The College Point Board of Trade has announced that Howard C. Haider has been named Executive Director after the passing of the board’s founding president, Fred J. Mazzarello, last September.
Mazzarello’s passing after more than three decades of service left the board without a leader for almost five months, as Haider’s position as the board’s new Executive Director was not announced until February.
Although Haider, a resident of Auburndale, is not a prior member of the board, he brings with him an extensive resumé of public service and experience, including his work as an Executive Director for the Military Association of New York. He currently serves as an unpaid C.O.O. for the Militia Association of New York (the legal term for the Coast Guard).
Picking up where Mazzarello left off, Haider said that his main priorities in the new role are centered on the need to “insure that the merchants and tradesmen of the College Point area have a voice - collectively and individually - with the city, state and federal government,” and also to “improve membership in the College Point Board of Trade.”
He also added that he wanted the board “basically to be a point of contact for any problem and help to improve the area.”
In January, published reports said that Board Chairman Tom Palma was focused on establishing a Business Improvement District (BID), a challenge Haider and the board are still actively pursuing.
Ideally, the BID would be an entity that would enable the business community to maintain the local shopping area and would drastically improve the socioeconomic situation in and around the College Point area.
Haider noted that the project is still in the works and that the board is currently in the process of gathering all of the necessary paperwork to make it happen. A lot of the paperwork involves compiling a list of the area’s current property owners who, as Haider pointed out, have the final word on their involvement in the BID.
Haider said that although the progress is not as rapid as he’d hoped, the project is definitely headed in the right direction.
