34 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 30, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com editorial 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, ANTHONY GIUDICE, ANGELA MATUA, ALINA SURIEL CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI CRISTABELLE TUMOLA DEMETRA PLAGAKIS LOUISE CAVALIERE CELESTE ALAMIN MARIA VALENCIA VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS PUBLISHER & EDITOR 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 ACCOUNT 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 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. Junior, a 2-year-old golden retriever from Fresh Meadows, participated in the Queens Centers for Progress walkathon last weekend. SUBMITTED BY THE QUEENS COURIER STAFF Send us your photos of Queens and you could see them online or in our paper! Submit them to us via our Facebook page, tweeting @queenscourier or by emailing editorial@queenscourier.com. Where are you going on vacation this summer? “Somewhere Caribbean. Maybe Puerto Rico. Somewhere hot.” Christina Edwards BY ANGELA MATUA “Bahamas maybe. Somewhere nice.” Amelia Matthews “Florida, I think with my family.” Daniella Acobo “I’m probably not going on vacation. I have no money.” Lee Wang “Greece.” Giannina Karam “Hopefully Jamaica with my boyfriend.” Kimberly Huertas street talk “Galapagos Island this winter because my busy season is during the summer.” Chuck Hamker “St. Lucia.” Kevin Vikse SNAPS QUEENS Somebody’s got to pay for better Queens transportation At one point in the legal drama “Inherit the Wind,” one of the main characters tells a jury that progress “has never been a bargain,” and that everyone in the end pays something for it. The character spoke of costs in a fi gurative sense, but in a literal sense, every desired advance in our society requires some form of payment, and our society ultimately decides whether it’s worth the time, the money, the energy and other factors. For years, people in Queens from all walks of life, elected or otherwise, have called for transportation improvements big and small. They’ve been able to get some of their wishes — a few bike lanes here, a limited bus line there — but large-scale ideas such as expanded subway lines and service, with costs running into the tens of millions of dollars, have been dismissed, delayed or never taken seriously. Recently, a group of transit advocates pitched an idea called “Move NY,” a master plan of roadway and public transportation improvements for New York City. The coalition’s plan aims to address the city’s “broken” transportation system with a concentrated plan to “generate dedicated funding for our roads, bridges and mass transit system.” At the center of Move NY is a redux of the failed congestion pricing proposal that former Mayor Mike Bloomberg pitched during his tenure. Tolls would be installed on the free East River bridges (Queensboro, Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn). Tolls on the MTA bridges and tunnels would be reduced 48 percent to match the new East River bridge fees. Reduced tolls would also be implemented during non-rush-hour periods. But a host of Queens lawmakers, led by Borough President Melinda Katz, spoke out against the Move NY plan. They claim the Move NY plan lacks “any direct connection between the revenues generated from the proposed tolls” to signifi cant transit improvements. Meanwhile, the MTA indicated this week it may need to raise fares and tolls another 15 percent in the years ahead if the state and/or federal governments don’t pony up billions of dollars for capital improvements over the next fi ve years. The authority’s basically pointing a loaded gun at the commuters’ pockets and telling Governor Cuomo and others, “Either we get the money or the commuters get it!” Nobody wants to pay to cross the Queensboro Bridge. Nobody wants to give the MTA another 50 cents to ride the 7 train. Nobody wants to see the state tack on a payroll tax (as they did in previous budgets) to fund the MTA. Nobody wants to pay, period. But somebody’s got to pay because the buses and subways are overcrowded, the roads are congested and crumbling and it’s taking longer and longer for people to get to and from work every day. This city and its economy cannot function if the roads, bridges and trains are at a standstill. Progress is not a bargain. Our elected offi cials need to work with transit advocates and the MTA on a plan to share the economic pains of progress while advancing the city’s transit system into the 21st century. We’re all going to pay for it anyway; let’s make sure it’s done right.
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