🗳️ 13 Votes: The Recount That Could Flip Albany

🚪 Your Gate, Your Problem: Astoria Storefronts Face a New Deadline

🚨 NYPD Hunts Muggers Who Jumped a Man at Astoria Houses

🎷 Free Jazz Is Coming Back — And Astoria Park Gets a Tony Bennett Tribute

Here’s a number to sit with: 13. That’s the margin separating Patrick Martinez and Shamsul Haque in the race to replace outgoing Assemblymember Steven Raga in the 30th Assembly District, which stretches through parts of Western Queens including Woodside and Jackson Heights. Martinez, the establishment-backed nephew of former Queens Democratic chair Joe Crowley, led election night with 2,703 votes to Haque’s 2,690, with progressive spoiler candidate Somnath Ghimire pulling in 689 votes of his own.

Under New York State law, any race decided by fewer than 20 votes (or a margin of 0.5% or less) automatically triggers a recount — and the City’s Board of Elections confirmed this one qualifies. A batch of more than 500 mail-in ballots is still being sorted through, and as of our deadline, neither side is backing down. “Every vote deserves to be counted, and every voice deserves to be heard,” Martinez said in a statement, while Haque — a former NYPD detective who helped mobilize Bengali voters for Mayor Mamdani last year — said his campaign has “full confidence in the Board of Elections to take the correct course of action.”

What happens next affects who represents a real chunk of our neighbors in Albany. We’ll keep you posted as the recount plays out — this is exactly the kind of local race where every single ballot really does matter.

👉 Read more: Queens Daily Eagle

If you own or manage a shop along Steinway Street, Ditmars Boulevard, Broadway, or any other Astoria commercial strip, this one’s for you: as of July 1, New York City has begun enforcing Local Law 75, a 2009 rule that requires most storefront security gates to be at least 70% transparent. Solid metal roll-down gates — the classic look on a lot of our older shops — no longer make the cut.

The city gave businesses 17 years to get ready, but plenty of owners say they never got so much as a flyer about it. Citywide surveys have found compliance rates as low as 12–15%, and replacement costs typically run anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 per gate — a tough ask for small operators already squeezed by rising costs. Some merchants who already have transparent gates have a different worry: that see-through storefronts are easier to smash into overnight.

The city’s Department of Buildings says it can’t change the law unilaterally — only the City Council can — and lawmakers have discussed a possible delay, though nothing has passed yet. If you run a shop with an old-style gate, it’s worth calling a licensed gate installer sooner rather than later rather than risking a violation.

👉 Read more: CBS New York

The 114th Precinct is asking for help identifying the crew behind an attack at Astoria Houses, where police say a group jumped a man and made off with his smartwatch. It’s the kind of broad-daylight bravado that rattles a block, and detectives are still piecing together exactly how many people were involved.

Investigators describe the alleged ringleader as dark-complexioned, last seen wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, black sweatpants, black sneakers, and a black backpack with white-striped shoulder straps. NYPD has released surveillance images as they work to track down everyone involved.

There’s now a reward of up to $3,500 for information leading to an arrest and indictment. If you saw something, say something: call NYPD Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (8477), or 888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish, or submit a tip online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org.

👉 Read more: QNS

Good news for anyone who likes their summer evenings with a side of horns and brushed drums: the Queens Jazz Trail Concert Series is back for its third year, presented by the Kupferberg Center for the Arts, Flushing Town Hall, the Louis Armstrong House Museum, and NYC Parks. The free series runs eight consecutive Thursdays, July 9 through August 27, with shows starting at 7pm, rain or shine, at parks all across the borough.

Astoria’s own date lands on August 27, when Astoria Park hosts vocalist Lucy Yeghiazaryan performing “Tony Bennett @ 100,” a tribute marking a century since the legendary crooner’s birth. The rest of the lineup fans out across the borough — Travers Park in Jackson Heights, Forest Park in Woodhaven, Bowne Park in Flushing, and more — so if you can’t wait until late August, there’s a reason to make it a summer-long jazz road trip.

Bring a chair or a blanket, grab something cold to drink, and settle in — this is about as low-key and lovely as a Thursday night in Queens gets.

👉 Read more: QNS

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From restaurants and shops to services and community groups, all are encouraged to participate and share their story with readers across the Astoria and surrounding areas. Don’t own a business? That’s ok… Know of one that should be featured?

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