editorial 34 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 14, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com SNAPS QUEENS KISSENA PARK GOLF COURSE // PHOTO BY EMMANUEL LOZADA Send us your photos of Queens and you could see them online or in our paper! Submit them to us tag @queenscourier on Instagram, Facebook page, tweeting @queenscourier or by emailing editorial@qns.com (subject: Queens Snaps). collapse in Brooklyn. Alina Suriel, who now works for NY1, won second prize for her Courier report on a Whitestone standoff last year. Our excellent design team was also recognized for their work, as Stephen Reina won third place for best special section cover. We also grabbed the third place prize for best news website for QNS.com. We’re particularly proud of this feat considering we only launched QNS.com in October of last year. It’s quickly become the go-to place for breaking news across the “World’s Borough,” as evidenced by the more than 500,000 page views it received last month. We want to congratulate all of our award winners on a job well done! Ask the FOR MORE NEWS VISIT QNS.COM Tuning in for real Albany reform We and our colleagues attending the New York Press Association’s 2016 convention in Saratoga Springs, NY, this weekend got a kick out of the introduction of its keynote speaker, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. Prior to making his remarks at a luncheon, Bharara was credited for “a series of signifi cant public corruption cases” that read like a who’s who of Albany big-wigs over the past two decades. Preet’s prosecutors are best known for bringing down Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos in the same calendar year. The list of disgraced politicians Bharara helped convict went on and on: former state Senators Carl Kruger, Vincent Leibell, Hiram Monserrate, Nicholas Spano, Malcolm Smith and Thomas Libous; Assembly Members Eric Stevenson, William Boyland Jr., Nelson Castro and Gabriela Rosa; and Councilmen Daniel Halloran and Larry Seabrook. After his well-received speech, Bharara was asked by a reporter if any other corrupt public offi cials were on his radar. Bharara repeated the answer he gave after announcing Silver’s indictment last year: “Stay tuned.” This brought chuckles from the crowd, and why not? Albany has been reduced to a joke thanks to the corruption and ineptness Bharara rightly exposed. No one can trust the State Capitol anymore. We’ve been burned so many times that we laugh at the absurdity of it all. The only thing worse is that, despite all the prosecutions, an earnest effort to clean up Albany has yet to happen. Bills were presented, commissions were formed, platitudes were spoken by the governor himself. Still, the cesspool remains virtually unabated. Voters need to begin publicly demanding that their state lawmakers get to work in reforming the way our government works. Start with making the job of a legislator full time and barring lawmakers from having side jobs while in offi ce. State legislators make far less than a New York City councilman; raise their pay for their exclusive duties to the state. Pass a bill that immediately strips leadership positions from any indicted lawmaker, and revokes pensions and other benefi ts for lawmakers convicted of a crime. Somebody in Albany needs to take the lead on this and make reforms happen. If no one steps up, the voters should fi nd a real leader come Election Day. A leader like Preet Bharara comes to mind. The Queens Courier is on the spot, as always Schneps Communications, which publishes The Queens Courier and many other publications across Brooklyn and Queens, also took home a number of awards during last weekend’s NYPA convention. We swept the top two slots in the spot news category, with The Home Reporter’s Meaghan McGoldrick winning fi rst prize for her report on a building THE QUEENS PUBLISHER & EDITOR CO-PUBLISHER ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF VP, EVENTS, WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA ART DIRECTOR ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR ARTISTS STAFF REPORTERS DIGITAL EDITOR CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS EVENTS COORDINATOR ASSISTANT TO PUBLISHER CLASSIFIED MANAGER CONTROLLER PRESIDENT & CEO VICE PRESIDENT VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS BOB BRENNAN ROBERT POZARYCKI AMY AMATO-SANCHEZ NIRMAL SINGH STEPHEN REINA RON TORINA, JONATHAN RODRIGUEZ, CHERYL GALLAGHER KATRINA MEDOFF, ANTHONY GIUDICE, ANGELA MATUA BRIANNA ELLIS KATARINA HYBENOVA CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI JACLYN HERTLING DEBORAH CUSICK CELESTE ALAMIN MARIA VALENCIA VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441 www.qns.com editorial e-mail: editorial@qns.com for advertising e-mail: ads@qns.com Entire Contents Copyright 2016 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 offi ce telephone numbers, where available, as well as affi liation, 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 fi ve 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 QUEENS 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. MAYOR e Queens Courier and the Mayor’s O ce are proud to present a weekly column in which Mayor Bill de Blasio answers your questions about issues that concern you the most. If you have a question about anything going on in the city, in your neighborhood or on your block, we want to hear from you! Email us at editorial@ qns.com and Mayor de Blasio will get you an answer! Last year, the city hired more than a thousand new police o cers. Does the city have any plans to hire additional o cers this year? If so, how many, and can we expect many of them to come to Queens? Also, are you aware of any plans to create a new precinct in southeast Queens? If so, how much would it cost and how many o cers are needed? In regards to additional police, we’ve added 1,300 new o cers and, in combination with the civilianization of a number of positions to free up o cers, this means 2,000 more o cers on the street this year. In addition, we recently announced the expansion of Precinct 105, which adds 24-hour coverage and adds 18 police o cers and two sergeants. I think this is particularly important because it ensures people’s safety and will help deter crime in the surrounding area.
QC04142016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above