By Tien-Shun Lee
During part of a day spent in Queens last week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited a Jamaica Rotary Club meeting in Forest Hills, where he spoke about the financial situation of the city before feeding an apple to a horse that was donated to the Police Department by the club.
“The best days for this city are yet to come,” said Bloomberg, speaking behind a tall podium inside Sarabella, an Italian restaurant at 103-22 Metropolitan Ave. that is owned by Danny Sollenne, 50, the second vice president of the Jamaica Rotary Club.
“Financially, I think we're over the worst,” said the mayor, after noting that having to deal with a $6 billion deficit has been a painful process that has not made him popular. “The tax increases are scheduled to be reduced over the next couple of years. We really are moving in the right direction.”
Bloomberg thanked the rotary club for its generosity in giving a horse to the NYPD and said the organization makes a positive difference in the city.
The new NYPD horse, named Alicia's Pride, was the third horse to be donated by the Jamaica Rotary Club to the Police Department. Last year the club donated two horses, named Jonathan and Woody, to the NYPD.
Alicia's Pride was named after Sollenne's wife, Alice Alicia Sollenne, who died of cancer on Sept. 12, 2001 at the age of 48.
“A horse is a living memorial, not a plaque or a trophy,” Sollenne said. “To have a living being as a present is a tremendous idea. I thank (Alicia's Pride) for representing my wife in the form of her beauty, strength and courage.”
Alicia's Pride was chosen from a horse dealership in Florida by Capt. Chris Acerbo, the commanding officer of the NYPD Mounted Unit.
The horse was specially trained for three months to be a police horse, said Acerbo, and will be ridden in Queens by Officer Yvette Anderson.
Aside from presenting a horse to the Police Department, members of the Jamaica Rotary Club, which selects several “Cops of the Month” from local precincts, also presented plaques to six police officers from three precincts.
The honored police officers were Robert Moore and Verna Hendrick from the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica, Christopher Giambrone and Taiwo Miller from the 113th Precinct in South Jamaica, and Loisa Souffrount and Bobby Espinel from the 102nd Precinct in Richmond Hill.
After a buffet lunch of fish and vegetables, the Rotary Club meeting moved outside, where Bloomberg, who was accompanied by City Council Speaker Gifford Miller (D-Manhattan), gave an apple to Alicia's Pride.
Other elected officials at the meeting included Councilwoman Melinda Katz (D-Forest Hills), Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) and state Assemblyman Michael Cohen (D-Forest Hills).
Later in the day, Bloomberg went to Flushing, where he walked down Main Street accompanied by Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), and then on to the Blue Bay Diner in Bayside, where he was interviewed by reporters.
Reach reporter Tien-Shun Lee by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com, or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
