editorial 34 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 21, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com SNAPS QUEENS Citi Field, Winter Of ‘16 // 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). 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. Who do you hope to vote for in the upcoming general election? “I’m undecided. I’m torn in between candidates and I’m really just waiting to see who gets nominated.” Candice Belluscio “I’m not voting just because I have a Democrat mom and a Republican dad and elections are a really divisive time for our home, which turns me off of the whole thing.” Kimathi McKay “I mean… no one stands out and I typically lean to the right but none of this cycle’s Republicans do it for me. Maybe Trump.” Roberto P. “It’s way too early to say for me.” Marck Scherwin BY ALAN BURTON “I don’t know, I don’t like any of the candidates and I’m not really into party politics, which this election has kind of descended into.” Nicole Cirami street talk “Like most of the youth, probably Bernie Sanders. There are really no other worthy candidates; Hillary is a hypocrite, and Trump…” Justina D’Cosen “Probably Hillary Clinton, mostly because of her stands on college tuition and the entire college system as well as her health benefi ts plan.” Lucky Shikder “I think Bernie, but I’m honestly not too into politics.” Lancy Siby Time for a change at LIC shelter Within the last week, the de Blasio administration has released several reports centered around the city’s treatment of homeless people, with emphasis on the services that the Department of Homeless Services provides. To the surprise of virtually no one, the introspective examination of the DHS and the shelter system as a whole revealed that the city failed the more than 59,000 people who do not have a home in the Big Apple. Accompanying the reports were a number of promises that the city would not tolerate this any longer, that it would work to fi x and secure the homeless shelters and fi nally work to restore homeless persons to normal standards of living. These platitudes are encouraging and headline-grabbing, but there’s already cause for concern in Queens that the city’s promises will go unfulfi lled. Last week, the city entertained at a little-known, highly unpublicized public hearing a 4 1/2-year contract extension for Acacia Network Housing Inc., which operates the “Pam’s Settlement” homeless shelter located in the former Verve hotel in LIC. Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan brought this hearing to our attention after the fact in a scathing press release on April 15. Nolan noted that there were more than 400 emergency calls at the shelter in a six-week period; the 114th Precinct commander also reported earlier this year a number of crimes and violent episodes within the shelter. Although steps have been taken to make the shelter safer, Nolan expressed deep concerns “for the welfare of the residents and with the operator’s ability to properly assist them.” In light of the city’s internal review of the DHS and the reported problems at shelters citywide, it’s deeply concerning that the city would no less proceed with extending the contract of a shelter provider that failed to do its job right the fi rst time. When does the city fi nally punish the shelter operators who fail? How many chances do they deserve to have? We believe the city should halt its contract proceedings with Acacia and fi nd another operator to take care of the people in need at the former Verve Hotel. Primary problems must be solved As you read this, most evidence of the 2016 presidential roadshow’s stop in Queens is gone. The fi ve candidates who fought hard for the Empire State’s vote over the last several weeks have already moved on to the next political showdown en route to the conventions. The spotlight on the New York Primary revealed just how passionate New Yorkers are about their politics, but it also revealed to the nation that we’re still way behind the times when it comes to our voting. The energy generated by the closed primaries among Democrats and Republicans was tremendous, but there was something missing: independent voters, which account for about 29 percent of the New York electorate. They were shut out of both primaries, and they could have made a difference in either race. Also shut out were Democrats who wanted to vote Republican and Republicans who wanted to vote Democrat. They were forced to vote for their party’s choices, or not at all. Then there are the scores of unregistered voters who couldn’t register and vote on the same day, and working people who just couldn’t fi nd the time between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Tuesday to get down to their local polling place and exercise their right to vote. In our computerized age, the current state of New York’s voting system is inexcusable. Its archaic nature breeds voter apathy, as evidenced by the increasingly low turnout in recent non-presidential elections. Democracy cannot function in a society where voters don’t want to vote, or cannot vote, or are restricted from voting. We urge our readers to call their Assembly members and state Senators and demand that they support and pass reform opening up the primary process to everyone, and introducing early voting, online voting and other ways that will get people to participate in the democratic process.
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