[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 45 (Monday, March 16, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E672]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       IN RECOGNITION OF QUEENS BOROUGH PRESIDENT HELEN MARSHALL

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 16, 2009

  Mrs. MALONEY. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Queens Borough 
President Helen Marshall, an outstanding public servant. First elected 
the Borough President of Queens in November 2001, Helen Marshall is the 
first African-American and just the second woman to assume the post of 
chief executive of Queens County, which has a population of more than 
2.2 million people. She has been a leader of uncommon grace, energy, 
and dedication to the people she serves.
  As the Queens Borough President, Helen Marshall has been a champion 
for public libraries and schools, job training programs, quality health 
care, senior citizens, the environment, and economic development, just 
as she has been throughout her remarkable career. She has allocated 
tens of millions of dollars for parks, playgrounds and libraries, and 
in 2005 was bestowed the statewide Daniel Casey Library Advocacy Award. 
She has helped fund the expansions of cultural institutions, organized 
a Borough President's ``War Room'' to ensure the timely construction of 
thirty new public schools with more than 17,800 seats, and marshaled 
support for important infrastructure projects like the Queens Plaza 
Roadway Rebuilding Project and Long Island City Links. Marshall also 
spearheaded the historic effort to bring CUNY to the Rockaway 
Peninsula, providing $6 million in capital funding to convert a former 
courthouse.
  A native New Yorker, Helen Marshall served for nearly two decades as 
a respected legislator in both the New York State Assembly and the New 
York City Council. In 1982, she was elected to the first of five terms 
in the New York State Assembly, where she chaired the Rules Committee 
and served on the Leland Commission.
  When she won her seat on the City Council in 1991, she became the 
first female and first member of a minority elected to represent her 
City Council district, she worked to improve and unite an 
extraordinarily diverse community. On the City Council, she served as 
Chair of the Higher Education Committee and on the Committees on 
Housing and Buildings, Environmental Protection, and Women's Issues. 
She also served as Co-Chair of the Council's Black and Latino Caucus. 
As Chair of the City Council's Higher Education Committee, Marshall 
successfully fought against the privatization of the City University of 
New York, one of the largest public university systems in the world. 
She secured funds to restore the City's free dental clinics, led the 
fight to prevent the sale of Elmhurst and Queens Hospital Center and 
has fought for many years to protect Flushing Bay from the impact of 
LaGuardia Airport.
  A proud graduate of the New York City public school system, she 
earned a Bachelor's Degree in Education from Queens College of the City 
University of New York. For eight years prior to her election to the 
Assembly, Marshall was an early childhood teacher. In 1969 she became 
the first Director of the Langston Hughes Library, a post she held for 
five years. She also served as Director of the Elmcor Testing 
Assessment and Placement Program for eight years, where she helped 
hundreds of New Yorkers find gainful employment. In 1975, she served as 
a Member of the Democratic National Committee. She also served on 
Queens Community Board 3 for thirteen years, as a parent activist in 
the public schools for a decade and a half, was a founder of the Queens 
Overall Economic Development Corporation, and was elected in 1974 as a 
Democratic District Leader.
  Helen Marshall remains devoted to her beloved husband, Donald, and to 
her children and grandchildren. She is universally regarded with 
affection by the people of Queens, a remarkable feat in the most 
diverse county in our nation.
  Madam Speaker, I ask that my distinguished colleagues join me 
recognizing the enormous contributions to our civic and political life 
made by Borough President Marshall, who has worked tirelessly and 
diligently throughout her career on behalf of her constituents in 
Queens and all New Yorkers.

                          ____________________