By Dee Richard
Did everyone get their taxes done and filed on time, or did you have to file for an extension? Did you ever notice at this time of the year how everyone swears they are never again going to put themselves through all this pressure and tension? They all swear they are going to get it together and will be better organized and record everything in order to avoid the last-minute insanity.
That promise rarely lasts until Memorial Day and then it reverts to the usual “I’ll take care of it later” and, as you all know, later becomes April 15, which is Tax Day. It’s like New Year’s: Everyone is going to go on a diet, which rarely lasts beyond Valentine’s Day. Oh, well — the world is full of procrastinators, so what else is new?
On Wednesday evening, the Queens County Conservative Party held its annual spring dinner at the Roma View in Howard Beach. As usual, it was well-attended.
This year’s only honoree was Democrat Peter Vallone Jr., a really nice guy. Two of the guests were Queens District Attorney Dick Brown and Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, who both happen to be charter members of the Dee Richard “Good Guys Club.” The rumor has been for years that Peter has his eye on the Queens DA’s position if and when it becomes available. Does that mean we had 2 1/2 DA’s at the dinner party?
The big surprise of the evening was a face from the past. It was Peter Boudouvas. Peter had dropped out of the political arena about two years ago and no one seemed to know where he had gone or what happened to him. According to Peter, he is now working at the Brookhaven National Laboratories for BP, something to do with electrical generation through solar panels. Peter, if you remember, is an excellent electrical engineer. If you also remember, at one time in the past he ran for political office — in fact, he ran twice, once for the state Assembly and once for City Council. Has our good friend Peter been bitten by the political bug again? Whatever his reason for reappearing on the political scene, it was great fun seeing him again.
On Thursday night, the New Visions Democratic Club held its eighth-annual dinner-dance at Abbracciamento’s Restaurant in Rego Park. According to one of the club’s founders, Councilman Danny Dromm, it was the biggest and best dinner they ever had. This year’s honorees were city Comptroller John Liu; Yonel Letellier Sosa, president of the New Visions Democratic Club; Steven Wong, president of the Hotel Chinese Association of New York; and Bill Meehan, a longtime community activist.
Some of the luminaries present were state Sen. Jose Peralta, state Assemblyman Francisco Moya, Dromm and Bryan PuFolkes, as well as many others. Additionally, on the scene was Judge George Heyman, who also sang during the course of the evening. George likes to sing, which he often does at King Yum’s on Union Turnpike in Flushing on karaoke night, which is now on Fridays. He happens to have a rather good voice.
This was a good week for this particular column because one event was a Conservative one and the other a Democratic one, which makes this column a fair and balanced one, which doesn’t happen all that often. It’s usually Republican or Democratic events back-to-back, which usually causes the opposite party not mentioned to complain. I have tried to explain to them that I do not arrange any group’s schedule. Being the equal-opportunity columnist and photojournalist, I take pride in trying to give everyone equal coverage. I’m like the Lottery, where you have to be in it to win it. In my case, you have to invite me if you want coverage.
On Saturday night, my partner Michael Feldman of Great Neck celebrated his 60th birthday. The great birthday bash was held at the new Il Bacco’s catering facility on Northern Boulevard in Little Neck. Joe Oppedisano is a great host and apparently made a wise decision in enlarging his restaurant to include catering.
Happy birthday, Michael — your photos will be in next week’s paper, as they were too late for this week’s insertion.
That’s it for this week.
I look forward to hearing from you with information on people, parties and politics or gossip. I like receiving your voice mails at 718-767-6484, faxes at 718-746-0066 and e-mails at deerrichard@aol.com.
Don’t forget to check out the Focus on Queens page.
Till next week, Dee
