News From Ridgewood, N.Y.
If you’re watching the president’s State of the Union address next week, join the Queens County Young Democrats at their watch party.
The Young Dems will be watching the SOTU next Tuesday, February 5, at 7 p.m. at the Ridgewood Democratic Club HQ (80-70 Putnam Avenue).
Recycle your electronic waste this weekend at Rosemary’s Playground.
On Saturday, January 26 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., State Senator Joe Addabbo is teaming up with Friends of Rosemary’s Playground, the Parks Department and Lower East Side Ecology Center for the event, rain or shine.
Accepted electronics include:
Rosemary’s Playground is located on Fairview Avenue between Woodbine and Madison streets.
UPDATE: At tonight’s meeting, Superintendent Madelene Chan will be honoring the 104th Precinct and a good Samaritan with plaques for their efforts.
Comptroller Scott Stringer may also stop by, the Ridgewood Blog has learned.
The next meeting of Community Education Council 24 will be at PS 77, located at 976 Seneca Avenue in Ridgewood.
The meeting will be on Tuesday, January 15, starting at 7 p.m.
The guest speaker is Sarah Evans, senior director of the Division of Specialized Instruction and Student Support in the Special Education Department.
You’ll also hear a report from District 24 Superintendent Madelene Chan.
The meeting is open to the public.
The Ridgewood Reservoir got a new year’s present: additional environmental protections.
Before the calendar flipped to 2019, the state Department of Environmental Conservation designed the reservoir as a Class I freshwater wetland, according to NYC H2O.
That designation means all three basins of the reservoir bordering Brooklyn and Queens will be “permanently protected as a natural area.”
According to NYC H2O, wetlands are some of the most productive natural ecosystems. They’re protected by the federal Clean Water Act of 1972, and New York’s Freshwater Protection Act of 1975.
The state DEC designates Class 1 protections to a waterbody only when threatened and endangered species have been observed on site.
NYC H2O says the following are listed as threatened/endangered:
• Late flowering boneset (Eupatorium serotinum)
• Fringes boneset (Eupatorium hyssopifolium var laciniatum)
• Globe-fruited ludwigia (Ludwigia sphaerocarpa)
• Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)
• Pied-Billed Grebe (podilymbus podiceps).