By Daniel Massey
A standing-room-only crowd of 350 people, including more than 30 elected officials, packed a St. Albans church Saturday evening to celebrate the inauguration of Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) to the City Council.
Amid music, prayer and words of praise for the new councilman, at least 50 people stood throughout the entire 2-1/2-hour ceremony in the Episcopal Church of St. Albans the Martyr on Farmer’s Boulevard.
It was, as U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, “a great day” for the District 27 councilman in the church he has attended since he was a child.
Schumer paid tribute to the might of southeast Queens voters. “We politicians know who votes in this city and we know that southeast Queens is the second-highest voting area in the state of New York,” he said.
The Guy R. Brewer United Democratic Club is a big reason for that power. Its members were well-represented at the ceremony, waving their hands in the air each time former Councilman and Democratic district leader Archie Spigner asked if there was anyone from the club in the house.
In addition to Schumer, the dignitaries on hand included Deputy Mayor and St. Albans native Dennis Walcott, Borough President Helen Marshall, Queens County Democratic Organization Chairman Tom Manton, City Council Speaker A. Gifford Miller (D-Manhattan) and many of Comrie’s council colleagues from Queens.
Walcott took a break from securing extra chairs for the overflow crowd to tell those in attendance that with him and Comrie in City Hall, southeast Queens is in good hands.
“There are two connectors to protect southeast Queens and that’s Leroy and me,” he said.
Manton praised Comrie for becoming the first council member elected to chair a committee, the Committee on Rules, Privileges and Elections.
Spigner, who was replaced by Comrie after he was forced to step down from his council seat by term limits, emceed the festivities and recalled the first time he met his future chief aide.
“Eighteen years ago Leroy, highly recommended, arrived at my district office for an interview on a bicycle,” he said, eliciting a chorus of laughter from the crowd. “For a long time that was his only mode of transportation. Leroy, you should have stuck with the bike.”
Turning serious, Spigner said he was pleased to be passing the torch to Comrie, his longtime aide, and confident his successor would serve southeast Queens well.
“He knows every part of the community first hand,” Spigner said. “He is a people’s person. He likes people.”
State Supreme Court Judge Duane Hart then administered the oath of office to Comrie, with his family at his side.
In a rambling speech that occasionally followed a prepared text, the councilman credited the Episcopal Church of St. Albans with awakening within him a fire to make the world a better place.
“I got into public service from my youth from being in this church,” he said.
Comrie pledged to fight for Queens in the face of budget cuts stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks.
“Queens is not going to be shortchanged in this process,” he said. “I’m here to do your work. I’m here to be your voice. I’m here to make your city better.”
The former school board member then weighed in on the current debate over the potential elimination of the Board of Education. He said abolishing the central board is “just not fair” and that the solution lies in making it accountable.
“We need to eliminate excuses in education,” he said.
Taking a page out of state Sen. Malcolm Smith’s 2000 inauguration, Comrie concluded the ceremony by asking all the religious leaders in the crowd to “lay their hands” on him in prayer.
As Comrie kneeled to the floor and bowed his head, a half dozen religious officials placed their hands on his head and shoulders and Archdeacon O.D. Young led a prayer asking God to guide Comrie in serving the people of Queens.
Reach reporter Daniel Massey by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
