44 The QUEE NS Courier • august 15, 2013 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com editorial letters THE QUEENS Victoria Schneps-Yunis Joshua A. Schneps Bob Brennan Tonia N. Cimino Amy Amato-Sanchez Nirmal Singh Graziella Zerilli Stephen Reina Ron Torina, Jennifer Decio, Cheryl Gallagher Melisa Chan, Liam La Guerre, Cristabelle Tumola Maggie Hayes, Angy Altamirano Cliff Kasden, Samantha Sohmer, Elizabeth Aloni Cristabelle Tumola Bill Krese Jan DiGeronimo Maria Romero Louise Cavaliere Celeste Alamin Maria Valencia Daphne Fortunate 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 Editorial Cartoonist Director, Business Developm ent Events Manager Senior Acc ount Executive Classified Manager Controller Office Manager President & CEO Vice President Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441 website: www.queenscourier.com e-mail:[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Entire Contents Copyright 2013 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. Teachers need a contract As the new school year nears, the teachers in our public school system still do not have a new, fair and affordable contract. WHY? There is absolutely no logical or justifiable reason for the Department of Education and the United Federation of Teachers to still not have an agreement regarding a new contract. Why are both sides dragging their feet? It seems that Chancellor Dennis Walcott and UFT president Michael Mulgrew cannot agree on anything tangible. They had better get their act together and sit down to do some hard bargaining. Teachers work extremely hard, and they do it under a plethora of conditions: overcrowded classes, disruptive students, lack of essential teaching materials, unsupportive administrators and some parents who are not very cooperative are several factors that teachers much face in the classroom each and every day. It is time for them to be given a fair and affordable contract. Let’s stop all of the stalling and get a contract – now. John Amato Fresh Meadows In support of Community Safety Act I write to support efforts to override the mayor’s veto of two pieces of legislation important to our community and city – the bills known as the Community Safety Act. I joined a rally of concerned councilmembers, justice advocates and community members on July 18 to make clear my support and help push back against the tremendous pressure being put on courageous councilmembers who put their constituents, justice and public safety first. When race or ethnicity remains the determining factor to question or arrest an individual, our society sends the wrong message. In knocking on several thousand doors in, and campaigning throughout, Council District 27 covering all or part of Addisleigh Park, Cambria Heights, Hollis, Jamaica, Queens Village and St. Albans, young people of color made clear the devastating impact that profiling inflicts on them. The practice should be illegal. No New Yorker should be singled out because of his or her ethnicity; these bad contacts only widen the divide of distrust between police and the communities they serve. The New York Attorney General’s 2001 report confirmed that the NYPD applied “stop and frisk” tactics more aggressively and broadly to African-Americans and Latinos than to whites. The report found that minorities were more likely to be approached where the stop did not result in an arrest. The 2004 NYC Local Law needs to be followed and the police commissioner held accountable to its reporting requirements and its ban on profiling. As a community and labor activist, president of Amalgamated Transportation Union (ATU) Local No. 1056, which represents drivers and mechanics who work for MTA New York City Transit’s Queens Bus Division, co-chair of the MTA Labor Coalition of 29 unions and more than 60,000 workers, and long-time southeast Queens resident who has worked with our community’s young people including as a co-founder of Brothers Unlimited which assists families in need and as a mentor with United Black Men of Queens and Life Camp, I know our community needs this reform. That’s why I support the Community Safety Act and advocate the override of the mayor’s veto. I. Daneek Miller Candidate for City Council – District 27, Southeast Queens Farewell to an icon With the passing of Margaret Pelligrini, who played one of the Munchkins in the 1939 film classic “The Wizard of Oz,” there are only two surviving Munchkins, Ruth Duccini and Jerry Maren. This timeless film classic is as much “America” as baseball or apple pie. It has brought much joy and happiness to millions of people since it was released in 1939. Pelligrini has come to the end of the “yellow brick road.” Rest in peace! John Amato Fresh Meadows VISIT queenscourier.com FOR MORE STORIES CPR, STAT We are a burgeoning borough. Every day, we welcome new immigrants, new businesses and more and more faces. So why is it that hospitals are shuttering left and right? With a population boom, we should have more institutions to deal with the health care of our residents. And with an aging population, the need is even more imminent. That’s why we were so distressed to hear of the closing of yet ANOTHER health care facility in Queens. Holliswood Hospital shuttered its doors this week, making it the SIXTH hospital to close in our borough in a decade. Holliswood joins Parkway, St. John’s Queens, Mary Immaculate, Peninsula and St. Joseph’s in flatlining. The medical site, a 127-bed private psychiatric hospital, closed due to financial troubles. Current patients will begin to be discharged, and after an estimated one to two weeks, the site will close permanently. After Holliswood shuts off the lights, nearly 400 employees will have to look for work elsewhere. Some already have replacement jobs, others don’t. This is unconscionable. Not only does it mean that hundreds are out of work, it means that loved ones of patients will have to deal with the added stress of finding alternate care. “We certainly believe this adds to what I have called in the past and continue to characterize as a medical crisis in Queens County,” said Borough President Helen Marshall. We couldn’t agree more. Health care in our international borough needs CPR, STAT. NIMBY Glendale is up in arms over a proposed homeless shelter in the area, and they have one message: Not in My Back Yard. The community is planning to prevent nonprofit Samaritan Village from buying the rundown Glendale factory property at 78-16 Cooper Avenue and transforming it into transitional housing if the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) gives its approval. The nonprofit wants to house 125 families on the property, but opponents of the homeless shelter believe that would overwhelm the schools in Glendale, which many say are already overcrowded. We encourage both sides to come to the table and reach a mutual agreement that is best for the community, the residents, the businesses and above all, the most vulnerable – our children and those who are homeless.
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