Tennis great Arthur Ashe is memorialized with a bronze statue, Soul
in Flight. Sculpted by Eric Fischl, and sponsored by the United States Tennis
Association, it stands in Flushing Meadow Park.
October 2000
The New York Mets lost the first “Subway Series” between New York baseball teams since 1956 when the Brooklyn Dodgers fell to the hated New York Yankees four games to three. This time, Joe Torre’s Bronx Bombers handily beat the Mets four games to one. Loyal Mets fans vowed, “wait ‘till next year!”
December 2000
Keyspan announces that two 47-megawatt gas turbines are due on a site
in Ravenswood across from Silvercup Studios. Residents in Western Queens claim
their area is overburdened with similar facilities. Three large power plants,
owned by Orion Power, Keyspan Energy and NYPA, plus an additional one, have
filed applications to build additional large-scale plants in the near future.
May 6, 2001
Forest Hills High grad Dennis Tito returns from a seven day
space trip aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket single-handedly (along with a $20 million
dollar ticket) throwing open the doors of space tourism. The 60-year-old California
money manager and multimillionaire in 1972 developed the 'Wilshire 5000', one
of the most widely used indexes in the securities market. Officials of the US
Federal Reserve System call his index 'The Barometer of the US Economy.'
November 12, 2001
American Airlines flight 587 from New York JFK to Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic, crashed in Belle Harbor, Queens, shortly after
takeoff. All 251 passengers and 9 crew aboard the Airbus A300 perished, as did
five people on the ground. Most of the passengers were people of Dominican descent
traveling to their native land. This sad event was particularly difficult, occurring
two months and a day after the terror attacks of September 11. A year later,
on November 9, 2002, the families and friends of loved ones lost in the disaster
planted a memorial grove of six oak and six serviceberry trees in Astoria Park.
As priests read the names, a bell tolled for each of the 265 deceased.
August 14, 2003
At about 4:30 pm, a massive blackout struck the east coast of the United States and part of Canada. Unlike the blackout of 1977, when there was widespread looting, New Yorkers seemed to be primarily interested in finding a way home and partying. Power was restored to most of the city and Queens by the afternoon of the following day.
