FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 29, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 23
Suozzi opens new district offi ce in Douglaston
BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Queens/Long Island Congressman Tom
Suozzi celebrated the opening of his new
Queens district offi ce at 242-09 Northern
Blvd. in Douglaston with a ribbon-cutting
ceremony on Sunday, April 25.
Surrounded by elected offi cials including
Queens Borough President Donavan
Richards, state Senator John Liu,
Assembly members David Weprin and
Clyde Vanel, as well as numerous district
leaders and community representatives,
Suozzi was excited that his ground-fl oor
offi ce in a Tutor-style building is now
more centrally located and accessible to
his constituents.
“Th is offi ce is really about constituent
services. It’s one of the most important
things we do as elected offi cials is trying
to serve our constituents help them navigate
the bureaucracy of the government,”
said Suozzi, who explained that his offi ce
continues to receive COVID-19-related
phone calls about stimulus checks, the
PPP and Shuttered Venues Programs, but
also questions dealing with immigration,
the Internal Revenue Service and veterans
issues.
Suozzi thanked his entire staff for the
phenomenal work they accomplish on a
daily basis.
“All these diff erent things can only be
handled because I have a fantastic staff .
I am so grateful for the great work that
my staff does,” the representative for New
York’s Th ird Congressional District said.
Weprin congratulated Suozzi on his
new quarters and thanked him for his
leadership in Washington, describing him
as a problem solver.
“I want to really thank you for all your
service for so many years. But particularly
in Washington, providing the
aid that we needed for New York
City and New York state and helping
solve our problems and really
making sure that the federal stimulus
money got out there to help small
businesses, and to help the theater
industry, to help the
economy, not to mention
average New Yorkers,”
said Weprin, who is running
for city comptroller.
Richards apologized
for arriving a tad late
but had a forgivable
excuse — he had to
bake a pizza for his son.
Richards also thanked
Suozzi for bringing back
Congressman Tom Suozzi (second from l.) opened up a new offi ce in Douglaston on Sunday, April 26, 2021.
“the bacon” to the borough of Queens.
“We’re going to need that coming out
of this pandemic. We talk about getting
back to some semblance of normalcy,
and I always say, Congress member,
we should not go back to where we were
before. We’re heading to a new normal as
we move forward and this new normal
also includes a new offi ce right here serving
our borough,” Richards said.
“We know that your capable staff is
going to continue to do what you continue
to do throughout your entire tenure
as a Congress member,
and that is to deliver
key quality services
to the residents of
Queens County, and
of course, I have to
mention Long
Island, regrettably,” he joked.
Suozzi touched on Richards’ remarks,
mentioning the billions of dollars New
York City has already received from different
COVID relief packages and that the
new infrastructure package would bring
even further fi nancial relief.
“As the president says, we’re going to
build back better, and this infrastructure
package is so important. And one of the
things that I’m trying to do is get earmarks
back where I can actually get specifi
c spending back to diff erent projects,”
Suozzi said.
State Senator John Liu said that Suozzi
is part of the problem-solving caucus trying
to break through Washington, D.C.’s
political gridlock — but he never forgets
his district in Queens.
“He never forgets his own district,
which lamentably includes a
great deal of Long Island,”
Liu quipped.“It also includes
very important parts of
Queens, and this Congress
member never forgets
Queens. And this is a
very tangible sign that
his presence is going
to be not only felt but
extremely eff ective.”
As s emblyman
Clyde Vanel pointed
out the diversity
Photos by Gabriele Holtermann
of elected offi cials that attended the ribbon
cutting.
“We are here from the city, from the
state, from the federal government, from
the borough. We all work together as partners,
and Tom has been one of the leaders
in Congress to get us through this most
trying time. What a diffi cult year for us to
get through, and we needed partners in
Congress,” Vanel said.
Tom Grech, president and CEO of the
Queens Chamber of Commerce, thanked
Suozzi for making sure that Queens small
businesses received their fair share of the
PPP.
“When Queens was not getting its fair
share of the Triple P, we got him on the
phone, not once but twice with 150-175
people, and the trickle-down became a
tsunami, we got the funding that we needed,”
Grech said.
Grech admitted he got excited when
he heard the congressman mention earmarks
because the Queens Chamber of
Commerce recently founded a tech council.
“We want to bring diversity, equity
and inclusion to Queens when it comes
to tech. We’ve got Amazon, we’ve got
Google, Facebook, you name it. We want
to bring good-paying tech jobs to Queens
County, and we are not going to stop till
we do it,” Grech said and thanked Suozzi
for his support.
Congressman Tom Suozzi (l.) and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.
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