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QC04282016

editorial 38 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 28, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com SNAPS QUEENS Geese At Flushing Meadows // 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 runaway rent train To the delight of politicos across New York City, perennial candidate Jimmy McMillan — founder of the Rent is Too Damn High Party — announced this weekend he’ll be running for mayor again next year. People treat McMillan as a bit of brevity in an otherwise serious political season, but the reality is that his party’s generalization about the rent in New York City is indeed true. A Street Easy study announced last week indicates that Queens renters will spend on average 51.6 percent of their income on rent this year. Let that number sink in: 51.6 percent of income just for shelter. Never mind the utility bills that some landlords do not include with their rent, or other living expenses such as food, transportation, child care and health care. What’s worse, the study notes that even as the average Queens rent is expected to climb by 19.2 percent, income is only expected to grow 0.4 percent — less than one percent. Rents are going up by entire dollar bills, and tenants will need to pay up with what amounts to only a few extra quarters in their pockets. In a way, the skyrocketing rents in New York City are not entirely the fault of landlords. As property owners and investors, they have a right to seek higher rents and keep up with the free market. Now the Queens rental market resembles something of a runaway economic train. Rents are fl ying down the track; wages can’t keep up with it. When — not if — this runaway train crashes, the collateral economic damage that the city’s real estate market, landlords and tenants will incur will be catastrophic and long-lasting. This, of course, can be avoided if the city actually had a real plan to tackle the rising cost of housing. The recently approved affordable housing plan addresses the needs of New Yorkers years from now; it does little for those already shouldering the massive rental burdens in place. Realizing the high values and demand for housing in New York, the city and state must come together (somehow) on legislation expanding rent regulations where needed, and reviving expired tax incentives to spur new affordable housing development. New York already is struggling to cope with a bursting homeless population. More families will be on the streets or in shelters — or forced out altogether — if nothing is done to help check the ever-increasing cost of living in the “World’s Borough.” The rent is too damn high. For once, the city should do something THE QUEENS PUBLISHER & EDITOR CO-PUBLISHER about it. 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. identify this PLACE Time to hit the books! This is a main part of one of the World’s Borough’s most prominent institutions of higher learning. Do you know what it is? QNS/Photo by Katrina Medoff


QC04282016
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