24 THE QUEENS COURIER • JANUARY 17, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
His fi rst foray working in government
came when he worked for Cabinet
Secretary Joseph Califano Jr. as Executive
Secretary to the Department at the U.S.
Department of Health, Education and
Welfare. He also served as the Special
Assistant for Renewable Energy to Deputy
Secretary of Energy John Sawhill at the
U.S. Department of Energy.
Th ose who have worked with Cotton
in the past shared their endless praises
for the visionary leader commenting on
his ability to get things done and become
ingrained in the communities in which he
has worked.
Accolades
Queens Chamber of Commerce
President and CEO Th omas Grech
worked with Cotton during the groundbreaking
of the TWA Hotel at JFK in
December 2016.
“Due to the hard work of Rick Cotton
to help streamline the process, the TWA
Hotel is a reality. Rick was instrumental
in bringing that project to fruition,”
said Grech.
Th e hotel is set to open in spring of 2019
will be the “fi rst on-campus hotel” at the
airport. Some of its features include over
500 guest rooms, 40,000 square feet of
event space, bars and restaurants and a
10,000-square-foot outdoor observation
deck where guests can see planes taking
off and landing.
Grech also got the opportunity to work
with Cotton when he was chosen to be
the a co-chair of A Better Way to LGA, “a
diverse coalition of community members,
economic development groups, transportation
advocates, civic stakeholders and
local business leaders” in support of the
LaGuardia AirTrain project.
“I was honored to be asked to be one of
the co-chairs for the LaGuardia AirTrain
project. Rick Cotton is a visionary in getting
the projects approved and the process
started. Th e businesses and people of
Queens owe him a debt of gratitude for
the number of projects to be completed
over the next few years,” shared Grech.
Congressman Gregory Meeks echoed
these positive sentiments toward Cotton,
having had the opportunity to work
with the executive director on the redevelopment
of JFK airport. Meeks currently
serves as co-chair of the JFK
Redevelopment Community Advisory
Council alongside Queens Borough
President Melinda Katz.
Th ough JFK’s $13 billion redevelopment
is still in its early stages, the committee
met this past October for their fi rst
community advisory meeting in order to
get proper community input as well as
discussing the impacts of the project on
the surrounding community.
Meeks shared that Cotton made sure
that both he and the Port Authority were
“part of the community” by involving as
many community members, politicians
and activists who were closely aff ected by
the project.
“I love working with Rick Cotton. He’s
an honest man, he’s a straightforward
man and a man who keeps his word,”
said Meeks.
Cotton posed with a PATH train
Cotton met with Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and Congressman Gregory Meeks back in October for the inaugural meeting of the JFK
Redevelopment Community Advisory Council
Continued from page 22
Person of the Year
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