Gov. Andrew Cuomo addresses the crowd at Queens College. Photo by Christina Santucci

Security moves into place alongside the unidentified heckler. Photo by Christina Santucci

After his Albany address, Gov. Andrew Cuomo presented his budget plan for a second time in Flushing last Thursday morning, which had many Queens officials in the audience nodding their heads in agreement.

Aside from a Queens College professor claiming to represent the “99 percent,” the audience largely hung on the governor’s words as he touted statewide reforms and pushed his idea for a convention center at the Aqueduct Racino in South Ozone Park.

“Let’s build the largest convention center in the nation,” the governor said, his voice rising. “And let’s build it in Queens.”

A recent statewide Siena College poll found the public’s response lukewarm, however, with only 38 percent in favor and 57 percent opposed to the $4.4 billion plan.

But U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-St. Albans) loved the idea.

“I’m excited about it,” he said in an interview after the address. “It sends a huge message that Queens is a part of New York City.”

Westerns Queens politicians, like City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria), were happy to hear Cuomo’s plans for an energy highway connecting the sites in upstate and western New York, where power is generated to areas downstate like New York City, where demand is heavy.

Astoria currently bears a large burden in supplying the city with power. It is home to six power plants, in addition to Vallone’s office.

“It should have been done a long time ago, but we finally have a governor who has the guts to do it,” said Vallone. “My district provides more than 80 percent of the power for the entire city.”

Cuomo also delved into crime during his speech, which drew the attention of District Attorney Richard Brown.

The governor called for DNA information to be taken from anyone who is convicted of a crime, no matter what the crime. Currently DNA information is only taken from about 50 percent of convicted criminals. The governor’s statements echoed those of Brown, who has long called for the blanket DNA sampling.

“DNA is one of the most powerful tools ever developed to solve and prevent crimes, to exonerate the innocent and to bring justice to victims of crime,” Brown said in response to the speech. “It is the fingerprint of the 21st century, yet we are not making full use of this technology.”

At a news conference immediately following the presentation, Cuomo discussed the Cross Bay Bridge toll, saying he would like to reduce the costs for residents of the Rockaways, who use the bridge to travel to work. He has also previously said he would provide refunds to residents of the Rockaways and Broad Channel, effectively ending the tolls.

This was another win for Meeks.

“I think that bridge has more than paid for itself,” he said, hoping that it would be abolished altogether. “I’ll be working with the governor.”

Cuomo also received plaudits for taking the education and governmental bureaucracy to task for not coming up with a method to effectively evaluate teachers.

The federal government gave New York state $700 million in Race to the Top funds on the condition that it come up with an evaluation system, but the impasse means the Obama administration wants its money back.

If that happens, it will nearly negate the $800 million increase in education funding the governor has planned.

Cuomo said he would increase education funding on a state level by a further 4 percent, but only for school districts that come up with an evaluation method.

He did not cover his plans for pension reform, which have drawn criticism from high-profile union leaders.

City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (pictured) was near the top of his class, according to the Urban Justice Center's Human Rights Report Card, whereas Councilman Peter Vallone's score indicated he could use some tutoring.

City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) is going to have to make some room on his fridge.

The chairman of the Council Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations had the best record of the Queens delegation on human rights issues last year, according to the Urban Justice Center’s 2011 Human Rights Report Card.

The report card identified 72 bills introduced over the past year that focused on housing, voting, disability and workers’ rights as well as issues concerning criminal and juvenile justice, health and government accountability.

Each Council member was graded on his or her votes and sponsorship of these bills as well as their response to a questionnaire.

Van Bramer voted in favor of eight bills, sponsored 52 — including two he was the primary sponsor of — and returned his questionnaire, all of which earned him an “A-.”

He fared particularly well when it came to housing rights and government accountability.

On the other end of the spectrum, Councilman Peter Vallone’s (D-Astoria) score of 12 earned him a grade of “D+,” the lowest in the borough.

Vallone was the primary sponsor of two human rights bills and sponsored three others. He voted in favor of four bills and did not respond to the questionnaire.

The councilman criticized the methodology of the report, calling into question the voting records of other Council members who scored higher than he did.

“Apparently, supporting brutal and repressive dictators gets you an ‘A’ from this supposed human rights group. I’m proud to be at the bottom of any list Charles Barron is at the top of,” he said.

Councilman Barron (D-Brooklyn), who praised the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, earned an “A” on the report card.

Council members James Sanders (D-Laurelton) and Julissa Ferreras (D-East Elmhurst) both received a “B-” and Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights) got a grade of “B.”

Receiving a grade of “C” were Council members Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills), Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) and Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans).

Councilmen Peter Koo (R-Flushing), Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) and Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens) each scored slightly lower: a “C-.”

Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) got a “D+” and Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica), who took office last November, did not receive a grade.

While the report assigned each Council member a grade, its primary criticism was of the political power of the speaker and the Council’s failure to challenge that power.

Of the 72 bills introduced, only eight were brought to a vote, and the report implied this was because Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) did not support them.

Quinn’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The report cited two rules that allow the Council to advance the process of legislation that does not have the speaker’s support.

“There are no clear reasons for the Council’s reticence in taking advantage of these two rules. However, based [on] reports that the speaker readily wields political power internally, and on conversations with advocates, we speculate that failure to do so is linked with the desire of most Council members to maintain a relatively friendly relationship with the speaker,” the report read.

“However, given its impact on human rights in New York City, business as usual is not sufficient to protect our human rights. Council members should act — individually and as a collective — to challenge the status quo even in the face of political reprisals,” it continued.

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., whose campaign stickers can be seen at left, said vandals have been putting up fake campaign stickers (r.) on public property to get his campaign in trouble. Photos courtesy Peter Vallone

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) accused graffiti-makers of putting up fake campaign stickers for him around the city to have him fined and make him look like a hypocrite.

“I think it’s an organized effort to discredit me,” Vallone said.

Vallone said he received an e-mail Oct. 12 from a man threatening to report Vallone’s campaign for stickers that were illegally put up in places throughout the city. In response, Vallone wrote to NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly asking him to investigate the situation. He said he has also been in contact with the city Sanitation Department.

“This one is more than just a personal attack on me,” Vallone said. “The intent here, I think, was to get me fined, and those fines can be substantial, in addition to make me look like a hypocrite.”

Vallone said the fake stickers were not the actions of his own staffers or another campaign. While the stickers bear the name “Peter F. Vallone,” as well as the councilman’s campaign slogan and campaign office phone number, Vallone said the stickers are not official.

The fake stickers are black, yellow and red, whereas the real stickers are blue and yellow and put the “Jr.” at the end of Vallone’s name. The real stickers also have Vallone’s name written over a picture of the Unisphere and the Hell Gate Bridge.

“They were too dumb to actually get the sticker correct,” Vallone said of the vandals.

Vallone said a few of these stickers have been found in Queens and one has been found in Manhattan, although Vallone has not been seeking citywide office. The councilman has been mulling a run for Queens borough president, however.

Vallone, who was once dubbed by The New York Times as “The Man Who Hates Graffiti,” has introduced numerous legislation aimed at reducing graffiti and has spoken out against graffiti exhibits. He said pro-graffiti types have protested his attacks in creative ways, such as profanity-laced billboards, T-shirts and a series of subway notices that looked like Metropolitan Transportation Authority fliers, but ended with an insult to Vallone.

“I’m sure there’s stuff I don’t know about,” the councilman said.

Vallone said he would not have brought attention to the stickers if not for the possible fines involved. He said putting up stickers on public property is illegal, and has been done in the past by graffiti-makers.

The councilman insisted the fake stickers have only encouraged him to think up more legislation against graffiti.

“To me, it means I’m doing my job,” he said.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation says the city's drinking supply will be spared from hydrofracking by the use of a buffer zone, but two Queens members of the City Council say residents should still be concerned. AP Photo/Mike Groll

The state Department of Environmental Conservation released regulations last week concerning the controversial process of hydrofracking that calls for a 1,000-foot buffer zone between an upstate New York shale formation and the city’s watershed.

Two Queens city councilmen criticized the regulation for being too soft and said the 1,000-foot zone is not enough to protect the city’s drinking water supply from hydrofracking.

Hydrofracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a controversial method used to drill for natural gas that leads to toxins becoming trapped in the rock formation, which opponents say can travel into the city’s watershed.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in favor of the gas drilling and supporters say the drilling will lead to more jobs upstate.

Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows), chairman of the Council Environmental Protection Committee and a geologist, said the DEC’s draft regulation ?“brings us one step closer … to the possible unprecedented contamination of New York City drinking water and other drinking water supplies throughout the state and the degradation of a large swath of our state through the irreversible industrialization of ‘hydrofracking.’”

Hydrofracking has been taking place in Pennsylvania and the documentary “Gasland” shows how the gas drilling method polluted water in the state, with some homeowners being able to light their drinking water on fire using a match.

Gennaro said the 1,000-foot buffer proposed by the DEC does not even stop hydrofracking from within the buffer, but triggers a notification to the city Department of Environmental Protection that a drilling application was filed and that the state agency has final say as to whether the drilling will be allowed.

Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria), chairman of the Council Public Safety Committee, said the DEC’s regulations “do not sufficiently protect our water supply from the dangers of ‘fracking.’

“The state must act quickly to change this proposal, as well as provide a guarantee that if city water is harmed, state money will be used to fix it,” Vallone said.

Vallone said increased funding and hours for receiving centers across the city does not make up for Queens not having an animal shelter. Animals found in Queens are often sent to other boroughs, like Wilbur the pig, who was found in College Point but sent to Manhattan.

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) criticized a bill passed by his fellow Council members and championed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg that increases funding and the hours of operation for animal receiving centers but gets rid of a requirement for full-service shelters in Queens and the Bronx.

“We will probably see it rain cats and dogs in Queens before we ever see a shelter,” Vallone said.

The law provides more than $10 million in funding to Animal Care and Control, the nonprofit group which runs the city’s animal shelters. The operating hours of receiving centers, which take in animals so they can be put through the shelter system, have also been increased from eight hours a day once or twice a week to 12 hours a day seven days a week.

“This bill paves the way for a significant increase in public funding for the city’s animal shelters, which will greatly expand and improve care for homeless animals,” Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) said in a statement.

In exchange, the city will no longer be required to build two full-service shelters, one for Queens and one for the Bronx, in accordance with a law passed in 2000. Vallone Jr.’s father, former Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr., oversaw the passage of the previous law.

The new law was passed Sept. 21, with 46 votes in favor. Four Queens councilmen — Vallone Jr., Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans), Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) and Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) — were the only ones to vote against it. Bloomberg signed the bill Tuesday.

Vallone Jr. said that while he was in favor of the increased funding and hours, a receiving center was no substitute for a shelter. He said he had heard a story about one family who lost their dog and after they eventually tracked it to a Manhattan shelter six hours later, they found the dog had been killed, with the shelter claiming it was sick. Vallone Jr. said he believed the situation could have been avoided if Queens had had a shelter.

The councilman said that since 2009, the nonprofit Stray from the Heart has sued the city Department of Health for not complying with the 2000 law and claimed Bloomberg pushed the new law to avoid an unfavorable court ruling. Stray from the Heart won its suit in New York Supreme Court, but lost a Health Department appeal that said the nonprofit did not have the standing to bring the claim to court. Vallone Jr. said the nonprofit was working to appeal the decision.

“The mayor wanted it done so there would not be a court ruling that the city was in contempt of the law and the City Council did it for him,” Vallone Jr. said.

The mayor’s office did not respond to requests for comment on Vallone Jr.’s claim.

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (r.) gave more than $131,000 to the Central Astoria Local Development Coalition as part of his member items, which organizes the yearly Independence Day fireworks on the East River near Astoria Park. The councilman joined with Central Astoria President George Stamatiades (l. to r.), city Comptroller John Liu and Central Astoria Executive Director Marie Torniali at this year's event. Photo by Christina Santucci

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) received a better than 40 percent cut in his member items for fiscal year 2012, which meant he was not able to fund some of the nonprofits he traditionally has given money to throughout his district.

“Some of the groups understand the financial situation we’re in and are grateful to receive any money and others unfortunately don’t take it as well,” Vallone said in an interview.

The councilman received $838,321 in member items for his district last year, down sharply from the $1.4 million he received in 2011. Vallone said the drop was due to the city’s current financial situation.

“That’s unfortunate because it’s going to affect Little Leagues and senior centers,” Vallone said.

Yet some sources say Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) slashed the funds in revenge for Vallone’s opposition to changing the name of the Queensboro Bridge to the “Ed Koch-Queensboro Bridge,” the New York Post reported.

Quinn could not be reached for comment.?

Mayor Michael Bloomberg pushed for the name change in December as an honor to the former mayor. Quinn and the majority of the Council approved the change, although Vallone led a campaign against it and 70 percent of the borough was opposed to the renaming, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.

Vallone admitted his relationship with Quinn had been strained ever since he came out against the name change, but said he hoped that did not influence her decision.

“I’d like to believe grown-ups get through political differences without pettiness,” Vallone said.

Most of the money Vallone distributed stayed inside his district, which encompasses most of Astoria, LaGuardia Airport, Rikers Island, Randalls Island, Ward’s Island and small parts of Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst, with a few grants going to citywide nonprofits.

The Central Astoria Local Development Coalition received the most funding from Vallone with a collective $131,714 in grants. The funds provide for a variety of services Central Astoria offers, such as its Waterfront Concert series and July 4 fireworks in Astoria Park, promotional programs for business districts and housing application help.

Another large recipient was the Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens Inc., which received $103,500. The club was founded by Vallone’s grandfather and serves more than 400 kids a day.

“It gives them a safe place to do their homework and participate in sports,” Vallone said.

Other groups that received large sums included the Hellenic American Neighborhood Action Committee, which received $62,000; Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services Inc., which received $45,500; the East River Development Alliance, which received $14,500; and Central Astoria. All groups provide services for seniors and ERDA also specializes in assisting members of public housing.

Other, smaller recipients of Vallone’s funding included various Greek organizations as well as art, music and recreational groups.

Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner announces his resignation from Congress during a news conference in Brooklyn. Nominees for his seat from the heads of the borough's two major parties are expected to be announced by July 11.

The heads of the borough’s two major parties are expected to name their nominees to replace former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner by later this week at the earliest after Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for a Sept. 13 special election to fill the vacant 9th Congressional District seat in Forest Hills.

Weiner resigned in disgrace last month after admitting to tweeting a photo of his boxer-clad crotch to a Seattle college student. He initially lied and claimed his Twitter account was hacked.

A source close to the Queens Democratic Party said state Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows) is the odds-on favorite to be picked as the Democratic candidate for the seat by Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights), who also doubles as the Queens Democratic Party chairman.

“If I was gambling, I would bet on Rory,” the source said, claiming the assemblyman is out of favor with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan).

“He’s had some run-ins with Shelly,” the source said.

But Lancman denied butting heads with the speaker.

“I haven’t had clashes with [Silver],” Lancman said. “We have a good relationship, I have excellent committee assignments.”

On the Republican side, the Queens GOP is not tipping its hand as to who it will designate as the party’s nominee, but among the contenders is retired Rockaway businessman Bob Turner, who mounted an unsuccessful campaign against Weiner in 2009.

City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) said Tuesday he would not run for the seat.

Queens GOP spokesman Robert Hornak said seven or eight candidates have expressed interest in running on the Republican side.

“We’re going to screen every potential candidate before we make a final decision,” he said. “We’ve cast a wide net.”

Both parties have until Monday to name their nominee, who will run under the party’s line during the special election.

With the state set to lose two congressional seats due to redistricting following the 2010 census, most political observers believe the 9th Congressional District — which covers Forest Hills, Rego Park, Kew Gardens, Richmond Hill, Howard Beach, part of the Rockaways and Brooklyn — will be eliminated, which makes the seat less attractive to ambitious politicians.

Other Democratic names mentioned to be in the running include former City Council members Eric Gioia and Melinda Katz, City Councilmen Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens) and Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria), Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Little Neck), former Borough President Claire Shulman and former Congresswoman and city Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman of Brooklyn.

“It’s going to be interesting,” the source said.

The special election is set for Sept. 13, Primary Day, when there will also be special elections to fill the seats of former Assemblywomen Nettie Mayersohn in Flushing and Audrey Pheffer in Rockaway Beach.

Mayersohn, 85, retired in April after nearly 30 years in the Assembly, while Pheffer stepped down last month to fill the vacant county clerk position.

UCCA President Rose Marie Poveromo (l.) and state Sen. Michael Gianaris (c.) held a town hall meeting with multiple city agencies last week. Photo by Rebecca Henely

Cars parked on the sidewalk, livery cabs parked on 31st Street near the end of the N line and the preponderance of potholes peppered the discussion at a town hall meeting last Thursday for residents of the Astoria and Long Island City communities.

The meeting, which has become an annual event, was sponsored by state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria), the United Community Civic Association and Community District Education Council 30. On stage in the auditorium of PS 234, at 30-15 29th St. in Astoria, representatives from about 20 different city agencies fielded questions from audience members, most of which centered around traffic issues and enforcement in the laws in Astoria and Long Island City. The event was moderated by Rose Marie Poveromo, president of the civic.

“Really this is about bringing all the agencies here for each of you to hear,” Gianaris said.

Most of the questions of the night ended up being taken by officers from the 114th Precinct, Dawn Miller of the city Taxi and Limousine Commission and C. Peter Goslett of the city Department of Transportation. Gloria Moloney, a member of the Dutch Kills Civic Association, said 38th Avenue near 27th Street had problems with a business which she said had many cars parked around it, some on the sidewalks, with out-of-state plates.

“When we ask them to move their cars, they get into altercations with us,” Moloney said.

Capt. Frank Tarantola of the 114th said they had been looking into enforcement in that area and had recently towed 10 cars away. But cars need to be observed in the same spot for 96 hours before they can be moved. Tarantola also said the license and registration on the cars largely checked out.

Some residents also complained about livery cabs on 31st Street near Ditmars Boulevard. City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) said this is a persistent problem, and when the TLC is called out to enforce it, the black cabs are usually back after 20 minutes. He also said the cabs often double park without repercussions, but residents who double park because they cannot find spots often receive tickets.

Gianaris said he had been corresponding with the TLC and mentioned the mayor’s initiative for taxis for the outer boroughs.

“It’s a serious problem for moving through 31st Street,” Gianaris said.

A resident of Ravenswood said the area around 21st and 24th streets is full of potholes, which makes it dangerous when residents are trying to take groceries home.

Responding to the potholes questions, Goslett said this continues to be a challenge for the DOT after the extreme snow last winter.

“I have to tell you that this is the worst year we’ve ever had in terms of potholes,” he said.

Panelists also answered questions about hydrofracking, bedbugs and traffic around schools.

Peter Vallone Sr. plays the cow bell during his son Peter Vallone Jr.'s 50th birthday. Photo by Christina Santucci

Peter Vallone Jr. (l.) on guitar is joined by his brother Paul Vallone on drums during a performance at Central Lounge. Photo by Christina Santucci

Peter Vallone wielded his ax with aplomb as his musically talented family gathered on the stage at Central Lounge in Astoria for his 50th birthday celebration. Photo by Christina Santucci

Three generations of the Vallone family were on stage at Astoria’s Central Lounge last Thursday night, playing classics such as “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” and “Rock Around the Clock” in celebration of City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr.’s (D-Astoria) 50th birthday.

“I’m overwhelmed and humbled by this,” said Vallone, who turned half a century on March 23. “There’s more people here than I ever could have imagined.”

[See our video of the event by Christina Santucci here]

Fellow politicians, civic activists and various well-wishers crowded into the lounge at 20-30 Steinway St. to hear the nine-year councilman play the guitar and drums, as well as the musical stylings of his father, former Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr. on the cow bell; his brothers Paul Vallone on tambourine and Perry Vallone on guitar; his daughter and his nieces, who sang; and his mother Tena Vallone, who played saxophone. The event also featured the drumming of Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

“It was very heart-warming,” said Tena Vallone of playing with her family. “I don’t know if I’d do it again, but I really enjoy it.”

Peter Vallone Jr. advertised his event with a Bruce Springsteen-esque picture of himself wearing a sleeveless white T-shirt, a headband and sunglasses. Yet his real on-stage wardrobe was a white dress suit and burgundy tie more suited to the posh atmosphere of the Central Lounge. Other members of his family dressed similarly, with Peter Vallone Sr. wearing a gray suit and the councilman’s niece Catena wearing a black dress with bows.

“I like doing it,” Catena Vallone, Paul’s 11-year-old daughter, said of performing, “because I get to do it with my family.”

Special guests to the event included city Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Borough President Helen Marshall and Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. The councilman also invited up on stage Omar Audi, a 9-year-old Astoria resident originally from Lebanon who has hereditary angiodema, a rare and potentially fatal swelling disease. The medicine to control it is only available in America, and when his parents were about to be deported, Peter Vallone Jr. led the campaign to allow them to stay.

“He’s one of the greatest guys I’ve ever met,” Peter Vallone Jr. said of Omar.

Civic activist Rose Marie Poveromo said the councilman was truly deserving of such a party.

“He tells it the way it is and pulls no punches,” Poveromo said. “He is unconcerned about his image and represents ‘We the People’ to the nth degree.”

State Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas (D-Astoria) said she had seen the councilman on stage before and always found it fun.

“Everyone loves Peter,” said Simotas. “And I don’t know if they come to celebrate his birthday or to hear him sing.”

Peter Vallone wielded his ax with aplomb as his musically talented family gathered on the stage at Central Lounge in Astoria for his 50th birthday celebration. Photo by Christina Santucci

Three generations of the Vallone family were on stage Thursday night, playing classics such as “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” and “Rock Around the Clock” at Astoria’s Central Lounge in celebration of City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr.’s (D-Astoria) 50th birthday.

Fellow politicians, civic activists and various well-wishers crowded into the lounge at 20-30 Steinway St. to hear the nine-year Council veteran play the guitar, as well as the musical stylings of his father, former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr.; his brother, lawyer and former City Council candidate Paul Vallone; his daughters; his nieces;and his mother Teena Vallone, who played saxophone. The event also featured the drum stylings of city Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

See the video by Christina Santucci below:

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.

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. says the Queensboro Bridge is too culturally significant to be renamed for former Mayor Ed Koch. Photo by Christina Santucci

City politicians past and present have come out in support of renaming the Queensboro Bridge in Long Island City after former Mayor Ed Koch, but City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) said the bridge’s current name is too significant to be changed.

“Mayor Ed Koch is truly a great man and deserving of an honor like this, but renaming a landmark so closely linked to our borough’s culture and history is not appropriate,” Vallone said in a statement released last week.

The drive to rename the bridge — known across the East River as the 59th Street Bridge because it connects 59th Street in Manhattan with Queens Plaza in Long Island City — after the city’s 105th mayor began with its current one. Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced at a Dec. 8 early birthday party for Koch that he wanted to change the name to the “Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge,” which would require the passage of a local law.

Koch, who is 86, served as mayor from 1978 to 1989.

Bloomberg’s office said the cost to change the signs would be covered by the privately financed Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City.

Vallone, who had been silent on the renaming, took issue with the plan last week. He suggested renaming the mayor’s residence, Gracie Mansion, the Gracie-Koch Mansion instead.

“The city would not rename the Brooklyn Bridge and the Queensboro Bridge should be treated equally,” Vallone said.

The Queensboro Bridge has been featured in the background of numerous films and television shows and was the inspiration for the name of a Simon & Garfunkel song: “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy).” It is also mentioned in the novel “The Great Gatsby,” in which narrator Nick Carraway says, “The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.”

The Council held a hearing on changing the bridge’s name Friday. At the hearing, 12 to 15 people gave testimony, most of whom had worked with Ed Koch. Of those who testified, only one said he was not in favor of changing the name.

One former Queens politician who disagrees with the councilman’s stand against the name change is his father, former Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr. In an interview with TimesLedger Newspapers soon after Bloomberg’s plan was announced, Vallone Sr. said he considered both the bridge and Koch “the spirit of the city.”

“It’s a workhorse bridge and he’s been a workhorse all his life,” Vallone said of Koch.

Koch himself recently told The New York Times it was the Council’s decision.

“It’s a decision for every member of the City Council to make on their own,” Koch said to the Times. “If they support the change, I’ll be very grateful and very honored. If they don’t, it won’t be the end of my life.”

The City Coucil voted to extend the city's smoking ban to include parks and beaches. AP Photo/Gerry Broome

The City Council voted last week to expand the smoking ban by prohibiting smokers from lighting up in city parks and beaches.

Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) was the author of a compromise bill that would have designated smoking areas in parks and beaches but the legislation never made it to the Council floor.

“Unfortunately, we were given an all-or-nothing choice,” Vallone said. “It was a very difficult vote for me.”

Vallone said he was torn over whether government should be telling citizens where they can and cannot smoke.

Besides city parks and beaches, the ban includes pools, recreation centers and city Parks Department properties, equipment, buildings and facilities.

Places exempt from the ban include sidewalks immediately adjoining parks, squares and public spaces; any pedestrian route through any park strip, median or mall that is adjacent to vehicular traffic; and parking lots.

Actors who have to smoke as part of theatrical performances are also not included in the ban.

Anyone in violation of the ban is subject to a $50 fine for each infraction.

The Council voted in favor of the ban by a 36-12 vote.

Vallone’s district includes Astoria Park and the Astoria Pool, where smoking will be prohibited.

“The vast majority of people are happy about this bill,” he said. “They can enjoy the park and the pool without the dangers of secondhand smoke.”

City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) was one of the 12 Council members to vote against the ban.

“While I understand the health concerns that prompted the introduction of this bill, it is nothing more than another example of government intruding into the private lives of New Yorkers,” he said in a statement. “The city should be less concerned about correcting people’s bad habits and more focused on solving real problems facing the city. Whether we like it or not, smokers pay taxes and they have rights, too. We need to be mindful of the fact that we’re infringing on the rights and freedoms of everyday residents who are not breaking the law.”

Proponents of the ban say it protects city residents from second-hand smoke and will reduce trash at beaches.

“The statistics don’t lie: Secondhand smoke kills,” said Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan). “With this bill, all New Yorkers can now breathe easier and breathe cleaner air.”

“No one should have to inhale deadly cigarette smoke when they go to the park or beach,” she said. “My Council colleagues and I know that Big Tobacco will never rest in its efforts to recruit new smokers to replace those customers who are dying prematurely from using their products. But this summer, when people visit our beautiful parks and beaches, they will be able to relax and not worry about dodging deadly secondhand smoke.”

City Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty addresses City Council members at a contentious hearing Monday afternoon in Manhattan on the city's mishandling of the response to last month's blizzard. Photo by Connor Adams Sheets

The City Council held the first of a series of hearings into the city’s slow response to last month’s blizzard Monday afternoon.

The packed event in Manhattan was the first chance Council members had to publicly and directly question and chide apologetic city officials about their handling of the storm, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg had described as “inadequate” and “unsatisfactory.”

A focal point of the inquiries was the city’s failure to sufficiently address the snow removal needs of the outer boroughs, including those of Queens, which had many unplowed streets several days after the snow stopped falling, multiplying emergency response times and leaving thousands of residents stranded.

“At some point you’ve got to realize they weren’t plowing,” City Councilman Peter Vallone (D-Astoria), chairman of the Council Public Safety Committee, told city Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty during a heated exchange. “They may have been on the highways, they might have been in Manhattan, but they weren’t in Queens, they weren’t on Staten Island, they weren’t in Brooklyn.”

Doherty, Deputy Mayor of Operations Stephen Goldsmith, city Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano and city Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Joseph Bruno made up the public face of the Bloomberg administration at the hearing.

The officials recounted the events that transpired in the days before, during and after the storm, repeatedly admitted mistakes and failures the administration, introduced ways to ensure they do not take place during future storms, and found themselves defending their jobs.

“Today’s hearing will ensure the city learns the right lessons from this painful experience,” Goldsmith said. “We didn’t do the job New York City residents deserve …. Mayor Bloomberg and I are fully committed to understanding what went wrong and addressing those issues.”

Goldsmith then presented a six-part breakdown of key areas where “the city’s response was inadequate”:

• The decision not to declare a snow emergency.

• A city’s lack of ability to track its response efforts in real-time and adjust accordingly.

• Insufficient and delayed deployment of city assets.

• Failure to procure and deploy sufficient private resources, such as private tow truck operators.

• Insufficient internal and external communication.

• Problems with emergency communications and response.

The outline also detailed the city’s plans to address the issues through a litany of changes, such as technological upgrades, improving communications and boosting its ability to quickly deploy resources.

The city’s failure to declare a snow emergency and delay opening the city’s command center angered many Council members who believe those decisions were the root cause of many other problems.

“I appreciate the recognition that the failure to declare an emergency or a snow emergency, which was well within the mayor’s ability, was a mistake,” Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) said. “On Dec. 25, when [the National Weather Service] declared a blizzard watch, was the time when we should have gone to looking at a snow emergency.”

Goldsmith admitted that making such a declaration “could have yielded a better response” and said the city is evaluating new protocols for deciding when to do so.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), chairwoman of the Council Fire & Criminal Justice Committee, effectively called for more heads to roll. As of Tuesday afternoon, only one citwide official, John Peruggia, chief of the FDNY’s Emergency Medical Service, had been demoted and none had been fired in the snowstorm’s wake.

“The responsibility to declare a snow emergency does not fall on his shoulders, so why is he the only one who got the demotion? Why is he the fall guy?” she asked the administration panel.

Another major focus of the hearing was on the the storm’s impact on emergency response times. The normal average response time to the most severe 911 calls is under six minutes, according to Bruno. During the height of the storm, he said, average response times were as long as 55 minutes, a result in large part of unplowed streets causing more than 100 ambulances to get stuck in snow

Flushing community member Terence Park (r.) speaks at a rally calling for more police in Flushing led by Councilmen (l.-r.) Peter Koo, Dan Halloran and Peter Vallone, Jr. Photo by Christina Santucci

City Councilmen Peter Koo (R-Flushing) and Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) held a rally for greater police presence in Flushing at the James A. Bland Community Center at 133-36 Roosevelt Ave., across the street from the Mobil gas station where Pakistani immigrant Nadeem Khan was killed July 25.

“Since taking office in January, I have been calling for more police protection in our community,” Koo said. “I am deeply concerned with the recent rash of violent crimes and the general perception of residents that the streets of Flushing are unsafe.”

The councilmen also teamed up with the Community Mutual Aid Teams of Neighborhood Watch, a community watch group that Michael Chu, its leader, said began a week after the May 16 rape and murder of 23-year-old Chinese immigrant Yu Yao.

Yao was murdered on a busy street in downtown Flushing, where Chu said people did not stop to help her.

“We don’t want a tragedy like Yao or the gentleman who was killed the other evening to happen again,” Chu said.

Chu said the watch will be giving out 5,000 whistles and educating people on crime prevention. They are also working with the 109th Precinct to organize a graffiti cleanup. The 109th will decide the time and place.

Koo said that while he understands the 109th is understaffed, the community has unique needs and more protection is required to meet them. He cited the four murders that have happened in Flushing this year, as well as the 13 rapes and 20 percent increase in burglaries.

“Police protection is not a luxury, but it is a necessity and a right of each and every New York resident,” Koo said.

Koo also said he has obtained $100,000 each for Flushing’s Bland Houses, at 40-21 College Point Blvd., and Latimer Gardens, at 35-45 Linden Place, to have security cameras installed. He said he expects this project to be funded with the help of Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) by 2011.

Vallone, chairman of the Council Public Safety Committee, said he was also concerned about the increase of crime and quality-of-life issues in Queens.

He said he believed the city has forgotten the lessons of the 1991 Safe Streets, Safe City Program, which put more police on the streets and instituted, tougher laws and longer jail sentences. He also condemned the recent state law preventing the city Police Department from keeping a database of those who it stops and frisks, saying he would have rather see names purged after one year in the database as a compromise with those who said keeping innocent people who had been stopped but were not charged with a crime on a database indefinitely was an infringement on civil liberties.

“You combine this lax attitude on law enforcement with fewer police, you get what you see here,” Vallone said.

State Assemblywoman Grace Meng, who could not attend the rally, also released a statement in support of more police in the area, and said she would be meeting with the 109th soon to establish a civilian patrol group.

“We demand more police presence in our community,” Meng said. “There should be just as many police officers patrolling our streets as there are traffic agents issuing parking tickets.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted Dec. 16 in favor of subway service cuts that would include eliminating Astoria’s W train completely in the spring. The agency also approved eliminating the Z line as well as 21 bus routes and student MetroCards as a way to make up for an MTA budgetary shortfall.

Western Queens residents will now be forced to ride the N train to get them into Manhattan. The N and W trains follow the same line from Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria to Manhattan’s Canal Street before the W splits off toward its final stop at Whitehall Street/South Ferry, while the N heads into Brooklyn.

The Q train, which runs from 57th Street in Manhattan to Brooklyn, will eventually be extended into the neighborhood.

But Astoria residents will be forced to switch trains for rides to key stops in Manhattan, such as the World Trade Center and City Hall, once the W train is eliminated.

“It will have a huge impact on people who want a one-seat ride to downtown Manhattan,” state Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) said. “We’re a big commuter neighborhood. Thousands of people rely on the W to get to work. We’re going to have a problem with people waiting longer for trains.”

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) said the cuts were a result of the MTA’s inability to control its expenses.

“The W train serves a neighborhood which is increasing ridership almost daily, while using an antiquated elevated train line as its one route in and out,” he said. “We need more trains and better service, not the complete elimination of a line.”

Vallone sent a letter last week to MTA Chairman Jay Walder in which he questioned the agency’s commitment to improving borough subway service.

“The MTA has shown an inability to provide fair and comprehensive service to all city residents, frequently making Queens the whipping boy for all of New York,” he wrote. “The borough experiences unreliable and overcrowded service and has repeatedly been neglected when it comes to MTA improvements like creating new elevators and expanded lines. There is no reason why the residents of Astoria and Long Island City cannot be afforded the same level of service as residents in other areas of the city.”

Democratic District Leader Costa Constantinides (c.) speaks at a press conference in Astoria, where participants asked for traffic slowing measures on 21st Avenue, as Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (sixth from l.) looks on. Photo courtesy Costa Constantinides

Astoria elected officials and community activists rallied last weekend at a site along 21st Avenue where they called for new traffic safety measures in the wake of a man being struck and killed while crossing the street last month.

Konstantinos Stayropoulos died after being hit by a car at the intersection of 21st Avenue and 23rd Street in Astoria Nov. 13, state Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) said.

But the assemblyman, who was joined at the Saturday rally by City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria), Democratic District Leader Costa Constantinides and a number of neighborhood residents, said the community had warned the city Department of Transportation that an accident at the site was bound to happen due to its lack of stop signs, speed bumps or street lights on 21st Avenue between 21st and 28th streets.

“The DOT must take swift action to install traffic controls at this intersection and ensure this tragedy is never repeated,” Gianaris said. “Our streets are full of pedestrians and cyclists — many of them children on their way to and from school.”

Constantinides said two schools — PS 122 and St. John’s Prep High School — as well as the Kid Krazy daycare center are within a seven-block radius of the intersection.

“This community cannot afford a delay in installing traffic-calming measures along this avenue,” Constantinides said. “Every day DOT delays in dealing with this dangerous dilemma, the children attending the schools and day-care center, people with disabilities and all residents crossing the avenue are at risk. As a lifelong resident of Astoria, I know that drivers in this community use 21st Avenue as the quick route to avoid the traffic of Ditmars Boulevard, rendering it the speed-lane of Astoria.”

The community leaders were joined at the rally by the Long Island City Alliance, Transportation Alternatives Queens Volunteer Committee, Astoria Moms Group and members of neighborhood civic organizations.

Constantinides said several car accidents have occurred in the past 18 months near the intersection.

Vallone had previously called for a traffic study at that corner in 2006, but it never materialized. Last weekend, he again called on the city to review the site.

“As a resident of 21st Avenue and a mother, I find it very disturbing that the DOT has failed to recognize the need for more attention to the increased traffic on 21st Avenue and the speed at which it travels. Is it going to take another fatality to get their attention?”

Police are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the man who allegedly grabbed the buttocks of a woman on the platform of Manhattan’s F train at the Van Wyck Boulevard station earlier this month. The city Public Safety Committee recently held a hearing on the sexual harassment of women on public transportation. Photo courtesy NYPD

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) is urging the city to undertake new initiatives to prevent sexual harassment or assault on city subways in light of the police’s arrest of more than 400 individuals who tormented women on trains within the past year.

The councilman has proposed that the city Police Department compile a list of sex offenders and publish their names along with their photographs online, which he believes would act as a deterrent.

He has also sponsored a bill introduced by Councilwoman Jessica Lappin (D-Manhattan) that would require the NYPD to collect data on the number of sexual harassment complaints that occur on the city’s transit system.

“It appears that the majority of women in the city have experienced some form of sexual harassment on the subway at some point in their lives,” he said. “That is completely unacceptable.”

In 2005, Brooklyn’s Maria Besedin was raped on the platform of the G line at Long Island City’s 21st Street station, but her attacker was never apprehended. The victim ran toward a toll booth clerk at the station and pleaded for help, but the clerk merely looked on as the assailant dragged her back down the stairs and raped her multiple times.

The MTA defended its employee, who had hit a button that connected him to a command center.

Besedin filed a suit against the city, the toll booth clerk and a conductor, who had driven a train through the station as the rape was occurring but did not stop.  Queens Supreme Court Justice Kevin Kerrigan dismissed the case last year.

In 2007, Vallone called on the city to give tougher penalties for peeping Toms following complaints from Astoria residents that a man frequently positioned himself under the Ditmars Boulevard N train station to look up women’s skirts.

Vallone, chairman of the Council Public Safety Committee, held a hearing last week with the Council’s Transportation and Women’s Issues committees on sexual harassment on subways.

During that hearing, NYPD Transit Chief James Hall said the vast majority of victims are 17 years or older.

Of the 412 individuals arrested in the past year for committing sex offenses on the subway, 71 had been previously arrested on similar charges and 14 were registered sex offenders, Hall said.

The average offender was a 39-year-old male.

“This is about raising awareness of crimes that occur almost every day on every train,” Vallone said. “Any time you speak to a woman, they’ve all had it happen to them and their friends on more than one occasion. And it’s a mostly unreported crime.”

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. is sponsoring several bills and writing another to prevent city traffic agents from being overzealous in handing out parking tickets. Photo by Christina Santucci

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) said he will continue to push for laws that protect city residents from overzealous traffic agents after the Council passed one bill he sponsored that would give a grace period for alternate side street parking.

Vallone said he co-sponsored two bills after hearing stories of traffic agents in Astoria using excessive means to hand out tickets.

“These bills are an attempt to legislate common sense and discretion,” he said. “We are sending a message that we will not tolerate overly aggressive traffic agents. It’s turned into the biggest source of complaints in my office.”

He said he has been relayed stories from constituents in which agents gave a ticket to a driver who dropped off his elderly mother at a doctor’s office, a fine to a car in a funeral procession that just barely blocked an intersection and numerous occasions during which drivers were ticketed for being stopped to wait for a parking space.

One of the worst corners of the neighborhood for parking tickets is close to his office on 31st Street near Ditmars Boulevard.

“It’s a pursuit of revenue that’s gotten out of control,” he said.

One of the bills, introduced by Councilman Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) and sponsored by Vallone, gives drivers a five-minute grace period for alternate side of the street parking and Muni-Meters before traffic enforcement agents issue parking tickets. The Council passed the bill last week.

Another bill, which was sponsored by Vallone and Councilmen Vincent Gentile (D-Brooklyn) and James Vacca (D-Bronx), would require the city Department of Transportation to provide written notification before changing parking rules and to wait 30 days before changing meters rates.

The legislation would also give a five-day grace period to drivers who receive parking violations after the regulations have changed as well as allowing them to challenge the ticket and have it dismissed if they receive it within five days of the city’s regulation changes.

Vallone is also in the process of writing a bill that would prevent traffic agents from giving drivers double-parking tickets as they wait to pull into a spot or while they are momentarily stopped in a “No Parking” zone to drop off a passenger.

“These are hardworking taxpayers who are just trying to shop,” he said. “They shouldn’t be penalized because the person standing in front of them on a shopping line was digging for exact change.”

Vallone, the son of former Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr., took a total of 74 percent of the vote, while Serpe garnered 23 percent and Kann took 2 percent.

“I’m very honored and privileged to have another four years,” Vallone said. “I’ll continue to focus on making our streets safer and cleaner while continuing to improve the schools in our community.”

In addition, Democrat Jimmy Van Bramer defeated Republican Angelo Maragos, a 24-year-old analyst at Credit Suisse, in the race to replace Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside). Van Bramer took 70 percent of the vote, while Maragos received 23 percent and Deirdre Feerick, a Democrat who ran on the Independent line, took 5 percent.

Vallone was first elected to the Council in 2001 and had planned to run this year in the borough president’s race. But he decided to seek a third term rather challenge Borough President Helen Marshall after the Council voted to extend term limits.

During his campaign and his past eight years in office, Vallone has emphasized reducing crime rates and battling graffiti as well as improving district schools and environmental issues. The councilman, who acts as the Council Public Safety Committee chairman, has been a staunch opponent of graffiti in western Queens, passing laws that ban etching acid and increasing penalties against vandals.

Serpe, a community liaison for Long Island City nonprofit Community Environmental Center, put environmental issues at the forefront of her campaign, such as fighting the construction of power plants in Astoria and extending bicycle paths through the district.

But she also called for more affordable housing in the planned rezoning of Astoria and said the borough should have seven-day library service.

Kann, who challenged Vallone in 2001 and 2005 on the Green Party line but ran as a Populist this year, focused much of his third campaign on a proposal to raise income taxes on city residents earning more than $500,000 per year to pay for city services that have been neglected during the economic downturn. But he also called for additional youth centers in western Queens and proposed the creation of a teacher’s commission that would make decisions on city education.

The district covers Astoria and Rikers Island as well as sections of Long Island City and Jackson Heights.

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