EDITORIAL
LEAVING A
MESS
HOW TO REACH US
TIMESLEDGER | Q 12 NS.COM | OCT. 1 - OCT. 7, 2021
A BIG LOSS IN LITTLE NECK
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Human rights activists protest outside Gracie Mansion demanding the closure of Rikers Island.
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
The protesters who want Rikers Island closed
and the union representing the Corrections
officers who work there share little common
ground when it comes to the future of the jail
facility.
But that common ground is firm footing. They agree
that Rikers Island’s current state is inhumane, safe for
no one, and demands immediate remedy.
Twelve inmates have died on Rikers this year. Inmates
live in filthy conditions amid close quarters as
a deadly pandemic rages on. Corrections officers are
subjected to the same conditions and physical violence,
working double and triple shifts as many of their colleagues
have walked off the job.
Rikers Island isn’t fit for the worst criminals or our
worst enemies. It’s an embarrassing, shameful failure
of an administration that lost its way.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has publicly acknowledged the
untenable situation on Rikers. He’s promised all kinds
of corrective action to address the chaos — from adding
NYPD officers to courts to move more Corrections officers
to the island; to speeding up the intake process; to
ordering emergency repairs where required.
De Blasio has also gone to war with the Corrections
Officers Benevolent Association (COBA), alleging that
the union orchestrated an illegal job action by allowing
many Corrections officers assigned to Rikers to go
AWOL.
The mayor also said the city’s long-term plan to
shutter Rikers by 2026 and move to a community-based
jail system will go on to the end, leaving much of that
responsibility to his likely successor, Brooklyn Borough
President and Democratic mayoral nominee Eric
Adams.
But in less than four months, likely-Mayor Adams
is going to inherit a Rikers Island in complete turmoil.
De Blasio’s short-term solutions are mere bandages; the
wound won’t heal between now and the time the next
mayor takes the oath of office on New Year’s Day 2022.
Adams is going to have to take immediate steps to
end inmate abuse, isolation and death; protect Corrections
officers working on the island; repair the city’s
frayed relationship with the officers’ union; and institute
other reforms to ensure no future inmate or guard
taking that long drive over the Rikers Island Bridge is
subjected to harm.
The next mayor is going to have to do that because
the current mayor doesn’t seem particularly interested
in leaving Rikers in better shape for his successor.
It has come to my attention that Stop & Shop is
closing down in Little Neck on Oct. 14, something
I find extremely troubling and sad.
My wife and I had shopped at that Stop &
Shop for 10 years when we lived in Little Neck.
We have since moved to Bellerose, but still go
back and forth to shop at Stop & Shop when in the
area of Little Neck.
I feel bad for the shoppers in Little Neck —
especially senior citizens who depend on Stop &
Shop. There are a number of residents who don’t
have a car and depend on local shopping.
When we lived in Little Neck, my wife and I
didn’t have a car for a while and either had to
walk to the store with a shopping cart or take a
cab.
Other shoppers, mostly seniors, will now have
to take busses or taxis to other supermarkets.
But some might not be able to afford taking taxis
every time they need groceries.
Additionally, I have found the workers at this
store to have been courteous, kind and helpful to
the shoppers in Little Neck. My heart also goes
out to all those workers who might now be out of
a job.
With Stop & Shop closing, the Little Neck community
is enduring a grave loss. I hope and pray
that Stop & Shop realizes its mistake and keeps
the store open.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.,
Bellerose
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