Some good news is coming to this part of Glendale that’s constantly flooded.

Late last month, Assemblyman Mike Miller and Councilman Bob Holden announced that the Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Transportation have developed a plan to ease flooding on Edsall Avenue.

The plan includes repaving and installing a curb and catch basin in the area to reconnect to the nearest sewer.

Community Board 5 has requested fixing this problem for many years, as have neighbors who have suffered anytime there’s flooding.

More information, including a timeline of the project, will be released soon. Stay tuned.

Now that the Ridgewood Reservoir has more protections, it’s up to community members to make sure it’s kept clean.

Earlier this year, the reservoir was designated a protected wetland, adding an additional layer of protection for the threatened and endangered species there.

On March 10, NYC H2O, the organization that has been advocating for the reservoir, is hosting its first monthly stewardship day there.

They are asking for volunteers to help remove invasive plant species and plant native species in their place.

RSVP here if you plan on attending!

Happy Year of the Pig!

On Wednesday, February 27, Queens Borough Hall is celebrating the Lunar New Year.

Borough President Melinda Katz also announced a photo contest, with the winners being displayed at the celebration.

This year’s photo contest theme is “New Year and Me.” Entrants’ photo must be submitted with their entry by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, February 14.

Contest winners will be notified by February 19.

Contest rules and entry forms can be found online here.

The February 27 celebration is free and open to the public. RSVP here or call 718-286-2661.

This sounds like a bad idea waiting to happen.

At next week’s Community Board 5 meeting, members will host a hearing for a special permit to build a 167-children daycare at 79-40 Cooper Avenue.

The owner of record is CS Cooper Avenue LLC, and they will be represented by Akerman LLP.

This proposed daycare is only one block away from 78-16 Cooper Avenue, the manufacturing site that’s long been rumored as a potential homeless shelter.

Though Councilman Bob Holden has maneuvered to transform the site into a school, the Glendale community remains restless.

Just a few weeks ago, residents caught workers illegally removing asbestos-laden tiles late at night. The illegal activity calls into question why work is being rushed there.

Could it have anything to do with transient hotels being allowed to be built in M1 light manufacturing zones?

Either way, opening a 167-person daycare at that location sounds troubling.

We’ll find out how CB5 members feel at the meeting on Wednesday, February 13th at 7:30 p.m. at Christ the King High School in Middle Village.

With the partial federal government shutdown entering its fifth week, State Senator Joe Addabbo is teaming up with local institutions to help out the 800,000 furloughed employees who are working without pay.

Starting this week, Addabbo’s district offices in Howard Beach (159-53 102nd Street) and Middle Village (66-85 73rd Place) are collecting food and toiletries for the workers.

Queens County Savings Bank locates at 156-02 Crossbay Boulevard and 156-32 Crossbay Boulevard also are taking supplies.

The drive will collect items like canned goods, pastas, cereals, soaps, detergents, toothpaste, feminine hygiene products and more.

The supplies will be distributed to Our Lady of Grace Church (100-05 159th Avenue) in Howard Beach and Sacred Heart food pantry (83-17 78th Avenue) in Glendale. These sites will also be drop-off locations.

To collect the supplies at the drop-off locations, federal works will need to display their federal IDs.

For more information, call Addabbo’s office at 718-738-1111.

The Glendale House of the Week is a beautiful two-family home sitting on 5,300-square-feet of space.

The home has two apartments, a finished walk up attice and a gorgeous walk in basement. There’s also a private driveway with a three-car garage, a large patio area, hardwood floors and recessed lighting. Overall, there are five bedrooms and four full bathrooms.

The home is listed by Carollo Real Estate for $1,450,000.

Here’s your chance to get involved with the most local level of New York City government.

Borough President Melinda Katz is accepting applications for “qualified and civic-minded individuals” to serve on their local community boards.

CBs play an important advisory role on land use and zoning, safety, parks, libraries and other neighborhood concerns.

The membership application is available online here.

The deadline for applications to be completed, signed and notarized is Friday, February 8.

An appointed two-year term of service begins on April 1. Each member serves a two-year term.

In 2018, New York City passed a proposition to create term limits for community boards. Read about the proposal here.

The Ridgewood Reservoir got a new year’s present: additional environmental protections.

Before the calendar flipped to 2019, the state Department of Environmental Conservation designed the reservoir as a Class I freshwater wetland, according to NYC H2O.

That designation means all three basins of the reservoir bordering Brooklyn and Queens will be “permanently protected as a natural area.”

According to NYC H2O, wetlands are some of the most productive natural ecosystems. They’re protected by the federal Clean Water Act of 1972, and New York’s Freshwater Protection Act of 1975.

The state DEC designates Class 1 protections to a waterbody only when threatened and endangered species have been observed on site.

NYC H2O says the following are listed as threatened/endangered:

• Late flowering boneset (Eupatorium serotinum)
• Fringes boneset (Eupatorium hyssopifolium var laciniatum)
• Globe-fruited ludwigia (Ludwigia sphaerocarpa)
• Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)
• Pied-Billed Grebe (podilymbus podiceps).

The board has officially been sworn in.

Last week, Assemblyman Mike Miller and State Senator Joe Addabbo helped the Glendale Property Owners Association induct its new leaders.

The Glendale Property Owners meets the first Thursday of every month at St. Pancras Pheiffer Hall.

In the photo, from left to right, are: Margaret Kotnik, Susan Petchauer, Norbert Giesse, Bob Kozlowski, Chris Kurre, Brian Dooley (President), Howard Jaeger, Michelle Cook-Lopez, Clara Sarracco and Tony Hund.

New York City’s most popular baby names in 2017 were Emma and Liam.

According to the city’s Health Department, there were 571 Emmas and 734 Liams born in 2017.

Liam was also the top name for boys in 2016, and Emma rose from third to first. Olivia, 2016’s top name for girls, fell to second.

Here are the top 10 names for girls in 2017:

1. Emma
2. Olivia
3. Mia
4. Sophia
5. Isabella
6. Ava
7. Leah
8. Emily
9. Sarah
10. Abigail

And here are the top 10 names for boys in 2017:

1. Liam
2. Noah
3. Jacob
4. Ethan
5. David
6. Lucas
7. Matthew
8. Jayden
9. Aiden
10. Daniel

Other fun facts:

• The number of NYC births fell 2.8 percent from 2016 to 2017.
• The most births took place in Manhattan, followed by Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.
• Among the top celebrity names in 2017 were: Penelope, Daisy and Margot, as well as Ryan, Chris, Luke and Harrison.
• Some favorite geographic names include: Austin, Hudson and Kingston for boys, and Charlotte, Savannah and Catalina for girls.
• Rare names, defined as 10 or fewer children with those names, were Artemis, Tzippy, Reizy, Azriel, Zeus and Thaddeus.