From the Times Ledger:The Flushing Chamber of Commerce and Business Association announced last week it will dissolve after decades of operating in the community.
Myra Baird Herce, co-president of the association, made the announcement Friday, citing the changing demographics of the Flushing area and the emergence of a host of new business organizations that cater to the community.
The chamber was first established in 1928, and advocated on behalf of the business community to promote economic development in the neighborhood, according to Herce.
The chamber has pushed for the restoration of the RKO Keith’s Theatre on Main Street in downtown as well as the transformation of Municipal Parking Lot No. 1 into some sort of commercial center.
While issues with the projects have been ongoing, in recent years the chamber has been sapped of its core strength.
The other two co-presidents had left the chamber: Jack Hogan died about two years ago and Richard Gelman moved out of the state.
That left Herce to hold meetings and attending various hearings to speak on behalf of the community.
In its heyday its meetings would be packed with people from all over northeast Queens, according to Frank Macchio, a developer who also sits on Community Board 7.
25 comments:
This is like reading an obituary for someone who just died that you thought died decades ago.
Jack Hogan (a great soul) who really held the helm of the Flushing Chamber of Commerce, when it did real things, has passed on a few years ago.
Myra Baird Herce hung in so as to keep herself "a-legend-in-her-own-mind" as its co-president.
She'd pop up at various CB# 7 meetings claiming her (LOL) "due respect".
Perhaps she was kept "on the dole"
by some political clubhouse for some "services" she'd provided to the late, corrupt Donald Manes.
Then again, wasn't there about $30,000 that "went" when the Downtown Flushing Development Corp. closed down?
Ya nevah know what goes on behind Flushing's closed doors!
LOL!
Now that the (I love your nickname) the "Flushing Chamber Pot" is gone, shouldn't it be emptied into the Flushing Creek?
I was told that Myra Baird
(later, Herce) once played a role in an early 1950s film,
"The Eddie Duchin Story"
(no screen credit).
If so,
she apparently thought that she's been a star ever since!
I'm putting in to
"NetFlix" to view it.
Maybe I can spot this windbag
as an "ingenue".
Way up on Queensborough Hill...
Myra Herce sits like silent film diva "Norma Desmond" peering through her window onto "Sunset Boulevard".
How sad.
I'll bet that Frank Macchio wasn't even around during its so-called heyday!
Maybe Myra was telling him some tall tales.
Ms. Herce's comment regarding the Keith's is both insulting and inaccurate!
Our committee has been around since 1981 advocating for the preservation and restoration of RKO Keith's Flushing Theatre---so you can't fool us!
And DON'T try fooling the community either!
Our long, collective memory
DOES NOT recall that the "Flushing Chamber of Commerce" HAD EVER, "...pushed for the restoration of the RKO Keith's theater..." as Ms. Herce has the audacity to now claim.
They barely nudged when it could have mattered.
A few years ago, however,
the (then, chamber of one?) represented by Ms. Herce DID SUPPORT previous owner Shya Boymelgreen's plans to DEMOLISH the theater building---
save for its landmark portions.
This cannot, by anyone's stretch of imagination, be considered a "RESTORATION" job.
Readers---
it looks like Ms. Herce is attempting to rewrite history
for self aggrandizing purposes.
Politicians' "darling",
Myra Baird Herce
was head of both the Downtown Flushing Development Corp. (DFDC) and CB #7 in 1986 when the Keith's was bought by the infamous Tommy Huang.
She did shit
for the Keith's back then.
She couldn't even work up a good fart on behalf of the theater while she was co-president of the chamber.
Huang was a pal of Manes
and the DFDC was set up by him.
How cozy!
Where did that $30,000 wind up when the DFDC (like the Flushing Chamber of Commerce) was laid down?
Did Herce draw a salary from the chamber?
Judging by the background in the photo...
it looks like the last meeting of the "Chamber Pot" in the ol' "Palace Diner".
That's why the chamber was closed.
The diner closed.
And Myra wasn't going to host a (LOL!) "meeting" in her Queensborough Hill home a few blocks away.
If she did...who could she con to attend one...a next door neighbor or two?
The chamber has pushed for the restoration of the RKO Keith’s Theatre on Main Street in downtown.......
--------------------------------
I have seen several letters composed by Myra to the contrary. One was to the LPC (Landmarks) asking for a re-evaluation of the Ticket Lobby and Foyer of the Keith's Theatre in favor of a proposal by Thomas Huang.
So long dearie!
Good riddance!!!
In its heyday its meetings would be packed with people from all over northeast Queens, according to Frank Macchio, a developer who also sits on Community Board 7.
-------------------------------
That was because Myra would "paper the house" giving free admission to the events to her friends and neighbors, making it appear as if the events were sold out.
She's a phony! So long dearie!
The late Donald Manes, the corrupt and disgraced Borough President who reportedly committed suicide, appointed Myra Baird Herce to Community Board #7 in the late 1970’s. She later became Chairwoman in the early 80’s.
Other Manes appointees at that time were Thomas Huang and Wellington Z, Chen. Although she claims that she has no contact with Thomas Huang, she has supported him various times in the past. Myra remains “thick” with Chen and it is no wonder that the she supported “the transformation of Municipal Parking Lot #1 into some sort of a commercial center” for her buddy’s TDC Group.
She has been a “consultant” for all the fractured Asian business associations in Flushing. She’d do anything for a buck. Just like an aged whore.
So long dearie!
In the early 1990's, the Coalition for a Planned Flushing was organizing “Flushing Beatification Days”, and idea that was originally proposed by Teddi Kavanagh a member from the Off-Broadway Homeowners Association. The idea was to “Free Flushing From Graffiti” and to sweep all of the streets in Downtown Flushing. Myra Herce was against this effort and worked behind the scenes to try and stop it. She contacted the Commander of the 109th Precinct, asking if the group would be breaking the law by painting over walls without the owner’s permission. She contacted city agencies to inquire about the legal ramifications and if the group needed insurance to hold the event. She claimed the Coalition was acting irresponsibly.
Other than her usual lip service, she’s done nothing to improve the business community. She’s a fraud.
“Citing the changing demographics of the Flushing area and the emergence of a host of new business organizations that cater to the community” is bullshit and nothing new. That happened some 30 years ago. It’s about time for Herce’s exit. It is a shame that the Chamber of Commerce has to fall because of her
Well, CoC meetings are useless when everyone in the area no speakie
Did she always have that color hair? Who does she think she is? I Love Loosely? Waaaaaaaaaaah!!!
I think one day soon, they ( the newies ) will push to rename downtown flushing and brand it to their liking and actually do it to.
I wonder if she mixes a double batch of that hair dye..... :-)
Myra Herce facilitated the colonization of Flushing by the Asians.
She's had so many face lifts that it's as tense as a drum skin.
If she ever opened up with a really big smile, shrapnel would fill the room.
Her hair and lipstick color...
Chinese red (or is it Red Chinese?) of course!
Her brother, Bill Baird, was a prominent pregnancy termination advocate/advisor during the early 1960s.
He advised my ex-sister in law where she could deal with her personal "problem" in Puerto Rico.
Abortions carried out in the US were illegal at that time.
A CVNT and a CVR!
Did she "do" Manes?
She sure looks like a Lautrec
Parisian whore!
As chair of CB# 7,
she once referred to the committee that wanted the Keith's restored as a "shabby little group".
That's how much this foul souled manipulator cared for Flushing.
So, who's shabby looking now Myra?
The Keith's has more dignity, even in its current state, than this old bitch could ever have.
And, how many pieces of silver did this female Judas get for selling out her own town?
If Myra Baird Herce and her crew "upgraded" Flushing,
how come it's still an overcrowded under-served lowly dump
and smells like rotting organic material?
Every organization that Ms. Herce was affiliated with...from the Downtown Flushing Development Corporation or the Flushing Chamber of Commerce up through Community Board 7...failed in their mission.
Some success story.
She's a "legend" in her own mind...what's left of it!
I wonder why the quick exit.... Has Myra been talking to the FEDS?
Or,maybe it is about her un-registered lobbying for the fractured Flushing business groups.
Or she's taking over another group, like Willets Point LDC.
In any case, SO LONG DEARIE!
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