Editorial Op-Ed

Business As Keep The Focus On Community

Usual
OF SOUTHEAST QUEENS
174-15 Horace Harding Expwy.
Fresh Meadows, NY 11365 This week the New York State Sen-
(voice) (718) 357-7400 fax (718) 357-9417 ate expelled Sen. Hiram Monserrate
under the guise of keeping the “august
email news@queenspress.com
body” clean and reputable.
The PRESS of Southeast Queens
This could not be farther from the
truth.
For years, members of the Senate
Associate Publisher
In Our Opinion: and Assembly have been charged with
Arnold Thibou felonies and misdemeanors, most often
pleading down to lesser crimes, and
Executive Editor: have been allowed to remain in office.
Brian Rafferty Monserrate’s predecessor pleaded guilty
to the lesser driving while ability im-
paired charge when he had faced DWI,
Contributing Editor:
and nobody kicked him out. Ada Smith
Marcia Moxam Comrie nearly ran over a security guard, was
arrested for reckless driving and had to
Production Manager: be subdued by police with mace, and
Shiek Mohamed threw hot coffee in an aide’s face for
which she was convicted of a misde-
Queens Today Editor meanor.
Did she get kicked out by the Sen-
Regina Vogel
ate? No.
Are we to believe that the Senate has
Photo Editor: Ira Cohen suddenly decided to mete out justice on
all its members who violate the law?
Though that would be a welcome change,
we know that the action against Hiram
Reporters: Monserrate is simply revenge for his in-
Harley Benson volvement in last year’s summer coup.
Sasha Austrie The members may say that they
Joseph Orovic helped clean up the system this week,
Lori Gross but all they did was dole out the purest
Kaitlyn Kilmetis form of revenge they could. We’d like to
Domenick Rafter think this was done for the right rea-
sons, and although we are torn over the
idea of whether the Senate should have
Art Dept: sought Monserrate’s expulsion, we are
Tania Y. Betancourt clear that this gang of ne’er-do-wells in
Sara Gold Albany is just up to business as usual.
Rhonda Leefoon
BY REV. FLOYD FLAKE
Large-scale development
efforts usually do not benefit
the communities where they
are planned because of hap-
hazard planning, lack of imagi-
nation, surface-level commu-
nity engagement, unqualified
participants or limited subject
matter expertise among its
leaders. The selected Aqueduct
project and associated devel-
opment will benefit Queens
because it possesses these in-
dispensable elements at an un-
rivalled level.
A team of eminently quali-
fied professionals with devel-
opment, construction, enter-
tainment, gaming and com-
munity development exper-
tise will replace the old failing
Aqueduct. What was once a
lackluster effort with little vi-
sion toward Aqueduct playing
a role larger than racing will be
replaced by a first-class enter-
prise that has an eye toward
larger community and em-
ployment possibilities by
people fully vested in their
community. A rare blend of
leaders in multiple fields has
synthesized their best-in-class
experiences to form a partner-
ship that will significantly ben-
efit Queens. By marrying one
of the world’s largest construc-
tion and development com-
panies with homegrown de-
velopers and gaming industry
professionals, a project is cer-
tain to emerge with a genetic
predisposition toward excel-
lence and integrity. In part, the
team that was chosen to lead
this project is committed to
Queens because they were born
here, lived here or led institu-
tions that are drivers of the
local religious and social ser-
vice sectors.
While much media atten-
tion has been appropriated to
the personalities around the
development and its attendant
politics, a greater amount is
due the incredible specter of
moving beyond the stagnation
of a dying Aqueduct toward
the creation of another em-
ployment and development en-
gine for Queens. To a great
extent, this project, like most
successful developments, is not
really even about brick and mor-
tar.
Instead, Aqueduct is a ques-
tion of whether lives will be
changed for the better, jobs cre-
ated, an industry resuscitated
or opportunities lost. If the
media frenzy drives the devel-
opment process, then all of the
good that could be borne out of
this possibility will be precipi-
tously lost. From my 30-plus
years as a developer in this com-
munity, I can tell you that media
innuendo does not build
projects; strong leaders and
solid, well-financed ideas build
projects.
For too long, a foundering
horse racing industry and a frag-
mented economic develop-
ment environment has under-
mined Queens. Today, the
threat comes from those who
would use straw men arguments
to delay or unwind a reality that
could serve as force of eco-
nomic benefit to average, hard
working New Yorkers. This
project will create another rea-
son for people to come to
Queens or to keep more of their
resources here where they live.
Aqueduct has the potential
to use racing as a Trojan horse
– if you will – to deliver on a
long-elusive and sustainable
goal of a new private sector
driver of the local economy. To
a great extent this reality is part
of the rationale for my involve-
ment.
On its own, the merits of
Aqueduct can and will stand
up to tests of public and finan-
cial scrutiny. But coupled with
the prospect of serious com-
munity development, Aque-
duct as it is envisioned is a
winner for the entire commu-
nity and its loftier and more
long-term goals. Communities
do not rise or fall on racing;
they rise or fall on the ability of
communities to see a larger
picture that often gets inten-
tionally distorted by people fo-
cusing on minor issues rather
than the quality of a team lead-
ing an effort.

Give The Governor A Break…Please

Candice Lolier
Barbara Townsend

Major Account Representative
Howard Swengler
Sr. Account Executive
Shelly Cookson
Advertising Executives
Merlene Carnegie
Page 6 PRESS of Southeast Queens Feb. 12-18, 2010
A Personal Perspective
BY MARCIA MOXAM COMRIE
What a week it's been for Gov.
David Paterson.
There have been so many re-
ports of affairs swirling around
him that if half of 'em were true,
he'd be unable to hold a pen to
sign a bill into law. And if the
whispers about money were true
then he'd have been gone a long
time ago.
It is disingenuous to keep mis-
to declare intentions to run. Let's
get this clear: in a democracy any
citizen is free to declare a candi-
dacy. It doesn't mean you'll be
taken seriously or that you'll win.
Sometimes you're just a pain in
the neck. But the option is there
and no one needs to manufac-
ture salacious stories to stop the
incumbent.
We do not need to discredit
one in order for another to run
or to succeed. Whoever wants to
run for governor of New York is
free money to make the state's fis-
cal woes go away then let him or
her stand up and say, "I."
Paterson was appointed to
the job and it is okay for good,
viable candidates to challenge
him for it. But let it be a good,
clean fight without newspaper
and talk show innuendo. New
Yorkers deser ve to have the
choice to choose their leaders.
An appointment is not supposed
to be permanent and that is why
there is always going to be an elec-
then he deserves to be treated
with a modicum of respect. And
until he willingly steps down or
loses a re-election bid, then get
over it. He's the governor.
There is a way to challenge
an incumbent and this is not it at
all. Gov. Paterson has been try-
ing to play the hand he's been
given. He has had moments that
could have been handled better
verbally; there have also been
things that might've gone unsaid
and policy he's tried to introduce

A Queens Tribune Publication. leading New Yorkers about their
© Copyright 2010 Tribco, LLC governor's intentions. Rumors
that he's about to resign due to a
simmering scandal persisted all
Michael Schenkler, of last week and into this one.
Rumors that he's about to an-
President & Publisher
nounce that he's not running for
election have also been rampant.
All of this seems designed to
truncate the governor. It is a de-
Michael Nussbaum, vious plot to render him inca-
Vice President, pable of being taken seriously as
Associate Publisher a candidate, or worse, incapable
of continuing until the end of the
term Dec. 31.
Whoever is behind the latest
rumor is obviously trying to clear
the path for another candidate
free to man-up (or "woman-up"
as the case may be) and do it.
New Yorkers deserve better than
this game-playing bender. It is
simply ridiculous to mislead us
by besmirching the incumbent's
reputation.
Whatever anyone feels about
Paterson's performance, it is dis-
gusting to do this to him. Being
governor of the greatest state in
the union is a difficult job in good
times. But in this economy it is vir-
tually impossible to get it all right.
Whoever else had the job right now
would be struggling with the bud-
get. And if there's someone out
there who knows where to find
tion where it can be decided; and
every would-be candidate has the
right to a fair fight. Let Gov.
Paterson do his job on behalf of
the state and if he thinks he has
a shot at beating his opponents
then he should say, "Bring it on."
Gov. Paterson should not
spend his time trying to discour-
age challengers and he has said
that he is ready to take it to the
ballot. So what's the problem?
Politics has always been dog-
eat-dog, but this is a new low. The
governor is being sidetracked by
all this foolishness. The man is
besieged. How despicable is that?
For as long as he is governor
- like ethics reform and term-lim-
its - which may need tweaking in
order to pass, but he has been
fiscally responsible and that is
not unimportant.
So those who don't want to
see him in the race for election
to his own term need to back off
and let it play out organically.
Trying to force the governor from
office or from the race usurps
democracy. You don't have to
like the governor. You don't have
to want him to run for election.
But you do have to treat him with
the respect the person and the
office deserve.
It's the right thing to do.