By Dee Richard
Yes, Virginia, there is a God and he loves Dee Richard. I was supposed to be out of my old house May 15 and the man upstairs bathed the new owner in human kindness as she extended my stay til May 31. While I’m grateful for the extension, it still isn’t really enough. I lost too much time being ill and incapacitated.
But do take a lesson from my book and never save a bunch of stuff you don’t need. It’s overwhelming the amount of stuff you accumulate in 40 years. The worst part is owning a huge house to keep it in. There’s no incentive to get rid of it, as you have lots of room. But, my dear, one has to pay the piper and it’s payment time. It’s not worth hanging on to all this stuff, especially when you face the reality of dealing with it all as time is running out and the clock is ticking away.
This will necessitate my taking my vacation now instead of later in the summer as originally intended. I’m going to put in 24⁄7 days and even at that, it seems impossible. Oh, well. It’s upward and onward. What else can you do?
On Tuesday night, the East Flushing Civic Association hosted a Meet the Candidates night at St. Andrew Avalino. The City Council candidates for the 19th District were the usual crew. The six Democrats were Steve Behar, Tom Cooke, Jerry Iannece, Kevin Kim, Debbie Markell and Paul Vallone as well as lone Republican Dan Halloran.
They were all great candidates. Each time I hear them they sound better. It’s too bad we have to make a choice and can’t elect them all. What a great accomplishment that would be, as they all bring to the table different fields of expertise.
Northeast Queens would be invincible. Is that idea far−fetched? Queens has 2 million people. The figures do not include thousands of undocumented immigrants. Add the two together and you have a total of more people than a lot of individual cities in the United States and elsewhere. Would it not be possible to divide Queens into separate sectors?
On the surface, being smaller would seem more manageable, efficient and responsible to the individual needs of its citizens. As Queens is the most diversified of all the counties, one size fits all simply doesn’t work, since different neighborhoods have little in common with each other. The only common denominator is the service areas, schools, police, fire, sanitation, etc., all of which are necessary for law, order and safety.
What about the needs of each community, which may or may not bear a resemblance to their neighboring community? Queens has grown in the past 20 years. It has become a quilt of bits and pieces, sizes and colors, of many different fabrics, but then again, I guess that’s what makes Queens a fascinating place to live or work in or both. Would it be practical to make subdivisions of each area, which in turn could report to a central agency? Somewhat similar to a community board, but more on a personal level rather than a rule and regulation level?
This is food for thought, but also may be only an exercise in speculation. Perhaps it would create more redundancy in spite of its good intention. What are your thoughts on the matter? Would it work? Would it be of enough value to warrant the time and trouble it would evoke? Or is it just one of those interesting ideas?
Late Saturday afternoon, the Queens Independence Party held its eighth Queens Spring Chairman’s Reception at La Terrazza on Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills. It had a nice turnout. The place was a block away from the subway, convenient, as it’s impossible to find a parking space. The food and drinks were above average.
Former Queens Independence Party Chairman Jerry Everette traveled down from Poughkeepsie — where he now lives — to join in the festivities and keep in touch with all his Independence Party friends.
State Sen. Frank Padavan was an honoree and Everette presented him with an attractive plaque. The plaque was given to Padavan for “having the courage to be an independent leader.” How appropriate.
All in all, it was a pleasant Saturday afternoon, despite my pangs of guilt for taking time out from my moving to cover it. It was good to network with Cathy Stewart, Molly Honigsfeld, Dr. Lola Fulani, Everette and others.
That’s it for this week.
I look forward to hearing from you with information on people, parties and politics or gossip.
I like receiving your voice mails at 718−767−6484, faxes at 718−746−0066 and e−mails at deerrichard@aol.com.
Till next week, Dee.
