Message from Councilman Mark Gjonaj
Protecting and addressing quality
of life issues in our neighborhoods
has been my top priority since elected.
Our district offi ce has worked on close
to 2,000 cases and attended countless
community organizations meetings
mostly on issues and problems such as
noise, illegal parking, unmaintained
parks, potholes, hazardous sidewalks
and so many. Sadly these issues keep
growing and deteriorating and they
have not been attended on time by city
agencies. We need to show City Hall
that we have a voice and we should be
heard. To push this initiative I have
started #ShameNYC, a platform for
people to bring to light the inadequacies
of New York City agencies. All one
must do is take a picture when he or
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 46 ULY 19-25, 2019 BTR
COUNCILMAN MARK GJONAJ
BY AL D’ANGELO
Divisionism has no place
in this country. We are one
nation and one people: Americans.
Minorities are taken
advantage of by political parties
who pay them lip service
but can’t stop the crime in the
inner city, promise more welfare
programs but do nothing
to fi x a failing educational
system.
We can put a person on
the moon, have the technology
to read your watch from
outer space but can’t or won’t
fi x what plagues the inner
city. $200 billion of your tax
dollars is spent on illegal immigrants
each year, while
we have thousands of homeless
Americans living on the
streets of our cities. We worry
about the conditions of illegal
immigrants while our NYCHA
residence live in rat infested,
subhuman conditions.
Our Congresswoman
claims she witnessed people
being told to drink out of toilets
at the border, if this is
true, why didn’t she take the
name of the offender or offenders
and have them fi red. She
likened the containment area
for illegals to a concentration
camp, yet they can return to
their country any time they
want. I guess this “concentration
camp” is better than
where they came from.
Why are our schools failing
when we spend about
$26,000 per student to educate
a child in public school:
private and parochial schools
spend about $9,000 per student
with far better results?
Money is not the answer to
a good education. Discipline
and dedicated teachers are
needed for a good education.
A student who disrespects a
teacher or causes a disruption
in class and is not disciplined,
now controls the class and the
teacher loses all credibility.
Next, we need dedicated
teachers who care about the
students in their charge;
those who are just there for a
pay check need to be removed.
Parents must be involved in
their child’s education and
schools must keep parents
abreast of their child’s progress
or lack of. The teacher’s
union is a powerful lobby, but
they must put children fi rst.
Why fi ght a voucher system?
It levels the educational playing
fi eld and gives students
the opportunity to leave failing
schools and go to a school
of their choice. Why is this a
bad thing for parents and students?
Make no mistake, parents
of inner-city students
care just as much as any one
else about their children’s
education and those children
have as much of a right to a
quality education as any one
else.
Media and some elected offi
cials should work to bring
us together rather than using
race to divide us for political
gain. Lastly it falls on us. We
should not allow politicians to
take our vote for granted especially
when nothing changes
year in and year out. Promises
made - promises broken
seems to be the theme when
dealing with the inner-city.
Crime plagues our innercities
across the country, why
can’t we fi x this? We have
laws on the books in NYS that
says anyone caught with an
illegal gun must serve a mandatory
sentence - it is never
enforced.
What’s the deterrent? Stop
and Frisk was a deterrent because
you never knew when
you could be stopped and
searched but that was terminated
because politicians
said minorities were targeted
more often. That’s not racist
but common sense.
Areas in our cities that
breed crime are areas of unemployment,
poor education
and drugs; add in politicians
who paint the police as the enemy,
and you have business
as usual.
When ANTIFA beat and
terrorized reporter and police
stood by and did nothing, was
that a deterrent? When there
are riots in the inner-city and
police are told to stand down
while thugs loot and destroy
property and the law-abiding
citizens of the community
lose services and jobs, is that
a deterrent? We all have a
right under this fl ag to peacefully
protest but should never
be allowed to hurt others or
destroy their property. They
get our vote, they keep their
jobs and our children die in
the streets.
Our justice system must
serve our communities and
keep violent repeat offenders
off the streets. Politicians
are quick to point out who or
what’s to blame but solutions
seem to escape them. I believe
city workers should live
in the city where they work,
then they have a vested interest
in what happens, and they
also have a better understanding
of the people they serve.
More neighborhood presence
by police offi cers will foster
a better understanding of the
community they serve, and it
allows the community the see
the human side of the badge.
The community must also see
that any offi cer who forgets
his/her oath “to protect and
serve” will be dealt with severely.
The horror of 9/11 should
always be remembered but
also the love we had for each
other and our country in the
weeks that followed should
be cherished. We buried our
dead, we mourned for each
other, we gave our blood, we
gave our money and we gave
our sweat, as we worked side
by side, Black and White
Christian and Jew - proud
Americans all. We have allowed
them to take that pride
and fellowship away from us
and replace it by racism and
hate. Those 2,996, souls gave
us a moment in time, a feeling
of togetherness I have never
witnessed before in my lifetime.
Eighteen years later the
City Council in St. Louis Park,
MN voted unanimously (17 –
0) to forgo saying the Pledge of
Allegiance before meetings in
order to serve a more diverse
community. Since when does
diversity mean anti-Americanism,
there is not one race
or religion that has not shed
their blood for this country.
Some second-rate quarterback
kneels during our
National Anthem to protest
racial inequality and by doing
so demeans every black
American who fought under
that banner. He is made a folk
hero by the media and praised
by some politicians. Instead
of taking a stand, owners
fearing they would be deemed
racists, played along, except
for the Dallas Cowboys owner
who said, “Anyone who shows
disrespect to the fl ag will not
be allowed to play.”
This country needs more
people with guts. Two members
of our women’s soccer
team, after winning the
World Cup, dragged the U.S.
fl ag in the dirt and used profanity
against our President.
Lots of class girls. Great way
to thank the country for allowing
you to play. What’s
worse is a media that gives
these unpatriotic Americans
a platform to spew their
venom. What happened to all
the millionaires who were going
to leave the country after
the 2016 election, why are
they still here?
This is not North Korea or
Cuba, we don’t have walls to
keep people in, but we need
walls to keep people out. I
wonder why, could it be that
our disrespected fl ag, maligned
pledge of allegiance or
embattled Star-Spangled Banner
represent the greatest nation
on earth, a place where
millions of immigrants would
still love to call home.
Letters to the editor are welcome from all readers. They
should be addressed care of this newspaper to Laura Guerriero,
Publisher, the Bronx Times Reporter, 3604 E. Tremont
Ave., Bronx, NY 10465, or e-mail to bronxtimes@cnglocal.
com. All letters, including those submitted via e-mail,
MUST be signed and with a verifi able address and telephone
number included. Note that the address and telephone
number will NOT be published and the name will
be published or withheld upon request. No unsigned letters
can be accepted for publication. The editor reserves
the right to edit all submissions.
she witnesses an issue that harms his
or her quality of life and then send it
(with the street address attached) to
mgjonaj@council.nyc.gov or call my
offi ce at (718) 931-1721.
Over the past two weeks we have
received and addressed several issues
from abandoned boats on Pelham Bay
Park, garbage and debris along Bruckner
Boulevard, a mattress thrown on
Pelham Parkway and much more. As
noise and illegal parked cars and tractor
trailers remain the top two issues
reported to us and 311, I want to acknowledge
and thank the NYPD 45th
and 49th Precinct for addressing these
issues whether ticketing boaters blasting
loud music, confi scating equipment,
issuing summonses to tractor
trailers illegally parked and towing
cars.
Unfortunately the NYC departments
of Sanitation, Transportation
and Parks are still doing little to solve
these problems. Garbage continues to
crowd Pelham Parkway, Morris Park
Avenue’s street lines are chipped and
faded, and the sprinklers and playground
in Loreto Park are outdated.
If these departments lack the devotion
and drive to fi x our problems, it is
because they feel an absence of pressure.
As I have often said you can only
get out of a community that in which
you put into it. Join our #ShameNYC
platform, send us your issues with photos
to our offi ce and follow us on Social
Media for updates. We look forward to
working together to make District 13 a
safer, cleaner and better place to live,
work and raise our families.
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