34 The QUEE NS Courier • JANUARY 22, 2015 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com editorial letters IDENTIFY THIS PLACE Go to www.queenscourier.com and search “Identify This Place” to find out where this is THE QUEENS Victoria Schneps-Yunis Joshua A. Schneps Bob Brennan Tom Topousis Amy Amato-Sanchez Nirmal Singh Graziella Zerilli Stephen Reina Ron Torina, Jennifer Decio, Cheryl Gallagher Liam La Guerre, Cristabelle Tumola, Angy Altamirano Katrina Medoff, Eric Jankiewicz, Salvatore Licata Cliff Kasden, Samantha Sohmer, Elizabeth Aloni Cristabelle Tumola Demetra Plagakis Louise Cavaliere Celeste Alamin Maria Valencia Daphne Fortunate Victoria Schneps-Yunis Joshua A. Schneps Publisher & E ditor Co-Publisher Associate Publisher Editor-In-Chief VP, Events, Web & Social Media Art Director Assistant to Publisher Assistant Art Director Artists Staff Reporters Contributing Reporters Web Editor Events Manager Senior Acc ount Executive Classified Manager Controller Office Manager President & CEO Vice President Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441 www.queenscourier.com editorial e-mail: editorial@queenscourier.com for advertising e-mail: ads@queenscourier.com Entire Contents Copyright 2015 by The Queens Courier All letters sent to THE QUEENS COURIER should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should include a full address and home and office telephone numbers, where available, as well as affiliation, indicating special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, AS WELL AS OP-ED PIECES IN NO WAY REFLECT THE PAPER’S POSITION. No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE QUEENS COURIER. The publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. Errors must be reported to THE QUEENS COURIER within five days of publication. Ad position cannot be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication. Schneps Communications assumes no liability for the content or reply to any ads. The advertiser assumes all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold The Quens Courier and its employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the publication or recording placed by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement. Unity rallies needed I wish to praise retired NYPD Captain Joseph Concannon, a 25-year veteran, for organizing a nonpartisan unity rally for our police officers on Tuesday, Jan. 13, in front of Queens Borough Hall with 400 supporters. This sends a message that as law-abiding citizens, we support our Finest who serve and protect the lives and property of their citizens. They risk their lives in the process and for which we say, “Thank you.” Concannon says there are more rallies planned. To Concannon and all of his supporters, I say, “I salute your support of the NYPD.” Let me also say, “kudos” for braving the cold to say a message that needed to be said. Frederick R. Bedell Jr. Glen Oaks Village Change city council rules It’s 2015 and constituents have their own New Year’s wish list for New York City Council members. The average salary for a New Yorker is $41,000 per year. A NYC Council member’s base salary is $112,500 plus bonuses, for what is officially designated as a part-time job. Virtually every member receives an additional $4,000 to $28,500 for chairing Council committees. In exchange, all should show up for work full time. Those holding down a second outside job should either give up their bonus or outside work. - Donate one day’s salary to your favorite private charity for each day you fail to show up for work. - In your district mailings, include attendance records for all committee meetings, legislation you have sponsored and voting record on all Council bills. - Stop passing frivolous legislation that infringes on constituents’ civil and economic liberties. - Leave your car at home. Buy a MetroCard and use public transportation to and from work. - If running for any other public office, do not use your current elected position as a stepping stone. Resign your Council seat today and run for another office on your own time and dime. - List any campaign contributions from recipients who receive annual member item funding. - Do not have taxpayer office funded staff drive you around or ghostwrite any letters to the editor or guest op-ed articles under your name. Write your own material. Ordinary New Yorkers can only dream of such plums. We are hardworking, especially municipal employees. They never see such financial rewards, work hours or other perks of office that are readily available to Council members. Larry Penner Great Neck Thumbs down to big oil companies If you’ve been watching FOX “news” I guess you know it’s time to shed a tear and pass around the hat for donations. Are we collecting for the homeless? Cancer research? Disabled veterans? No. As a result of gas prices plunging to almost $2 a gallon and oil falling to less than $50 a barrel, Republicans are crying for big oil. Companies like Oasis Petroleum, ConocoPhillips and Goodrich Petroleum claim they will be forced to cut budgets for exploration (which is subsidized by taxpayers). And despite the fact that BP and the rest of the oil industry benefit from $4 billion in annual federal tax breaks, BP says it will have to slash 1,000 jobs by the end of the year. If BP is so concerned about their employees, why doesn’t their CEO Robert Dudley retire? He received a big raise last year that tripled his pay. Counting his salary, bonus, stock options and pension, Dudley cleared $13.2 million. Considering the average salary of a BP employee is $70,000, Dudley could retire and 188 people would still be able to survive. This just proves FOX’s point that “oil producers are having a tough time.” Poor babies. However, FOX/Republicans do admit that lower oil prices are good for one segment of society — American consumers. But who cares about them, right? When gas prices were at an all-time high, Republicans like John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann and Mitt Romney blamed Obama. But now that American consumers finally are catching a break on gas prices, Republicans cry for the oil companies. And still blame Obama. What a surprise. Robert LaRosa Whitestone All aboard Gov. Cuomo’s AirTrain to LaGuardia Airport Gov. Cuomo’s proposal to build an AirTrain to LaGuardia Airport is long overdue. New York City’s airports are routinely voted among the worst in the nation, with LaGuardia getting poor marks on almost every score. And LaGuardia’s problems begin long before travelers even get there as they scramble to find cabs or struggle to navigate highway traffic. Unlike most major urban airports, LaGuardia has no dedicated mass transit access. The vast majority of travelers using the airport have to rely on cabs, or they wind up driving their own vehicles over congested highways. The only public transit is an MTA bus — no fun when you’re hauling a suitcase or two or in a hurry to make your flight. Cuomo rightly called the lack of a train linking LaGuardia to the city’s transit system “inexcusable.” Airports are major economic engines for cities. And LaGuardia, with its focus on domestic business travel, is no exception. Speedy access to and from the airport makes New York City that much more competitive at a time when the Big Apple is battling with other cities for business. Closer to home, an AirTrain to LaGuardia would ease the lives and commutes for thousands of workers who have to get to and from the airport. Not to mention, the potential for reducing traffic on congested highways like the Grand Central Parkway and Van Wyck Expressway. An AirTrain to John F. Kennedy airport has proven the potential for a similar rail link to LaGuardia. Despite lots of initial opposition to the project, JFK’s AirTrain ridership grows every year and it has long exceeded expectations. In 2012, the JFK AirTrain carried 5.7 million passengers. Cuomo, during a speech before the Association for a Better New York on the morning of Jan. 20, said it is far too early to set a timetable for the project or to talk about costs for an AirTrain linking the Willets Point station for the 7 train and the Long Island Rail Road to LaGuardia. But the JFK rail line shows that the project can be done, and funded primarily through a passenger facility charge to airlines. Of the $1.9 billion it cost to build the JFK AirTrain, only $400 million came from the Port Authority, which runs the city’s airports and built the rail line. The governor should be commended for stepping up and tackling a mass transit project that could provide huge benefits to Queens and the city as a whole. We hope this capital project takes flight.
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