Tom Mina
Report: Malcolm Smith, State Senator, Facilitator
According to Crain’s New York, tensions between the businesses of Willets Point and the city have eased due to a meeting that was held on August 6 and set up by Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith. Smith represents a significant portion of Queens, and although Willets Point doesn’t fall under his jurisdiction, business owners like Tom Mina are crediting him with facilitating the negotiations between the city and the businesses.
From Crain’s:
“Since Malcolm Smith was brought into the picture, it seems like the city’s making a good attempt to reach out to business owners,” said Thomas Mina, vice president of T. Mina Supply, Inc. a water and sewer supply company. “At least we don’t feel like they’re just going to steamroll over us anymore.”
The city maintains that it has always been willing to meet with businesses to make this project happen, but both sides seem to agree that things are moving along better right now than they were in the past.
A spokesman for Deputy Mayo Robert Lieber is quoted as saying of the business owners, “Their reluctance to meet seems to have waned of late, and that’s a good thing.”
Whether or not things have been pushed along by State Senator Malcolm Smith is debatable, but it’s good to hear that an elected official intervened and took a somewhat neutral approach to both sides to try to help the development ultimately happen.
Malcolm Smith stands to become one of the more powerful elected officials in the state when the Democrats take over the State Senate in November.
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