🚲 DOT's Supersized 31st Street Bike Lane Plan Lands at CB1 Tomorrow

❤️‍🔥 Astoria Rallies $90K+ for Easter Fire Families

🏒 NHL Hands Variety Club $2.5M for a Rooftop Ice Rink

🛍 Lockwood's New Flagship Opens on Broadway

👋 Introducing: The Astoria Insider — welcome to Issue #001!

Monday · April 20

Tuesday · April 21

Wednesday · April 22 · 🌎 Earth Day

Thursday · April 23

Friday · April 24

Saturday · April 25

Saturday · April 25

The DOT is back with a bigger plan — and it's arriving at Queens Community Board 1 on Tuesday night.

After a Queens Supreme Court judge blocked the city's original 31st Street redesign last December, Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration hit restart in January. Last week, DOT unveiled what it's calling an "expanded" proposal: curbside protected bike lanes running the full 2.5-mile length of 31st Street — from 20th Avenue all the way south to Northern Boulevard. That's roughly double the size of the plan the court paused.

DOT says it has engaged 150 businesses within the project footprint, and 84% provided feedback that's been folded into the new design. The corridor logged 502 traffic injuries from 2021 to 2025, including 23 severe injuries, two pedestrian deaths, and a moped fatality. Local Council Member Tiffany Cabán has called the redesign "essential." Tuesday, April 21 at 6:30 pm, CB1 takes up a resolution to support the project at its full board meeting at 45-02 Ditmars Blvd.

👉 Read the full story on QNS

On Easter morning, a four-alarm fire tore through two buildings at 21-33 and 21-31 31st Avenue, leaving several Astoria families with nearly nothing. What happened next was pure Astoria.

Within 24 hours of resident Kaitlyn Kilpatrick launching a GoFundMe for the Yoshida and Fukumoto families, donations cleared $30,000. A second fundraiser — organized by Georgia Maldonado for her husband's mother, sister, and niece next door — pulled in another $15,000. A third campaign for the Yoshida family alone closed in on $45,000. All told, three community-led efforts have raised more than $90,000 for the displaced families so far.

The 180 firefighters who responded got the flames under control, but rebuilding is going to take the whole neighborhood. The active campaigns are still accepting donations if you'd like to help.

👉 Full details on Astoria Post

Astoria is about to get something it's never had: its own ice rink.

The NHL and the NHL Players' Association — through their joint Industry Growth Fund — have awarded the Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens a $2.5 million grant to build a dedicated hockey space on the roof of its new clubhouse. The Variety HQ at 21-12 30th Road is already mid-transformation: a $305 million renovation that will turn it into a 125,000-square-foot facility and, when complete, the largest Boys & Girls Club in the United States — serving more than 16,000 youth every year.

Construction on the new clubhouse is expected to begin later in 2026 once final approvals are in. Between the ice, the programming, and the new space, Astoria kids are about to get a serious upgrade.

👉 Read the full story on QNS

Astoria's most-Instagrammed gift shop just got bigger. On Saturday, April 18, Lockwood cut the ribbon on its new flagship at 25-15 Broadway, merging all three of its former Astoria locations into one expansive space stocked with clothing, accessories, greeting cards, and houseware.

The grand opening featured 20% off storewide, free embossing on all notebooks and planners, a retro photobooth, and tote-and-koozie giveaways while supplies lasted. If you missed the ribbon-cutting, no sweat — the flagship is now Lockwood's permanent home in the neighborhood, and they're an anchor of the upcoming Shop Small Astoria Spring Retail Crawl (Apr 24–May 4) too.

👉 Read the full story on QNS

Welcome to Issue #001! The Astoria Insider is a three-days-a-week roundup of the news, events, and local business happenings shaping Astoria, Ditmars-Steinway, Long Island City, Sunnyside, and Woodside. No doom-scrolling, no national noise — just your neighborhood, three mornings a week.

If you have a tip, an event to submit, or a local business you love, hit reply — we read every email. And if you know a neighbor who should be reading this, forward the Insider their way. Thanks for being here on day one.

Astoria Insider is inviting local businesses and organizations to be featured in its growing community newsletter.

The platform highlights local news, events and community stories, providing businesses with an opportunity to reach a highly engaged local audience and showcase what they offer.

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?

Those interested in being featured can reach out to learn more about available opportunities and upcoming editions. Click the button below to feature your business or send an email to [email protected] with your business details and we’ll reach out!