After 8 Emotional Days, Northwest Queens Dies
Northwest Queens, the severely power-damaged New York borough which became the subject of an intense legal and political battle that drew responses from the local representatives to Mayor Bloomberg to the Vatican, died today, after 8 days of attempting to repair a blackout on the order of a state court judge. Con Ed had restored power to almost all homes in the area as of last night, but after Astoria residents continued to experience sporadic power outages, the neighborhood's feeding tube was removed.
Queens, 323, died just after 11 p.m. last night in the area surrounding Ditmars where power had flickered, off and on, for several days, the borough's attorney said. But even as Queens slipped away, the searing emotions that surrounded her final days remained, following a national debate over whether the area should have been reconnected to a tube that provided it with nourishment, hydration and electricity.
"Mayor Bloomberg's overriding concern here was to provide for Queens a peaceful death with dignity," said Helen M. Marshall, who was Queens Borough President. "This death was not for the other boroughs, and not for the residents and not for Con Ed. This was for Queens. She has a right to die peaceably, in a loving setting, with dignity, and that was Bloomerg's concern."
