Whalemina of the Rockaways and more in the QNYC Evening Edition for Monday December 3, 2012

Whalemina of the Rockaways may be resurrected

If you’ve spent any time down in the Rockaways – prior to Hurricane Sandy, that is – you likely saw Whalemina, a colorfully decorated fiberglass whale sculpture that sat for years near the boardwalk and Beach 94th St. Hurricane Sandy ripped her asunder and destroyed the beautiful sculpture – artist Geoff Rawling found her tail. He was the one that decorated Whalemina and turned her from a simple grey whale to something colorful, covered with stained glass and tile. He’d like to create a new Whalemina, actually, and make her lighter so that she can be moved when another big storm comes by. Local neighbor Michael Benedetto, who runs the artist community Projects of Peace, said he hopes to raise both money and awareness for a new Whalemina. It will be fun to see what happens.

Guide to Woodside from Lost City

We came across this interesting post about some of the beloved businesses in Woodside, including the retro Orange Hut (a cheap breakfast and lunch diner), Donovan’s Pub, and the V & V Bakery, which puts out some really tasty sweet treats, hidden under the 7 subway line tracks. They’ve been at it for about 40 years. The little strawberry tarts are yum.

No more wooden boardwalks, ever

Mayor Bloomberg has announced that the rebuilding of the Rockaway Boardwalk will never ever include wood. Same goes for any other boardwalk projects in the City’s future. It seems to some like a no-brainer – the only parts of the boardwalk that survived during Hurricane Sandy were the ones made with concrete. The wooden parts were destroyed.

David Wright is making some serious bank over the next eight years

We learned last week that NY Mets third baseman came to a contract agreement that pays him $138 million over eight years – that’s no chump change. Wright is extremely popular, so his extended time in Flushing will likely be great news to his fans. This salary is the largest in Mets history, surpassing that of superstar pitcher Johan Santana.

More on Mold in the Rockaways

There was a session on mold in the Rockaways (we’ve talked about the hazards of mold before) recently at St. Camillus Roman Catholic Church. Speakers included Jack Caravanos of the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College, and Jolanata Kruszlenicka from the Long Island University School of Public Health. They talked about identifying mold, understanding where it comes from, how to figure out if you have it (though people know they have it), and how to remove/clean it. The folks from Rockaway Help took notes and here they are.