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Ever since Runnin' Scared started its coverage of the foreclosure auctions a few months ago, one of the most helpful and kind individuals have been Debbie Seabrook. As we've mentioned before, the 63-year-old travel agent have been monitoring the Queens Supreme Court foreclosure auctions--peacefully, in the back of the room, jotting down information--for the past nine years. She does this for a few reasons: to keep an eye on the court procedures; to help clueless homeowners who may be getting shafted by the system; and because she lost her home nine years ago to what she believes to be unjust reasons.

We wrote three weeks back about Seabrook's arrest (by nine guards) and how she was banned from the civil courts for assisting a Haitian immigrant family--a group that does not speak English very well--from being evicted.

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Maurice Peress, conductor, and Lorca Peress, director

Theater director Lorca Peress is directing two one act operas opening this weekend at Queen College's Goldstein Theater. My Kinsman, Major Molineau (making its New York premiere) and The Image Maker (making its world premiere) were both composed by Bruce Saylor and are conducted by Ms. Peress's father Maurice Peress, the legendary conductor and author of Dvorak to Duke Ellington: A Conductor Explores America's Music and Its African American Roots . (When we covered it for Sound of the City, we had the pleasure of having Maestro Peres as our date at the world premiere of Philip Glass's Symphony No. 9 in Carnegie Hall last January, where he had once worked as Leonard Bernstein's assistant.)

We interviewed Ms. Peress over the phone last week about the new pieces, working with her dad, and creating new work at Queens College.

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Sam Levin

City Councilman Jimmy Van Brammer with Sen. Chuck Schumer, representatives from Kaufman Studios, and other local elected officials.

New York City is oh so very close to being a better city for film and television than Hollywood -- if the federal government would just get out of the damn way!

At least that was the message today on the corner of 36th Street in Astoria, Queens, where Sen. Chuck Schumer, flanked by relevant neighborhood politicians, called on the National Park Service to stop making it difficult for a local film company to build New York City's first-ever outdoor studio.

This project -- which would convert 36th Street between 34th and 35th avenues into a movie studio lot -- apparently could make all the difference in attracting filmmakers and production companies to New York City, instead of Los Angeles, or Toronto, or New Orleans. That means, you guessed it, lots of jobs and economic development, all on one block in Queens.

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Sam Levin

The new "apple green" Boro Taxi, unveiled at City Hall this morning.

It's not lime green, not key lime pie green, not sea-foam green, nor is it chartreuse. Nope. The city's new taxi for upper Manhattan and the outer boroughs, unveiled this morning, is apple green.

The mayor's office emphasized this specific shade of green at a press conference at City Hall this morning by having a basket of green apples on site and one prop apple at the podium that speakers could hold on to and toss in the air if they wanted, to emphasize that this new taxi is in fact "apple" green -- a topic of much debate among reporters in attendance.

In front of the steps of City Hall, the mayor's office took the cover off a model of the new taxi, which looks a lot like the yellow taxis, only it's (apple) green.

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Sam Levin

Congressman Joseph Crowley at a press conference in Queens this afternoon.

A crowded race in Queens to replace longtime Congressman Gary Ackerman reached a new level of political drama today -- but the head of the Queens Democratic Party, who decided not to endorse his own cousin, is brushing aside the latest attacks, saying they come from a "misinformed" candidate.

It's election season!

Let's review the central characters here: Assemblywoman Grace Meng, the candidate of choice of the Queens Democratic Party, is up against Assemblyman Rory Lancman and City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (who is the cousin of Congressman Joe Crowley, the chairman of the Queens Dems who endorsed Meng).

Enter Jeff Gottlieb, the 70-year old Board of Elections employee who just jumped into the NY-6 race, first reported yesterday by a blog called True News.

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Last week, the Voice reported on the U.S. Census Bureau's ruling that New York is not as big as Mayor Mike Bloomberg says.

The Census claims that the city's population is 8,175,133, but the city's Department of Planning has countered that the population is closer to 8.4 million as of July 2010.

The discrepancy has become particularly polemic in Queens.

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Assemblywoman Grace Meng, who is running for Congress, with Jeremy Lin.

It's endorsement season in the crowded race to replace longtime Congressman Gary Ackerman -- who surprised folks last month with the announcement that he would be retiring.

You sometimes wonder how much these endorsements really matter -- but at least they offer us some insight into the kinds of demographics competing campaigns think they can attract and what credentials for the job they are trying to promote.

This afternoon, we have for you news of endorsements for Assemblywoman Grace Meng, the candidate of choice for the Queens Democratic Party, and her competition City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley.

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Sam Levin

Mayor Mike Bloomberg at a senior center in Flushing where seniors were talking on Skype.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg toured one of the city's senior centers in Flushing, Queens yesterday as part of a press event to promote his administration's efforts in launching eight new "innovative" senior centers throughout New York City.

Innovation, in this case, means Skype!

With a tail of reporters and camera crews shoving each other behind him, Bloomberg arrived at the Selfhelp Ben Rosenthal Prince Street Senior Center in Queens yesterday morning, and was given a brief tour of the facilities; he shook hands with seniors, watched them sing, peeked in on a tai chi class, and, you betcha, even participated in a Skype chat (crazy 21st century world we live in, eh?)

In one room, he joined participants who were in the middle of a sing-a-long Skype session.

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Sam Levin

Assemblywoman Grace Meng, who is running for Congress, in Flushing today.

Queens Assemblywoman Grace Meng, who would be New York's first Asian-American member of Congress, has raised $300,000 in ten days.

Obviously, she's thrilled.

"We are definitely excited. I think this is going to be a historical campaign that people all throughout New York and the country are looking at," Meng told the Voice this afternoon after the mayor held a press conference on senior centers in Flushing, Queens.

Meng, the candidate of choice of the Queens Democratic Party, is running in a crowded race that includes City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (the cousin of Rep. Joe Crowley, chairman of the Queens Dems, who has endorsed Meng), Assemblyman Rory Lancman (who yesterday got support from former mayor Ed Koch), and Republican Councilman Dan Halloran, who kicked off his campaign last week.

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