By Alex Robinson
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli came to Flushing Monday night to celebrate the Lunar New Year and honor a number of the community’s leaders.
Last year the comptroller’s first annual Lunar celebration occurred in Manhattan’s Chinatown, but this year it moved away from the city’s traditional epicenter of Asian culture.
“The wonderful thing about not only the Chinese community, but the Asian-American community in general, is that it’s well-represented throughout our city and our state,” DiNapoli told reporters before the event at Queens Crossing. “We decided that as we make this an annual celebration that we’re going to have the Lunar New Year celebration in different parts of the city and the state.”
After dozens of hands were shook and many photos were taken with the comptroller, state Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Flushing) introduced DiNapoli to the crowd of elected officials and community leaders.
The comptroller spoke about the economic value and importance of the Asian-American community to New York state. He hailed Flushing as an economic engine fueled by its large immigrant community.
“Flushing has had tremendous economic resurgence and entrepreneurship,” he said. “We have found in our analyses that neighborhoods in New York City with the highest concentration of immigrant population, in fact, have had a higher level of economic growth. To me, Flushing is an example of the American success story where immigrants come and lay down their roots.”
The comptroller’s office conducted a study in 2011 that determined Flushing had one of the highest business growth rates since 2005, despite the financial crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession that followed.
DiNapoli voiced his support of the state Dream Act, which would provide state funding for the children of undocumented immigrants to go to college. It passed the state Assembly in years past and again Tuesday, but has never been brought before the Senate for a vote
“I think at a very minimal cost to the state, it would provide greater educational opportunity and certainly all the studies we’ve done have shown those that can have a college education are more likely to be successful,” he said.
After DiNapoli spoke, the crowd was entertained by dancers who paraded two brightly colored paper lions around the room.
The comptroller then presented six honorees from the Asian-American community with plaques.
Among them were U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing); City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing; Peter Tu, head of the Flushing Chinese Business Association; Steve Choi, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition; Min Sun Kim, founder and president of the Long Island Conservatory of Music; and Liu Tee Shu, owner and chairperson of Shu Enterprise Group.
Reach reporter Alex Robinson by e-mail at arobinson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
