Marshall touts borough’s bright future

On the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Helen Marshall - Queens’ first African-American Borough President - delivered her penultimate state of the borough address recalling numerous triumphs from the past year and proclaiming new initiatives that she hopes will continue to improve the quality of life throughout Queens.
Marshall, who is beginning her seventh year as Borough President, spoke about making improvements in housing, education and healthcare as well as the many development projects going up across the borough during her address at Queens College on Tuesday, January 15.
“Queens is about to see entirely new communities on its landscape with thousands of new housing units, new schools, shops and recreational space,” Marshall told an audience of local elected officials, community activists and borough residents.
During her address, Marshall cited development projects underway across the borough including Hunters Point South, Queens West, Silvercup West, Arverne East, Flushing Commons, Willets Point, Citi Field and a number of private and public developments in Jamaica. Many of these proposed developments will include retail space, affordable housing, office space, schools and recreational space that will transform entire neighborhoods.
However, Marshall also vowed to make sure that there was a balance between development and preserving the character of the smaller, unique Queens neighborhoods.
“To protect the character of our predominantly single family areas, last year rezonings were approved for several areas and rezonings are underway for several additional communities,” she said.
Meanwhile, Marshall continued to urge both the city and federal governments to come up with solutions to prevent flooding problems that wreaked havoc on the borough last summer. The torrential rainstorms flooded basements, destroyed property and shut down many mass transit lines throughout the borough.
Marshall expressed a desire to acquire federal funds to construct lateral sewers in southeast Queens neighborhoods that were hit hard by flooding, but that project could cost nearly $1 billion.
“To bring immediate relief, I have suggested that city capital funds be allocated now to clean and renovate failing sewage basins across the borough,” Marshall said.
In addition, Marshall continued to stress that before going ahead with any congestion-pricing plan, the city should add more funding to mass transit, increase the frequency of Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) trains at Flushing Main Street and Woodside and reopen LIRR stations currently closed.
“Let’s finally provide ferry service to the Rockaways and western Queens; Councilmember [Joseph] Addabbo has been a leader in this effort,” Marshall said.
When she shifted her focus to education, Marshall continued to praise the work of the City University of New York (CUNY) institutions in Queens.
“Because of the new energy and transit accessibility, I am pleased to tell you that at my urging, CUNY Law School is moving forward on a plan to move to Long Island City,” Marshall told the audience.
Marshall also touted the success of the Queens Borough Public Library - which has the highest circulation of any public library in the country - and announced plans for additions to branches in Kew Gardens Hills and Elmhurst.
“Thanks to the leadership of Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Speaker Christine Quinn and the city council, six-day service is finally back and six Queens branches now have seven-day service,” Marshall said.
In her 2007 state of the borough address, one of Marshall’s main themes was bringing back the Flushing Remonstrance to the borough, which occurred at the end of 2007. During the course of the year, 25 events were planned to recognize the document that was a precursor to the Bill of Rights. However, Marshall announced even bigger plans for the document going forward.
“Today, I have written to the governor, asking for a permanent return of the document to its rightful home - Queens,” Marshall announced.
She also gave lifetime achievement awards to Dr. Thelma Bright, the founder and CEO of the Women of Faith in Jamaica, and 96-year-old Anthony Caminiti - a lifelong resident of Queens who served during World War II - who has been a member of Community Board 4 for more than 35 years.
“Both Dr. Bright and Caminiti are ordinary people doing extraordinary deeds for others,” Marshall said.