Editor’s Note: This is a selection of stories from 2020 chosen by QCP’s editor and staff writer, Clarissa Sosin. The following stories capture what has been an unexpected and volatile yet thrilling and historic year in the life of Queens residents and the politics that govern their lives. 2020 posed a number of reporting challenges but our staff writers and freelancers we able to overcome those challenges and bring you to the front lines of the political moments that shaped Queens this year.
Queens Senior Services Threatened by Budget Cuts and Uncertainty
By Clarissa Sosin
June 20, 2020
Kerly Serrano was able to hold it together while she translated for the woman on the other end of the phone, a senior living alone while a pandemic ravaged her neighborhood. But when she heard the woman, Amparo Portero, 72, explain how much the calls from the Sunnyside Community Services Senior Center meant to her, she broke down.
“It means somebody cares for her,” said Serrano, the director of the senior center, choking back tears while translating Portero’s statement into English.
An Hour Inside a Polling Site in Astoria
By Jose Cardoso
June 23, 2020
The gym inside P.S. 171 Peter G. Van Alst, one of the city’s polling sites in Astoria, was mostly silent on Tuesday afternoon. There was no conversation except for the occasional whisper and brief conversations between poll workers and voters to clarify last names.
If it wasn’t for COVID-19, the primary election might have generated more foot traffic. Between early voting and mail-in absentee ballots, the gym was nearly empty. But, despite the pandemic, some residents took the risk and came out to vote. All of them respected social distancing.
Queens Residents Take Politics Into Their Own Hands by Running for District Leader
By Clarissa Sosin
June 23, 2020
On Friday evening, Fred Simmons went out to put up flyers for his campaign.
“I’m tired of the machine. It’s not my first introduction to politics,” he said while walking down 134th street near 95th Avenue in Jamaica looking for spots to put up his flyers. “I’ve learned the ropes so to speak. But it’s time to change.”
An Empty Seat and Broken Hearts in Queens: Replacing RBG
By Parker E. Quinlan
September 29, 2020
For the last two years, Diana Basmajian has kept up the odd hobby of producing small crocheted dolls in the likeness of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Basmajian, who lives in Astoria, said that though she began crocheting the dolls in 2018, she has admired Ginsburg since 1993, shortly after she graduated high school. She’s understood the importance of having women on the Supreme Court since she was much younger.
Queens City Council Candidate Aims to End “Digital Divide”
By Clarissa Sosin
October 2, 2020
Halfway through our interview, City Council Candidate LaToya Benjamin’s voice dropped out of the phone call.
“You just broke up and I missed what you said,” I chimed in, hoping she could hear me on the other side.
“I’m sorry, it’s our Digital Divide issue,” she answered. “Can you hear me now?”
Across Queens, History Plays Out One Vote at a Time
By Clarissa Sosin
November 3, 2020
Poll site coordinator Jerome L. Taylor showed up to work early to prepare for history.
It was 5 a.m. and already there were a handful of people waiting outside of the Adrien Block I.S. 25 school in Flushing. They stood patiently while Taylor and his team got ready for the long day ahead of them. At 6 a.m., when Taylor opened the door, the line of voters had grown and snaked down the block. They started to enter.
Newly Elected Women of Color Look to Blaze Path of Their Own
By Eddy Martinez
November 5, 2020
Two insurgent Democrat women of color coasted to victory on election night, their wins assured this past summer during primary election upsets. They are now poised to follow through on campaign promises to bring the voices of their communities into their policy proposals, such as taxing the wealthy at higher rates and improving social services for their constitutents, as the first non-white elected women in their districts in years.
