By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

No, it wasn’t an event with great fanfare.

The crowds weren’t watching.

I’m not sure that it was even an event at all, but rather a culmination of discussions, phone calls and thought.

But to this writer, it was conceivably the coming of age for the administration of Queens Borough President Helen Marshall.

Now, it is certainly premature to judge my old friend Helen and her administration. She took office six months ago and is following in the biggest damn footsteps, made by the biggest damn shoes one could ever imagine filling.

Helen is following Claire Shulman who led this borough for sixteen years and left her imprint with Shaquille O’Neal-sized kicks. Claire had picked up a very tarnished mantle after the city scandals of the mid-80s, and brought respect, vision and leadership back to Borough Hall. She’d still be there if it weren’t for term limits. She was everyone’s borough president — matriarch of the Borough of Queens.

Queens Beep Helen Marshall Photo by Dee Richard

I don’t believe that anyone could have measured up easily. Claire had 16 years to build her network, perfect her skills and leave her huge imprint on this borough. She, indeed, changed the face of Queens.

Helen has been there for six months and has had a lot to learn. Anyone would have had a lot to learn. Comparing Helen six months in to Claire sixteen years mature is just not how we should be measuring.

This week, the learning curve took a turn. Helen Marshall stepped out of the ceremony of the office. She stepped out of the day-to-day obligations of civics and government. She demonstrated that the office of borough president which was devastated when the courts threw out the Board of Estimate — and the Beeps’ significant role in City budget, contracts and everything else — can still be vital and meaningful in the life of a borough.

In Queens, the Beep is not merely titular and procedural.

Helen Marshall chose to make it more than that.

THE QUEENS BUS STRIKE

Helen Marshall chose to throw her administration into the middle of a bus strike crippling only our borough. While the rest of the City fathers (and mothers) watched, slept, ignored or perhaps tried to help, Helen Marshall came through with the first and only real solution to be put on the table since the bus walkouts started months ago.

A month-long strike by 1,500 drivers, mechanics and cleaners of the Queens Surface, Jamaica Bus and Triboro Coach lines, which are heavily subsidized by the city, has caused 115,000 Queens riders to seek alternate transportation.

Marshall — and/or her people — assessed the problem, spoke to both sides, enlisted and got the assistance of the Mayor and as of this writing on Sunday, has put on the table a real and doable solution.

Bravo, Helen.

The labor conflict at the time ultimately boiled down to the demand on the employees’ part to health coverage comparable to that provided to the employees on City-owned and run buses.

Helen got the mayor to agree to provide $2 million in loans which will be paid back by reducing subsidy payments to the bus companies, while they find and institute economies to pay for the increased cost of the health plan the workers demand.

The City would audit the bus companies to identify economies.

The drivers, mechanics and cleaners get what they want (and probably deserve); the City avoids a major transportation crisis; the bus companies lose nothing, keeping their subsidized franchises and the wheels rolling, and the people of Queens get to work and play with fewer hassles and less traffic and it really doesn’t cost anyone anything.

Again, Bravo Helen!

Nowhere in the job description of Borough President is the responsibility of entering a labor dispute between private bus lines and their drivers. Nowhere is there an official role provided in labor disputes for the Beep. She has no more official input or power than anyone else. Any member of the Council, Assembly, State Senate, Congress could have entered the fray. As a matter of fact some tried.

Certainly the Mayor had more leverage to bring to the table than the Beep. The Public Advocate, the Comptroller, former citywide elected officials could have stepped forward.  Now, this is not meant to criticize all those who didn’t solve the problem. It is meant to applaud the person who may have.

Helen Marshall stepped up to the front of the line and we believe solved the issue.

As an aside, I write this before any official announcement concerning strike settlement has been made. But for this longtime observer of City government, the right solution has been put on the table; if it is not accepted, we would expect the City to immediately cancel the franchises of the three bus companies leaving both labor and owners with nothing for which to negotiate. The City must not tolerate any more interruption of bus service in Queens.

It is the end of the line.

And Helen Marshall punched the ticket. Well done, Helen.

City Council Bill Will Strengthen Term Limits

By New York City Council Speaker GIFFORD MILLER

I’d like to begin by stating for the record that I am a great admirer of Michael Schenkler and that I am proud to call him one of my good friends.

Nevertheless, even friends disagree about some things and Michael and I disagree about one of the finer points regarding a bill that was recently introduced by 46 of the 51 members of the New York City Council, where I have the rare privilege of serving as speaker.

The point of this bill is to repair a glitch in the term-limits law that allows some members of the City Council to serve for eight years while preventing others from serving for more than six.

If you think back to 1993, when voters passed a referendum creating New York City’s term limits law, then you will remember that the point of this law was to limit our elected officials to no more than eight consecutive years. The slogan employed by advocates of the law was “Eight Is Enough,” which proved to be a better campaign, rallying cry than an accurate description of what the law would actually do. Because of reapportionment, special elections and the like, not all City Council terms are four years long. Some are as short as two years, hence the unintended consequence of actually limiting some officeholders to just six years in office.

Legislation that was introduced just last week would fix the term limits glitch and eliminate the inequities that prevent voters in Harlem, for example, from electing their Council Member to the same length of time as voters in neighboring Washington Heights.

Unfortunately, the term limits glitch isn’t just a problem for voters in Harlem, who will lose out on the benefits provided by seniority if we don’t repair the current inequities in the law. Indeed, hundreds of thousands of voters across the city will be placed at an unfair disadvantage if we fail to take action now.

Some people (I won’t provide names because I know Michael is painfully shy) have objected to the City Council’s approach on this issue.

Michael Schenkler and Giff Miller at the Queens Tribune offices. Photo by Dee Richard

All I would say in response is that the City Council’s bill in no way challenges the fundamental principle of the term limits policy that voters approved in 1993 and then reaffirmed in 1996. In fact, this bill would strengthen the city’s term limits law by applying the eight-year rule fairly and equitably to every elected official in the city. It would also close the loophole allowing an incumbent to escape term limits entirely by resigning from office early and then entering the primary election as a non-incumbent.

The issue that this bill seeks to address isn’t really term limits at all...it’s fairness. The people of New York City voted to make eight consecutive years the limit for everyone holding office, not just some. Unless voters say otherwise, term limits are here to stay. Far from being an attempt to subvert the people’s will, all this bill would do is make sure that term limits work as the people intended.