The New York Islanders playoff run ended with a game seven defeat in the NHL semi finals, and since then the sprint to finish the construction of their new home stadium, UBS Arena at Belmont Park, has intensified.
BQE Media recently toured the arena construction site, where as many as 700 construction professionals are at work daily, readying the new arena for the Isles to occupy next season. While there are still many nuts and bolts to tighten before hockey games and concerts can take place, the arena is coming together. “It’s very exciting for those of us working on the project to actually see signage,” said Michael Sciortino, Senior Vice President of Operations and Assistant General Manager of UBS Arena, “It’s a real milestone.”
According to the new venue’s website, “UBS Arena is a part of the $1.5 billion redevelopment of Belmont Park that includes a retail village and hotel. The project is expected to generate approximately $25 billion in economic activity, including 10,000 construction jobs, 3,000 permanent jobs and major infrastructure improvements.”
Although the new sports and concert venue is loaded with modern technology, it will borrow from great New York sites of the past. Architects referenced the original Madison Square Garden, Ebbets Field, the former home of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, and even from Grand Central Station in creating UBS Arena’s identity. “It’s an old New York design when talking about the aesthetic of the arena, there’s a Grand Central Station and an early-1900’s New York feel with a lot of the tile and brick work,” said Sciortino.
Sciortino, a Rockland County native and Long Island resident since 2005, spent two years as Vice President of Operations at the Chase Center in San Francisco, home of the Golden State Warriors, handling the day-to-day operations at the facility. For him, hiring construction crews with the right experience has been key. “The architect is Populous, the industry leader for sports and entertainment venues – full stop,” Sciortino said. “The finishes inside and out are stupendous.”
Although the Isles were born into a brand new Coliseum in 1972 and played three seasons at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn starting in 2015, those involved with the UBS Arena project are tasked with the job of creating the world-class stadium Islanders fans have been demanding for decades. The “Isles” closed out their tenancy at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, in Uniondale, Long Island with one final win, sending their series with the Tampa Bay Lightning to the limit in front of a passionate crowd that just didn’t want to leave.
In the design process, the Isles made sure to equip their new home with a number of amenities that were weak points at their previous venues.
First, the Isles made sure to add the luxury spaces like bars and suites that the Nassau Coliseum never had enough of. At UBS Arena, there will be eight bars with views of the ice and several “VIP suites and clubs inspired by New York.” According to a press release dated May 8, UBS Arena has already sold out of 80% of premium seating.
The Isles faced critics league wide when they moved to the Barclays Center, a venue that was built for basketball and has many seats where views of the hockey nets are obscured to the crowd. The new venue was designed to replicate and improve upon the sight lines at the Nassau Coliseum, known for its intimate vibe and robust views.
Another area where the Isles will have an advantage league-wide is in the bathroom. While fans found crowded restrooms at the Nassau Coliseum, Sciortino says UBS Arena will have the best restroom-to-fan ratio locally and in the NHL overall. There are 68 guest-facing restrooms, 12 of which are “family style.”
Still, Sciortino says the Isles won’t be able to host games in the building until November, forcing the team to start the season on the road. Recently, plans were announced to hold the Isles preseason games in Bridgeport, CT, where the Isles have their farm team.
With much work left to do, Sciortino and his staff are poised for challenges that may emerge in the completion process.
“We prepare for everything we know about. I’m always most nervous about the thing that we don’t know about yet,” Sciortino says. “There’s some gremlin in this building that no one knows about yet that is going to create a problem for us later, we just need to be prepared.”

On June 30th, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Council Speaker Corey Johnson, and various members of the City Council gathered in the City Hall Rotunda to celebrate the passage of the fiscal year 2022 budget for New York City.
The $98.7 billion budget is the largest in the City’s history, roughly 12 percent higher than last year’s leaner, pandemic-influence budget of $88.2 billion. The 2022 budget passed by the closest of margins, with 32 City Council Members voting in favor and 17 against.
Mayor de Blasio and speaker Johnson are praising the fiscal plan as a key step in the City’s post-pandemic recovery. However, many critics — including current and incoming City Council members — are still upset with the result.
“This is one of the greatest investments in working families in the history of New York City,” de Blasio said during Wednesday’s press conference. “We are sending resources to the communities who need it most, this is a radical investment in working families and that’s what we need right now to come out of this pandemic and move forward.”
The budget includes many programs focused on recovery, including a $24 million provision to hire unemployed people in economically distressed neighborhoods.
Additionally, the budget (which has not yet been made open to the public) reverses many of the cost-saving cuts made to City agencies last year, including those to the Parks Department, Sanitation, and libraries.
Since the announcement, elected officials in Queens and Brooklyn have shared their thoughts on the budget.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards viewed the budget favorably, praising the Mayor for restoring funding to some services and allocating new funding for programs that can specifically benefit Queens.
“Here at Queens Borough Hall, I am thankful that many painful cuts to the Borough President’s Office from Fiscal Year 2021 are restored and now improved in this year’s budget,” Richards wrote in a statement. “I applaud Mayor de Blasio, Speaker Johnson, Finance Chair Dromm and the Council for securing a budget that places Queens and the rest of our City on a path to recovery.”
He continued: “This pandemic also unfortunately propelled a pandemic for hate, particularly against our Jewish, Asian-American Pacific Islander (AAPI), and Muslim communities. As Queens saw a rise against hate, I called for these investments and I am proud that the $4 million AAPI Community Support and $1 million Hate Crime Prevention initiatives are included in this budget.”
Multiple City Councilmembers from Queens, including Peter Koo from District 20 (Flushing) and Adrienne Adams from District 28 (Jamaica), followed suit, issuing statements that celebrated budget victories for their own constituents and communities.
Brooklyn’s Borough President and Mayoral frontrunner Eric Adams shared a sentiment similar to that of the Queens BP, writing “I am pleased to see that this budget restores cuts to services including parks and sanitation, which are vital to our public health and quality of life, as well as cuts to our community boards, which represent the most local form of our civic engagement.”
However, many progressive-leaning politicians have taken issue with some of the provisions included in the budget. These concerns are focused primarily on the additional $200 million in funding awarded to the NYPD, which critics believed to be ill-advised after a year-long movement to decrease the department’s budget in response to police violence nationwide.
Mayor de Blasio defended the additional funding, stating that they are aimed at improving the NYPD’s “IT Needs” and cutting overtime spending.
“We want to have the department be effective, we need better technology to do that,” de Blasio said. “The other piece — and I say this very openly — we worked together on overtime. We reduced overtime a lot.”
In addition to the current City Council Members who opposed parts of the budget, a number of incoming Council Members also expressed concerns.
Our paper spoke with Jennifer Gutierrez, who recently won the election to represent District 34 (which encompasses parts of Bushwick, Ridgewood, and Williamsburg in both Brooklyn and Queens).
“For so many New Yorkers in organizing and movement spaces, there were a lot of expectations that this budget would work to remediate the glaring shortcomings from last year’s budget,” Gutierrez said. “Together, we demanded more transparency, an equitable recovery program, and divestment from the PD to invest in common-sense initiatives.”
Gutierrez continued: “It seems there were zero lessons learned in this opaque budget cycle. We have a lot to learn from, a lot to fight against, and a lot left to deliver for all New Yorkers.”

Children have proven that if they see a way to improve their neighborhood, they have the power to collaborate, whether by exercising a green thumb, the stroke of a paint brush, or by pursuing other activities.
For many children who volunteered with their parents, June felt like a community spirit month, and some felt inclined to participate in more than one event and made friends while they were at it. As a result of Home Depot’s humanitarian mission, multi-colored varieties of flowering bushes known as hydrangeas were donated by the Glendale branch, in addition to begonias, impatiens, and petunias. In collaboration with this columnist, an approximate 50 volunteers landscaped The Howard Apartments’ large lawns on 66th Road on June 18 and revive the local residential community garden concept, which can be traced to the 1930s. That led to a landscaping opportunity on June 25 with 25 volunteers to further beautify the properties. The community’s youth ranged from age 4 to 16.
Howard Apartments resident Myitzu Min Zu and her family, including her 9-year-old son Orratha, received a first-hand lesson in gardening and applied the finishing touches on June 29. “My son had a wonderful time planting colorful hydrangeas,” she said. “Orratha likes nature so much, that he believes planting trees and flowers would restore the balance in the whole world. He thinks it needs restoring because of the air pollutants, and now he knows it is hard work, since he experienced planting them himself. He said it was great letting him have his first experience gardening, and he would like to say thank you.”
Between the gardening opportunities was an event by the Forest Hills & Rego Park Graffiti Cleanup Initiative that improved Forest Hills on June 27, attracting 15 volunteers, as young as age 5.
“A beautiful and cleaner community makes us happier,” explained Juliana Zakowski, whose 6-year-old child Dylan volunteered. “I was very proud of him, since he did a great job taking care of the plants, making sure they were dug deep enough.”
“I learned the basics of community service, and would like to say that volunteering is extremely important for the experience and the skills that you learn,” said 16-year-old High School for Math, Science, & Engineering student Darren Hamilton, who volunteered with his mother Amy Hsu. He continued, “I enjoyed the gardening events and the Forest Hills mailbox graffiti cleanup, since I felt as if I was contributing to the community in a relatively large way. Graffiti on mailboxes and in general can be curbed by maintaining objects more and more thoroughly.” To further improve the community, he would like to learn what the community is requesting. “It will directly benefit the community with direct input,” he said.
His mother said, “It was a great feeling seeing him work in a group setting and engaging with other people.” In order to maintain the community routinely, she suggested having students engaged continuously and on a rotational basis in community activities and stressing the importance of civic awareness. She said, “Teens should feel proud to live in a neighborhood where the landscape includes trees, flowers, and zero graffiti. In the future, they can proudly say they contributed to the beauty of their neighborhood, and pass on this mindset.”
Evelyn Vargas watched in pride as her daughter Valentina Galdamez, a PS 175 student volunteered. She said, “It’s very important for our children to learn about empathy, community, teamwork, and making a positive difference in our world, even if it’s a small one. All these aspects are cultivated through volunteering. I would like my daughter to learn that this world is not just ‘about me,’ but ‘about us.’” To achieve that reality, she recommended more volunteer efforts, being good role models, and exposing uncivil behaviors on social media. As a believer in the broken windows theory, she said, “If a neighborhood is neglected, it only calls for more neglect and antisocial behavior.”
Galdamez said, “I felt proud of myself because I planted flowers in front of a building and we made it look beautiful. I learned that taking care of a building is better than leaving it plain. It is important to volunteer because you can help the community become better, and it is fun to do.
In the past, she volunteered with her best friend by cleaning Rockaway Beach. Each opportunity leads to further brainstorming. “We can pick up garbage from the street. Sometimes I have toys that I don’t like anymore and another kid might want them, and I may want what another kid doesn’t play with anymore. Another idea is giving old clothes that don’t fit to other people who cannot afford new clothes.”
“I wasn’t present at the gardening events since I had to work, but knowing that both of my children are very eager to participate in events to help the community makes me proud,” said Yin Wu. She suggested bi-weekly or monthly volunteer opportunities as a beneficial means for maintaining the community, which would also mount to a fun learning experience. “Having our children contribute is a wonderful way of encouraging future contributions to great causes,” she said.
Her 15-year-old daughter Brianna said, “It’s always uplifting to be able to help the community. Taking simply a few hours from your schedule to do volunteer work can prove to be fun and helpful.” She has faith that people of all ages can easily find volunteer opportunities. “Activities such as cleaning up environments and communal locations, repainting or refurbishing areas, and working at places such as public libraries can all be great opportunities.”
Wu’s sixteen-year-old son Alex said, “It was fun to try something that I have not done before. Working together with many people on a big community project was a blast! I learned how to properly dig a hole and plant flowers in a suburban environment, and I never thought that it would be an exciting activity.” His ideas for volunteering are sweeping local parks, eliminating weeds, or assisting in nursing homes. “Even if you think that a small community activity feels like it has little to no effect, it will have a great impact in the long-run,” he said.

Here’s a sign that things are getting back to normal and it’s a sign that will bring smiles to lots of faces. The Forest Park Concert Series is back, kicking off 7 consecutive Thursdays of shows at the Seuffert Bandshell. All concerts start at 7:30 p.m. and are sponsored by The Forest Park Trust and Maspeth Federal Savings.
The popular concert series kicks off this Thursday, July 8th with an Elvis Tribute Show featuring impersonator Lamar Peters. According to his webpage, Peters “takes you back to the best of 1950’s Elvis rockabilly and through the 60s, and 70s of Elvis Presley’s career.”
And here’s an interesting tidbit; Lamar Peters is a 2nd generation Elvis impersonator. His father, Gregg, has been an Elvis impersonator for over 40 years and he’s still going strong!
On the following Thursday (July 15th), we have what sounds like a terrific show – Forever Plaid, a musical presented by Plaza Theatrical Productions. In the show, 4 members of a young singing group (The Plaids) are killed in a car accident on the way to their first big show.
The Plaids are given the opportunity to return to Earth for one final show during which they tell the audience stories about their lives and perform some of the greatest hits from the 1950s.
Rick Larrimore and Atlantic Crossing, the ultimate tribute to Rod Stewart, returns to the bandshell on July 22nd. We saw him at the bandshell back in 2014 and the lead singer was really good.
Next up on July 29th is Satisfaction, a tribute to The Rolling Stones. Tribute bands are popular and Satisfaction is right up there logging over 4,000 shows in 20 years.
The following Thursday (August 5th) sees the arrival of Fleetwood Macked, the Ultimate Fleetwood Mac Tribute Band have one area where they are extra-authentic; the lead singers imitating Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham are married in real life!
There will be plenty of dancing in the aisles on August 12th as Gloria’s Miami Nights Latin Experience will perform the hits Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony, Ricky Martin and Selena. Looking at their performances online, we’re going to get a high energy show with lots of horns!
And the series comes to a close on August 19th when Captain Jack, the Ultimate Live Billy Joel Tribute Band, comes to Forest Park.
That’s quite a lineup! Many thanks to Portia Dyrenforth, Administrator of Forest Park, for putting together such a nice slate of shows.
We have enjoyed many shows at the bandshell in recent years; we even have our own little area where we sit and meet friends for each show. The Seuffert bandshell is a lovely place to sit on a summer evening and enjoy live music.
Speaking of the Seuffert Bandshell (pronounced Soy-fert), it is nearly 100 years old and is named after bandleader George Seuffert Sr. For many years, Seuffert and his band entertained people at the bandshell and it was officially named in his honor in 1979.
But have you ever heard of a man named Harry Tourte? He was the President of the Homestead Civic Association, was popularly known as “The Mayor of Woodhaven,” and was the driving force behind the erection of our beloved bandshell (which cost $25,800 to build at the time).
“For years, Mr. Tourte worked for a bandstand in Forest Park and carried his fight to every department of the Greater City which had any authority in the matter,” said the Leader-Observer of Harry Tourte.
But there’s a bittersweet ending to this tale. As the bandshell was being built, Harry Tourte was stricken ill and hospitalized. It looked for a while that he might recover in time for the opening but he took a sudden turn for the worse and passed away having never laid eyes on the bandshell he was responsible for getting built.
“Harry Tourte was an indefatigable civic worker,” said the Leader upon his death. “Forest Park’s bandstand is truly a monument to his efforts, one which he was not privileged to see, but will be dedicated to his memory.”
Sadly, there is no sign or marker for Harry Tourte, but when you next get there, say a quiet word of thanks to him for bringing this beautiful bandshell to life, for future generations of Woodhavenites to enjoy.