FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 • PRIMARY GUIDE • THE QUEENS COURIER 23
primary guide
Incumbent Koo talks experience, transportation
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Peter Koo, the incumbent candidate,
was elected to the City Council
in November of 2009 --but even he
acknowledges there’s much more to
be done for Flushing at City Hall.
After immigrating from Hong Kong
in 1971, he worked minimum wage
jobs to put himself through pharmaceutical
school at the University of
New Mexico and later founded and
became CEO and president of the
Starside Pharmacy in Flushing. He
previously worked as a member of
the Flushing BID, Flushing Chinese
Business Association and served on
Community Board 7.
When it comes to the issues, infrastructure
and transportation are at the
forefront, Koo told The Courier. Bus
idling along the downtown Flushing
streets adversely impacts local businesses
and causes harmful emissions,
Koo said. A bus terminal for the
neighborhood, which was a suggestion
the councilman made during
talks of the now-scrapped Flushing
West development plan, is an option
the councilman would like to explore.
Koo also highlighted the need for
more express bus service and an
improved signal system on the 7 line.
“Flushing is a transportation hub,
so it’s really congested,” he said. “It
will continue to be a problem, but we
need to work to smooth it.”
The lawmaker also backs a Willets
Point development plan — particularly
the proposal to bring a convention
center to the neighborhood, which he
said would bolster the local economy.
He also called for a “balanced development”
of the area, acknowledging
the need for affordable housing.
Regarding education, which is his
“priority,” Koo said two public elementary
and one high school, Francis
Lewis, are currently undergoing
expansions to alleviate overcrowding.
The councilman said he will continue
to took for additional sites for
new schools.
Koo encouraged residents suffering
from airplane noise to install an FAAissued
noise monitor in their home to
“refine statistics to better claim the
noise.” Koo said this data will be useful
to present to the federal agency.
Regarding his challenger, Koo was
critical of her lack of experience.
“I have more experience,” Koo said.
“Immigrant experience, school experience,
business experience, public
service experience. You name all
those things — I have many years
experience … I’ve learned. And in
City Hall, I’m one of the most senior
members.”
Tan focused on improving Flushing’s quality of life
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
For Democratic challenger Alison Tan,
who is a member of Community Board
7 and is married to State Assemblyman
Ron Kim, running is personal.
Th e candidate cites her experience as
a mother raising two young children in
Flushing as proof she is fully invested in
the neighborhood she is vying to represent.
She also cites her experience as a
Chinese immigrant, career in the private
fi nance sector and time on the community
board as additional indicators that she is
fi t for the job.
Quality of life is her number one concern,
Tan told Th e Courier. “Sorely lacking”
sanitation and traffi c conditions
in the neighborhood have given downtown
Flushing “a negative connotation,”
according to the candidate.
Th ough the neighborhood continues
to be an economic powerhouse, Tan
continued, many residents feel alienated
by the last decade of development. Th e
candidate said she would work to make
the neighborhood more accessible to
individuals from all walks of life.
“City Council — it’s an incredibly
powerful platform to be able to actually
eff ectuate quality-of-life changes,”
Tan said. “And for us, that’s an area that,
unequivocally, is sorely lacking.”
She also proposes a performance
evaluation and potential makeover for
the Flushing BID, which she said has
become “a lobbying arm” for special real
estate interests. A performance evaluation,
or even a complete overhaul of the
organization, may be necessary.
Fixing the neighborhood’s ailing transportation
system is made complicated by
unprofi tability to investors, Tan said. She
proposed the exploration of some “out of
the box” fi xes, including pedestrian overpasses
and working with private garage
owners to lower parking prices.
Th e now-scrapped Flushing West, Tan
said, was an example of the need to
rezone certain areas of the neighborhood
to discourage further large-scale development
without any public community
givebacks. Th e Willets Point development,
she continued, requires further
community input before it moves forward
due to its situation on public parkland.
In a school district bursting at the
seams, Tan said, keeping an eye out for
potential sites is key.
“To look at the declining quality of
life and to have seen the neighborhood’s
deterioration over the past eight years —
I don’t want to wait another day before I
take action,” Tan said.