By Bob Harris
The address was held in Colden Hall at Queens College, which is much larger than the Queens Theater In the Park, where it had been held for a number of years. Marshall continued to use an audio visual presentation, pioneered by former Borough President Claire Shulman, in the form of colored slides to illustrate her talk, the way a good teacher often does.She introduced Michael Flowers, a parent with two children in our public schools, as her representative on the Panel For Education and as the co-chairman of her Parents Advisory Council. She refers to her plans for Queens as her Marshall Plan. She talked about improvements in education, youth, the fight against domestic violence, CUNY, libraries, parks, tourism/culture, aviation/economic development, rezoning, infrastructure development, anti-graffiti activities, and senior services.One of the interesting activities at these events is the recognition of people for their lifetime achievements, citizenship and heroism. Two people were presented with Lifetime Achievement Awards. Peter Cardella has led the Italian-American Business Association, which he founded. He has also headed the Peter Cardella Senior Citizens Center in Ridgewood. He has also served on the board of St. John's University and established an Italian-American scholarship at Christ the King H.S.Naomi Moore Boddie is an outstanding soprano soloist, who studied at Juilliard and has sung with many professional choirs. She is a founding member of the Queens Council on the Arts and was the first black president of the organization. She is currently the assistant director of the Allen Senior Center Choir.Marshall recognized a number of citizens of distinction, who were formerly known in their local community and now were presented to the whole borough of Queens. Morshed Alam was honored as an education advocate and leader in the Bangladeshi community. Patricia Dolan is a tireless community leader and civic association president who is an activist for Queens County and its citizens.Dr. Edwin Moreano is a dedicated plastic surgeon who donates his services to those in need. John Park is a leading advocate for the Korean-American community and a dedicated Queens businessman. Sylvia Goldberg is a lifelong educator with a passion for developing minds.Those honored as Queens Heroes were Kristin Bledsoe, who saved two swimmers caught in the riptide off Rockaway Beach; Yashawn Bright, a quick-thinking second-grader who performed the Heimlich maneuver to save a classmate's life; Sister Ave Clarke, who continues to work with victims of domestic violence although injured by a runaway train in Maspeth; Police Officer Irv Dror, who delivered a baby in a taxi on Christmas Eve, saving the lives of both the mother and the child; Bobby Lifranc, a seventh-grader who founded an organization to help children in Haiti and raised funds for a water pump in a small village; and Firefighter Jimmy Walter, who rescued a 90-year-old disabled man from a burning home in Flushing despite dense smoke.Marshall ended her State of the Borough message by saying “together we will strive to do right, to seek ways in which we can work together, to find solutions that lead to common goals and not yield in the face of adversity.”Good and bad news of the weekWe recently had the Blizzard of 2005, the Sanitation Department plowed and we dug ourselves out of the drifts. The city ordered all non-essential cars off the streets so the plows and salters could work easier. The workers did a good job and within two days the streets were all passable. Workers even made cuts in the piles of snow at the bus stops.My complaint is that the trucks didn't know when to stop. They kept plowing and plowing again even when the streets were clean. One elderly neighbor called me to complain that they came through about the third or fourth day and plowed her cleaned driveway full of snow again. She called 311 and they did come and dig her out, but they should have been more careful.I know there is a fine line between not plowing enough and sending the plows through again and again after all the snow is off the pavement. There was also too much salt put down. We all know of the corrosive nature of salt so it should be used more sparingly. Perhaps the city needs new salt spreaders. Supervisors should be used to redirect the trucks where they were needed.About the sixth night the plows were used to clear the snow from the corners of streets where it had been piled. This was good, except for the noise in the middle of the night which woke up many people. Perhaps the plows could have been redirected to do the corners a day or two earlier during the day. All in all, the Sanitation Department did a good job.
