Editor’s Note: Arlene Schlesinger, a dedicated community advocate and Republican County Committee member, has authored the following letter to President Trump. Written on behalf of the Queens Village Republican Club, this letter highlights the critical issues and challenges facing Eastern Queens, NY. It will be sent to the White House to bring these concerns to the President’s attention.
Honorable President Trump,
We write to you on behalf of the Queens Village Republican Club, the oldest Republican club in America, proudly serving our community for 150 years. We stood by you, prayed for you, fought for your victory, and continue to support your triumphant return to the White House to Make America Great Again.
Today, we reach out in desperation. Eastern Queens—your hometown—is under siege. Radical leftist policies are destroying our communities, and we have been abandoned by those in power. We have rallied, protested, and pleaded with our local, city and state elected officials, yet they refuse to listen. Now, we turn to you.
Since August 2023, we have been fighting against the migrant tent encampment at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, just off Hillside Avenue in Bellerose, NYC. With the stroke of a pen, Governor Hochul forced 1,300 single adult migrant men into our small, suburban residential neighborhood of Bellerose. Crime has skyrocketed, and yet the NYPD is under orders to take a hands-off approach—because we are told these individuals are our “guests.” The consequences of this reckless policy stretch far beyond Bellerose, affecting Jamaica Estates, and all the communities along Union Turnpike, and the surrounding areas. Migrants are even living in tents in our precious parks, such as Alley Pond Park and Cunningham Park, to avoid detection.
Just days ago, we received the positive news that the Creedmoor migrant “tent city,” as we call it, will finally be closing. We have you to thank for that—not Governor Hochul, despite our fawning elected officials hypocritically taking all the credit and praising the governor in their press releases.
Yet, as if that weren’t enough, Hochul has now handed over the Creedmoor property to Empire State Development to push forward an even more destructive plan—the Creedmoor Master Plan—which threatens the heart of a quiet, working-class, multicultural neighborhood. The proposal calls for 3,000 affordable housing units (approximately 12,000 people), including a significant share of supportive housing, even though our area already carries one of the highest supportive housing burdens in the city. Former Governor Cuomo’s disastrous policy of converting inpatient psychiatric patients into outpatients—requiring far less supervision—has already placed a significant strain on our community. Now, they want to add even more.
And still, it gets worse. Mayor Adams’ City of Yes initiative threatens to obliterate our small residential neighborhoods by forcing high-density housing into every available space—apartment buildings in the middle of single-family home blocks, stores on residential corner properties, additional housing units (ADU’s) crammed into backyards and driveways—all under the false pretense of solving a so-called housing crisis that has existed in New York City for decades. When do we finally say that people should live where they can afford to and not on the backs of New Yorkers who are forced to leave their homes. The only ones benefiting from these policies are the developers who financially supported the very politicians now in control of our city.
On top of all this, Local Law 97, signed into law in 2019 by former Mayor Bill de Blasio, is now forcing us to convert to electric—imposing crippling costs on our beautifully maintained co-ops and residential homes, further driving taxpayers out of our once-great and beautiful city residential areas.
President Trump, we are exhausted. We are under attack from all sides—Governor Hochul, Borough President Donovan Richards, the City Planning Committee, our radical City Council, and Mayor Adams. We have fought tirelessly, but we need help. We need leadership that will stand up for law-abiding citizens and protect our communities before it’s too late. Our country was founded on the principle that “We the People” should control our own lives and destinies—not outside foreign entities, big developers, radical progressive groups, or corrupt politicians seeking to exploit our communities for their own gain.
We ask for your support, your voice, and your guidance. We will never stop fighting for you, for our neighborhoods, for our families, and for the future of New York!
