16 The Queens Courier • tribute • july 4, 2013 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com ▶tribute to helen marshall Marshall, who has a Youth Board, began her career as an early childhood educator. (Below) Under her administration -- and watchful eye -- the borough has boomed. Shulman’s work, Marshall doubled the size of the Queens Museum of Art and the Museum of the Moving Image. She also restored funding to the Jamaica Performing Arts Center. BOROUGH OF BOOM When Marshall came into office 11-and-a-half years ago, the landscape was quite different. McMansions were popping up in quiet suburban areas. Hunters Point and Long Island City were still scattered with closed factories and had little economic life left. Shea Stadium was a mainstay and the AirTrain was headed down an unknown path. But after years of rezoning and luring large projects to Queens, the borough is booming. More than 40 neighborhoods have been rezoned since Marshall came into office, according to Irving Poy, director of Planning and Development under Marshall. This has preserved the character of suburban neighborhoods, while allowing other areas to thrive. Downtowns such as those in Long Island City, Jamaica and Flushing have also grown since Marshall came into office. Poy said Marshall looked at these areas, already accessible by mass transit, and looked for opportunities for them to grow. “I think the fruits and the planning of that rezoning are being seen today,” Poy said. “Each one of these neighborhoods at its own speed are developing new communities, new uses.” While Marshall has wanted the borough to thrive, Poy said she makes sure every voice is heard in the rezoning process. Her staff attends every rezoning meeting, he said, and will relay any the concerns of any resident who might be impacted by a project to the proper agency. “The borough president has included those things in her recommendations so that City Planning can go out there and reexamine it and consider what they are proposing,” he said. “And they’ve made adjustments, asking to reconsider. So those are the little things that go unnoticed, but if you live on that block, it makes a difference.” A borough president is required
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