By Dee Richard
We are still waiting for details concerning the sale of certain Creedmoor properties. We will have to wait till next week to furnish you with more information on that issue.
In the race for Anthony Weiner’s seat, former Mayor Edward Koch came out this past week and said that all Democrats should vote for the Republican-Conservative Bob Turner instead of Democrat David Weprin. Koch said he is advocating a protest vote against President Barack Obama in retaliation for his cavalier stance toward Israel. Sounds like there is a storm brewing!
On Monday evening, U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley organized a reception/fund-raiser for City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer. The event was held in both the party room and the outdoor terrace of a new condo building on Borden Avenue in Long Island City.
Long Island City is really coming into its own. What was once a heavy loft and factory district is now becoming one of the “in” places to live. It is one subway stop from Manhattan and the rents are much more agreeable.
I couldn’t help but notice that more than 80 percent of the women in attendance were either wearing skirts or dresses. I guess most of them apparently work in the city while those 20 percent who were wearing pant suits or slacks were in all probability the ones who work in more casual Queens. Not that the above comment has anything to do with anything, but it was just an interesting observation.
Jimmy is apparently a popular legislator, as both this event as well as one held a few weeks ago for him at the Riverview Restaurant in Long Island City were both packed. At this latest event, there were many VIPs.
On Friday afternoon I had coffee in the Blue Bay Diner in Bayside with three fellows who had taken a political course with me in Washington, D.C., in June. They have developed an interesting concept for candidates to be able to access TV media at a lesser rate than the prevailing ones. Perhaps we can put their services to use in the near future. In any event, they were an interesting, ambitious group of young men who apparently hope to develop their new program to the fullest.
Also on Friday night, while having dinner with two friends at the Landmark Diner in Roslyn, we ran into Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos, who told me he intends to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand for her U.S. Senate seat. George is an interesting candidate with many practical common-sense solutions to extricate us from our present financial crisis. Perhaps George’s ideas are an extension of his years as a CPA on Wall Street. Maragos promised to send me a detailed outline of his observations on the current state of events and his solutions to them. I shall pass the information on to you in more detail as I receive it. As of right now, everything is in a formative stage and he and his team are fine-tuning the details.
In case you haven’t noticed, most of my business seems to be conducted in local diners. They work out well as an office away from home. They are conveniently located on main thoroughfares, and therefore readily accessible; they are reasonable and have ample parking, thereby enabling us to avoid the parking meter traps. What could be better?
On Sunday afternoon, good friend Joyce Gasser invited all her Queens Flag Day buddies, who also happen to be Il Bacco regulars, to her home in Huntington, L.I., for her annual summer barbecue. She has a lovely, exceptionally large piece of property ideal for a summer party. Along with Joyce’s Queens friends, she also had family members and local friends. Joyce’s son was there with his two cute little boys and her daughter was there with her two pretty little girls. What a lovely family.
Of course. all the Queensites congregated together to discuss the solution to all of Queens political problems and to tout who they were going to support and why in the next election cycle. Since we are all political junkies, we had fun with each other in our give-and-take of our various political views. The solutions to many of the problems do not seem that complex, the problem is trying to get the electeds to share or appreciate your point of view.
That’s it for this week.
I look forward to 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.
