Property owner Kwang Nam Park (l.-r.) and Korean-American Public Relations President David Chulwoo Lee pitch plans for a spa in the College Point Corporate Park to state Sen. Tony Avella. Photo by Joe Anuta

The man who wants to open a new spa in the College Point Corporate Park got the backing of state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) last week, and the lawmaker questioned why the proposal was ever denied by both Community Board 7 and the borough president in the first place.

“I thought it was a good idea to begin with, and now having met with you and seeing the plans I still think it’s a good idea,” Avella said, speaking at a sit-down with property owner Kwang Nam Park and representatives from the Korean community. “I do not agree with the community board’s report nor do I agree with the borough president’s report.”

The meeting took place last Thursday at 131-23 31st Ave., currently a two-story warehouse and office space the owner would like to see turned into New York Spa of College Point.

But his quest to obtain a special permit from the city has run into double trouble.

As part of the application process, the community board and the borough president must both make recommendations on the matter before the city Board of Standards and Appeals makes the final call.

In October, the board voted against the proposal because it foresaw difficulties reinforcing the structure of the building. The ground in College Point is soft and extra pilings would be needed to accommodate the second-floor pools of the spa, the board said.

It also cited Park’s lack of experience as reason to vote against the measure.

Last month, Borough President Helen Marshall also recommended that the application should be denied, citing parking issues.

But Avella said recommending to deny the spa’s application after approving another gigantic development nearby makes no sense.

In 2009, the borough president and community board voted to approve plans for a $1 billion NYPD cadet training facility, which will sit on 35 acres of land and house 2,000 parking spaces when complete.

“I don’t see how the borough president could approve something like that and not approve a small business like you,” he said to the group. “I think BSA will approve this.”

The team behind the spa were also a little shocked as well, according to Irwin Park, whose father owns the property.

“We were surprised,” Park said, citing a vote ?by a committee of the board that recommended to approve the plans..

The College Point Corporate Park Task Force is a subset of the community board and its vote does will factor into the BSA decision?. But it voted 8-1 in favor of the project before the board voted to deny by a vote of 25-5.

“It was a dramatic reversal,” Park said.

The team has worked to correct some of the objections raised by the board and Marshall by hiring outside consultants to look at structural pilings and valet parking.

In response to another concern by the board, Park said his father might not have experience running a spa, but he has operated other small businesses in addition to the Kew Motor Inn, a motel that charges by the hour in Flushing.

Starting in the early 1980s, his father ran apartment buildings in Manhattan before starting a successful bagel factory toward the end of the decade. After that he operated a chain of Dunkin’ Donuts stores around the borough.

“He has a lot of different small business experience,” Park said. “He did anything he that thought was a good idea and involved hard work and some investment capital.”

Alan Sigman (l.) and Irving Sigman present plans for the New York Spa of College Point before the College Point Corporate Park Task Force, which voted in favor of the proposal.

Borough President Helen Marshall gave two thumbs down to plans for another spa in College Point last week.

The borough president decided not to approve plans to build the New York Spa of College Point, a two-story relaxation hub envisioned by property owner Kwang Nam Park that would go up in the neighborhood’s corporate park.

The spa would be located in the two-story building currently home to warehouses and offices, at 131-23 31st Ave., which Park already owns.

But to get a shovel in the ground and overhaul the structure, Park needs a special permit from the city Board of Standards and Appeals.

The BSA ultimately has the say over whether the project can move forward, but it also takes into consideration the borough president’s recommendation — along with other bodies that have heard the plans along the way.

After mulling over the plans for several weeks, Marshall ultimately denied the plans for the spa, which would include a rooftop pool and restaurant, on the grounds of inadequate parking.

In a Dec. 20 decision, she said first the spa would create more vehicle trips to and from the location than warehouses and offices. And because street parking is not allowed in that location, the spa’s parking plan would not be able to handle that increased traffic, Marshall said.

Second, the valet parking setup proposed in the plans would cause a backup of cars going in and out of the lot, according to the borough president’s decision.

But H. Irving Sigman, of S&I Property Management, the firm drawing up the architectural plans and filing paperwork on behalf of Park, said the borough president’s assessments will be moot by the time the BSA holds the last public hearing of the process sometime in mid-January.

“We are not relying on any street parking, and there is going to be valet parking,” Sigman, an engineer and former borough official, said in an interview after being notified of Marshall’s decision. “The parking will comply with the zoning resolution for the number of cars.”

Sigman has hired a parking consultant to iron out any kinks in the plan. In addition, he said Park has no intention of installing a parking lot that does not function properly and could hinder the business.

“The matters are all under consideration very seriously,” he said. “They do not want a jam there.”

Marshall’s decision is the third and final recommendation the BSA will consider when approving or denying the permit.

In September, the College Point Corporate Park Task Force, a combination of citizens and members of Community Board 7, approved the plan by a vote of 8-1.

But at an October meeting, CB 7 recommended just the opposite.

In a letter to Jeff Mulligan, executive director of the BSA, the community board outlined its problems with the proposal, which Sigman said have all been taken care of.

The board’s concerns were that extra construction work would be needed to fortify the building’s structure, which could be cost-prohibitive, and also that Park has no experience running similar facilities.

The only other property he has owned is the Kew Motor Inn in Flushing. According to its website, it is “since 1969 the most famous, and exotic couples-friendly motel/hotel in Queens!! [sic]” It does not have a pool.

A Facebook group called “Leroy Comrie for Queens Borough President in 2013” was launched this week and there were eight members as of Thursday morning. The group was created by a “coalition of concerned citizens” and the page shows support for other political-themed groups on the social network such as Ruben Diaz Jr. for Mayor in 2013 and Albany County Young Democrats.

Comrie, who has not officially announced his run for the office, said he was flattered by the support.

“I had no idea that was being put out there. I’m being honored that someone is doing something for me,” he said.

Several sources said the councilman had thought about running for the borough president seat back in 2009 but changed his mind after the Council voted to extend term limits for all city elected offices. He, along with the majority of Queens City Council members and Borough President Helen Marshall, will be term limited out of office in 2013.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg (second from l.) announces the opening of PS 69's renovated playground with Sen. Jose Peralta (l.-r.), Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, Councilman Daniel Dromm, David Bragdon of the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, Assemblyman Francisco Moya and PS 69 Principal Martha Vasquez. Photo by Rebecca Henely

Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited Jackson Heights, the neighborhood most starved for park space in Queens, last week to celebrate the upcoming opening of PS 69’s student-designed playground, which comes complete with a human sundial and rock wall with “fossils.”

The playground is the 200th schoolyard in the city to be converted to an open space accessible to the public through Bloomberg’s PlaNYC, a wide-scale initiative to improve the city in preparation for the 1 million more residents the city is expected to have in 2030.

“Nothing is more important than building a future for our children and that includes having a safe place to play,” Bloomberg said.

As part of the goal to ensure all New Yorkers live within a 10-minute walk of a park, Bloomberg said the city is scheduled to convert 230 schoolyards into publicly accessible playgrounds by 2013. The schoolyard of PS 69, at 77-02 37th Ave. in Jackson Heights, is No. 200.

David Bragdon, director of the mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, said this is the largest expansion of public space in the city since legendary city planner Robert Moses’ work in the mid-20th century.

“They all reflect the values of PlaNYC and the mayor’s vision for the future,” Bragdon said.

The park was funded by a partnership between the city and the land conservation nonprofit The Trust for Public Land, Bloomberg said.

Bragdon said the renovation of the park was championed by Ed Westley of the Jackson Heights Beautification Group and designed by children from PS 69.

“This is really kid-friendly,” said City Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights). “It’s a wonderful addition to this community.”

Mary Alice Lee, a member of the trust, said the design began in December 2009. The new Jackson Heights park includes a running track, an AstroTurf field, a rock climbing wall decorated with fossils, a slide, a human sundial, hopscotch and benches shaped like caterpillars.

“It is truly beautiful,” said city Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott. “It’s open to all.”

City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said the renovation cost $376,000, and while a few more trees need to be added, the new playground park came under the average cost for transforming a school yard at $400,000.

“It’s a great bang for the buck,” Benepe said.

The playground is not yet open to the public but will soon be available during non-school hours from dawn until dusk.

PS 69 Principal Martha Vazquez said children have been enjoying the playground since the beginning of the year.

“I feel as though we’re the recipients of a jewel in Jackson Heights,” Vazquez said.

Borough President Helen Marshall said she used to be a teacher and the playground was a great change from the concrete lots the schools had when she worked in the public school system.

“They’ve just been enhanced so much with these wonderful programs,” Marshall said.

PS/IS 48 Principal Patricia Mitchell (from l.) state Sen. Shirley Huntley, a student and Borough President Helen Marshall cut the ribbon at the school's new auditorium. Photo by Ivan Pereira

Students at PS/IS 48 in Jamaica have been yearning for a school building where they did not have to share a single room in which to eat, play and assemble and this year their wishes were granted.

The young learners joined their teachers and elected officials at the school’s new building Friday to celebrate their all-new, all-different space and show off their school spirit. The five-story structure, at 108-25 155th St., features state-of-the-art classrooms, an auditorium, science labs and other amenities that were not possible in their old building next door.

Principal Patricia Mitchell said parents have always complimented her staff for their work, but was always frustrated with the overcrowded conditions in the old school. When word came four years ago that the building would get an upgrade, the parents were excited, according to the principal.

“We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time,” she said.

State Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica) led the campaign to improve PS/IS 48 long before she was elected to the state Legislature in 2006. During her time as a parent advocate and member of School District 28’s Community Education Council, Huntley heard frequent complaints from the community about PS/IS 48 and pushed for a bigger space.

She said she was appalled that the pre-K to fifth-graders had to use a small, multipurpose room as their gym, cafeteria and auditorium.

When she got into office, Huntley was able to work with the city School Construction Authority to create the space after the city rezoned 368 blocks in downtown Jamaica in 2007.

“This has been a 30-year project. It’s not about me. It’s about you,” the senator told the children.

The school now has three separate rooms for the auditorium, gym and cafeteria and has the latest school textbooks, computers and other supplies.

Dorothy Cash, who teaches second-grade and has been with the school for many years, said the new facility had everything an instructor could ask for.

“It has been a fabulous transition,” she said.

Borough President Helen Marshall applauded the staff and parents for their work over the years and urged other parents to keep fighting for their children.

“It’s important for them to get the best education they can get,” she said.

Last month, members of the Bayside Hills community boarded a bus to attend a city Board of Standards and Appeals hearing on a controversial plan to place a second home on the lot at the corner of 51st Avenue and 216th Street.

As the city Board of Standards and Appeals waits to reconvene the hearing involving a Bayside Hills home next month, City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) has introduced two pieces of legislation designed to give the community more recourse on uncharacteristic development.

Halloran said the bills were partly inspired by the BSA process for the home at 50-20 216th St., whose developer seeks a variance in order to build a second home next to an existing one on a subdivided lot.

Both Community Board 11 and Borough President Helen Marshall’s office oppose granting the variance. The Bayside Hills Civic Association — along with a number of politicians — have vociferously protested the application through rallies and busing neighborhood residents to the developer’s July 26 hearing in Manhattan.

The next hearing for the home is Sept. 13.

“Zoning variances are a powerful tool, which some developers have used to fundamentally change our neighborhoods,” Halloran said in a written statement. “Bayside Hills, for example, is a cozy community made up of low-rise, low-density homes. Our current laws let developers run wild with variances and don’t provide us with a way to keep them in line and preserve the character of our communities.”

The first of the two bills would give the community board and the borough president the power to appeal BSA variance decisions to the Council.

Currently, BSA decisions are final. If passed, the law would call for a Council committee to hold a public hearing on appeals. The full Council would then vote on the committee’s recommendation.

“Our city’s charter put the Council, not an unelected board, in charge of land use decisions,” Halloran wrote. “These laws would give the land use authority in New York City back to the City Council and would increase the vital role that the community board plays in the process.”

The second bill would impose fines upon homeowners who either violate or fail to comply with BSA requirements or operate with an expired variance.

Halloran said there is presently no penalty for a property operating with an expired variance, which he called a “major loophole” that leaves both the community and community board virtually powerless.

The bill would fine property owners in violation of BSA requirements up to $250. It would also require the board to send out notices six months before a property’s variance expires. If the variance is not renewed, the homeowner would be fined $500 for every six-month period thereafter until a homeowner applies for an extension of the variance.

Community Board 11 Chairman Jerry Iannece said he supported the councilman’s efforts and added he had brought the idea up before the board several years ago.

“This isn’t anything new. In fact, I think Tony Avella as a councilman introduced a similar type of act where the BSA wouldn’t be the final word. I applaud him and hope he has better luck with it,” he said.

Young, 93, served in the position for nearly 40 years and was active in the political scene in southeast Queens as the co-leader of the Guy R. Brewer Democratic Club.

“She came at a time when there were a lot of struggles. Struggles for the first black judge, the first black state senator,” said former Councilman Archie Spigner, who worked with Young for decades as both the male district leader for the 29th Assembly District Part A and the co-leader of the Brewer Democratic Club.

She also served as a city clerk at Queens Borough Hall where she worked in the marriage bureau for 25 years.

Young, who lived in St. Albans, was married to Evey Young until he died 25 years ago. They did not have any children.

A funeral service has been scheduled for Friday at 11 a.m. at St. Benedict the Moor Church at 171-17 110th Ave., according to Spigner.

Geraldine Ferraro holds a press conference in 1984. The City Council might name a street after the late congresswoman and vice presidential candidate this summer. AP photo

The most appropriate thing to name after Geraldine Ferraro might be a street and that is exactly what Community Board 6 voted to do last week.

Ferraro died at 75 in March, but during her life paved a road for female politicians after she became a congresswoman and then the first female to run as vice president on a major party ticket.

“Geraldine Ferraro is a historic figure,” said Claire Shulman, former borough president and a contemporary of Ferraro. “She was a very strong woman and really a mentor for a lot of other women who aspired to political office. I think she deserves to have a street named after her.”

The board voted unanimously to recommend the renaming to the City Council, where it is currently being considered, according to District Manager Frank Gulluscio.

The Council will make a decision by June and then the sign could go up 90 days later on the corner of Ascan Avenue and Austin Street.

The location of the renaming is also appropriate since Ferraro lived in Forest Hills Gardens with husband John Zaccaro from 1978 until 2000. She also represented the neighborhood for six years as part of her congressional district.

“She was a Queens person — there was no question about it,” Shulman said. “Even when she moved to Manhattan she was a Queens person.”

Ferraro moved to Manhattan later in her life to be closer to her doctors as she fought a 12-year battle with blood cancer.

Many in the neighborhood mourned the loss of Ferraro as a down-to-earth person who was as much a neighbor as a congresswoman.

She was a good friend of the Abbracciamento family, and often ate at Joe Abbracciamento’s eponymous restaurant in Rego Park, sometimes with a whole press corps in tow.

“She was a wonderful woman,” said John Abbracciamento’ Joe’s son, soon after Ferraro’s death. “We knew her so well. She was like an aunt.”

She acquired that adoration through the way she carried herself, Shulman said.

“She ran in the vice presidential race with grace, intelligence and poise,” Shulman said. “And after that election, she continued to have the same grace, intelligence and poise, which was not easy to do after international attention.”

And it was not an act, according to Shulman.

“What you saw was what you got,” she said.

Ferraro also had a post office named after her in Long Island City last year.

“She deserves both,” Shulman said with laugh. “She was taken too soon.”

U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner explains how the long-term Republican budget proposed last week would hurt the borough. Image courtesy Anthony Weiner

Rendering of the Queens West Library, which may have lost $4 million in funding for the construction process. Image courtesy Borough President Helen Marshall

A Forest Hills congressman took the Republican Party to task Tuesday for the millions of dollars in proposed budget cuts that would harm the working-class and senior citizens of Queens and the borough president bemoaned belt-tightening at the city level after $5 million of funding for the long-awaited Queens West library branch become embroiled in budget talks.

Weiner outlined several programs that would suffer from the 10-year budget proposed by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) last week and would affect nearly every aspect of life in the borough, especially for the low-income and elderly.

“The GOP budget is not about debt reduction, it’s about increasing the dangerous inequities in our economy and society,” he said. “It is an assault on the middle class and those struggling to make it.”

The federal government recently passed a stopgap measure and agreed on a budget for next year, but Ryan’s budget is for the long term.

Weiner’s study claimed that the Republican budget would cut $25 billion in federal funding for the borough over the 10-year period. And that could mean a loss of 450 police officers since federal grants to the city Police Department of Queens would be trimmed by $111 million.

For education, federal funding for primary and secondary schools, called Title I funding, would be cut by more than $205 million, according to Weiner.

Elderly and low-income residents would also suffer, according to Weiner’s budget analysis.

About 300,000 seniors would have to pay Medicare premiums that are currently covered, and tax dollars will have to cover $20 million in cuts for Medicaid, he said.

More than 96,000 Queens residents would lose their food stamp benefits while the borough overall would see a $1.7 billion cut in the program within the next decade.

Six housing programs would also be cut by a total of $540 million, according to Weiner.

And in a further blow to residents of western Queens, the proposed citywide cuts spell trouble for the Queens West Library, which is part of a larger redevelopment plan in the Hunter’s Point area.

According to Borough President Helen Marshall, budget negotiations are ongoing and she hopes the issue will be resolved within a month.

But for now, $4 million of the $5 million in money for the library might be cut. That money was supposed to come from a debt to the city owed by MetLife Insurance.

In 2001, the company signed a lease and agreed to move 1,000 workers to an office building in Long Island City. To encourage MetLife to make the move, the city offered $24 million in tax and energy incentives.

But when the insurance giant backed out and retreated back to Manhattan, the company was required to pay back $5 million — although it could have been on the hook for as much as $24 million — which it has yet to pay.

According to a spokesman for the borough president, that $5 million was supposed to go into the city’s capital budget plan and used to help fund the waterfront Queens West Library, but $4 million is currently proposed to be used elsewhere.

The funding is being handled by the city Economic Development Corp., which could not be reached for comment, but the borough president vowed to get the money back for the project.

“The borough president is not going to give that money up,” said spokesman Dan Andrews. “We’re going to be working with EDC.”

Geraldine Ferraro explains her and her husband's finances during an Aug. 21, 1984, news conference in Queens. Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket, died Saturday at 75. AP Photo

Then-Vice President George H.W. Bush shakes hands with Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro before the beginning of their 1984 debate in Philadelphia. AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

Geraldine Ferraro gathers with her family at a hotel in New York as they await returns of the presidential election in 1984, when she became the first woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket.

Geraldine Ferraro (c.) is presented with a plaque by U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (r.) during the renaming of the post office in Long Island City for Ferraro last year as former U.S. Rep. Barbara Kennelly looks on. Photo by Christina Santucci

Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket and a congresswoman who championed Queens in the House for six years, died Saturday in Boston after a 12-year battle with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer. She was 75.

“I remember shedding a tear when she was nominated for vice president at the Democratic convention in 1984,” said former Borough President Claire Shulman. “It was so exciting. It was a historic moment. I’m so glad Gerry had the opportunity. She represented us extremely well.”

Shulman said Ferraro “had the guts and the courage to run for vice president and really blazed a trail for everyone else. She was perfectly suited for that role because she had a lot of dignity and presence. She handled it with grace and intelligence.”

Born in upstate Newburgh, Ferraro moved to the South Bronx as a child and later settled in Forest Hills Gardens after marrying Forest Hills resident John Zaccaro.

Always proud of her ties to Queens, Ferraro introduced the borough to the rest of the country in her 1984 convention speech, telling how schoolchildren pass by subway stops on their way to school, residents hang flags on Grand Avenue on the Fourth of July and small businesses “take pride in supporting their families through hard work and initiative.”

Ferraro, who represented Forest Hills and parts of western Queens for six years in the House, lived in the same Forest Hills Gardens house from the beginning of her congressional career in 1978 until the early 2000s, and patronized the restaurant belonging to lifelong friends the Abbracciamento family.

“She never forgot about the community, even when she moved,” said John Abbracciamento, who is now chef and owner of his late father’s eponymous restaurant, Joe Abbracciamento. “She was a wonderful woman. We knew her so well she was like an aunt.”

Ferraro often ate at the storied Italian restaurant with colleagues and, later in her career, sometimes a large press entourage.

“I would be in the kitchen workings away and she would come in and say, ‘John, don’t worry about it. Just get it done.’” Abbracciamento said. “I met so many people who came through those doors without every having to leave.”

Abbracciamento said that his family remained close to Ferraro even after she left for Manhattan to be closer to her doctors.

After receiving a degree from Marymount Manhattan College, Ferraro worked as an elementary school teacher in Astoria and took night classes at Fordham Law School.

In 1974, Ferraro created the Special Victims Bureau of the Queens district attorney’s office, where headed the bureau responsible for sex crimes, child abuse and domestic violence.

Former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr., a classmate of Ferraro at Fordham Law, said she was “an innovative DA.”

“She was always very active. She was always interested in Queens, what was happening in Queens,” he said.

Four year later, Ferraro entered the 1978 Democratic primary for the Ninth Congressional District, defeating then-City Councilman Tom Manton, who later succeeded Ferraro in the U.S. House of Representatives and was the longtime Queens Democratic Party boss, by 53 percent to 28 percent. A third candidate received 18 percent of the vote.

Ferraro then won the general election, defeating Republican Party and Conservative Party candidate Alfred DelliBovi 54 percent to 44 percent.

Shortly after her election, Ferraro became a rising star in the Democratic Party and became close with then-House Speaker Tip O’Neill.

She was elected to leadership positions in the House, including secretary of the House Democratic Caucus from 1981-85.

In Congress, Ferraro was known for highlighting women’s issues, including the pay disparity between men and women.

She would win re-election in 1980 and 1982.

In 1984, Vice President and Democratic nominee for president Walter Mondale chose Ferraro as his running mate, making her the first woman and first Italian American to run on a major party ticket.

While the presidential campaign enjoyed a boost days after the announcement, it lost momentum after the press scrutinized the finances of Ferraro’s husband and she declined to release her tax returns after promising to do so.

Vallone, who said he believed the media attention was unfair, went on “Nightline” to stick up for Ferraro.

“I was the highest-ranking public official to defend her,” he said. “She survived that like she survived everything else.”

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria), who helped rename the Long Island City post office after Ferraro in August and was a convention delegate back in 1984, recalled watching Ferraro address the convention floor and the American people as she broke barriers.

“As an eager young delegate to the 1984 Democratic National Convention, I can tell you first-hand that Geraldine Ferraro thrilled us when she took the stage as the first woman ever nominated by a major political party to be its candidate for vice president of the United States,” Maloney said in a statement. “It was electrifying. She changed my life and she blazed a new path for American women.”

The Mondale-Ferraro campaign lost in a landslide to Ronald Reagan, who won re-election by carrying every state except Mondale’s home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia.

Ferraro continued her political aspirations after the loss, but ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in New York in 1992 and 1998.

Both times she lost in the Democratic primary.

Maloney said the country “has lost a great leader who was wise as she was warm, a trailblazer who broke down barriers for women and a mentor who opened the doors of possibility to many.

“For women everywhere, Geraldine Ferraro was a champion and heroine,” she said.

Ferraro’s funeral, a private service only for family and friends, is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Thursday at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer in Manhattan.

Ricky Ortiz and Irene Scheid of the Alley Pond Environmental Center bring along Crispy the ferret to budget hearings at Borough Hall. Photo by Howard Koplowitz

From colleges to cultural groups and nonprofits that run foreclosure prevention programs, organizations pleaded their cases for a share of Borough President Helen Marshall’s discretionary funds in the city budget last week.

Marcia Keisz, president of York College, asked for more than $1.8 million to bolster the college.

“We would like to have $750,000 to rework and transform veterans and student support services,” Keisz said during Marshall’s budget hearing at Borough Hall.

Keisz said that money would go toward student development and enriched student support services.

She also asked for $285,000 to upgrade the college’s Women’s Center, $475,000 to renovate York’s chemistry labs, $315,000 for the school’s geo-science monitoring project and funding for the second phase of the project to repair and build the college’s soccer field, which is currently “unusable.”

Jennifer Ching of Queens Legal Services said Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed budget provides no funds for the nonprofit, which provides foreclosure and eviction prevention programs, immigration rights and domestic violence programs as well as HIV advocacy.

“We’re doing everything we can at Queens Legal Services to keep these programs,” she said.

Dr. Gerald Deas of the Jamaica-based Afrikan Poetry Theatre said the theater had been denied $200,000 for summer programs.

“By losing $200,000, we have little money to exist on,” he said.

Deas said he was asking for only a “portion” of the $200,000.

“It is so important that we keep the multicultural family together in Queens,” he said.

Ricky Ortiz of the Alley Pond Environmental Center, requested $80,000 in additional funding for new buildings for APEC’s outreach programs, which he said will enable the organization to “bring APEC” to the 10,000 children on the nonprofit’s waiting list.

Joan Serrano-Laufer, director of the Queensborough Council for Social Welfare, said the organization had to reduce staff salaries to part-time levels six months ago and said staff members are coming to work on days they are not being paid.

The organization also moved from southeast Queens to Astoria for cheaper rent.

Serrano-Laufer said the nonprofit’s budget is $150,000 and she was asking Marshall for an additional $100,000.

“We really need to get that so we can return to full-time work,” she said.

Steven Choi, executive director of the Min Kwon Center for Community Action in Flushing, which provides free social and legal services, said the nonprofit is the only legal services organization for Korean Americans on the East Coast.

Choi did not specify how much money the organization was asking for.

Chuck Wade, president of the Kissena Corridor Park Conservancy, requested $200,000 toward the construction of a mediation garden opposite New York Hospital Queens’ cancer center.

“This is a project where everyone benefits,” said Wade, who said the garden will provide a “psychological lift” to the cancer patients.

Wade said $6,000 has already been raised for the project.

Helen Marshall. Photo by Christina Santucci

Borough President Helen Marshall’s office has requested that a borough photographer’s contract be renewed and authorized as much as $85,000 per year to pay him to photograph her at public events, according to a proposal published in the City Record.

The proposal is seeking an extension of photographer Dominick Totino’s contract through Aug. 31, 2011, and that $85,000 be set aside per year to pay him for his services, according to the City Record, the city’s municipal newspaper.

But Dan Andrews, Marshall’s spokesman, said Totino received no city benefits, medical coverage or a pension.

“We’re lucky to have him,” he said. “He’s a very good photographer. We save the city by not having a photographer full time. He’s hired on an hourly basis, per assignment.”

Totino, who lives in Whitestone, began working at the borough president’s office in 1997 under then-Borough President Claire Shulman, Andrews said.

He shoots as many as 200 events per year, including Marshall’s studio portrait and numerous public events.

“During the last couple of years, he didn’t make $85,000,” Andrews said. “We ask that he earn up to $85,000, but that’s more than we expect to spend. We didn’t want to not put in enough and then have to go through the complex contracting process again.”

In 2009, Totino billed the city $46,000 and this year earned an estimated $35,000, Andrews said.

On the City Record’s site, the proposal calls for “an intent to renew for photography services for the Queens Borough President’s Office to Dominick Totino Photography, Inc. The contract shall run from Sept. 1, 2010 to Aug. 31, 2011 and may not exceed $85,000.”

The proposal was posted Aug. 19.

The New York Post reported that the city’s other borough presidents had only spent hundreds of dollars on photographers for public events.

Andrews said that photos taken at events by Totino are sent out to Marshall’s constituents. Some of the events include people who have been honored by Marshall’s office, while some of the photographer’s pictures are sent to city newspapers.

Stacey Cumberbatch, the 2010 census coordinator for the city, (l.) speaks about the upcoming census at Borough Hall Tuesday as Borough President Helen Marshall looks on. Photo by Anna Gustafson

Borough President Helen Marshall and a bevy of civic leaders Tuesday launched the city’s first committee to ensure all residents in the nation’s most ethnically diverse county are counted in the 2010 Census.

The federal census, conducted once every decade, “will determine our country’s representation in the U.S. Congress and state Legislature for the next 10 years and help determine where to allocate more than $300 billion in federal funding for major services, including health care, education and transportation,” Marshall said. The 2010 census is slated to begin in March when the data will be collected over several months and then handed in to the President by year’s end.

To announce the formation of the Complete Count Committee, Marshall was joined at Borough Hall by Ligia Jaquez, deputy regional director of the U.S. Census Bureau; Stacey Cumberbatch, the 2010 census coordinator for the city; the Rev. Floyd Flake of the Greater Allen AME Cathedral; Ana Maria Archila, co-executive director of Make the Road New York; and S.J. Jung, president of the Minkwon Center for Community Action in Flushing.

Committee members will disperse information about the census throughout the borough.

“A key component of the Complete Count Committee’s efforts is to allay fear, particularly among undocumented immigrants and people living in overcrowded housing and reinforce that under federal law, the personal information collected by the Census Bureau is entirely confidential and cannot be shared with any federal, state or city agency,” Jaquez said.

Community leaders said collecting census data in Queens can be particularly challenging because of language barriers and fears that there will be questions about immigration status — which there are not, Marshall and others emphasized.

Because of these challenges, individuals on Tuesday asked that community leaders discuss the importance of the census data with Queens residents, about half of which were born outside the United States.

“We must do everything in our power to make sure those numbers are as high as they can be,” Flake said.

In the 2000 census, Queens’ mail-in response was 54 percent, which is below the national average of 67 percent, Marshall said. Response varied throughout the borough’s different neighborhoods and much of the population in Flushing, Jackson Heights, Corona, Elmhurst, Rego Park, Ridgewood, Kew Gardens, Richmond Hill and Jamaica did not return 2000 census information.

“In Flushing, the response rate was 31.5 percent,” Jung said. “Why? Language barriers are a big problem and especially undocumented immigrants are concerned about confidentiality … Let me say this clearly — the census is confidential. Don’t be afraid to stand up and be counted.”

Reach reporter Anna Gustafson by e-mail at agustafson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 174.

A Brooklyn bankruptcy court judge approved the sale of Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica, pictured, and St. John’s Hospital in Elmhurst to Guttman Realty last week.

Brooklyn Bankruptcy Court Judge Carla E. Craig approved the $26.625 million sale of St. John’s and Mary Immaculate hospitals to Guttman Realty last week, Queens borough president spokesman Dan Andrews said.
“The borough president plans to continue to work with Guttman Realty in her pursuit to get medical uses at both of those locations,” Andrews said.

Along with approving the sale of St. John’s in Elmhurst and Mary Immaculate in Jamaica, Craig denied both the state Dormitory Authority’s and Village Management Group’s requests that she further review the auction.

Marshall spoke with Gov. David Paterson at a dinner event two weeks ago and asked for the state to request the delay. The Dormitory Authority then ordered the review the next day, a state spokesman said.

The Village Management Group claimed the Oct. 16 auction was unfair in papers filed with the judge Nov. 3 and had asked that the bidding process be reopened. In its papers, the group said it wanted to open up health facilities at the former hospitals owned by the bankrupt and shuttered Caritas Health Care.

Marshall’s office has expressed concerns about the Brooklyn-based Guttman Realty, which has not confirmed what it plans to build on the properties.

Joshua Guttman, owner of Guttman Realty, and his son, Jack Guttman, were charged with 434 counts of failure to maintain privately owned waterfront property after a 10-alarm fire broke out in 2006 at one of Guttman’s Brooklyn properties, the Greenpoint Terminal Market.

Leszek Kuczera of Brooklyn was charged in 2006 with setting the fire.

Isaac Abraham, a spokesman for Guttman Realty, said in a previous interview that “if the Guttmans can have such a bad reputation because of the fire, I can’t see why the city should continue building after the Deutsche Bank fatalities,” referring to the fatal 2007 fire that occurred during the city- and state-overseen demolition of the building, which was damaged in the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Guttman purchased the St. John’s and Mary Immaculate properties at a bankruptcy auction Oct. 16, according to CB Richard Ellis, the firm retained by Proskauer Rose, Caritas Health Care’s bankruptcy counsel, to conduct the auction.

Caritas, which filed for bankruptcy protection in February and soon after began liquidating its assets, owned the St. John’s and Mary Immaculate sites, both of which were placed up for sale in May.

The auction took place at Proskauer Rose’s Midtown Manhattan office Oct 16. It was not open to the public.

Queens officials, including Marshall and Queens Civic Congress President Corey Bearak, have said they want to see the St. John’s and Mary Immaculate sites house health care facilities. But CB Richard Ellis spokesman Philip Weiss said the buyer “envisions several options for redeveloping the Mary Immaculate site, including an educational facility, nonprofit organization use, government operations or a religious facility.”

The St. John’s property may be used for office building development.

Marshall met with Guttman two weeks ago and urged the company to look into using the sites for health care purposes, Andrews said.

Abraham said the company will not make any decisions about the sites’ development until it has received input from the community and local elected officials.

Reach reporter Anna Gustafson by e-mail at agustafson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 174.

Councilman Bill de Blasio (D-Brooklyn) was elected public advocate on a bright fall day that drew what appeared to be an average number of voters to the polls. for a non-presidential election year.

Marshall, a Democrat, easily defeated Republican candidate Robert Hornak and Conservative Robert Schwartz, garnering 166,439 votes, or 75.63 percent of the vote, with 99.75 percent of the precincts reporting, according to unofficial results from NY1. Hornak received 44,641 votes, while Schwartz landed 8,982 votes.

Marshall has been borough president of Queens since 2001, prior to which she served as a city councilwoman and state assemblywoman in Queens for nearly two decades.

She led a relatively quiet campaign this summer, but said if re-elected she would push hard to increase the number of hospital beds in Queens and continue her support of bolstering minority- and women-owned businesses in Queens.

Bloomberg in his third bid for the city’s highest office beat Democrat Bill Thompson, but with a much thinner margin than expected. Bloomberg won 555,254 votes, or 50.6 percent, while Thompson, the city comptroller, received 505,452 votes, or 46.06 percent, with 99.89 percent of precincts reporting.

“The voters have spoken and now it’s up to us to deliver,” Bloomberg said during his victory speech Tuesday night. “Can we do it? I know we can, and I know we will.”

Thompson and Bloomberg said they planned to work with one another following the campaign.

“We’ve had our differences, but we’ve always found a common ground in our deep desire to serve this city,” Thompson said. “I pledge to do whatever I can to put the differences of the campaign behind us.”

Some residents at Queens polling stations expressed confidence in Bloomberg’s background as a successful businessman who has ruled the city as students’ test scores have risen and crime has dropped, while others criticized the billionaire independent’s bid to extend term limits and run for a third term.

“I’ve always voted for Bloomberg,” said Lina Hsu, 77, of Forest Hills. “Right now, the whole city is in crisis and you better let him go after it.”

Rose-Ann Georgilis of Woodside too praised Bloomberg’s record on crime and education.

“I don’t like that housing seems to be more expensive under Bloomberg, but it’s more important to me to feel safe and like my kids are doing well in school,” Georgilis said.

Many residents in southeast Queens threw their support behind Thompson and said they disapproved of Bloomberg’s drive to extend term limits.

“I think Bloomberg is a good person, but even if you’re good, you can’t disrespect the people,” said Laurelton resident Roy White.

Bloomberg, who spent a record-breaking estimated $90 million on his campaign, said he hopes to further funnel his efforts to reducing crime, reforming education and making affordable housing more available.

Liu swept to a landmark victory, drawing 695,335  ballots, or 75.97 percent of the vote, with 99.89 percent of precincts counted. Liu, the first Asian American to hold citywide office, easily trounced his Republican opponent, Joseph Mendola, who received 176,681 votes, or 19.3 percent.

“Indeed this is an historic night for New York City and a milestone for Asian Americans across the nation,” Liu said Tuesday night. “I’m truly humbled to have this place in history, and I stand here extremely optimistic about the opportunity to bring change to New York City and about the economic outlook of our future.”

DeBlasio defeated Staten Island Republican Alex Zablocki, receiving 671,412 votes, or 76.85 percent of the vote, with 99.89 percent of the precincts counted. Zablocki landed 156,715 votes, or 17.94 percent.
Ivan Pereira and Jeremy Walsh contributed reporting to this article.

Reach reporter Anna Gustafson by e-mail at agustafson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 174.

The march, which drew a number of high-profile office holders at the city, state and federal level, walked along the boulevard Saturday afternoon, prompting store owners and employees to step outside and cheer them on.

Queens Democratic District Leader Danny Dromm led more than 250 marchers, who wore “Stop the Hate” T-shirts, in a chant: “Jack Price is under attack. What do we do? Stand up, fight back.” Price’s family, including his brother, sister-in-law, cousins and nieces, walked at the front of the procession.

“Everyone in College Point knows my brother,” said Joseph Guarneri, Price’s brother. “He’d give the shirt off his back to anyone who needed it. Nobody should have to walk around worrying that they’ll get beat up.”

Guarneri said his brother probably would be in the hospital for another week as he waited for one his lungs to heal.

Joanne Guarneri, Price’s sister-in-law, said Price, 49, was once again speaking and joking with family members.

“He’s holding his own,” she said. “He’s a fighter, he’s going to make it.”

On Oct. 13, Price was kicked and punched repeatedly in the middle of the street after buying cigarettes at a 24-hour deli on College Point Boulevard around 4:30 a.m., He suffered a fractured jaw and ribs, a damaged lung and a lacerated spleen.

Two College Point men — Danny Rodriguez, 21, and Daniel Aleman, 26 — have been arrested and charged with assault and robbery as a hate crime in the incident, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

During last weekend’s procession, the marchers stopped at College Point Boulevard and 18th Avenue, where Price was attacked, for a moment of silence.

“We are here today to say enough is enough,” said Dromm, who is also a gay rights activist. “Anytime anyone does this to a member of our community, we will fight back. Don’t you dare raise your hand to us.”

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan), who is openly gay, said she was glad to see the community united in support of Price.

“They didn’t beat him because they didn’t like Jack,” she said. “They beat him because of who he is.”

Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) said he was pleased the march drew not only members of the borough’s various ethnic communities, but also elected officials from other boroughs and from differing political ideologies.

“I think it’s great that the people on this side of the microphone are just as diverse as the people on the other side of the microphone,” he told the crowd.

Queens Democratic District Leader Danny Dromm (r.) speaks at a rally for College Point’s Jack Price, who was brutally beaten. Price’s sister-in-law Joanne (l. to r.), niece Christina Guarneri, Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Councilman John Liu were among the hundreds of people in attendance. Photo by Christina Santucci

The marchers included U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Forest Hills), city Comptroller William Thompson, state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) and state Assembly members Nettie Mayersohn (D-Flushing) and Mark Weprin (D-Little Neck).

Also in attendance were Queens Borough President Helen Marshall; Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer; City Council members Quinn, Vallone, Tony Avella (D-Bayside), John Liu (D-Flushing) and James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows); as well as Democrat Kevin Kim and Republican Dan Halloran, who are candidates for Council District 19, which includes College Point.

A small group of supporters for Rodriguez shouted at the marchers from across the street, wearing stickers that read “Free Danny Rodriguez.”

“It wasn’t a hate crime,” said Marcel Gelmi, 26, of College Point. “Those cameras didn’t pick up sound. It was an assault but not a hate crime. Danny has gay friends. They’re blowing this out of proportion.”

One of Rodriguez’s supporters sported a large tattoo on his arm which read, “Thou shall not lie with a man as one does with a woman. It is an abomination: Leviticus 18:12.”

But Price’s family and supporters vowed they would be vigilant in preventing future attacks.

“We’ve been in the community for 23 years,” Joanne Guarneri said. “My brother got beat up for simply going out for a pack of cigarettes. We have to take back the streets.”

Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at nduke@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.

Helen Marshall talks with a Rosedale resident.

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall won the Democratic primary in her bid for a third term Tuesday, easily defeating challengers Marc Leavitt and Robert Schwartz in the three-way race for the nomination, unofficial election results show.

The Board of Elections said Marshall trounced Leavitt and Schwartz, pulling in 52,258 votes for more than 71 percent of the votes cast.  Leavitt, who spent well over $300,000 in his bid to unseat the two-term incumbent, received 12,294 votes for 16 percent of the vote while Schwartz got just 8,434 votes for 11 percent of the vote.

Marshall has been borough president of Queens since 2001, prior to which she served as a city councilwoman and state assemblywoman in Queens for nearly two decades.

She led a relatively quiet campaign this summer, but said if re-elected she would push hard to increase the number of hospital beds in Queens and continue her support of bolstering minority and women-owned businesses in Queens.

Leavitt, a Sunnyside Democrat and attorney with a reputation for performing what he calls “political satire cabaret,” led a spirited race to unseat Marshall. He said Marshall has not been a good enough cheerleader for the borough and promised to bring more resources to Queens.

Schwartz, a retired Forest Hills businessman, waged an unsuccessful campaign against state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) in 2008.

Dan Jacoby was arraigned on assault and harassment charges Sept. 3 after allegedly engaging in a political feud with Benedict Wall near the corner of Justice Boulevard and Broadway in Elmhurst while stumping for Leavitt, authorities said.  According to a criminal complaint, Jacoby allegedly shoved Wall to the ground amid their dispute causing him to suffer a broken right arm.

The incident, first reported by the Daily News’ Lisa Colangelo, led to Jacoby briefly being jailed before he was released on his own recognizance at arraignment, the DA said. Jacoby, a 47-year-old political consultant and retired actor, is due back in court on Oct. 15.

Leavitt is running against two-term incumbent Helen Marshall for the Queens borough president’s office.

It backed Coucilmen Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) and James Sanders (D-Laurelton) in their bids for a third consecutive term. Clergy United did not make an endorsement in the race for District 28, where incumbent Thomas White (D-South Ozone Park) will be facing off against five challengers.

The clergy leaders also backed William Thompson in his bid against City Coucilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside), John Liu in the comptroller primary, Eric Gioia in the public advocate race and incumbent Helen Marshall in the primary for borough president.

The group stated in a press release:

Along with diversity, we are confident in the quality and qualification of those whom we have endorsed will help to raise the quality of life in [a] vast urban center and provide the needed resources necessary to care for the people we serve in the most diversified borough in this city.

Marshall has raised $147,931 thus far for her campaign and more than $28,000 in the last month, but failed to eclipse the $44,588 threshold of matchable contributions required to receive the public funding — something her Democratic opponent Marc Leavitt was quick to point out in a news release:

Despite her campaign’s promise to ramp up fund-raising efforts, and receiving more donations from large donors and PACs, Marshall failed to garner the necessary small donations from New York City residents.

Earlier this month, Leavitt received $279,939 in matching funds, giving him a far larger war chest than the incumbent Marshall.  Leavitt has also spent $225,929 thus far, more than four times Marshall’s spending total of $43,626.

Evan Stavisky, a spokesman for Marshall’s campaign said he expects the borough president to qualify for matching funds by the end of the month.

“We fully expect to have enough and we will absolutely outspend Mr. Leavitt on our way to winning this election,” he said.