State Sens. Michael Gianaris and Jose Peralta have decried the proposed lines for their current districts, which would pit the two of them against each other.

The new proposed state Senate district lines would set Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) against Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst), but the longtime friends say they have no plans to duke it out at the polls.

“This actually makes it very amusing,” Peralta said.

Both senators characterized the new districts, drawn by Senate Republicans, as politically inspired. In the past, Gianaris’ district, the 12th District, encompassed most of Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside and Woodside with a thin tentacle extending down to take in parts of Maspeth and Ridgewood.

Meanwhile, Peralta’s 13th District mostly stayed within the area between the Grand Central Parkway and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, encompassing East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Corona, most of Elmhurst and a part of Woodside.

Peralta’s new district instead extends northwest to take in a chunk of Astoria, while another tentacle further south takes in a chunk of Woodside. The proposed 13th District also includes the Con Edison complex, LaGuardia Airport and a chunk of Flushing Meadows Corona Park, which now are in Sen. Toby Stavisky’s (D-Whitestone) district, but loses parts of Elmhurst.

To make up for the pieces lost, the 12th District now extends down even further, taking in slivers of Glendale, Woodhaven, Ozone Park and Lindenwood.

Gianaris said the new district lines change the makeup of the district by about 10 percent.

“The only thing they did is that they took my house out of it,” Gianaris said.

Peralta characterized New York state as becoming more Democratic and accused the Senate Republicans of trying to maintain their majority by pitting Democrats in the city against each other.

“The only way they can do it is by gerrymandering, and they’ve done so,” Peralta said.

Both lawmakers hold high positions in the Senate. Gianaris is the chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and Peralta is the Democratic whip.

In addition to pitting the party heavyweights against each other, Peralta said his new district also loses about 20,000 Asian residents in exchange for 20,000 white residents. The new lines will put the Asian population in a new Asian district, which is now Stavisky’s, but Peralta said the lines have the effect of cutting in half the Asian residents of Elmhurst.

“There’s no concern for the Asian community in northwest Queens,” Peralta said.

Gianaris, who has long been a proponent of independent redistricting, said while politics can be a factor, the lines fail to be compact, continuous or to keep together communities of interest.

“Astoria is one community,” he said. “For them to split it in two is completely outrageous.”

The senators are not the only ones unhappy with the new districts. On his Facebook page, City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) called the new lines an “outrage” and said the 12th District resembled a “baby alien popping out of a stomach.”

Rose Marie Poveromo, a civic leader whose home would be in Peralta’s new district where she now is in Gianaris’ district, said the new districts were “disgraceful.”

“Why should it be changed?” she asked. “This is truly a perfect example of gerrymandering.”

Gianaris said he expected Gov. Andrew Cuomo to veto the new lines, but added whatever happens, he and Peralta will not run against each other.

“Sen. Peralta and I have been friends longer than we’ve been elected officials,” Gianaris said.

The proposed districts of state Sens. Toby Stavisky (l.) and Tony Avella. Stavisky's home was not included in her proposed district, meaning she would have to run against Avella.

After a state body released redrawn lines for New York’s state Senate districts, cries of political gerrymandering were heard from northeast Queens all the way to Albany.

In particular, political sources pointed to the proposed districts of Sens. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) and Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who would have to run against each other if the boundaries are adopted.

A state body called the Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment released redrawn political boundaries last week as part of a process that happens every 10 years to accommodate population growth.

Stavisky and Avella’s districts — the 16th and 11th, respectively — were already some of the most gerrymandered seats in the state, according to the two lawmakers.

Avella’s district is only contiguous during low tide, and a portion of Stavisky’s district is the unpopulated Cross Island Parkway.

Neither Stavisky or Avella could be reached for comment on the plan.

The proposed lines, drawn by Senate Republicans, took Stavisky out of her own district.

Every politician has to live, or at least spend a certain amount of time, at a residence in the district. Stavisky lists her address in Beechhurst, which would now lie in the same district as Avella under the proposed lines.

In the previous maps from 2002, the Beechhurst portion of District 16 already looked like a strange addition, an isolated lobe sticking out from the neighborhood of Bay Terrace. Even Stavisky has said the addition of Bay Terrace, which is thinly connected to the rest of the district by the Cross Island Parkway, smacked of gerrymandering.

A source knowledgeable about partisan politics said the Republicans might be trying to create as much infighting as possible in the Democratic Party ahead of the 2013 elections by pitting the likes of Avella and Stavisky in eastern Queens and Sens. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) and Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) in the west against each other.

The infighting could mean expensive primaries between Democrats at a time when Republicans enjoy a large fund-raising advantage statewide, the source said.

According to the state Board of Elections, as of January the state Democratic Senate Campaign Committee had $164,163 in its coffers, while the state Senate Republican Campaign Committee had more than $3.7 million, which means Republicans have about 22 times as much funding as their blue counterparts.

But if Stavisky did not want to run against Avella, who once worked as her chief of staff before rising through the political ranks to his current seat, she could always move somewhere else within District 11.

The proposed District 16 also brought mixed reactions from groups calling for independent redistricting.

The Asian American Community Coalition on Redistricting and Democracy had called for a majority Asian Senate seat to represent the people with ethnic backgrounds ranging from Chinese to Bangladeshi whose population has soared.

The proposed District 16 would be an Asian-majority Senate seat, and the coalition praised the task force for at least hearing its side of the argument, according to spokesman James Hong.

But Hong said the coalition could not support the bizarre and gerrymandered shape of the district in its proposed form and would rather have seen a district centralized more around the Flushing area and eastward toward Bayside.

The proposed lines, however, might not be the final chapter in the redistricting fight. Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the proposed lines “hyper-partisan” in Albany and vowed to veto them.

A state task force proposes these state Senate districts for Queens, which has received wide criticism in the borough.

No matter how you slice it, the redistricting plan drawn up by a state task force last week was widely panned in Queens by critics who said the proposal breaks up communities and gerrymanders the lines.

Every 10 years, districts for state Senate, state Assembly and congressional lines are redrawn to reflect population changes recorded in the census.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he would veto any plan not conceived by an independent commission.

The lines were proposed by the state Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, a body comprised of elected officials and members of the public selected by elected officials.

Under the group’s plan, Sens. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) and Tony Avella (D-Bayside) would have to run against each other in a primary in one district and Sens. Jose Peralta (D-Corona) and Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) would face off in another contest.

“I can’t believe there are Democrats that would have to primary each other,” said Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica), whose southern Queens district would cut Broad Channel and sections of southeast Queens and add parts of the Rockaways if the plan is enacted.

The Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association is against the plan because it would carve up the neighborhood among three different senators: Joseph Addabbo, Malcolm Smith and Shirley Huntley

“When it comes to the Senate lines, the people of Woodhaven are being treated as pawns in Albany’s gerrymandering games,” said Alexander Blenkinsopp, spokesman for the association.

Eastern Queens United, a group of a dozen civic associations, criticized the redistricting process for dividing communities.

The task force “has abdicated its responsibility to serve the needs of the community and instead has served the needs of its politicians,” said Bob Friedrich, president of the Glen Oaks Village co-op and founder of EQU. “The new legislative maps are an abomination and are gerrymandered to break up our communities that have simply asked to remain united.”

Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Little Neck), who represents a portion of the area covered by Eastern Queens United, said he was against the task force’s map.

“Northeast Queens is a special and distinct geographic region, whose residents and community leaders have voiced their desire to be kept together in a contiguous district rather than be divided,” he said in a statement. “I look forward to offering testimony as part of [the task force’s] public review process and for my constituents to do likewise in order to end with a map that truly represents the unique character of northeast Queens.”

The Asian American Community Coalition on Redistricting and Democracy applauded the task force for drawing a new Asian-American majority Senate district in Queens and a new Assembly district but criticized the group for dividing Flushing.

“A compact district in Flushing-Bayside should be drawn to keep Asian-American communities of interest together in these neighborhoods,” the group said.

ACCORD also said the task force “has not brought equality to all Asian-American neighborhoods across New York” because Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park were divided into multiple districts.

State Assemblywoman Grace Meng and state Sen. Toby Stavisky have been selected as delegates for the Democratic Party and are slated to cast electoral votes in the 2012 November election.

Norteast Queens delegates state Assemblywoman Grace Meng and state Sen. Toby Stavisky are charged with collecting signatures for President Barack Obama (pictured). AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari

Two northeast Queens lawmakers have been selected as delegates for the Democratic Party in the upcoming presidential elections.

State Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing) and state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) hope their work will keep President Barack Obama in the White House.

“I’m excited to represent Queens and represent New York state as we nominate Obama for a second term,” Meng said.

The first task given to Meng and Stavisky will be to collect signatures to get themselves and the president on ballots.

As delegates, they will need to be elected — and, obviously, the president needs to be on a ballot to compete with the winner of the Republican Party primary.

The Queens GOP will also pick delegates to perform a similar task, but the party did not return a call to TimesLedger Newspapers by press time Tuesday.

Signatures are required for nearly all public offices, including spots at the city level. It ensures that the ballot will only list serious contenders.

The two northeast Queens legislators will be pounding the pavement in the next few weeks to take names and turn in the signatures by Feb. 2.

There are two delegates assigned to each congressional district. In this case, Meng and Stavisky are assigned to the district of U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside).

But aside from collecting signatures, their essential function will be to cast electoral votes in the 2012 November election.

When Queens residents take to the polls in November, their votes will technically not pick the president. Instead, their votes will act as a guide as to how delegates, like Meng and Stavisky, will vote to officially elect the president.

Each state is assigned a number of electoral votes based on the number of representatives it has in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. In New York, that number is 29, two less after the 2010 census trimmed two House seats.

It is a process that is not new to Stavisky, who was a delegate in 2008 and attended the convention in Colorado.

“It was interesting because you met people from all over the country,” she said. “Their issues are very similar. A person out of work in Denver is very similar to somebody out of work in Queens.”

The Republican primary is still in full swing, so Queens delegates from the Republican Party do not know who to collect signatures for as of yet.

Obama already has his party’s endorsement to run in the upcoming election, and recently ran his first re-election television ad.

James Hong, spokesman for The Asian American Community Coalition on Redistricting and Democracy, stands near one of the Unity Maps for New York City, which the coalition hopes will be taken into consideration by a committee, including state Democrats and Republicans, who will redraw state legislative lines next year. Photo by Joe Anuta

State Republicans have been quietly shopping around a map of proposed legislative lines as part of the upcoming redistricting, as Queens minority groups have been advocating for lines of their own.

The GOP blueprint is still in its infancy, according to a Republican source who spoke on condition of anonymity because the first draft of the districts was not made official, but it could include some significant shuffling in Queens.

The district of state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) — which encompasses all or part of Bayside, Douglaston, Bay Terrace, Queens Village, Bellerose, Flushing, Whitestone, Little Neck, College Point, Hollis, Jamaica Estates, Glen Oaks and Floral Park — could be eliminated altogether and a new district carved out farther south.

The new district could include portions of Hollis and the northern portions of Sen. Malcolm Smith’s (D-St. Albans) district, as well as portions of Nassau County like Long Beach?, the source said. Although it is not common for state offices to cross into other counties, the district of former Sen. Frank Padavan did so in the 1980s.

There is also talk that the district of Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) could be extended farther south to include some or all of the Rockaways, the source said.

Alternatively, the district of a senior Brooklyn Republican senator could gain some ground in Queens as well.

Sen. Marty Golden (R-Brooklyn) could gain ground across the water to include conservative enclaves like Breezy Point in order to protect the senior lawmaker, the source said, since one strategy behind redistricting is to protect incumbents.

From the look of Golden’s district, it appears that it has been protected in the past.

Golden’s district is basically in three segments. The neighborhood Marine Park is connected to the middle portion of Golden’s district by a thin strip, at one point only a block wide. The middle blob, the neighborhood Sheepshead Bay, is connected to the main section of Golden’s district by a small, one-block portion as well.

And that kind of selective carving out of boundaries is what groups like the The Asian American Community Coalition on Redistricting and Democracy spoke out against at a Nov. 16 news conference.

“It’s very telling when your own legislators describe their districts as gerrymandered,” said James Hong, spokesman for the coalition, describing lawmakers like state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) and Avella, the latter of whom described his district as one of the worst gerrymandered districts in the state.

An organization called the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund drew up a map of its own called the Unity Map, which looks drastically different from the current configuration in the borough.

Many neighborhoods with large immigrant populations are broken into several legislative districts. For example, the predominately South Asian neighborhood of Richmond Hill is broken up into six Assembly districts and two Senate districts?, which members of the fund said prevents the community from having a real voice in elections.

Speakers at the event said they did not simply want to elect a minority candidate into office, but wanted to make sure communities with common interests like economic status, culture and language are grouped together.

Former Penn State football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky (c.) arrives at a Pennsylvania district court. He is charged with sexually abusing eight young men. AP Photo/The Patriot-News/Andy Colwell

In the wake of the Penn State sexual abuse cover-up scandal, state Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside) is renewing his call for passage of a bill that would require New York colleges and universities to report on-campus violent crimes immediately to the authorities.

“The recent scandal at Penn State University involving legendary football Coach Joe Paterno highlights a serious problem that needs to be addressed in New York state,” said the assemblyman.

Earlier this month, a former assistant coach for the Penn State football team was arrested on charges of sexually abusing young boys, in some instances on the university campus. Paterno learned of the allegation of the abuse in 2002 and reported it to school officials, though the matter was never reported to the authorities.

Two top university officials were also arrested and charged with failing to report the information to the authorities, as required by Pennsylvania state law, the New York Times reported.

“Currently, there is no mechanism in [New York] law to mandate that colleges and universities notify local authorities when informed about violent crimes committed on campus,” Braunstein said. “Absent this requirement, many colleges and universities frequently attempt to ‘handle’ these incidents in-house out of fear that contacting the police would generate negative publicity for the school.”

Earlier this year, the assemblyman introduced a bill that would require colleges and universities in the state to alert authorities within 24 hours of learning of a violent felony on campus.

“All too frequently we hear stories about on-campus crimes, often sexual in nature, that are swept under the rug by colleges in an effort to protect their reputation,” he said. “This creates a system where criminals are not held accountable for their actions and parents are not given the facts about the safety of the school where they choose to send their children.

“The statistics indicate that one in five college females are the victims of actual or attempted sexual assault and a shocking 95 percent of these cases go unreported. The deplorable actions of Penn State’s administration are far too common and we cannot accept similar behavior here in New York,” he said.

State Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone), the ranking minority member and former chairwoman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, said the bill is timely and necessary.

“What happened at Penn State is a horrible abuse of trust by an authority figure,” she said. “This crime should have been reported promptly to the police.”

“Our bill would require such crimes to be reported to the police within 24 hours. This type of incident could have happened anywhere, especially in an environment where sports trumps academics,” said the senator.

State Sen. Toby Stavisky stands on a crosswalk hovering above a portion of her district containing no constituents: the Cross Island Parkway. Photo by Christina Santucci

The Queens lawmaker who has one of the most clearly contorted boundary lines in the borough wants to take redistricting power out of the hands of politicians.

When state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) looks at her coverage area, she sees “a Rorschach test for troubled people.”

It is barely contiguous, which is required by the state. Between Clintonville and 148th streets in Whitestone, her district is actually just the Cross Island Parkway.

“If I walked the perimeter of my district, I would get hit by a car,” she said, standing on a crosswalk high above the thoroughfare.

Her constituents saw many things when asked to look at the lines defining her district.

Andrew Gurski, of Bay Terrace, thought it looked like a frog with “a leg problem.”

Gabby Federici thought the oddly shaped boundary resembled a dragon carrying something in its mouth.

Hassan Krayem thought it looked like an upside-down monster.

And Stavisky knows who created that monster.

The corridor-like portion of the district was drawn in 1992, before Stavisky took the seat, she said, ?by the state Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment. The parkway serves as an umbilical cord connecting the Democratic neighborhoods of Beechhurst and Bay Terrace to the main hub of her Democratic district in Flushing.

By connecting the two neighborhoods to the 16th District, the committee took them out of the neighboring district, which was then held by former Sen. Frank Padavan.

Padavan was a Republican, and since the neighborhoods in question typically vote Democratic, they would have hurt his chances for re-election, according to Stavisky, which is why they were removed. But the Democrats benefitted as well, since the addition of the neighborhoods made the 16th District a deeper hue of blue.

“It was wrong in 1992, and it’s wrong now,” she said.

The tentacles of her x-shaped district also encompass parts of Glen Oaks, Hillcrest, Fresh Meadows, Pomonok, Kew Gardens Hills, Oakland Gardens, Maspeth, Flushing, Rego Park, Forest Hills, East Elmhurst and oddly, the power plants north of Astoria.

Stavisky is one many lawmakers calling for redistricting to be done by an independent body, since in the past lines have been shifted to keep incumbents on both sides of the aisle in office, she said.

The task force is currently made up of politicians in both houses as well as non-politicians. With the Republicans enjoying a majority in the Senate and the Democrats a majority in the state Assembly, the dominate parties draw the lines to keep themselves in power, Stavisky said.

Then, according to a longstanding, unspoken agreement, each house approves the other’s plan.

But that agreement might be missing a key party this year.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said repeatedly that he will veto any lines not drawn up by an independent redistricting committee.

The lawmakers on the task force balked at that suggestion, saying there is not enough time, but Stavisky disagreed.

Stavisky said districts should follow a guideline she calls “The Three C’s.”

“You’ve got to have districts that are compact, contiguous and there should be a common thread,” she said.

William Harfmann, manager for the U.S. Census Bureau, shows off census forms in different languages during a meeting in Flushing in 2010.

The state agency responsible for redrawing legislative district boundaries was set to hold a forum this week to solicit input from the public.

The boundaries for districts of the state Legislature and Congress will be redrawn in 2012 in response to the 2010 U.S. Census. The boundaries of the City Council will be redrawn in 2013.

Since the populations in each district have either risen or fallen, the boundaries need to be adjusted so each legislator represents a similar number of people.?

But several lawmakers and civic organizations believe the new boundaries for political districts need to be redrawn by an independent party instead of by the state Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research, a team comprised of a combination of politicians and non-politicians.

“We have become a laughing stock as it relates to our districts,” state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) said at a March meeting of the Senate. “There are contests to name the shapes of our districts. That’s how bad it’s gotten.”

In Queens, some districts form mind-boggling boundaries that look like the random inky shapes of a Rorschach test.

Gianaris’ district appears to be a normal box-like shape, except for a peninsula extending to the southeast, which resembles a long appendage designed to nab voters in Ridgewood. The district of state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) looks vaguely like a letter “x” that had been hacked at with an axe.

Two portions in the district of state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) are only connected at certain points during the day.

“It is not a contiguous district unless it is low tide,” Gianaris said. “They are just looking for a way to connect College Point to northeastern Queens.”

Gianaris and activist groups said in the past borders have been redrawn to split up groups of voters who would potentially vote against an incumbent and net more voters who would re-elect that incumbent.

“We are picking who is going to vote for us rather than letting the voter pick who will represent them,” he said.

The lines are decided the by the majority party in each house, Gianaris said. In the Senate, Republicans pick the lines and in the Assembly the Democrats choose the lines.

But Gianaris also said Gov. Andrew Cuomo put out a proposal for redistricting reform earlier this year and has said he will veto any new districts proposed by the commission.

The redistricting body was set to hold the public forum at Queens Borough Hall at 120-55 Queens Blvd.

District Leader Martha Taylor (l.-r. front row), Assemblywoman Grace Meng, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney and City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz through their support behind Assemblyman David Weprin's (c.) Congressional campaign last week. Photo by Rebecca Henely

Many female elected officials at the city, state and federal levels endorsed state Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Little Neck) last Thursday at a news conference in front of Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens, saying the Democratic candidate for the sprawling congressional district is a tireless advocate for women’s rights.

“Some of the most impassioned speeches supporting women and children have come from David Weprin,” said Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas (D-Astoria).

Joined by his family — wife Ronni Weprin and daughters Stephanie Weprin and Lori Friedman — Weprin picked up the official support of electeds from Queens and beyond in his campaign to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation of U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner two months ago amid a sexting scandal.

Most said they supported Weprin over Republican candidate Bob Turner because of Weprin’s support for abortion rights and access to birth control.

“I will be a strong advocate for the women of the 9th Congressional District as well as our state, city and country,” Weprin said.

Britta Vander Linden, a spokeswoman for Turner’s campaign, said in a statement responding to the endorsements that district women would vote for Turner due to his platform to cut waste, lower taxes and improve the economy. She said the ability of American women to manage their families’ household budgets has been made impossible by “career politicians like Mr. Weprin.”

“Jobs and young people are fleeing New York because of the taxes and debt these politicians have piled on us,” Linden said. “These are the pocketbook issues women in Queens and Brooklyn care about.”

Those who endorsed Weprin included Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria), state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone), Simotas, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Councilwomen Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills), Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), Diana Reyna (D-Ridgewood), Julissa Ferreras (D-Jackson Heights) and Margaret Chin (D-Manhattan).

Weprin said he was “a little speechless and a little overwhelmed” by the endorsements.

Koslowitz said the members of Congress who have represented the Forest Hills district, from Weiner going back to as far as former Rep. Joseph Addabbo Sr.,? who began his career in the House of Representatives in 1961, have been pro-women’s rights.

“Every one of them helped women. They believed in women,” Koslowitz said.

Others said they were supporting Weprin for his other policy positions. Maloney praised Weprin’s work as chairman of the Finance Committee when he was in the Council and said his financial aptitude would be a boon in Congress.

“I wish he was the chair of the Finance Committee in Congress,” Maloney said.

Ferreras said she hoped the multitude of endorsements by women politicians would encourage women voters to vote for Weprin.

“Every time we send a Republican to Congress, we lose rights as women, we lose rights as families,” Ferreras said.

Turner has received high-profile endorsements from former Mayor Ed Koch and Rep. Peter King (R-Massapequa Park).

State Sen. Toby Stavisky hopes a new package of bills will help in stalking cases such as the one that left Yongwei Guo (l.) a widower after his wife, Qian Wu (r.), was viciously murdered Jan. 26, 2010 in her Flushing apartment building. Photo courtesy office of Councilman Peter Koo

The state Senate approved a package of bills last week aimed at strengthening and expanding protections for crime victims, senior citizens and stalking targets under the leadership of Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone).

The bills come in response to a number of recent cases involving murder victims who were stalked and abused in incidents that may have been preventable had tougher laws been in place, Stavisky said.

“They strengthen the penalties and expand the victim notification system, which I think is especially important because there have been several instances in Flushing where women have been killed because their orders of protection had expired,” she said. “It increases the penalty for stalking from a Class B misdemeanor in one case to a felony. That’s a significant increase because you hear horror stories of people being stalked and it’s not just the victim whose life is being destroyed, but also the family and even the perpetrator’s families.?”

The bills, which were introduced by Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) in response to the murder of an abuse victim there who was not notified when her abuser was released from prison, will help address issues Stavisky said came to the forefront following the January 2010 murder of Flushing resident Qian Wu. Police said she was allegedly murdered by a man against whom she had repeatedly gotten orders of protection.

The legislative package, if passed by the state Assembly — where it is currently in committee — would expand the automated victim notification system to include protective orders, increase penalties for stalking and direct the state Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence to develop and promote senior center-based domestic violence protection programs.

Wu’s husband, Yongwei Guo, has filed a $15 million lawsuit in Queens Supreme Court against the NYPD for allegedly ignoring his repeated pleas to help Wu in the weeks before her death. Guo contends that he had on three occasions requested that police renew an order of protection barring Huang Chen — the man accused of killing his wife — from coming near her, but was denied each time.

The suit has yet to be resolved, and Chen has not yet been deemed fit to stand trial.

Domestic violence is on the rise, according to statistics released by Stavisky’s office. Between 2007 and 2008, intimate partner homicides increased 25 percent statewide and 45 percent in counties outside New York City, and the 31 Domestic Violence courts handled more than 31,000 cases in 2008, an increase of nearly 7,000 from 2007.

Stavisky has fought to address the failures of the system to protect Wu since last June.

“In January, one of my constituents was killed by a man who stalked and harassed her for years,” Stavisky said then about the need to increase protections for stalking victims. “She obtained orders of protection against him, and if these laws had been in place at the time, she may have had more legal recourse and protection against him.”

New state Department of Homes and Community Renewal Commissioner Darryl Towns (l. to r.), Assemblyman David Weprin and U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks were among the speakers at a town hall organized by Weprin at the Samuel Field Y in Little Neck. Photo by Howard Koplowitz

Newly appointed state Department of Homes and Community Renewal Commissioner Darryl Towns said he was working to keep apartment rents affordable during a town hall meeting Sunday organized by state Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Little Neck) at the Samuel Field Y in Little Neck.

“I came to the job with a street-level view of what affordable housing can be to the community,” said Towns, a former assemblyman from Brooklyn who noted that rent regulations expire June 15 unless the state Legislature decides to extend protections.

The Rent Stabilization Association, which represents more than 25,000 landlords in the city, has been fighting for decades in an effort to abolish the entire rent-control system. The trade group said Queens had 144,035 apartments under rent stabilization in 2010 and 5,500 under rent control.

State Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) said rent regulation is “probably the most important issue facing Albany today.”

Towns said part of his job entails “making communities neighborhoods once again.”

Weprin told the crowd about bills he is proposing in Albany, which includes an adoptee bill of rights.

The bill would allow adopted children to have the option of obtaining their original birth certificate when they reach 18 years old.

“There are medical reasons for that,” Weprin said. “There are genetic reasons for that.”

Weprin said he also took over sponsorship of a bill originally written by retired Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn that prohibits smoking in cars with children under 14 in the vehicle.

While Weprin said some may think the bill infringes on their rights, he said the legislation “falls into the category of protecting the public.”

Stavisky, the Senate sponsor of the bill, said the legislation passed the Assembly last year but did not make it to the floor of the Senate.

“Smoking is not a protective right. This is not a right that you’re entitled to have,” she said.

U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-St. Albans) also stopped by the town hall and said he was against President Barack Obama’s suggestion that Israel cede the territory it gained in 1967 as a starting point for peace negotiations with the Palestinians, although he said he believed Obama’s comments were just a way to nudge the Palestinians to the table.

“Anyone who’s visited Israel knows the ’67 borders don’t work because Israel can’t defend itself based on the ’67 borders,” Meeks said.

The congressman also called on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to renounce Hamas, the militant group that governs the Gaza Strip.

“If Arab countries don’t believe Israel should exist, then there’s nothing to negotiate,” Meeks said. “We still have a lot of obstacles in the way” toward peace.

Flushing elected officials, residents and community leaders are hashing out a compromise on the issue of how to ensure all businesses in the neighborhood have English-language signs. Photo by Christina Santucci

The issue of English-language signage in downtown Flushing is dividing? the community like no other issue as new voices get involved in the fracas.

For years signs with only a foreign ?language printed on them have adorned many businesses in downtown Flushing, angering many residents who speak only English.

Now community leaders are working to find a solution, but some critics say they are moving too slowly and that their efforts will not have enough of an impact, while business owners are concerned about the cost of changing their signs.

State Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing) boldly created an English signage advisory board last year in hopes of bringing people together to find a way to address the concern.

Meng, who does not read Chinese fluently herself, has presided over a number of increasingly raucous meetings of the board, exposing herself politically in a way that no former Flushing politician has been willing to do. City Councilman Peter Koo (R-Flushing) and state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) have joined in the effort, as have a number of residents and representatives of local community groups.

Fred Fu, president of the Flushing Development Center and former president of the Flushing Chinese Business Association, seconded Koo’s remarks, but said he believes that existing businesses cannot be forced in a down economy to foot the bill for replacing their signs.

“We should do English signs, but we should let the business owners do it themselves. The elected officials should get funds so they can do it for free, because then why not do it? But if they have to pay for it, it’s too expensive,” Fu said. “Everybody knows English signs are needed, but how should they do it? It’s very difficult to get from A to B. The business groups and elected officials should help them.”

James Trikas, a community leader and member of the advisory board, takes umbrage with the contention that the shopkeepers are entitled to monetary assistance.

“I totally disagree there. They got away with not following the rules and regulations that were there. It’s not the burden for us to find funding for them, it is their burden,” he said. “They’re saying we don’t have any money. You created the situation, you created the environment of alienation by doing those signs that way and implying that others are not welcome.”

Meng, Koo and Stavisky have said repeatedly that it will take time to get business owners to change their signs and that a compromise must be worked out.

Koo, who immigrated to America from Hong Kong in 1971 and later founded and became CEO and president of the Starside Pharmacy chain in Flushing,? said all new businesses should be educated about the importance of installing English signs, which he believes is the best way to encourage them to do so.

“In the long term, we have to educate business people and business associations that before they open the store they need to have English first, then their own language on signs,” he said. “As a business owner, they can make their own decision, but I think if they do business here, they should have English on their signs so people know what kind of business they are.”

Downtown Flushing BID director Dian Yu, (l. to r.) state Assemblywoman Grace Meng and state Sen. Toby Stavisky lead a meeting of an advisory board examining the issue of English signage on businesses in downtown Flushing. Photo by Connor Adams Sheets

The contentious debate over what to do about downtown Flushing businesses that do not have signs in English flared up again last week.

An advisory board formed last year by state Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing) to address the topic met Friday to speak with representatives of city agencies and discuss ideas for how to encourage or require business owners to add English writing to their signs.

But the meeting quickly devolved into an argument about differing visions of the Flushing that residents and officials want to see.

Meng was joined by state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) in her view that encouraging the use of English signage is one of a number of important steps necessary to foster a welcome atmosphere for shoppers and proprietors in downtown Flushing.

“The best way for this to succeed is for business owners to do this voluntarily …. The last thing we want is to harm our businesses in Flushing, to slow our economy,” Meng said. “Just because there’s a law on the books doesn’t mean people will follow it. This is why we started these meetings. We wanted to improve goodwill here in Flushing.”

But goodwill was simply not good enough for four white advisory board members who said they wanted a law to require that English be the main language on all signs in Flushing — and across the city. The board has about 15 members representing a range of ethnicities.

James Trikas, a community leader and board member, said addresses and store names must be in English in order to ensure safety when firefighters and police officers need to find a specific store and that English should be the official language in the United States.

“I want the English language as the predominant language on all signs. We don’t have a problem with second languages — we want second languages — we just want the English lettering to be the largest, even if it’s just an eighth of an inch bigger,” Trikas said. “The real problem is the perception it implies, which is that they only cater to their own. They want to dominate the area and not recognize the English language.”

Ikwhan Rim, co-president of the Union Street Merchants Association, countered Trikas’ accusation, saying that among store owners the will is there, but the way still has to be hashed out.

“We want to have uniform signs, we want to have English signs, but it takes a lot. We can’t do it overnight. We need money to do this, but we are trying to do this,” he said.

Trikas, who said he has collected more than 1,250 petition signatures supporting his cause, and three other board members said they thought that political leaders were not moving fast enough to create laws or otherwise address the signage issue.

But Meng reiterated that the board has only been in existence for less than a year and it is working to find a solution to an issue that has dragged on for decades. She said she, Stavisky and other leaders are working with the city to see what the current law is and which agency enforces it.

The city has a law on the books that requires English signs on all storefronts, but Claudia Filomena, co-director of the mayor’s Community Affairs Unit for Northeast Queens, said it needs clarification.

“As far as doing this type of enforcement, it’s not really clear which of the city agencies would do that,” she said. “I think this would require interpretation by the city Law Department.”

Meng and Stavisky said they hope to clarify the existing law and continue working toward a solution before the group’s next meeting.

State Sen. Tony Avella tells North Shore Towers residents of his ideas to reform Albany. Photo by Howard Koplowitz

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) said he is trying to reform Albany but is finding some resistance from his Republican colleagues ?during a visit last Thursday to North Shore Towers.

Avella told the crowd he is the sponsor of a bill to limit state legislators to four terms, or 16 years, in office because he said the restrictions will make lawmakers more accountable to their constituents.

Legislators now can run for as many two-year terms as they want, which Avella said means they are in campaign mode every other year.

“This is a big reason why there’s so much dysfunction in Albany — they’re always running for office,” he said of his colleagues. “There are some very arrogant people in Albany that I’ve got to know in three months.”

But the senator said there is “some interest in term limits.

“It’s going to be a fight to get it done, but I think there’s going to be movement on reform,” he said.

The freshman senator said he is also the author of a bill that would prevent legislators from collecting a pension plus their salary while in office.

He said 16 state legislators are “double-dipping” by using a loophole that allows them to retire for one day and then go back to work so they can collect a pension on top of their salary.

“People are entitled to their pension, but when you retire,” Avella said.

The senator told the audience at North Shore Towers that he also sponsored a bill to ban hydrofracking — a controversial practice in which companies drill for natural gas and use toxic chemicals to release it — in the state, saying the method would be harmful to the city’s drinking water that it gets from upstate.

“I think it’s a disgrace,” Avella said, saying the jobs that hydrofracking would create upstate is “not worth the threat to the water supply.”

Avella said there are GOP senators who “want the jobs and they don’t care about the environment.”

Getting back to reform, Avella told residents he cut up his state-issued “on official police business” parking placard and refused his lulu, or stipend given to state legislators for sitting on or chairing legislative committees.

Avella claimed the lulus are “the way the leadership controls your vote.

“The only people who should control my vote are you,” he said.

A North Shore Towers resident asked Avella if he was willing to sign ?on to the bill reclassifying co-op and condos as homes instead of rentals. Avella said he supports two identical bills that would do just that.

He said there is a general practice in Albany under which two identical bills are introduced with the only differences being the date when it will take effect.

Avella said one bill on the co-op issue ?is sponsored by Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) and state Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside) and another by Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Little Neck) and a Republican sponsor in the Senate.

“I signed on to both bills just in case,” Avella said, saying the reclassification of condos and co-ops “should’ve been done decades ago.”

On the budget, Avella said the spending plan that was passed could have been better if it contained the so-called “millionaire’s surcharge,” which would have generated $4 billion in revenue, almost half of the state’s $10 billion budget gap.

Avella said he introduced a bill to reinstate a true “millionaire’s surcharge,” which would apply to anyone earning $1 million in income a year.

The millionaire’s tax that was not renewed this year applied to anyone making $200,000 in adjusted income, Avella said.

The senator said the state also should have legalized sports betting — an idea he first came up with during last year’s campaign — which he said would have added $30 billion to the state’s coffers from the city alone.

“All of this money is going to organized crime and they’re using it to fund all of their illegal activities,” he said.

Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn has decided to call it a career after 28 years in office. Her chief of staff, Michael Simanowitz, is expected to be the Democratic candidate to succeed her. Photos by Christina Santucci

State Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn (D-Flushing) retired Friday after 28 years serving Whitestone, Flushing and Fresh Meadows in the legislative body.

“After much deliberation, I believe the time has come for me to step aside,” she said in a statement.

Mayersohn, 86, who served in the Assembly for 28 years, decided to retire to be closer to family and has no health problems, a spokesman said.

“She’s as healthy as a horse,” said Mayersohn spokesman Scott Wolf. “She just feels she’s accomplished everything she needed to accomplish in the Assembly.”

Mayersohn was not in Albany to vote on the state budget — the last day she was in office — although her absence was not due to a medical issue.

Most likely, a special election will determine who will succeed Mayersohn in the Assembly.

Michael Simanowitz, Mayersohn’s chief of staff, said he has the assemblywoman’s support to run and a Democratic source said Simanowitz “will be the Democratic candidate.”

“If and when there’s a special election, I will be running. Nettie is wholeheartedly behind me,” he said. “I look forward to the opportunity to run and represent the people of the 27th [Assembly District] and continue the work that Nettie’s done over the years.”

A GOP source said Andrew Rocco, a moderate Democrat and United Federation of Teachers organizer, could get the Republican line in the special election.

The source said John Mulvey, a staffer for City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) and College Point resident, is a “longer shot” for the Republican line.

Mayersohn is known for authoring the Baby AIDS law in 1996 that requires doctors to tell mothers if their babies are infected with HIV.

Before the law, parents were not told of their child’s condition because it was considered a violation of the mother’s right not to know, Mayersohn said.

State Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone), whose district overlaps with Mayersohn’s, said the assemblywoman “has impacted the lives of all New Yorkers as profoundly as few legislators have.”

“Her indefatigability, her outspokenness and her love of her constituents set a high standard,” Stavisky said. “I am proud of our friendship and, while I will miss her in Albany, I know she will continue to be an influential leader, someone to whom everyone turns for advice.”

Mayersohn also authored the Partner Notification Law in 1998 that requires doctors to notify the state Health Department when one of the patients tests positive for HIV.

The law enabled the department to interview the HIV-positive individual and either assist them in notifying their sexual partners themselves or may confidentially reach out to those known partners and tell them that there is a reason to believe they have been exposed to the virus, which allows the partners to begin accessing care.

Mayersohn thanked her constituents in her statement.

“They gave me the privilege of representing their interests for 28 years,” she said. “I never took their support for granted and worked very hard to ensure their continued trust. All I can say is thank you — I will never forget you.”

Hyman Finkelstein (from l.), Carolyn Siino, Bill Vojts and Herb Friedman call on elected officials to save their senior center. Photo by Joe Anuta

State and city officials assembled in Forest Hills last Thursday to tout legislation designed to save senior centers across the city, but there’s a $25 million catch.

Even though both the state Assembly and state Senate passed budget resolutions last week allocating $25 million in federal money to fund senior centers, that does not mean the centers are in the clear. The funds for the senior centers were taken from money used for child welfare services.

And that money has to be put back somehow.

“Instead of staring at four walls, you’ll have a place to go and see your friends,” Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) said to a crowd at the Young Israel of Forest Hills Senior League, at 68-07 Burns St.,? one of 22 Queens senior centers slated to close under the governor’s current budget proposal. “The problem is that we have to find $25 million from another part of the budget.”

The money in question is called Title XX funding, and it comes from the federal government. The money has traditionally been used to fund senior centers, but in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s original budget proposal for this year, the Title XX funding went to youth service programs instead, said state Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach), who was not at the rally but also supports senior centers.

So while the dual resolutions ostensibly saved the centers, the lawmakers still have to scrape together more money to fund the youth programs.

“No matter where you shift and restore money, you must show a way to pay for it,” Addabbo said. “You better cut somewhere else or show revenue. The budget has to be balanced.”

Addabbo had several suggestions of where those cuts could come from — like many of the city’s outside contracts, for example.

Both state legislative bodies will eventually meet with representatives from Cuomo’s office to iron out the discrepancies between each party’s budget proposal, and only afterward will the seniors really know if their center will close.

But the centers themselves save money, according to Stavisky.

Speaking to the seniors — who held up signs reading “Do you know what loneliness feels like?” and “Restore Title XX funding” — Stavisky ran through the costs for three different types of care.

Senior centers run the city up to $2,000 a year per senior.? Adult day care costs $18,500 and nursing homes cost $123,000.

“Which is more cost effective?” she asked. “And how many of you want to be in a nursing home.”

No one raised their hand.

Carolyn Siino said she comes to the center to socialize and eat a hot meal, since she ran into financial trouble after her sister, the breadwinner of the household, died unexpectedly.

“If they ever close the center, I think I would seek psychiatric help in protest,” she said.

The Forest Hills center is especially dear to the seniors who attend because of the unique way the food is prepared.

It is called glatt kosher, and according to Rabbi Yehuda Loppenheimer, it prescribes more stringent requirements for the Jewish practice of consuming kosher food.

“It is for those who take kosher seriously and at a higher level,” he said. “This is the only place they can go where they can get that food.”

Both Addabbo and Stavisky were optimistic that the money would come through, which is why state Assemblywoman Marge Markey (D-Maspeth) hoped that legislators and the governor would stop threatening the seniors at Maspeth Senior Center with the prospect of closure.

“These seniors are scared,” Markey said. “I’m very confident that we can save the senior centers. It’s more than just hot meals, the workers are very in tune with the residents.”

In addition to the 22 centers, another 5 centers could face closure if Borough President Helen Marshall’s discritionary funding for aging services is cut from the city’s budget as proposed.

State Sen. Toby Stavisky (c.) and state Assemblywoman Grace Meng (fourth from r.) join seniors to speak out about proposed funding cuts. Photo courtesy Toby Stavisky

State Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) and state Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing) joined forces with seniors Tuesday at the Selfhelp Benjamin Rosenthal Senior Center? in Flushing to oppose proposed cuts to state funding for senior services that could lead to the closing of as many as 100 senior centers in the city.

They met there to speak out against a provision in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed budget that would reallocate $22 million in federal Title XX ?funding that has traditionally gone to New York City.

“If the senior centers close, where will our seniors go, what will they eat?” Meng asked. “In addition, the social and emotional consequences that these closures bring about will have a far more serious impact than can even be imagined now.”

Leo Asen, vice president of Selfhelp community service, said the cuts would be “devastating,” as senior centers — including Selfhelp’s five centers, two each in Flushing, and one in Maspeth, Bayside and Forest Hills — provide essential services for seniors throughout the five boroughs.

“If we lost a senior center, it would have a detrimental effect on our seniors’ well-being,” he said. “They benefit from nutritional meals, case assistance services, as well as the social interaction senior centers offer. We’re talking about wellness activities, we’re talking about lectures, we’re talking about just basically getting better to socialize and interact.”

Stavisky said that although the cuts would save money in the short term, they would not improve the state’s long-term fiscal soundness.

“This shortsighted proposal will be hardest on our home-bound elderly,” she said. “Our projections show a cut like this will end up costing more in the long run in terms of care.”

Asen said he realizes the need to slash spending in light of budgetary shortfalls and the economic crisis, but he said to do so in the form of cutting funding for seniors is the wrong way to go about it.

“We’re all realistic and we understand these are hard times and there has to be a shared sacrifice, but I think it would be really hard on our seniors, who are some of our frailest citizens,” he said. “We advocate, we talk with our elected officials, we work with our advocacy partners and we’d like to not see these cuts happen.”

Steve Naples sorts copies of the 2011-2012 executive budget bills in the state Senate document room in Albany that outlines Gov. Andrew Cuomo's $132.9 billion budget. AP Photo/Mike Groll

The $132.9 billion budget proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo was not kind to the city, especially Queens, as tens of millions in cuts would be affected if his agenda moves forward.

Cuomo’s budget, a starting point in negotiations between the governor and the state Legislature, includes the second consecutive year that the city will not be getting $300 million in aid to municipalities, or AIM, funding.

The governor argued the city, unlike other cities and towns and villages in the state, has multiple sources for generating revenue, including a personal income tax.

During testimony Monday in Albany, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Cuomo’s budget plans reduce aid to the city by $2.1 billion, including a $1.4 billion cut in public school aid, $380 million in cuts and cost shifts in social services and $300 million in AIM funding.

Bloomberg said Cuomo’s budget was unfair to the city, which the state heavily relies upon for revenue.

“As you may know, New York City produces roughly half of all state tax revenues — we give far more than we get back,” the mayor said. “So eliminating these $300 million in state funds would worsen an already pronounced imbalance of payments between New York City and Albany. It also would aggravate an already difficult budget season in our city.”

Bloomberg also told the Legislature the city faces “the prospect of heavy layoffs, especially in our schools,” but he said it is too early to tell how many city jobs would be lost under Cuomo’s plan.

In Cuomo’s budget, virtually no program was spared from cuts — ranging from Medicaid to education and senior centers.

Under Cuomo’s plan, the city’s university system — which includes Queens College, Queensborough Community College, LaGuardia Community College and the CUNY Law School in Flushing — would be cut by $37 million.

State Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Higher Education Committee, said Cuomo’s plan would be devastating for Queens’ CUNY institutions.

“This has gone on for many years. It’s been a slow erosion of state support for higher education over the last 30 years,” she said. “The result will be smaller class sizes, fewer courses offered, fewer full-time faculty and it will take even longer for students to graduate.”

Also included in Cuomo’s budget is a $27 million slash in funding to senior centers across the state in a time when the borough’s centers are struggling to survive.

“As far as I’m concerned, funds to needy populations should always be preserved,” said Carol Hunt, executive director of the Friendship Center in Jamaica, which recently won a battle with the city to stay afloat. “If [the state] is not going to do it, who’s going to do it? I feel it is their responsibility.”

City Comptroller John Liu told Albany that the city has had to “tighten its budgetary belt many times over the last few years and has made the necessary and difficult cuts to balance its budget.

“Further cuts to the city’s budget will require painful reductions in many core service areas. The most immediate and worrying of the reductions would be the elimination of thousands of pedagogical positions in New York City’s public schools,” he said. “If the governor is truly interested in maximizing economic development investments, he should look no further than the investment in our children’s education.

State Sen. Tony Avella (c.) greets colleague Sen. John Sampson (r.), who was a surprise guest at the ceremony. Photo by Christina Santucci

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) held his inauguration ceremony at Queensborough Community College Sunday, where colleagues voiced their high hopes for the freshman’s independent spirit.

“He’s my kind of guy,” said U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who spoke at length about Avella before swearing him in on stage. “We are sure … he will not lose touch with this district.”

Schumer touted Avella’s grassroots rise through politics. Avella began as a staff member for many noted politicians, including former Mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins, before serving as a city councilman and running for mayor himself.

“No one put a silver spoon in this guy’s mouth,” he said.

As examples, Schumer mentioned a pay raise for Council members that Avella refused to take, giving the money back, and his adherence to term limits even though the law was revised to add a third term.

“We’ve elected one of our best,” he said.

Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights) praised Avella for his support of the gay and lesbian community and his support for marriage equality.

In Avella’s inaugural address at the close of the ceremony, he shied away from policy and instead thanked all the people who helped him throughout the campaign. And in an emotional moment reminiscent of U.S. Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), Avella became slightly choked up when he thanked his wife and extended family.

But speaking after the address, Avella made it clear what he wants to accomplish.

“Ethics reform and campaign reform are the first things,” he said.

Avella said he is already working on a measure to install term limits for all state officials.

“It’s important for fresh blood,” he said. “Problems change every day.”

Avella said career politicians can become stagnant and lose touch with the people they are elected to represent.

As far as Queens is concerned, Avella wants to improve transportation options for the borough.

“My district has no subways. We need buses,” he said. “I want to bring back the routes that were eliminated.”

Avella has a reputation for independence and blunt speech and was even depicted in a Washington, D.C., cartoon as riding a motorcycle as part of a gang called “The Wild Bunch.”

Avella said he wants to stay true to his rogue image, but like many politicians who campaign on promises of change, he conceded that a degree of cooperation might be necessary.

“There are opportunities for compromise,” he said. “But the core issue of reform cannot be compromised.”

In between Schumer’s appearance and Avella’s inaugural address, the audience heard a large contingent of Queens politicians sing the praises of the newly elected state senator, including state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone), who once employed Avella as her chief of staff.

“Tony is going to continue to fight for those issues that are important,” she said, citing budget and ethic reforms for which the state senator is known.

The wise-cracking emcee for the event was Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens), who referred to state Assemblyman Edward Braunstein (D-Bayside) as the “best dimples in the Democratic Party” and introduced several musical acts that performed throughout the nearly two-hour event.

State Sen. Tony Avella has been appointed the ranking minority member of the Cities and Environmental Protection Committees. Photo by Christina Santucci

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) is one of three freshmen Democratic senators to be appointed as ranking minority members of legislative committees in Albany, Sen. Democratic Leader John Sampson (D-Brooklyn) announced last week.

Avella, who represents the 11th Senate District, is the ranking member for the Democrats of the Cities and Environmental Protection committees and will serve on the Education, Aging and Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs committees.

“As a freshman senator, it is an honor to have been tasked to serve on five committees and to be a ranking member on two,” Avella said. “As ranking member, I will be the point person for the members of my conference on bills that will go before my committees. This will allow me to point out any problems or flaws pertaining to a particular bill to emphasize the importance of specific legislation.”

The other new Democrats who were appointed ranking members were Sens. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) and Tim Kennedy (D-Erie County). Gianaris will head the Codes Committee and Kennedy will lead the Commerce, Economic Development and Commerce Committee.

Ranking members review all bills that go before their respective committees and serve as the authority to whom other committee members can direct questions regarding the bills. Ranking members are also influential in the appointment of new commissioners for state agencies.

After being sworn into office in the beginning of January, Avella, who toppled former Republican Sen. Frank Padavan in November’s election, said he planned to focus on the state budget and ethics reform.

“I’m worried about how the budget cuts will impact everybody — in the state, in New York City, in Queens and in my district,” Avella said last week. “Will the discretionary funds, which the nonprofits depend upon, be cut like they were last year?”

A number of Queens lawmakers landed leadership positions in a number of committees. Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) is the ranking Democratic of banks, Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica) was appointed the minority party’s leader of the Ethics and the Mental Health and Development Disabilities committees, Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone), is the ranking minority member of the Higher Education Committee, for which she had served as chairwoman when Democrats were in the majority, Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) is the ranking member of the Labor Committee and Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) is the ranking member of the Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs Committee.

“The economic crisis of the last two years has demonstrated to all New Yorkers that government cannot function as it always has,” Sampson said in a statement announcing the ranking members. “In order to create jobs and rebuild our economy, we need to do things differently. Our conference is taking that approach to governance by championing ethics, budget and redistricting reform.”