The Queens Tribune - March 14-20, 1997

Queens: A Global Future For The Global Borough

Airports, lmmigrants and Industry

The future of the New York metropolitan region depends on Queens County. That's because Queens is the site of JFK International Airport, the region's major international airport, and home of the region's most cosmopolitan population. Almost one-fifth of all international air passengers moving through the United States flow through Queens County airports; JPK is also the hub for shipping valuable cargo by air. In an era when goods must be delivered within 24 hours, airports have superseded seaports as the most critical form of transportation infrastructure.

Although Queens accounts for just 10 percent of the total population in the 31-county New York metropolitan region, it houses almost 20 percent of the foreign-born population. And this population is not dominated by one ethnic group or continent of origin, it includes representatives from all parts of the world, thus giving Queens a distinctive cosmopolitan flavor.

More than 26 percent of all foreign-born Asians in the region reside in Queens, as do more than one-fourth of all foreign-born residents from Central and South America. The remarkable resurgence of northern Queens, encompassing Woodside, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst and Flushing, is due, in no small part, to the entrepreneurial energy that these foreign-born New Yorkers have brought to the neighborhoods of Queens.

The recent upheaval in Eastern Europe brought about by the end of Communism has also changed the face of Queens. The influx of immigrants from the former Soviet Union and the nations of Eastern Europe has replenished the borough's cultural capital and workforce. Adding to the borough's diversity is the large concentration of foreign-born black Caribbeans; 18 percent of the region's foreign-born black population live in Queens. These immigrants have rejuvenated the shops and restaurants of Astoria, Forest Hills, and Jamaica, while creating new pressures for classrooms to serve the borough's burgeoning school-age population. The influx of immigrants has been essential to the borough's economic development, especially the small- and medium-sized manufacturing firms that are concentrated in Long Island City, and neighboring Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

According to a New York University study, more than half of all the manufacturing start-ups in New York City are located in Queens, and Long Island City has the largest concentration of industrial businesses outside of Manhattan. Tom Cat Bakery on Vernon Boulevard produces some of the best bread and rolls in the city, and Bolfinger Lighting is manufacturing the lighting fixtures that will be used in the world's tallest building, currently under construction in Kuala Lumpur.

The service sector employs more than 200,000 workers in Queens - more than one-third of the borough's total employment. During the past quarter-century, Queens has also emerged as a major source of electronic entertainment and news programming. WFAN's "lmus in the Morning" originates in Queens and is carried on MS-NBC as well as on radio stations in cities across the country. And "Sesame Street," the most successful children's television program in the world, is also produced in Queens, as are other television programs including the widely-acclaimed "Cosby."

Clearly, the nation and the world depend on Queens. As we enter the next century, Queens will become even more important - politically and economically. New immigrants are rapidly becoming citizens and voters, adding to the borough's political clout in the city and state. Queens already has one-fourth of the state's congressional delegation and is the home of the city comptroller and speaker of the City Council. Moreover, there are twice as many black state Assembly members from Queens than there are from Manhattan. And some of the city's most talented young politicians, such as Councilman John Sabini, Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, and Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubrey, hail from Queens as well.

With its varied and thriving neighborhoods, great airports and growing population. Queens is clearly the place to be in the 21st century.