FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARCH 2, 2017 • THE QUEENS COURIER 23 oped A LOOK BACK Take one look at this photo and you might think this was taken somewhere in rural Long Island. This 1927 picture, however, shows the streetscape of Van Dike Avenue, now known as 88th Street, in Glendale where the Long Island Rail Road’s Montauk branch passes through. It would be another few years before this area of eastern Glendale would be developed with industry and housing. Send us your historic pictures of Queens by email to editorial@qns.com, or by regular mail to A Look Back, c/o The Queens Courier, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned to you. letters & comments What Trump gets wrong about poverty BY JOEL BERG As a professional anti-poverty advocate, I’d normally be overjoyed if a new president used his inaugural address to pledge to combat poverty. But President Donald Trump’s references to poverty and welfare demonstrated that he (and his speechwriters) understand these issues so little that it is likely that his administration’s policy prescriptions will only make matters worse. In Trump’s inaugural speech, he also said: “We will get our people off of welfare and back to work,” implying that massive numbers of Americans currently receive welfare. Hardly. As of September 2016, only 3.7 million Americans received some sort of cash welfare supported by the federal government. Th us only about 1.1 percent of the 324 million people living in America receive fi nancial assistance, and only 13 percent of those in poverty now receive cash welfare. Moreover, the cash payments that people do receive are generally paltry, averaging only about $2,000 per year. Perhaps, when Trump uses the term “welfare” he erroneously equates that with SNAP (formerly called Food Stamp) benefi ts. Th e reason so many Americans get SNAP is because so many need it. While 43 million Americans received SNAP in October 2016 (getting an average benefi t of only $1.40 per meal), the caseload is only marginally more than the 42 million Americans classifi ed by the federal government as “food insecure,” unable to aff ord all the food their families need, usually because they earn too little at their jobs. Since 2013, as unemployment decreased and wages fi nally started to increase, the nationwide SNAP rolls decreased by more than 3 million people. SNAP works exactly as it is designed to do: the rolls hike when the economy dives and dip when the economy recovers. Both because SNAP benefi ts are so small and because many low-income workers earn slightly too much to be eligible for the program, approximately 16 million American adults lived in food insecure households with at least one person employed in the years 2013 to 2015, according to Hunger Free America’s analysis of federal data. Why do Trump’s misconceptions about poverty and the safety net matter? For starters, they advance the racist canard that poverty and welfare are problems only for non-white Americans, thereby widening the nation’s racial animosity. Equally problematic is that when the diagnosis of a problem is wrong, the treatment is also likely to be wrong. Given that Trump doesn’t seem to understand that most poor and hungry Americans are in working families, it is no wonder he has opposed minimum wage hikes, once even saying “wages are too high.” I fully agree with President Trump that the nation can’t be “great” so long as so many Americans are impoverished. Th at’s why it is so vital for both his rhetoric and his policies on poverty be based on reality. Joel Berg is CEO of Hunger Free America and author of the book “America, We Need to Talk: a Self- Help Book for the Nation,” published by Seven Stories Press. MANSION TAX IS ANOTHER DRAIN ON CITY WALLETS Regarding the proposed mansion tax: I think it’s time for the city (and other levels of government) to stop trying to fi nd new things to tax and to fi nd ways to cut the cost of providing essential services. Stop being involved in things that are not part of being a government, such as entertainment venues. QNS reader Steven Katz IMMIGRATION PANIC IS NOT TRUMP’S FAULT We hear that the ICE raids on criminal illegal aliens throughout our nation and in New York City have brought needless panic to the immigrant communities in Queens. Th is fear and hysteria could have been avoided if irresponsible politicians and media outlets were not so quick to grandstand President Trump’s immigration executive orders with false rhetoric and lies to vilify our president. Trump is not to blame for the fear spreading in immigrant communities. Th is is the unintended consequences of eff orts to sabotage our president’s policies, which are in keeping with his campaign promises to fulfi ll our government’s number one role, keeping Americans safe. Phil Orenstein, Queens Village NEED A ‘POWERFUL VOICE’ TO CONDEMN HATE CRIMES As many as 100 Jewish headstones were vandalized in Philadelphia and more Jewish headstones were vandalized in St. Louis. Now there are bomb threats by phone to Jewish centers around the country. In my humble opinion, I feel we live in a free nation, but how can we be free when hatred lift s its head to undermine our precious freedom? When one of our brothers and sisters is hurting, we are all hurting. I call for a powerful voice from all of diff erent religious beliefs and to speak out against anti-Semitism. Th ose evil doers who commit these despicable acts are purely un-American and ought to be ashamed of themselves. In closing, remember this, too: Evil thrives when good people do and say nothing! Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Glen Oaks Village WHY DID THE BULL HAVE TO DIE? Regarding the runaway bull in Jamaica: Th is poor animal died in the custody of Animal Care & Control. Remember the deer in the Bronx around Christmas, didn’t this animal also die within a day in their care? Same like this one…Th is is not good. What kind of care are they providing? PETA, where are you? QNS reader Jo Time to shut down this irresponsible slaughterhouse. It has no business being smack in the middle of downtown Jamaica near the shopping district and residents. Having a slaughterhouse smack in the middle of downtown Jamaica with stores and resident is unacceptable. End this barbarism. QNS reader Joe Moretti
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