The Forest Hills Gardens Blog

Image of Phil Lesh courtesy Steven Limentani Photography

Forest Hills jam band fans have something to be grateful for, as Phil Lesh & Friends have announced they will be performing at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium on Sept. 21 at 6 p.m.

Formed around former Grateful Dead bass man Phil Lesh, the jam band has a rotating membership, though officials announced that Lesh will be joined by guitarists Warren Haynes and Jimmy Herring, drummer John Molo and keyboardist Rob Barraco for the September show. 

The concert will be the first performed by the group in 11 years, and comes just two days after The Replacements, Deer Tick and the Hold Steady perform at the venue. Other musicians to perform at the venue this summer include the Zac Brown Band, Drake, Lil’ Wayne, Modest Mouse and Brand New.

The summer of concerts is the first in several decades for the stadium, and promoters hope that the venue will become a regular summer stop for influential artists.

To bring the community together, the 112th Precinct Community Council and the officers of the precinct are co-hosting a Night Out Against Crime at MacDonald Park on Tues., August 5.

The National Night Out will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. and will feature free live music, barbecue and other foods, and safety information and demonstrations for residents.

In the event of rain, the night out will be a night in at the Forest Hills Jewish Center.

Where are all of the Forest Hills Jazz lovers?  The Forest Hills Chamber of Commerce has asked for your help to donate to their “Save Jazz Thursdays” campaign.  Jazz Thursdays consists of two Thursdays in August which feature world class performers.  This is a must see for families and allows you to be as comfortable as possible, whether you prefer to bring blankets or chairs.

For this year’s 10th anniversary, which kicks off on August 7th and takes place on 70th Rd., the Forest Hills committee is hoping to increase their number of performances from two nights to three with your help.

They have launched an indiegogo campaign with a goal of raising $8,000.  So far they have managed to raise $700.

Click here to donate to their campaign which ends tonight at midnight.

One of Azi Paybarah’s March 15, 2009 photos of John Haggerty with the former mayor.

John F. Haggerty, Jr., a former Bloomberg political operative who bought his deceased grandfather’s home in the Gardens with money meant for election day ballot security and poll watching lost his appeal with the state’s highest court on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Haggerty was convicted in 2011 for misallocating $1.1 million of the $1.2 million he was given by then-Mayor Bloomberg for the state Independence Party while on the campaign trail in 2009. Flickr user Azi Paybarah has a few snaps of Haggerty and Bloomberg hamming it up on March 15, 2009, at around the same period the embezzlement is said to occur. The court ruled unanimously against his appeal.

On Sept. 30, 2011, the NY Times’ City Room blog posted a photo of the “shabby” Haggerty house on a hill, located at Greenway North and Puritan Avenue. A neighbor told the blog that he “keeps it that way [shabby] so it looks like no one is home.” And apparently when the set director for HBO’s miniseries ‘Mildred Pierce’ hired a landscaper to clean up the yard while they were shooting next door, Haggerty was upset about it, much in the way that children get angry when you point out their flaws in public.

One interesting little tidbit in this case is that Haggerty, Jr., was buying out his brother’s share in the home from his own father, a move that not only allowed his family to maintain ownership of their property, but also to – in effect – increase his family’s net worth by several hundred thousand dollars.

Mashid Mohadjerin took this photo of the Haggerty home for The New York Times‘ City Room blog in 2011.

A photo emerged on social media via the 112th Precinct Community Council at just after midnight on Mon., June 30 showing smoke and flames rolling out of Florist Hills on Woodhaven Boulevard at 68th Road across from St. John’s Cemetery. At about 1 a.m., Facebook user Anne Lyons Flemming posted:

“[The] fire is out….looks like the top of the florist….no one was hurt and the strange thing is you can’t even smell the fire…one of the firefighters said it was big when it started….good thing is no injuries!”

Flemming reported that it seemed only the upper area of the flower shop was damaged. She speculated in reply to another commenter that it may have been an electrical fire, adding, “Not sure how else it could start in a florist!”

The communities of Forest Hills and Ridgewood were recognized by 311 this week for leading the city with the most litter and recycled good reports.

Check out how other neighborhoods matched up in numerous categories on this daily leaderboard put out by Here Here NYC.

Renovations to the Mary Whalen playground, located in Oak Ridge in Forest Park were proposed yesterday. Mary Whalen playground is located on the corner 79th and Park Lane South. Over a million dollars has been allocated from council member from Elizabeth Crowley.  Queens Borough President Melinda Kat, will be contributing an additional 180,000 to the project.  

The projected plan will break the playground into sections, gearing each section towards a specific age group.  Additionally the parks planted area will be increased by 150 percent, and increasing the tree count by 200 percent.  The entire  renovation presentation can be viewed on YouTube.

Forest Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corp is having a Fund Raising event “Laughter is the Best Medicine” on Saturday, June 7th at Grace Lutheran Church 103-15 Union Turnpike in Forest Hills starting at 7PM. A live auction to follow.  Tickets are $20 and are available at www.comedytogoinc.com or A Royal Collectibles, 96-01 Metropolitan Ave.  Call 718-793-2055 for more information.