By Dee Richard
Councilman Tony Avella, we have set our sights on you this week. It is to be assumed that any rational person has a valid reason for whatever he or she says or does, and for the life of me your rationale for announcing your possible candidacy for mayor completely escapes me, particularly when at the same press conference you admitted that your chances are next to nonexistent.
You say the reason is that you are appalled by what you see in city government and how it is managed. Maybe the people of College Point are equally appalled by the way you managed the College Point Sports Complex. In fact, many residents would still like explanations pertaining to that fiasco.
The French say “look to the woman or follow the money,” and since there obviously is no woman that only leaves the money. Is it the generous matching funds in a mayoral race, or is it the gratitude of those others interested in unseating Mayor Michael Bloomberg?
Perhaps it is even something so mundane as becoming addicted to press coverage. I must admit, you did get your share of printers’ ink on this one, as preposterous as your position seems.
What about your Council seat? Since you cannot run for two positions simultaneously, one could construe a certain lack of interest on your part and thereby might be opening the door of encouragement for some Young Turk to challenge you for the 19th Council District seat.
Think about it, are you sure you really want to open that can of worms? If you toss your hat into the ring of the big-time race, you would be subjecting yourself to such a severe examination you would not be able to sit down for a week.
Perhaps I am being too harsh, but your declaration makes one wonder if you would run the city the same way you ran the College Point Sports Complex — not a very good recommendation.
Next we come to your opposition to the development of the Flushing Airport. You claim it will impact severely on the residential houses in the area. What residences? It is in the middle of an industrial and corporate park. Its swampy condition is a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. Does West Nile virus come to mind?
If you and your constituents are so concerned about the area, why didn’t you ever organize a group to clean it up by removing all the trash the local residents dump there with complete abandon? As to the suggestion of putting a Putt-Putt Golf course there, that’s rather ridiculous. Why should the city lose all that potential revenue just to appease a few shortsighted individuals? If they have such an overwhelming desire for Put-Put Golf, why not build it in MacNeil Park?
The city is in dire need of revenue. If you succeed in killing the proposed airport project, the only other way the city has to obtain revenues is to raise taxes. Would your constituents rather have their taxes increased? I don’t think so. One could believe that perhaps you are becoming “Sharpton-esque.”
After reading the above, one could conceive that I don’t like you, you know, but this is not true. We just have differences of opinions on the aforementioned issues. I sincerely believe they are not two of your best and brightest ideas.
Mayor Mike and Council Speaker Giff Miller, maybe if you give Tony his parking space back it might appease him and he’ll forget about running for mayor, thereby not impacting on both your respective races.
U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton was the guest speaker and honoree at a private St. Patrick’s celebration March 19 at the Manhattan Club sponsored by the Brehon Council. U.S. Rep. Peter King was supposed to introduce Clinton, but he couldn’t make it due to his book-signing commitment. John Dearie performed the honors instead. He made a great emcee.
Some of the other guests were Queens County Democratic Organization Chairman Tom Manton; attorneys Jim Wrynn Sr. and Jim Wrynn Jr.; former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer; U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner; First Deputy Clerk Michael McSweeney; and attorney Grant Lally, to name just a few.
Hillary is beginning to look like a serious contender for the throne. Her new softer centrist image has a much wider appeal.
Some of the other events that happened this week were the 20th anniversary tribute to Alan Friedman at a dinner held at the New York Hall of Science. Alan is the director of the Hall of Science.
Jun Policarpio held a fund-raiser the same Friday night at the Sheraton LaGuardia East. It was a well-attended event.
Sunday morning we had two events. The first was for the Northeast Queens Jewish Community Council held at the Samuel Field YMHA in Little Neck. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum was the guest speaker.
The second event was a forum at the Hollis Hills Jewish Center. The subject was “Are our children being shortchanged on the school issue?” The panel was comprised of Deputy Mayor Marc Shaw, state Sens. Frank Padavan and Toby Stavisky, Assemblyman Mark Weprin and Councilman David Weprin. There will be more details later on this lively, thought-provoking discussion.
The restaurant 39 East in Bayside held its official opening the night of March 22. It is a great place to dine or meet a friend for a drink in a most attractive cocktail lounge. Try the new raspberry vodka martini. It’s super.
Time and space have run out, so I will fill you in with lots more details about these and other events next week.
Don’t forget to check out the photos on the Focus on Queens page.
As usual, I can be reached via voice mail at 718-767-6484, fax at 718-746-0066 or e-mail at deerrichard@aol.com.
Till next week,
Dee
