Peter Fortunate Vallone Jr. is an American judge and lawyer.
Anthony Avella Jr. is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the New York State Senate's 11th district in northeast Queens from 2011 to 2019. The district included the mostly affluent neighborhoods of College Point, Whitestone, Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston, Floral Park, Beechhurst, Malba and Auburndale. Avella also served as a member of the New York City Council from 2002 to 2009, representing some of the same Queens neighborhoods in District 19. Avella is a former member of the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), a group of Democratic state senators who allied themselves with Senate Republicans. He was also a losing candidate in the 2009 New York City mayoral election, the 2013 Queens Borough President election, and the 2017 New York City mayoral election.
Leroy George Comrie Jr. is an American politician from New York City. He represents District 14 in the New York State Senate, which comprises St. Albans, Cambria Heights, Jamaica, Hollis, Rosedale, Laurelton, Kew Gardens, Queens Village and other neighborhoods within the borough of Queens.
Frank Genese is an American architect and politician. He is a principal owner of N2 Design+Architecture, PC, located in Port Washington, New York.
James G. Van Bramer is an American politician. A Democrat, who served in the New York City Council and represented the 26th district from 2010 to 2021, which includes Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside, and Woodside in Queens. Van Bramer is a progressive who was one of the few members of the City Council to endorse Cynthia Nixon's campaign in the 2018 New York gubernatorial election.
The 2013 New York City mayoral election occurred on November 5, 2013, along with elections for Comptroller, Public Advocate, Borough President, and members of the New York City Council. The incumbent mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, a Republican-turned-Independent, was term-limited and thus unable to seek re-election to a fourth term in office.
Aravella Simotas is an American politician who represented District 36, covering parts of Western Queens, which includes Astoria and parts of Long Island City, in the New York State Assembly as a member of the Democratic Party.
Ruben W. Wills is a former member of the New York City Council, serving the 28th district from 2011 until he was convicted of a felony in August 2017. After serving a 2 - 6-year prison sentence, the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed Wills' convictions and ordered a new trial. On April 22, 2021, Ruben Wills was fully exonerated and the charges were dismissed with prejudice. He is a Democrat.
Melinda R. Katz is an American attorney and politician from New York City, serving as District Attorney of Queens since January 1, 2020. A Democrat, she previously served as the Queens Borough President. Katz was also a New York City Councilwoman from 2002 to 2009. She had previously run for City Comptroller in 2009. In June 2019, Katz won the Democratic nomination for Queens County's District Attorney, and won the general election in November 2019.
Donovan Richards Jr. is an American politician serving as the Borough President of Queens. He is also a former New York City Council member, having represented the 31st district. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
The 2013 elections for borough presidents were held on November 5, 2013, and coincided with elections for Mayor, Public Advocate, Comptroller, and members of the New York City Council. Primary elections were held on September 10, 2013.
James F. Gennaro is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the New York City Council, representing the 24th district since 2021. He previously represented the same seat from 2002 until 2013, and was the chair of the Council's Environmental Protection Committee. He was first elected to the Council in 2001. In November 2005, he was re-elected to the seat, based in central Queens.
Carlos Menchaca is an American politician who served as a member of the New York City Council for the 38th district. He is a Democrat. His district included the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Sunset Park, Red Hook, Greenwood Heights, and portions of Borough Park, Dyker Heights, and Windsor Terrace. In October 2020, Menchaca declared his candidacy in the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary, but suspended his campaign in March 2021, three months before the primary.
Barry Grodenchik is an American politician who served in the New York City Council for the 23rd district from 2015 to 2021. He is a Democrat. The district includes portions of Bayside, Queens, Bellerose, Douglaston, Floral Park, Fresh Meadows, Glen Oaks, Hollis, Hollis Hills, Holliswood, Jamaica Estates, Little Neck, Oakland Gardens and Queens Village in Queens.
The Astoria Borealis was an industrial accident that occurred at a Con Edison substation in Astoria, Queens, New York City on December 27, 2018. During the incident, a 138,000 volt coupling capacitor potential device failed, resulting in an arc flash which in turn burned aluminum, lighting up the sky with a blue-green spectacle visible for miles around, and as far as New Jersey. It received the humorous name "Astoria Borealis" due to its resemblance to the northern lights. The event was covered extensively on social media and LaGuardia Airport temporarily lost power, but there were neither deaths nor injuries. Such was the magnitude of the bizarre illumination that extraterrestrial visitation was a common supposition.
Tiffany Cabán is an American attorney, politician, and political organizer who has served as a member of the New York City Council for the 22nd District since the 2021 New York City Council election. She won the Democratic primary for the seat after the incumbent, Democrat Costa Constantinides, retired.
The 2021 New York City Council election were held on November 2, 2021. The primary elections were held on June 22, 2021. There were several special elections for seats vacated in 2020 and early 2021; these special elections were the first to use ranked-choice voting in city council elections after it was approved by a ballot question in 2019 and the second to use ranked-choice voting since New York City repealed PR-STV in 1945. Due to redistricting after the 2020 Census, candidates also ran for two-year terms instead of four-year terms for the first time, stemming from the New York City Charter overhaul in 1989. Four-year terms will resume in the 2025 election after another two-year election in 2023.
The 2021 New York City borough president elections were held on November 2, 2021. Four of the five incumbent borough presidents were unable to run for reelection due to term limits. Only the Queens borough president was eligible to seek re-election after winning a special election in 2020.
New York City's 26th City Council district is one of 51 districts in the New York City Council. It has been represented by Democrat Julie Won since 2022. She replaced former councilman Jimmy Van Bramer who was term-limited and ran unsuccessfully for Queens Borough President.
The Charles Poletti Power Project was a power station located in northeastern Queens, named after politician Charles Poletti. An 885-megawatt oil and natural gas-fired facility originally known as Astoria 6, it started generating electricity in 1977, and was gradually phased out starting in 2002, replaced by a newer, cleaner facility on the same site in 2005, Astoria Energy. The plant was shuttered in 2010 following a lawsuit and years of community opposition. It was one of the dirtiest power plants in the state while it was operating, and pollution from the plant was said to contribute to high rates of asthma in the surrounding neighborhood of Astoria, giving it the nickname "Asthma Alley". In 2021, New York State approved a plan to build a 100-megawatt battery system, the East River Storage System, on the site, in order to store and discharge renewable energy.
