By Betsy Scheinbart
Sixteen months after his election to the state Senate, Malcolm Smith is still bringing HEET to Albany, an acronym for legislation aimed at health care, education, the economy and technology.
In his St. Albans district office Friday, Smith reflected on his accomplishments in the Senate and his priorities for improvements in the future.
“I am trying to make everything local,” Smith said of his strategy as a legislator, “improving the qualify of life on your street, in your front yard, on your block.”
Since a special election in March 2000 propelled him into office, Smith, a Democrat, has introduced 12 pieces of legislation into the Republican-led state Legislature, four of which have passed.
Working the HEET concept, he has fought to allow foreign-trained doctors to practice in the Unites States, pushed to develop charter schools, helped establish a consortium of small business owners and worked to ensure that his entire senatorial district is eventually “wired” with Internet access.
Smith has pressed to get some of the taxes collected from airline passengers returned to the communities which surround the airports, including part of his district near John F. Kennedy International Airport.
He is also helping in the development of a minority-owned business group that would ensure local businesses are properly trained and their employees able to join unions so they can participate in larger projects, such as the AirTrain light rail system to JFK.
A charter school is planned as an offshoot of the project, an opportunity for students to learn trades and how to run a trade business. Smith hopes to find a place for the school in Queens or Brooklyn as soon as next year.
“I just want to get the school up and running to train students for the industry to come,” he said.
Smith is a real estate developer by trade and the son of a welder. He said his mother got him involved in politics at a young age. He cut his political teeth working for former U.S. Rep. Floyd Flake and City Councilman Archie Spigner (D-St. Albans).
Most recently, he introduced a bill to strengthen the crackdown on predatory lending, an issue City Comptroller Alan Hevesi has been pioneering for several months.
“This bill will ensure that those lenders who refuse to abide by ethical standards will not find victims in New York state,” Smith said.
Another current concern for his district is the former West Side factory site in Jamaica. The four-acre lot at 107-10 180th St. is heavily contaminated by dry cleaning chemicals and the state Department of Health is currently conducting an impact study to see if the rate of cancer in the area has increased as a result.
Smith said he knows of 70 households in the area where individuals have either died or currently suffer from cancer and some are ready to sue the state for failing to clean up the contamination.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation said last month there are no funds to clean the site, which Smith estimates would cost about $5 million to $6 million.
Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 138.
