Dear Editor,
I write to applaud Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, a Guyanese American, for a stirring speech she delivered recently on the state of Queens, her support for a development project in Richmond Hill, and the recognition she received from politicians in the city. This was the President’s 11th annual address on the state of Queens and was delivered at her alma mater, Queens College. Ms Marshall was born in the Bronx to Guyanese parents who came to the US by boat after WWII.
The borough President had initially opposed a convention development project for Richmond Hill announced by the Governor last month. Marshall wanted the project for Flushing which she once represented as a member of the City Council. In her speech, she exalted the borough’s successful projects and praised the role of minority communities in its development. Queens is among the largest communities in America and is the second largest in New York after Brooklyn. A couple of hundred thousand Guyanese are settled in Queens. The President noted that Queens is the most diversified community in America with people from every country and nationality in the world. However, the influx of new residents leads to overcrowded schools and other problems.
Marshall served 12 years on the City Council representing mostly Asians in Flushing before she was term limited and ran for the presidency of Queens. She will be term limited next year.
Since becoming President, Marshall has allocated over half a billion dollars to improving the borough’s more than 2.2 million New Yorkers. “I have worked hard to put our borough on a firm footing for future generations,” Marshall said during the speech.
Among the successfully completed projects the borough President touched on were the Aqueduct Racino in Richmond Hill, new and renovated parks in Jamaica, Middle Village, Sunnyside and Elmhurst, four new schools and preventing Peninsula Hospital from closing. She did not mention Richmond Hill, which is one of the most neglected areas in Queens and is settled by her fellow Guyanese Americans.
In her speech, Marshall reversed her opposition to a plan announced by the Governor to build the largest convention centre in America in Richmond Hill on the site of Aqueduct racecourse.
She said this centre should complement the Willets Point centre, not replace it. She also said Queens is a victim of its own success: “Our county attracts new residents and immigrants every year — but not the federal aid needed to build local schools and hospitals to care for them. And then to add insult to injury, we will lose existing aid and representation in Washington because we were undercounted in the census.”
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
