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QC02122015

32 The QUEE NS Courier • FEBRUARY 12, 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. View all boroughs as part of the city For far too long, the boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island have been denigrated as the “outer boroughs” of New York City. The media, the politicians and even the residents refer to these areas as outer parts of our great city. We are in fact, not satellites, but all part of our great city. When one goes to Manhattan from any of these four boroughs, we should not say, “I am going to the city,” because we are already in the city. We should just be saying, “I am going to Manhattan.” This division manifests itself in many ways. When important hearings are held dealing with land use and other issues, local residents have to trek to Manhattan to express their opinions. The City Planning Commission, the Board of Standards and Appeals and the Landmarks Preservation Commission all operate from downtown Manhattan. This makes it difficult for residents of the four non-Manhattan boroughs to appear to testify on matters that affect the quality of life in their neighborhoods. Why can’t these agencies come to the four other boroughs on a regular basis and hold hearings dealing with each borough’s issues, at a time convenient for any resident who chooses to, to appear and testify at such hearings? And why don’t we see our citywide elected officials and agency heads coming to all of the boroughs to listen to the taxpayers who pay their salaries? I know that when the mayor makes an appearance in Queens, it is viewed as a great occasion, something out of the ordinary. This applies not only to our current mayor, but to all of the mayors of the past. We need to see the citywide elected people and agency heads on a regular basis, not just at election time or at some grand event. I would strongly suggest that the leaders appear in each of the five boroughs at least once a month to listen to the residents and their concerns. We are concerned about education, transportation, housing issues, crime prevention, health care, the environment, taxes, utility rates and all aspects of community life. These leaders should come to a civic or community organization meeting. I am sure that arrangements can be made so that these people can appear in almost all parts of all the boroughs over the course of the year. Recently, Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina came to Little Neck, but was only able to stay one hour to listen to and answer questions regarding residents’ concerns about our local schools. Her appearance was most welcome. I am sure that citywide elected officials and agency heads would be welcome no matter what part of the city that they would visit. So I would urge them to venture out of downtown Manhattan and meet the locals. We are friendly and don’t bite! Henry Euler Bayside Train to LGA too optimistic Governor Andrew Cuomo is overly optimistic concerning building a train to the plane for LaGuardia Airport. Success for this project is dependent upon the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Metropolitan Transportation Authority working well together. Fourteen years after 9/11, the Cortland Street World Trade Center No. 1 IRT subway station is still several years away from being back in service. The PANYNJ and the MTA fought for years over budget, funding sources, scope and schedule. Construction for the MTA portion of the project is just starting. To build a train to the plane from Mets - Willets No. 7 subway and Long Island Rail Road station to LaGuardia Airport within five years for $450 million is a planner’s dream. In reality, it will be a nightmare for both taxpayers and riders. You can count on cost overruns in the hundreds of millions and multiyear delays in construction before reaching beneficial use. Besides the MTA’s $15.2 billion shortfall, Cuomo has yet to make public how the state will pay back a major federal loan that financed the majority of the $3.9 billion cost for replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge. Will he have the state pick up the tab, or pass on the costs to motorists by having them pay higher tolls? Will it double or more over the coming years and decades? $15.2 billion plus $3.9 billion plus $450 million adds up to $19.5 billion. Many are counting on Albany to provide the majority of these dollars. Larry Penner Great Neck Expanding city ferry service for the long haul Mayor de Blasio’s proposal for a citywide ferry system with stops in all five boroughs was met largely with praise and with calls for even more stops in far-flung neighborhoods of the city. New York City is, after all, surrounded and separated by water. Why not use our rivers, harbor and oceanfront to get around when roads and rails are bursting at the seams? It’s a nice idea — even a romantic idea harking back to the city’s maritime past. “We are a coastal city but somehow we haven’t had a true ferry system in decades,” de Blasio said in his State of the City speech, pledging to reverse course and return to the rivers. The de Blasio administration has offered to spend $55 million to build out new ferry landings. Meanwhile, transit officials have estimated it will cost another $10 million to $20 million a year in subsidies to keep the cost of riding a ferry the same as a subway or bus ride. We just hope the city sticks to its guns on ferries. All too often in the past, the city has rolled out new ferry service and then yanked it quickly because thousands of riders didn’t immediately materialize and subsidies became too hard to justify. Going forward, with ferry service expected to begin as soon as 2017 to the Rockaways, Astoria and South Brooklyn, we urge city officials to stay the course. It could take time to build ridership and to develop new communities around ferry service. But the benefits of a new transit option that requires minimal new infrastructure are worth the wait. Hooray for Geraldo Legendary TV newsman Geraldo Rivera has made it to the final round of “Celebrity Apprentice,” where he has already won more than $700,000 for local charity Life’s WORC that will benefit more than 1,400 developmentally disabled kids. If Geraldo can clear the final hurdle, defeating fellow contestant Leeza Gibbons, he’ll haul in another $250,000 for Life’s WORC, enabling the organization to expand services to children and their families at a time when government funding is growing scarce. Tune in for the final episode of “Celebrity Apprentice” on Feb. 16 and root for Geraldo.


QC02122015
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