Several things strike us about the City Council’s decision to rename a street in Jamaica. The first is that the vote by the Council to honor Sean Bell appears to have brought some measure of comfort to his fiancée, Nicole Paultre-Bell. Comment.

There has been so much going on I hardly know where to begin. The normal aspects of life — birth, illness or injury and death — continue in spite of massive government and holiday activities. We wish that all the sad things have been kept to a minimum and those involved have been at least somewhat uplifted by the beauty of the season — yes, including that big pile of snow that blew our way. Comment.

In mid-December, Larry Mottola, his staff and numerous volunteers and neighbors provided free beauty care for developmentally disabled children and young adults from the community and a couple of special schools in Queens at the LP Salon and Spa on Union Turnpike in Fresh Meadows. Comment.

BAYSIDE %u2013 A Flushing man was arraigned on charges he stole items from Bayside vehicles he rummaged through and had drugs in his possession, a spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Comment.

COLLEGE POINT — A Brooklyn man has been charged with buying a $1,400 television from a College Point BJ’s by using another man’s credit card, a spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. Comment.

Queens teacher Brad Ferro made two bad decisions. The first was to take part in an MTV reality show called “Jersey Shore.” The second was punching a woman in the face while cameras were rolling. Comment.

ELMHURST — A Brooklyn woman was charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument and attempted petit larceny for allegedly trying to cash a fraudulent check at an Elmhurst Chase Bank branch, the Queens district attorney’s office said. Comment.

FAR ROCKAWAY — A Brooklyn man was arraigned last week on assault and criminal possession of a weapon charges stemming from the stabbing of a man in Far Rockaway, a spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. Comment.

OZONE PARK — A Far Rockaway man was arraigned earlier this month in the assault of a man in Ozone Park, a spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Tuesday. Comment.

SUNNYSIDE — A Sunnyside man was charged with reckless driving, resisting arrest and other counts after he was allegedly riding his car erratically in the neighborhood, a spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. Comment.

What is going on with this weather? Last week we had from 13 inches to 26 inches of snow and this past weekend, in one night, most of it was all washed away by a storm with temperatures into the 50s. Comment.

Where to start in responding to Bill Lewis’ Dec. 17 column, “Conservative groups increase in criticizing Obama’s policies”? Comment.

The state Legislature rightly rejected Gov. David Paterson’s original plan to cut $686 million from classrooms across the state, which would have been devastating by eliminating programs and faculties in the middle of the school year. The governor is now withholding 10 percent of school funding — $146 million — in his effort to fix the state budget. Comment.

I would like to comment on the Dec. 24 TimesLedger article “City Council approves street renaming for Sean Bell.” Comment.

Even the best proposals unfold slowly in New York City. For years the city Economic Development Corp. has been attempting to redevelop Willets Point. The area that abuts the new Mets stadium is an urban disaster with regularly flooded streets and automobile salvage yards that make the area look like a dump. Comment.

For those of us of a certain age, childhood memories of the world of the future had promises fulfilled (computers, miniature television and cameras), promises yet unfulfilled (space tourism to other planets) and promises best unfulfilled (indiscriminate use of nuclear energy). Comment.

Two years ago at this time, I was at the beginning of what turned out to be 51 days in the hospital and rehab. But before I went into St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, L.I., on Christmas Eve morning in 2007, I had written a column on resolutions for Jan. 3, 2008. On Dec. 26, Elaine sent off that column to the editors at TimesLedger Newspapers. Comment.

This will be the last column for 2009 and thank heaven for that. This has not exactly been a blue banner year for me. If anything could have possibly gone wrong, it did. Hopefully 2010 will be better. Comment.

During the recent City Council election in the 19th Council District in northeast Queens, the elected Republican candidate, Dan Halloran, stressed overdevelopment. He also strongly indicated that the city Department of Buildings is not accurately checking city Building Code violations, especially illegal conversions. Comment.

Overall crime for the 103rd Precinct declined in 2009 from the previous year, but major offenses such as rape, assault and robbery rose, police statistics show. Comment.

The 113th Precinct has seen a significant drop in murder, rape, robbery and other crimes, and the head of the precinct’s community council credited neighborhood residents with the success. Comment.

The spirit of Kwanzaa filled Rochdale Village Sunday as the apartment complex held its fourth-annual celebration of the African-American holiday with the Jamaica-based Afrikan Poetry Theatre. Comment.

Teachers and school union officials protested outside a Jamaica charter school last week, demanding that the institution’s board put more of its resources into academics. Comment.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg put his signature to a bill Monday renaming dozens of streets in New York City, including the Jamaica street where Sean Bell was killed by police and the Floral Park block where a mother of three died in an accidental gas explosion that destroyed her home. Comment.

Children in southeast Queens who think their dads are so good that they deserve an award will have a chance to prove it. Comment.

Glen Oaks Village President Bob Friedrich is accusing City Councilman David Weprin’s (D-Hollis) Assembly campaign manager of intimidating northeast Queens civic leaders as he weighs whether to seek the same seat himself. Comment.

Millions of people across the country caught a glimpse of St. John’s University on the big screen last weekend. Comment.

Thousands of homes in Flushing, Whitestone and other northeast Queens neighborhoods have been targeted by one or more companies running a scam in which they made 311 calls reporting entire blocks of homeowners for housing violations, according to city Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside). Comment.

Crime is down nearly 7 percent in the 105th Precinct from 2008-09, according to crime statistics. Comment.

Final hurdles have been cleared and the Herman A. and Malvina Schleicher House has been officially landmarked by the city. Comment.

The special state Senate committee formed to look into what to do about Sen. Hiram Monserrate (D-East Elmhurst)appeared unlikely to release its findings by the end of the year, though published reports said it appeared they were preparing a severe report. Comment.

The city Department of Environmental Protection’s report released last week that calls for a ban on gas drilling in the city’s upstate watershed thrilled City Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows), who has repeatedly said such action in the area that provides drinking water to the majority of city residents would cost taxpayers billions of dollars and potentially prove dangerous to individuals’ health. Comment.

Bayside community activist Mandingo Tshaka said he was pleased after the city renamed Flushing’s Martins Field to honor the remains of African Americans and native Americans who had been buried there more than 100 years ago, but he has also called for the site to be locked up at night to prevent vandalism. Comment.

Crime in the 109th Precinct has declined across the board over the past year by 10.2 percent led by significant drops in murder, rape and grand larceny auto theft, the city Police Department reported Monday. Comment.

The Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing has made it halfway through a short winter hibernation instituted for the first time in 2009 aimed at cutting costs in the face of declining funding. Comment.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg approved the renaming of a Bayside street near the 111th Precinct to honor the late Sol Soskin, a Little Neck community activist who served on the precinct’s community council for more than 50 years and acted as its president for a number of them. Comment.

The third phase of a massive project to halt flooding in Bayside and filter sewer overflow in Douglaston has begun and will include repairing five locations around Oakland Lake, Community Board 11’s district manager said. Comment.

Bayside’s Queensborough Community College has become the first community college in the nation to be selected by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as an associate member of its Science Education Alliance research initiative. Comment.

A Brooklyn man and another from the Bronx have been charged in the September killing of an Ozone Park pizzeria owner’s son during a push-in robbery in Ozone Park, according to a criminal complaint filed with the Queens district attorney’s office. Comment.

The LaGuardia Community College student who became a decorated U.S. Army paratrooper after serving time on a felony gun possession charge was pardoned Tuesday by Gov. David Paterson. Comment.

U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica) is under intense scrutiny after a report revealed his ties to an accused Ponzi schemer. Comment.

The murder rate in New York City is on track to reach historic lows, but homicides in Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, East Elmhurst and Corona are on the rise. The 110th and 115th precincts, which oversee the territory between the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, Long Island Expressway, Van Wyck Expressway and Long Island Sound, had more murders this year than last, but rates were still in the single digits. Comment.

The 104th Precinct has a problem with burglars, but other major crimes were down for the year in Glendale, Maspeth, Middle Village and Ridgewood. Comment.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli subpoenaed records from the New York Racing Association Monday after he said the organization refused to give him access to financial information. Comment.

A thwarted Christmas Day attack on a Northwest jetliner has created tighter security at airlines throughout the globe, but despite the increased delays and inconvenience flyers arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport said they were glad the authorities were being safe instead of sorry. Comment.

The Dutch Kills resident who was killed while trying to protect his neighbor from a vagrant will be remembered by more than just his neighbors after Mayor Michael Bloomberg approved the renaming of a street in his honor. Comment.

Queens and Staten Island tied for the boroughs with the lowest unemployment rates in the city in a new study conducted by a nonprofit agency, but minorities in many Queens neighborhoods are feeling the pinch nonetheless. Comment.

Crime fell nearly 6 percent in the 102nd Precinct between 2008 and 2009, according to statistics filed by the city Police Department. Comment.

U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Forest Hills) last week criticize the Senate for passing a health care bill that does not include a public option and vowed to alter the legislation before it goes to the president’s desk for final approval. Comment.

The enticement of deep discounts was not enough to bring shoppers to Austin Street with most retailers saying they had a miserable day of sales the on the critical day after Christmas because of heavy rains. Comment.

In the midst of a recession that has seen nonprofit groups scramble for continued funding, one Queens activist organization has a little extra to celebrate this holiday season. Comment.

A well-respected nonprofit working with mothers just released from incarceration is planning an expansion in Corona as it also prepares to rebuild its headquarters. Comment.

Western Queens elected officials handed out more than 400 turkeys donated by Astoria’s Fresh Direct to families in need last week from Long Island City’s Bread of Life Food Pantry, which has served thousands of hungry borough residents this month. Comment.

Buoyed by sharp decreases in murders, rapes and robberies, major crime decreased more than 10 percent in the 106th Precinct in southern Queens between 2008 and 2009, according to city Police Department statistics. Comment.

Astoria residents, business owners and elected officials said they are fed up with neighborhood traffic agents whom they say over-zealously hand out tickets to drivers and parked cars in one of the borough’s prime restaurant and shopping meccas. Comment.

A 16-year-old Long Island City girl accused of stabbing a resident of the Queensbridge Houses in what her family called self-defense after she feared being raped inside the F train subway station near the housing project on Christmas Eve was being held by authorities Tuesday pending her arraignment, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. Comment.