Queens Civil Court judge ballot set for November

With the results of the June primary certified, Soma Syed has been declared the winner of the Democratic primary for Queens Civil Court judge.

Photo courtesy of Syed

BY Rachel Vick

After a month of waiting, election results have been certified and Queens’ Democratic judicial candidates have been selected.

Cassandra Johnson and Soma Syed were confirmed to have won their respective primaries after the New York City Board of Elections released their final and official counts of all primary races in the city Tuesday.

Johnson and Syed will be on the general election ballot in November after holding onto leads established early in the count.

"Yesterday the New York City Board of Elections certified the results of our historic primary election and our campaign was successful,” Syed’s campaign said in a statement. "Additionally, the people of Queens took a stand against anti-muslim rhetoric and islamophobia by supporting [the] campaign.”

The race between Syed and Queens Democratic Party-endorsed candidate Michael Goldman for a chance to become a Civil Court judge was close, with Syed pulling ahead by 2,482 votes.

The race, unlike those for mayor, City Council, borough president and others, was not a ranked-choice vote.

If elected in the fall, Syed will be the first Bangladeshi and Muslim woman to be elected as judge in New York State.

She said that her success demonstrated the community’s desire to have “representation on the bench that will ensure fair and impartial justice for everyone.”

Johnson, who was running in the Democratic District 4th Municipal Court District, received 28 votes via write-in in Syed and Goldman’s race.

In her official race, she beat the 10,986 votes for independent candidate Devian Shondel Daniels — who conceded the Wednesday after election day — by a margin of over 35,000 votes.

In the November general election, Johnson will face Daniel Kogan, and Syed will be on the ballot against Republican William Shanahan.

Republican Joseph Kasper and democrat Paul Vallone, whose bid was unopposed, will vye for a spot on the bench representing the 3rd District in November.

Flushing Library to close for major repairs

Flushing Library will close for a heating and cooling system overhaul. Photo via Youngking11/Wikimedia Commons

By Rachel Vick

Later this summer, Queens’ busiest library branch will be shutting its doors while the Queens Public Library works to fix the Flushing Library’s 23-year-old ventilation system.

The heating, ventilation and cooling system stopped working in May and the branch will close once the city stops using it as a vaccination hub.

“We know very well that the library is the center of community life in Flushing and that it is an invaluable resource,” said Queens Public Library President and CEO Dennis M. Walcott. “So many people have been looking forward to the library’s reopening and unfortunately it is unclear when this will be possible.”

“Replacing the HVAC system will take considerable time — it is an extremely complicated system — and we are working with the City to determine the best plan of action for installing a new one, and to evaluate options for a temporary solution,” he added.

Because the city owns the building and is responsible for major upkeep, they are required to follow the design-bid-build process for the replacement.

The city installed portable air conditioners in May that were unable to keep up, according to QPL. Vaccination efforts were forced to relocate to buses parked outside the building, with staff using the building as a staging area and for bathrooms.

They are now in the process of moving the vaccination site to another institution.

“This work, along with the construction of a new, second public elevator, is enormously complex,” Walcott said. “We look forward to updating the community with further details as they become available.”