10 The Queens Courier • ANNIVERSARY • juLY 2, 2015 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com 30th ANNIVERSARY The women behind Queens: three decades of borough presidents BY THE QUEENS COURIER STAFF In the past three decades, three strong women – Claire Shulman, Helen Marshall and Melinda Katz – have taken the seat as borough president in Queens Borough Hall. Each has contributed to helping Queens thrive into becoming known as the “World’s Borough” and being named as one of the best places to visit in the entire nation. CLAIRE SHULMAN In 1986, Claire Shulman became Queens’ first female borough president, after serving as deputy borough president and then assuming the position of acting borough president when Donald Manes resigned. Shulman was elected to a three-year term in 1986 and then re-elected in 1989 for a full fouryear term. She was re-elected again in 1993 and once more in 1997, where she served until 2001. During her time as borough president some of Shulman’s accomplishments included the rezoning of dozens of neighborhoods to create appropriate zoning restrictions that generated reasonable and responsible development while preserving the character of the existing neighborhoods (including historical districts like those in Jackson Heights and Ridgewood); the economic revitalization of many communities, particularly downtown Jamaica and western Queens; expansion of the borough’s infrastructure; and increased funding for senior citizen centers, cultural programs and libraries. Shulman was involved in the development of the borough’s first skyscraper, the 48-story Citicorp Building in Long Island City, as well as the expansion of Queens Center. She also helped ensure the development and growth of cultural institutions such as the Queens Museum, the Hall of Science, the USTA National Tennis Center, the Queens Zoo, the Queens Theatre in the Park, the Museum of the Moving Image, Flushing Town Hall, PS1, the Noguchi Museum and the South Queens Park Association. She was also largely responsible for the passage of legislation to reform the co-op/condo conversion process. As borough president, Shulman also played a major role in securing funding for 35,000 additional school seats in the Department of Education’s five-year Capital Plan. HELEN MARSHALL Succeeding Shulman, Helen Marshall took office in 2002 and became the first African-American borough president to serve Queens. Dealing with the city still recovering from the 9/11 attacks, once in office Marshall established the Queens General Assembly, which was a tribute to the United Nations and began in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. During her time as borough president, Marshall’s office gave hundreds of millions of dollars in capital investment to projects throughout the borough with focuses on healthcare, libraries, parks and cultural institutions. Throughout her 12 years, more than $20 million were allocated to Queens health centers, with parts of the funds going toward expanding emergency rooms. She also helped establish or expand “urgi-centers” in neighborhoods throughout the borough where there might be a shortage in primary care doctors. Giving credit to her predecessor, Marshall followed on Shulman’s work in the cultural scene of Queens as she helped double the size of the Queens Museum and the Museum of the Moving Image, and helped restore funding for the Jamaica Performing Arts Center. During her time as borough president, 40 neighborhoods went through rezoning. She was also supportive of development within the borough and recommended the U.S. Tennis Association go through with its expansion to the National Tennis Center. The one condition she gave the organization was to return parkland that would be taken up with the project. Marshall left office at the end of 2013 due to term limits and in December 2013, the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Queens dedicated its new learning center in honor of Marshall. MELINDA KATZ Current Borough President Melinda Katz was sworn in January 2014 as the 19th person to fill the seat in Queens Borough Hall and the third woman in a row to fill the position. The Forest Hills native, whose parents founded the Queens Symphony Orchestra and Queens Council on the Arts, was a former City Council and state Assembly member. At the start of her term, Katz celebrated the borough being designated as the nation’s top tourist destination for 2015 by travel guide publisher Lonely Planet and being recognized as “the intersection of the world” for its ethnic and racial diversity. During her first State of the Borough speech early this year, Katz looked ahead to challenges and goals including job creation, especially for the borough’s two airports; advocating for the return of the Rockaway Ferry; creating more pre-K seats; and providing affordable housing, especially for seniors. Another issue that Katz has held strong in her term as borough president is committing to restore and repair the New York State Pavilion located at Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Last month, along with Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver, Katz announced a new partnership with two local labor unions to repaint the upper portions of the Tent of Tomorrow – the steel building in the shadow of the pavilion’s space needles. The new paint system of the pavilion, which is expected to be completed by this fall, will serve as a protective coating and extend the life of the structure by at least 15 years. The $3 million effort will be undertaken free of charge through a painting apprenticeship program operated by the unions, allowing painters to gain work experience. Photo by Allen Ngai Last month Katz also approved amendments to citywide zoning codes, which will allow more Sandy-affected homeowners to rebuild their homes faster and to return them to how they were before the storm instead of having to alter them to fit current regulations. The amendment must be approved next by the Department of City Planning and then the City Council before it can go into effect. At the core of everything Katz always makes sure to emphasize the importance of family and how thanks to the families in Queens it is able to be known as the “World’s Borough” where the American dream is alive and well. “Both new arrivals and long-established families create the communities which make it uniquely attractive, for visitors and for investors alike,” Katz previously said. “And like generations before them, they come here to work hard and raise their children as Americans.”
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