8 The QUEE NS Courier • JANUARY 29, 2015 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com BP MELINDA KATZ DELIVERS HER FIRST STATE OF THE BOROUGH ADDRESS BY ERIC JANKIEWICZ ejankiewicz@queenscourier.com/@EricJankiewicz Borough President Melinda Katz delivered her first State of the Borough speech on Jan. 22, celebrating the borough’s diversity, its recent prominence as a tourism destination and the nurturing environment that she said has made Queens “the borough of families.” “If it’s good for our families, it’s good for Queens,” said Katz, repeating what she said is her administration’s motto at Borough Hall and what was the focus of her 50-minute speech at Colden Auditorium at Queens College. After a five-minute video that included Queens residents talking about the borough and Katz recounting how she grew up here, the daughter of civic-minded parents proud of the borough they called home, Katz took to the stage and welcomed the audience in eight languages. “My parents believed that Queens held all the elements of any great city, and that no one should need to cross a bridge or tunnel to experience arts, culture, fine dining or great neighborhoods,” Katz said. “I inherited their vision while growing up here, from my childhood in Forest Hills to my education at our public schools to studying law at St. John’s.” Packed into the 2,124-seat auditorium, filled nearly to capacity, were a host of elected officials, civic leaders and residents from across the borough. Katz twice asked for a moment of silence, once for the two officers killed in Brooklyn last month and another for former Gov. Mario Cuomo, a son of Queens, who died on New Year’s Day. While Katz spent much of the time celebrating recent successes, like the borough’s designation as the nation’s top tourist destination for 2015 by travel guide publisher Lonely Planet and its recognition as being “the intersection of the world” for its sweeping ethnic and racial diversity, she also laid out challenges and goals ahead. They included the following: • Job creation, especially for LaGuardia and JFK airports and the health sector. • Advocating for the return of the Rockaway Ferry, which saw a brief existence during the post-Sandy recovery but was discontinued soon after. • Creating more pre-K seats to expand the program’s reach and expanding the Gifted and Talented program. She also emphasized the need to invest in the CUNY schools within Queens “so that folks stay in Queens or they come back and build a family.” • Providing affordable housing, especially for seniors, many of whom become the caretakers for young families. Katz, who is raising her two children in the same Queens home where she grew up, blasted Common Core, the controversial new teaching curriculum being used across schools in the city and state. “I feel in my gut that there’s something wrong here,” Photos courtesy Alan Ngai she said. “It’s not a common core. It’s a common problem. We’ve got to do something about it.” And at the core of all of these issues, Katz said, is the family. Here in the “World’s Borough,” Katz said, the American dream is alive and well. And that’s all thanks to the families. “Both new arrivals and long-established families create the communities which make it uniquely attractive, for visitors and for investors alike,” she said. “And like generations before them, they come here to work hard and raise their children as Americans. People spend their life savings to come here from all over the world just to educate their children right where we are sitting right now.” CATHERINE NOLAN SAYS SHE WANTS TO REPLACE SHELDON SILVER AS ASSEMBLY SPEAKER BY THE QUEENS COURIER STAF editorial@queenscourier.com/@QueensCourier Make that two men and a woman in a room. The three-headed leadership of the New York State government, called “three men in a room,” could soon face a makeover now that Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan announced she wants to replace scandal-scarred Sheldon Silver, who stepped down as Assembly speaker this week. If Nolan is elected by her fellow members of the Assembly next month, she’ll become the first woman to serve as speaker. “I am formally announcing my candidacy for speaker of the New York State Assembly. In my 30-year Assembly career I have conducted myself with honesty and integrity. Serving the people of New York State has been my only job — whether it be my own constituents, schoolchildren or working men and women in our state. It will continue to be my only job,” Nolan said in a statement released today that aimed to separate herself from Silver, who has earned millions of dollars as a lawyer while serving as speaker. Under New York’s rules of government, most key decisions on legislation, budget and other matters of state have been negotiated by the governor, Assembly speaker and Senate majority leader — posts no woman has yet to hold, giving rise to the term “three men in a room.” “A woman has never served as speaker of the Assembly. The press has written extensively and derisively about the sexual harassment cases that have occurred in the legislature over the last few years. It is past time for that ‘culture’ to end once and for all. I am committed to doing just that,” Nolan said. Nolan’s name emerged as one of several possible successors to Silver just days after he was arrested by the FBI on federal corruption charges. She was among a small group of lawmakers who were picked by Democratic leaders to share the responsibilities of the speaker’s office under an interim deal. Now that Silver has agreed to give up his leadership role, Nolan has emerged as the first member of the Assembly to officially toss her hat in the ring as a successor to Silver. Silver, under pressure from Assembly Democrats, stepped down from the speaker’s post on Monday night. He said he will remain a member of the Assembly, but will not “hinder” the efforts to replace him as speaker. Until the Assembly meets on Feb. 10 to vote on Silver’s successor, the day-to-day responsibilities of the speaker’s office will be managed by Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle of Rochester, a close ally of both Silver and Gov. Cuomo. Nolan, who represents Woodside, Astoria, Ridgewood, Maspeth, and Long Island City, has been a member of the Democratic leadership team in the Assembly, where she is chair of the Education Committee. The speaker is elected by the majority conference in the Assembly. Democrats now hold 106 of the chamber’s 150 seats. Other members of the Assembly eyeing the post include Morelle of Rochester, Keith Wright of Manhattan, Joseph Lentol of Brooklyn and Carl Heastie of the Bronx. “If elected speaker of the New York State Assembly, I will listen to the members of the Democratic Majority Conference with respect and dedication. I have the full support of my family and have been urged by many to step up to the challenges that face our great State of New York. “It is time for this institution to return to the high standards that the people of our state rightfully demand and expect. I stand ready to work with my colleagues to do just that for the people of the State of New York. They deserve nothing less,” Nolan said.
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