Columbia Spectator - Quinn Settling Into New Role

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Quinn Settling Into New Role
By Sara Vogel
Spectator Staff Writer

January 20, 2006

Though the new City Council Speaker, Christine Quinn (D-Chelsea), and eight new council members may still be breaking in their leather chairs on the council floor, the entire body is also in the process of considering the issues that will comprise its agenda during the current legislative session.

Over the next few weeks, the new leaders will define their approaches to addressing long-standing issues, such as the city�s unbalanced budget, the affordable housing shortage, failing public schools, and health care reform.

Quinn, who succeeds term-limited Speaker Gifford Miller, is expected to weigh in on the controversial proposal for Gateway Mall in the Bronx by Feb. 8, a decision which may help to clarify the new council�s position on development.

While Quinn fought against the West Side Stadium proposal as a City Council member, she has not solidified her position on Columbia�s expansion plans. �It will get the full review process in the council and we will determine then what the best solution is for the community,� Maria Alvardo, a spokesperson for Speaker Quinn, said.

Maxine Griffith, Columbia�s vice president of government and community affairs, said she is optimistic about meetings with the new council.

Jordi Reyes-Montblanc, chair of Community Board 9, also expressed CB9�s eagerness to work with the new City Council leadership on expansion issues.

�Speaker Quinn has a long history dealing with community boards. I have had many satisfactory contacts with her,� he said.

Quinn�s status as both the first female and the first openly gay City Council Speaker has sparked headlines from New York to New Zealand. �Her first responsibility is to the constituents,� Alvardo said. �There is no female way to take out the garbage; there is no gay way to take out the garbage.�

But it is not up to Quinn alone to determine the course of the legislative session.

�[The agenda] comes from outside as well as inside: the Mayor, other government officials and departments, external events such as changes in the economy and disasters of a sort,� Douglas Muzzio, public affairs professor at Baruch College said.

Council members have already begun to prepare for the release of the Mayor�s budget at the end of the month.

Before she was appointed, Quinn told attendees of a City Council Speaker�s Forum that the council should not raise property taxes again as a way to decrease budget deficits, but that cutting services is not a viable option, either.

�We won�t let the budget end up being balanced on the back of the neediest New Yorkers,� she said.

Just a few weeks into her term, Quinn�s colleagues said they are optimistic about her leadership.

�I admire Speaker Quinn,� Councilwoman Inez Dickens (D-Harlem) wrote in an e-mail. �She is no-nonsense and a person of her word.... She is a person of inclusion, not exclusion.�

The relationship between the council and Mayor Bloomberg is as of yet uncertain.

�It will be an evolving relationship,� Muzzio said. �All other things equal, it may be less contentious under Quinn [than under Miller] because she does not seem to have Mayoral ambitions.�

�Council member Quinn and [he] have an excellent working relationship,� said Jordan Barowiz, spokesman for Mayor Bloomberg. �He respects her intellect and commitment to New York and looks forward to working with her.�

�I don�t think it�s useful for me to say I�m going to butt heads with the mayor on X,Y, and Z,� Quinn said in an interview with The New York Sun. �Hopefully there will be [fewer] times when we butt heads, but if we have to, I have a hard head, so it will be okay.�

According to Spokesperson Alvardo, �Their ultimate responsibility is to the people of this city and they are going to work together to make New York City a better place to live.�



Leora Falk contributed to this article.