Quinn: Chambers, Council Should Work On Health Plan

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn

BY THOMAS COGAN

A group of pipers and fiddlers from the Acosta School of Irish Music, a group of step dancers from the Petri School of Irish Dancing and a brief address by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn were, apart from corned beef and cabbage and quickly consumed soda bread, the highlights of the Queens Chamber of Commerce St. Patrick's Day luncheon at Terrace on the Park, in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

Quinn, who has been in the council since 1999 but has been Speaker only since being elected to the post this past January 4, did not use the QCC luncheon to bring up the controversy that she revived next day, March 17, when she made one last attempt to win acceptance for gay and lesbian marchers in the Fifth Avenue parade, and declining once again to take part in the parade when the attempt failed. She did tell her audience, however, that on that day she would be at an early evening reception at City Hall honoring prominent Fifth Avenue marcher: Thomas Manton, former member of Congress and Queens County Democratic leader. At the luncheon, she spoke of being on a chamber of commerce tour of sorts, having addressed the Manhattan chamber the previous day. To her Queens audience, she spoke of making her legislative body "five-borough council," a "people's council" that would work to build the economy and small business. She spoke of an economy that is not simply an abstraction but real force in the neighborhoods. "My plan could sound great on paper but be completely useless" without the aid of the people, she said. She believes that the chambers of commerce and the council could work together, for instance, to construct an adequate citywide health plan for

employees. Health care has been perhaps the prime issue on her political agenda during her time as a councilmember, and she wound up her address with a denunciation of Governor George Pataki's plan for further hospital closings, which, she said, would diminish health services and, into the bargain, leave many hospital workers unemployed.

She hailed building development in Long Island City and Willets Point and was presented with a Queens flag by the chamber, then headed to the next station on her busy schedule. Those at the luncheon then heard and saw the music and dancing. The Acosta School of Irish Music has facilities on Long Island and in Staten Island and Rockland County, in addition to its Queens chapter in Middle Village. The Petri School of Irish Dancing is a Long Island entity, being established in Franklin Square and Northport. Its dancers at the luncheon were middle school girls, most of them crowned with curly hair of Restoration abundance. Teams of them entered and exited the floor space between dais and diners in a well-paced show that lasted about 10 minutes. The spectators were charmed, and the Queens Chamber of Commerce was able to reflect that it had achieved another success.