EDITORIAL
READERS WRITE
Don’t let the Canadian geese be culled
The TimesLedger recently
published a very disturbing
article on how thousands
of Canada geese in our area
are being forcibly removed
from Fort Totten in Bayside
and taken to an upstate
slaughterhouse and killed.
Apparently, the officials
who run the Port Authority’s
local airports feel that
this method is the only
way to prevent and avert
bird collisions with
passenger jets.
While safety of all air
travelers should always be
the number-one priority,
there must be a more
humane method of trying
to prevent planes and birds
from interacting.
The Jamaica Wildlife
Refuge has been there long
before the Port Authority
constructed and opened
Kennedy Airport in 1948,
which was then called
Idlewild Airport.
Why an airport was
constructed so close to a
National Wildlife Preserve
made absolutely no common
sense.
It is time for the Port
Authority officials to work
with the Humane Society,
PETA and the ASPCA to find
less severe ways to deal with
the problems with Canada
geese, as well as seagulls and
other birds, as well as other
wildlife who nest and live
near all three major area
airports.
There is absolutely no
reason to cull and kill so
many innocent birds, and
other wildlife, and it must
stop immediately.
John Amato, Fresh Meadows
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SAFETY FIRST (AGAIN)
The unprecedented growth in Long Island City in
recent years is no secret. It’s been called the fastest
growing neighborhood in the nation with skyline
that grows higher seemingly every week.
A recent analysis published in The New York
Times showed that Long Island City has the most
listings for sale or rent within a block of new
construction, with 70% of options near building
zones. The pace won’t slow anytime soon with
10,000 more residential units proposed or under
construction for 2020, according to the Long Island
City Partnership.
There is a major problem tormenting residents,
and that is a lack of parking. The problem is so acute
in the Hunters Point section, the sidewalks are filled
with illegally parked cars, particularly on the blocks
around the 108th Precinct located on 50th Avenue.
After a two-year social media campaign by
Hunters Point residents documenting the public
safety issue, City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer
fired off a letter to Police Commissioner James
O’Neill demanding action at the 108th Precinct.
He called the station house the “epicenter of
rampantly illegally parked cars” on the sidewalks
whose owners have no concern or respect for the law
or residents of the community.
Van Bramer noted the deaths of 15 cyclists already
this year. Hunters Point resident Robert Spencer was
struck and killed in March just three blocks south of
the precinct.
It may take a while for the Commissioner to do
anything about the parking in Hunters Point as he is
currently feeling the heat for the NYPD’s failure to
enforce traffic laws across the city.
So far this year the body count for pedestrians
killed in collisions in 106, or 14% higher than this
time a year ago.
People like 72-year-old Gualberto Delgado of
Corona, who was struck by a 27-year-old man as
he walked on 108th Street near the Long Island
Expressway, just three blocks from his home.
Delgado was transported to New York Presbyterian-
Queens where he later died. A review by the medical
examiner determined the cause of death was a result
of the collision.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has been accused of walking
away from his Vision Zero initiative that enjoyed so
much success in the last five years until he seemed
to lose interest and take his foot off the gas. After the
criticism reached a crescendo, the Mayor ordered a
three-week enforcement crackdown by the NYPD.
Clearly, the administration must do more before
the carnage escalates further. The job of making
NYC streets safe for all is far from complete.
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16 TIMESLEDGER, JULY 12-18, 2019 BT QNS.COM
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