From CBS New York:Former long-serving New York City Councilman Walter McCaffrey has died at the age of 64.
Mr. McCaffrey died Wednesday morning at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to longtime friend Martin McLaughlin. He had recently been ill, but the nature of his disease was not specified.
Mr. McCaffrey, a Democrat, served in the City Council from 1985 until 2001. He represented the 26th District, which includes parts of the Long Island City, Sunnyside and Woodside sections of Queens.
He counted among his successes legislation that banned or restricted adult entertainment venues from residential neighborhoods.
Mr. McCaffrey also wrote legislation that mandated security cameras at automated teller machines.
After leaving public office, he started a lobbying firm, McCaffrey Group. Among its issues was the fight against congestion pricing.
Mr. McCaffrey was born and raised in Woodside.
11 comments:
Could have been US Congressman except for the crap maneuver that Party Boss Manton and now Queens Rep and Virginia resident Joe Crowley pulled to avoid the democratic process to work.
Long live the bosses! ("It wasn't a coup!")
I knew him through my participation in "Phun Phactory" (predecessor to "5 Pointz") in LIC.
He was a very decent man, and an accessible council member--regardless of any mistakes he might have made with regards to county politics.
Rest your soul Walter.
Always called the porn around Queens Plaza the Walter McCaffrey Entertainment District after he supported legislation moving the porn from Times Sq to his own district.
McCaffrey opposed term limits. Not cool. But the green traffic medians on Queens Boulevard in Woodside were his work.
Those Queens Blvd medians are a disgrace and have been totally neglected ...except when complaints are made to Parks , Sanitation, and DOT.
Most of the shrubs and trees are on their way out...not to mention the loads of litter and road debris that sit there for months on end.
God rest his soul. I didn't see him battling the slumlords of Woodside anywhere.
When Manton resigned from Congress in 1998, he timed his resignation to prevent a primary, and to enable him to choose his successor. He picked Crowley over McCaffrey. McCaffrey was one of the 35 term-limited out of the City Council. Eric Goia took over the district until he in turn was term-limited out. McCaffrey paid his personal expenses from a campaign account and that led him to drop out of politics when that was exposed.
If McCaffrey had still represented Maspeth, there would be a park at St. Saviour's right now. In fact, the church might have even been saved.
Walter understood what the huge development in Queens West would mean to LIC
He spoke about schools, a HOSPITAL
and enhanced transit services well before the first renderings emerged
Guys like Walter, Arthur Nitzburg and Joe Queen were prophets we should always regard with repect.
"He picked Crowley..."
-------------------------
"Picked."
Quod erat demonstrandum.
Rest your soul you slacker!
.
WTF did YOU do to fight the Woodside slumlords?
Were you too busy picking your nose and complaining instead of taking action?
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