38 The QUEE NS Courier • MARCH 19, 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 Robert Pozarycki Amy Amato-Sanchez Nirmal Singh Graziella Zerilli Stephen Reina Ron Torina, Jennifer Decio, Cheryl Gallagher Liam La Guerre, Cristabelle Tumola, Angy Altamirano Katrina Medoff, Salvatore Licata, Anthony Giudice Cliff Kasden, Samantha Sohmer, Elizabeth Aloni Cristabelle Tumola Demetra Plagakis Louise Cavaliere Celeste Alamin Maria Valencia 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 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. Rest in peace, Cardinal Egan Cardinal Edward Egan was a good man in many ways, but he did have a very hardnosed attitude regarding school closures in the Archdiocese of New York. He was so much for Catholic education, yet during his nine-year tenure as Archbishop of New York, he closed and merged many schools, which caused many teachers and administrators to lose their jobs, and forced many parents to send their children to other schools, which were already overcrowded. Also, his public lambasting of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for receiving communion at Mass was totally uncalled for and very unprofessional. There are many Catholics who are divorced who receive communion at Mass. Who was Egan or the Catholic Church to pass judgment on these people? He also had to deal with the sexual abuse of children by priests under his tenure. Cardinal Egan had good qualities, the one most important of which was his compassion and kind, caring attitude with those who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, 2001. Then, he was very compassionate and unrequited in his concern for the people of New York City during its darkest days in history. Rest in peace, your eminence. John Amato, Fresh Meadows New York needs GMO labeling Estimates say that 70 to 80 percent of the food in grocery store shelves contains some genetically engineered ingredients (GMO). Well, let’s take a look at what GMOs are: they are made in a laboratory by large chemical corporations such as Monsanto. They are made to resist pesticides; therefore they are heavily sprayed with chemicals. Now let’s look at what we do know about vegetables sprayed with pesticides. These pesticides can’t all be washed from what we are eating. Then there’s also the matter of the pesticides we are spraying into the soil. It’s a complicated issue, but basically it comes down to knowing what’s going into our food. It’s not too much to ask that we label our food as genetically engineered here in New York. Naim Kozi High school health teacher in Queens Good students = good schools It is a scientific truism: If you can’t properly identify the problem, how can you possibly find a solution? The dog with an irritated rear end will never solve his problem by chasing his tail! Governor Cuomo’s plan reeks of the need to be politically correct so that he doesn’t offend a huge block of potential voters and the obligation to return favors to Cuomo donors. He is not at all addressing the real problem. The education process takes two to tango: teachers teach, and students have to do what is necessary to learn. It would appear that Mayor de Blasio’s approach correctly addresses the problem to our education dilemma. The problem is not bad teachers but poor pupil performance largely due to unfortunate socio-economic circumstances that these children bring with them into the classrooms. It’s “heavy baggage” that interferes with the learning process, and de Blasio realizes this by formulating appropriate measures to help these kids overcome their heavy burdens that interfere with the learning process. Good students make good schools! De Blasio’s plan will help youngsters be better students. Dave Shlakman, Howard Beach Time for closer look at charter schools The teachers union and the charter school industry fight hard and often. Especially about “co-location.” That’s the widespread practice of muscling private charters into crowded public school buildings and awarding these forprofit business entrepreneurs the lion’s share of resources and preferred space at no cost to them. You, the public, pays. The teachers’ union opposes this scheme because it is unfair. The charter operators and their lobbyists favor it because they get a great deal. Who’s correct? Whose side should you be on? Don’t make up your mind based on party membership or existing inclination to believe. Check it out yourself. Then decide. But how? Public school buildings belong to you, the public. You have the right to access them. There may be conditions but they are easily navigable, especially if you’re a parent or say you are. Avail yourself of this privilege and go visit. When you’re done with your inspection, share what you learned with others. Is there a level playing field and equal treatment of the public schools and their charter school co-inhabitants? Or are the charter school occupiers showered with advantages and largesse and the public school children valued as second-class squatters? The truth should set us free. Of charters. Ron Isaac, Fresh Meadows City must reform its homeless shelters Last week, a major property manager in New York City was denounced in a report for subjecting some 2,000 families to abhorrent conditions in its facilities. The Department of Investigation (DOI) audit found that these families lived in apartments with serious building, health and fire code violations such as rodent infestation, structural damage, improper means of egress, and non-working smoke or carbon monoxide detectors. But these facilities aren’t just apartment buildings, and the offending property manager isn’t the typical slumlord all too often found neglecting their buildings and tenants. These facilities are 25 homeless shelters-- including several in Queens-- operated by the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), the agency dedicated to protecting New York’s most vulnerable residents. Several of the Queens shelters surveyed, located in Corona, Jamaica and Briarwood, performed rather well and achieved passing scores. The Briarwood location, however, had 30 various violations, including an expired certificate of occupancy dating back to 1994. There is, however, blame to go around for the mismanagement at other locations, as the city is paying the actual property owners more than double the market rate to operate homeless shelters at these properties. However, the report found that the DHS did little to require these landlords to keep these facilities in good repair. If you are homeless in New York City and have nowhere else to go, New York City must offer you a place to stay until you are able to find shelter on your own accord. But what the city cannot do is offer substandard shelter to anyone. It cannot allow any individual to live in places rife with rodents, lacking in security or failing to meet basic standards for health and safety. Responding to the damning DOI report, Homeless Services Commissioner Gilbert Taylor said last week the DHS is using the report’s recommendations “to further inform our system-wide reform work.” He and the de Blasio administration must be held accountable and not only fulfill that promise of reform, but exceed it. With some 60,000 homeless people now residing in New York, it is more critical than ever that the city reform its shelter system. It must not only keep up appearances at these shelters but work quickly to get families back into independent, affordable housing; reviving the city’s rental subsidy program is one potential solution that could go a very long way to reducing homelessness and rescuing families in danger of losing their homes. Meanwhile, the city continues plans for building new, large-scale homeless shelters in Glendale and other parts of the city, most of which would be operated by third-party nonprofit groups. Perhaps the city should scrap those plans and focus instead on bringing its own shelters up to code, and treating its homeless families with the dignity they deserve.
QC03192015
To see the actual publication please follow the link above