One northeast Queens elected official is throwing a penalty flag for a personal foul at a former Councilmember and current State Senate candidate for what he believes was political ploy.
City Councilmember Dan Halloran sent a strongly-worded letter to College Point Sports Association President Tony Cusenza voicing his displeasure that an event was held at the end of August to celebrate the completion of phase two of the reconstruction of the College Point Sports Field Complex, and Democratic State Senate candidate Tony Avella was the only person invited to speak.
“The politicizing of this event in order to benefit Mr. Avella’s political ambitions is particularly disturbing given his role in the ill-fated plan that resulted in the closure of the College Points Sports fields to begin with,” Halloran wrote.
In the letter sent to Cusenza on October 19, Halloran wrote that while Avella served as the President of the College Point Sports Association in the ‘90s, he approved the hiring of a contractor who dumped illegal construction debris on the site – ultimately causing the fields to be closed down.
At the August event, which received some local press coverage and was attended by community members, no city or state elected officials were invited or participated, and the fields have still not officially reopened.
Avella, who is locked in a competitive State Senate battle with Republican Frank Padavan, issued a press release after the August 24 event where he did “thank the Mayor and the City Council for playing a major part in making this happen.”
However, Halloran, who allocated $11,000 in discretionary funding to the College Point Sports Association and $9,000 to the College Point Little League this year, did not receive any notice that an event was taking place in his district.
“While it is my intention to continue to provide Council Discretionary funding to College Point sports programs, the city has a right to ensure that the not for profit groups it funds are not engaged in political partisanship and our community has a right to expect that its not-for-profits do not put politicians before the children,” Halloran wrote.
