FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com march 27, 2014 • The Queens Courier 3 COURIER WELCOMES NEW EDITOR A Rosedale native with 14 years of journalism experience has been appointed editor-in-chief of The Queens Courier. William J. Gorta, who comes from the New York Post and DNAinfo, stepped into his new role on March 24. “It’s an honor to return to Queens to edit a great newspaper,” he said. “I’m looking forward to helping transform the paper in the digital age.” Gorta, 54, will succeed longtime Courier editor Tonia N. Cimino, who gave 11 years to the company and led the department for the last three years. Gorta spent 11 years at the Post, covering Brooklyn state courts and general assignments. He also worked as night rewrite and crime editor for the daily tabloid. Before becoming a city scribe, he spent 20 years in the NYPD, serving as the ranking officer on the COMPSTAT development team and retiring in 2000 as a captain. Gorta earned a bachelor’s degree in literature/writing from Columbia University’s School of General Studies and later graduated from Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism in 2001. The Fulbright Research Fellowship recipient lives on the Upper East Side and has three adult children. CALLING ALL ARTISTS Queens artists looking for their big break can find it in Bayside. The Bayside Village Business Improvement District (BID) wants the borough’s creative minds to display their original work during its upcoming third annual Arts and Crafts Festival. “We’re excited,” said Lyle Sclair, the BID’s executive director. “It really just provides an opportunity for people to plan a day to just stroll up and down Bell Boulevard and see what they have in their backyard.” The outdoor art show will be held April 26 from noon to 5 p.m. near the Bayside Long Island Rail Road station. Local artisans — selling anything from paintings, clothing, jewelry, sculptures and photography — are wanted. Last year, about 15 vendors took part in the festival. Sclair said he hopes to double the number this spring. “After such a long winter, we want to bring people back to Bell Boulevard and walk the streets,” he said. Those interested can call the BID at 718-423-2434 or visit www.baysidevillagebid. com/artsandcraftsvendors. Melissa Chan FBI INVESTIGATES SCARBOROUGH FOR TRAVEL CASH BY QUEENS COURIER STAFF editorial@queenscourier.com The home and office of southeast Queens Assemblyman Bill Scarborough were raided by the FBI on March 26, according Mid-Queens Council melee prompts resignation BY MELIS A CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com @MelissaCourier The treasurer of the Mid-Queens Community Council has resigned and others are mulling an exit, following a heated spat with the group’s leader and a failed bid to overthrow her, The Queens Courier has learned. “What happened was a disgrace,” said Jim DeBonet, who handled the council’s finances before his Tuesday departure. “This is it. Goodbye. I want nothing to do with this.” The fuming Flushing Heights activist said the group’s president Florence Fisher should have stepped down after she penned a missive, without authority, “attacking” another civic leader in December. The letter said Hillcrest Estates Civic Association President Kevin Forrestal, who works for the Health and Hospitals Corporation, had a conflict of interest regarding controversial T Building plans at Queens Hospital Center. “Let me be clear about this,” Fisher wrote to a dozen local leaders. “Kevin does not represent the views of many of our delegates.” That backfired when some board members said Fisher did not have board approval to mail the message. “I found it shocking,” said Jim “I TOOK IT UPON MYSELF TO WRITE IT, AND I LEARNED A LESSON.” Gallagher Jr., the council’s first vice president. “I wasn’t told about the letter. None of it was mentioned.” Still, eight members of the Mid- Queens Community Council, which represents 34 smaller organizations, voted to keep Fisher at the helm during an hour-long discussion Monday. DeBonet was the only dissenting vote, and three people abstained. The internal battle stemmed from a misunderstanding, Fisher said. “I have admired Kevin for forever,” she said. “He’s done wonderful, wonderful community work. We all wear lots of hats. It was nothing personal.” Fisher, who has led the council for slightly more than a year, said she was unaware the group’s bylaws required a FLORENCE FISHER sign-off before sending. “I’m the kind of person who likes to get things done when there are big issues out there,” she said. “I took it upon myself to write it, and I learned a lesson.” Forrestal, who is not part of the Council, shook off the letter, saying he has never cast an official T Building vote and always discloses his employment before speaking. But the damage has been done to the shrinking volunteer organization, said Gallagher Jr., who is one of a few considering a leave. “I was very disappointed with how the whole thing turned out,” he said. “It was sad, and that’s not what we’re all about.” to published reports. Scarborough’s Albany office and Queens home were searched as part of an investigation into his travel reimbursements, the New York Post reported. His district office and an Albany hotel room were also searched, according to the Daily News. Scarborough, who served in the Legislature for 20 years, told reporters that officials from the FBI and the office of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman seized his cell phone, calendars and ”just about everything,” another report said. “I’m innocent, but I understand the reality,” Scarborough said to a group of reporters, according to Capital New York. “I don’t know what’s going to go on. I am going to talk to a lawyer, this is just stunning to me.” The Post reported in 2012 that Scarborough claimed per diem payments for spending five consecutive nights in Albany in 2011, but reporters spotted him at a town hall meeting at York College in Jamaica on one of the days he claimed to be in the state capital. “I may very well have gone to that meeting, turned around and gone back to Albany that night,” he told the paper when they broke the story. Scarborough said agents hinted there would be other politicians in hot water – and that he might be off the hook – but then the officials appeared to have backed off, Capital New York reported. “What I was told was there might be indictments and I would not be one of them. When I spoke with people here they seem to have tempered that statement, so I have no idea,” Scarborough told reporters, according to the website. Schneiderman’s office referred callers to the FBI, who did not return a call for comment by press time. There was no answer at either Scarborough’s district office or his Albany office. THE COURIER/File photo Queens Assemblyman Bill Scarborough
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