2 meeting saw another visit from city officials touting the OneLIC rezoning plan. Members still had concerns about issues such as overcrowding and sewage.

The five-year anniversary of the pandemic was marked with separate events March 14 and 15 at NYC Health + Hospitals / Elmhurst, “the epicenter of the epicenter.” One included a visit from Adams, and the other was led by state Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Jackson Heights), then a rival candidate for City Hall.

Another Western Queens Democratic hopeful for mayor at the time: Mamdani.

Dozens of residents of the Queensview housing complex in Astoria on March 18 told CB 1 they are concerned about what will happen when a former drugstore on Crescent Street becomes an event space, as planned.

A brief from the Manhattan Institute revealed that city public schools had a 34.8 percent rate of chronic absenteeism — students being out at least 10 percent of the days — at the end of the 2023-24 academic year.

CB 3 members on March 20 rolled out their complaints against an East Elmhurst sushi lounge owner, saying the place had been operating later than it was supposed to and was drawing many noise complaints.

Dozens of activists, parents and children protested outside a bar on Roosevelt Avenue in Corona on March 23, alleging that it operates a brothel in the basement, in what would become a trend over the year of growing opposition to the illegal sex trade in the area.

A new report released by the Independent Rikers Commission said the island jail complex will not shutter by the legally mandated deadline in 2027, recognizing the reality of the situation despite a 2019 law insisting they must do so. The replacement jail in Queens, one of four planned, is set to be finished in 2032 at the earliest.

Residents and activists on March 26 announced a lawsuit against the zoning changes under the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, saying the plan violated state statute. They would not win.

But there was a winner of another kind that day, as Donovan’s Pub in Woodside was named No. 1 in the Queens Chamber of Commerce’s Best Bar Competition. It already had the Best Burger in Queens title under its belt.

Two cops were indicted for allegedly turning a call about prostitution into a chance for one of them to steal money from a sex worker and then fondle her, the DA said March 31. The incident occurred on 89th Street in Jackson Heights, off Roosevelt Avenue.

April

Queens Future, the partnership between Mets owner Steve Cohen and the Hard Rock entertainment group, which plans to build a casino, hotel, other attractions and a public park outside Citi Field, announced on April 2 a collaboration with Slate Property Group to erect 450 apartments in Corona. Public benefits are a key part of the pitches that eventually won Queens Future and two other entities, one in South Queens and one in the Bronx, new downstate casino licenses.

The charges against Adams were dismissed April 2, and the next day he announced he would be running for re-election as an independent, not competing in the Democratic Primary. It would not prove a winning strategy.

Councilwoman Julie Won (D-LIC) on April 3 discussed with the Chronicle the long delay in converting the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge’s South Outer Roadway from car to pedestrian use, something she noted City Hall had been promising for many years.

On April 12, the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives and fellow activists held a People’s Ribbon Cutting on the Manhattan side of the bridge before marching and riding across it in the future pedestrian lane.

Bartunek Hardware in Astoria was honored April 5 for its 100 years in business as the corner of 28th Street and 23rd Avenue was co-named Bartunek Way.

Anderson Archila-Martinez, a young man who lived on a street called Roosevelt Avenue in upstate Spring Valley, died on the Roosevelt Avenue in Queens April 14 when he confronted a man who had stolen his bicycle and was then stabbed to death on the corner with Junction Boulevard, where Corona, Jackson Heights and Elmhurst all meet.

Two weeks after the city Department of Transportation unveiled plans to install bike lanes on 31st Street from 36th Avenue to Newtown Avenue in Astoria, the matter became a subject of sharp debate before CB 1 on April 15. It eventually would go to court. The DOT would not win — at least not in 2025.

Also on April 15, the City Council went to court to prevent ICE from reestablishing an office on Rikers Island so it could take custody of criminal aliens and deport them.

Pena, the man who allegedly killed young Diaz in a drunken crash, was indicted April 17 and initially held without bail, as the victim’s family rallied outside court for justice, though he later was released.

The City Council held a hearing April 22 on a bill by Won, the LIC lawmaker, to disallow parking at intersections, aka daylighting, across the city, but the DOT opposed it.

St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Elmhurst was packed by the faithful on April 25 when Bishop Robert Brennan, head of the Brooklyn Diocese, celebrated a Vigil Mass of Repose for Pope Francis, who had died the day after Easter Sunday.

May

Seven residents pleaded with CB 2 to save the Court Square Fountain at its May 1 meeting. The fixture was to be taken down as part of a redesign of the square. Residents said they have photos showing the fountain dates to at least 1904, though the Parks Department says it was installed only in 1989. The fountain later was removed.

A May 8 MTA meeting on the Interborough Express light rail plan drew nearly 100 people to Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights, 10 blocks from the site of the IBX’s expected Roosevelt Avenue station.

On Mother’s Day, May 11, the corner of 28th Avenue and 44th Street in Astoria was co-named Elizabeth White Marcum Way in honor of the late Boy Scout and Girl Scout leader and mother of former City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer.

Katz announced on May 13 that Nelson Torres, 33, of North Corona, had been indicted for the murder of Archila Martinez.

That same day, a federal judge ruled that an independent official will be appointed to oversee the Rikers Island jail complex, effectively removing it from the city’s jurisdiction.

Two Astoria brothers, Andrew Hatziagelis, 41, and Angelo Hat- ziagelis, 52, pleaded guilty to several crimes May 16 for having an arsenal of improvised explosive devices, ghost guns and 3D-printed weapons, and were to get, respectively, 10 years and four years in prison, Katz reported.

Peter Zisopoulos, the man who murdered 24-year FDNY Emergency Medical Services veteran Alison Russo-Elling in a frenzied knife attack more than two years ago in Astoria was found guilty May 19 after jurors deliberated for less than an hour, Katz said. He got 25 years to life in prison when sentenced a month later.

A proposed 13-story senior home in Astoria was voted down May 20 by CB 1 members concerned that the developers weren’t clear about their plans for a site across the street.

Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, the homeless illegal immigrant teenager who shot two cops in East Elmhurst on June 3, 2024 after they tried to pull him over for riding a motorcycle the wrong way, pleaded guilty to two charges May 20 and was set to get 28 years in prison upon sentencing.

The state Senate voted May 27 to alienate parkland beneath the parking lot at Citi Field, clearing a major obstacle for Cohen and his partners to build a casino and more there. The Assembly already had passed the bill and the governor soon would sign it.

That same day, William Bassell, 66, principal of the Academy of American Studies in Astoria, was arrested and charged with sexual abuse and forcible touching, with multiple teachers his alleged victims.

New statistics showed record low shootings and homicides across the city through the end of May, but northern Queens precincts were a stubborn outlier, with violence up in the region as a whole.

June

Adams on June 4 announced a 15 mph limit for e-bikes as a safety measure, angering the group that represents delivery people, who already were facing a spike in summonses.

The Alliance for Paseo Park laid out its hopes and plans for the 26-block stretch of 34th Avenue that became the city’s crown jewel of open streets in a report issued June 5.

Ramos, the state senator and City Hall hopeful, threw her support to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for mayor on June 6.

CB 4 voted June 10 against a plan to build a 13-story building on Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst, where a TD Bank is located, citing concerns about displacement and gentrification, and the developers later saying they seek a happy medium.

A Jackson Heights man was charged with attacking and stalking his ex-girlfriend, while his mother tried to pressure her not to testify, the DA reported June 11.

A federal judge on June 13 blocked ICE from reopening its office at Rikers Island; nixing an executive order from Adams.

CBs 1 and 2 both voted mid-month to OK the One LIC rezoning with stipulations.

CB 1’s June 17 session was largely devoted to more debate on the 31st Street bike lane plan, though the board has no say over it.

Bekim Fiseku, the man who allegedly killed beloved Astoria cyclist and accountant Amanda Servedio in October 2024, was indicted on 12 charges including murder, Katz announced June 23.

The May revenue numbers from congestion pricing helped prove the case for the new tolls into Manhattan, an MTA official said June 23, with a record one-month haul of $61 million coming in.

Mamdani scored a big upset victory in the June 24 Democratic primary for mayor, with his rival, Cuomo, conceding before ranked-choice counting even came into play — setting up a four-way race against Adams and the ex-governor as independents and Republican Curtis Sliwa in November. Shanel Thomas Henry won the Democratic primary to replace term-limited Moya on the City Council.

Adams again touted the success of Operation Restore Roosevelt at a June 24 press event, saying overall crime on the corridor was down 28 percent from the year before.

Zhi Alan Cheng, an ex-doctor from Astoria, pleaded guilty June 30 to drugging and raping multiple women, and was set to get 24 years in prison when sentenced.