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Politics & Government

Council Speaker Comes To Forest Hills

Quinn, Councilwoman Koslowitz hold forth on local issues.

Forest Hills residents put City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, D-Chelsea, and , D-Forest Hills, in the hot seat Tuesday night at a Forest Hills Civic Association meeting.

The two councilwomen took a half hour each of cautioned praise, criticism, and hyper-local grievances from the meeting's crowd of about thirty people.

Quinn and Koslowitz also answered questions on New York City's new School Chancellor, Catherine Black, who Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently tapped to replace

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Black, a former publishing executive, has been under a great deal of scrutiny citywide since Bloomberg made his announcement on Tuesday afternoon.

Both councilwomen said they did not yet know anything about Black's educational philosophies or priorities as the new chancellor.

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"I'm not sure how good this one's going to be — the last two chancellors had no experience in education," said Koslowitz. "I hope she understands public schools. I think her kids went to private schools."

Quinn told the room she had met with Black earlier in the day, and reminded the attendees she would likely be working closely with her. Her sentiments mirrored a statement she had released on the subject earlier in the day.

"[Klein] leaves a legacy of increased accountability and improved student performance," Quinn said. "But his work is far from over, and I look forward to working with Cathie Black to make our schools even stronger."

Quinn added that she hoped Black would help continue to fight to reform the city's failing middle schools.

"It's the toughest age — hey, let's put them all together — alone. Whose idea was that?" Quinn said with a booming laugh.

She also defended her tenure as speaker, and explained her priorities with much-needed budget cuts — to make cuts in nearly all city agencies, but to keep jobs that deal directly with human services or that generate income for the city, such as construction surveyors who gather fines.

Many questions relayed to the councilwomen related to either the local public schools or traffic congestion at the intersection of Metropolitan Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard near the

"It was bad there before the Trader Joe's and Staples, now it's even worse," said Koslowitz. She did not mention any details as to how to improve the congestion, but said she was working on it. The congestion there has been an issue of concern for the civic group since the campus opened its doors in September.

Koslowitz fielded the neighborhood-specific questions — many of which focused on the recovery from the She lamented the loss of several tall trees in McDonald Park off of Queens Blvd.

"I said that storm took the 'forest' out of Forest Hills," said Koslowitz. "It would cost $30,000 to replace a tall tree like that. Obviously, it will be a long time before we see tall trees there again," Koslowitz said.

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