28 THE QUEENS COURIER • SEPTEMBER 24, 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 ALAN SELTZER STEPHEN REINA RON TORINA, JENNIFER DECIO, CHERYL GALLAGHER ANGY ALTAMIRANO, KATRINA MEDOFF ANTHONY GIUDICE ANGELA MATUA, ALINA SURIEL CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI ANGY ALTAMIRANO DEMETRA PLAGAKIS 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 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: [email protected] for advertising e-mail: [email protected] 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. SHOULD THE CITY’S RECYCLING PROGRAM BE EXPANDED TO INCLUDE CLOTHES? “In theory it sounds like a good idea. I could see why it would raise some concerns though.” Cody Demarco BY DAVID ROSARIO “I don’t see why not. People always have extra clothes so I think having a means to drop them off easily could be positive for the community.” Jackie Chen “I think it should be good, but will it be good? Who knows really.” Paul Barthelemy “I haven’t heard much about the proposed plan, but it sounds like an idea worth Shoko Mori “There’s no point in hoarding clothes when somebody else can use it. I think it’s an awesome idea.” Wilfredo Zalaya “It would be a great idea in a perfect world. But in areas...where you don’t really see homeless people, you might end up creating an avenue for homeless people to come in.” Thomas Nosrati street talk “They should expand to include clothing. Factories could receive those clothes and make them into new clothes and bags. It’s going to save them a lot of money.” Jeffrey Meza “They should expand to include clothing. Factories could receive those clothes and make them into new clothes and bags. It’s going to save them a lot of money.” Jeffrey Meza SNAPS QUEENS The sun setting in Rockaway Beach on the last few days of summer. 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 Instagram @queenscourier, Facebook page, tweeting @queenscourier or by emailing [email protected] (subject: Queens Snaps). Recycling challenges may rile city Once upon a time in the City of New York, all garbage that a resident threw out went in the same bag or can. Nothing was separated; everything was part of the same fi lth. Then in the 1990s, the city introduced recycling of glass, metal and paper. The recycling program was billed as an environmental good, but it also helped the city’s bottom line, as selling recyclables and reducing the regular waste stream proved to be fi nancial boons. Since then, the city has made a concerted effort to not just reduce the regular waste stream, but completely eliminate it as soon as the year 2030. To accomplish that goal, the Sanitation Department launched a pilot program to recycle food waste and is giving clothing and textile recycling a trial run in northeast Queens. This all sounds good, but it comes with a lot of work at home. Many residents do not comply with the existing recycling rules, and it fi gures that compliance will only get worse should the program become more complex. The city has also yet to adequately address electronic waste, which was banned from being included in with regular garbage earlier this year due to toxic components and parts within. Residents must now bring such items to a local store or recycler, but not everyone can lug a broken television or desktop computer that easily. Increasing recycling and reducing the waste stream are both noble goals, but the city must be careful not to place too many mandates on the people. Recycling must be made as convenient and people-friendly as possible if the city wants it to work. Bring NYC voting into the 21st century It’s hard enough to get people to vote in New York City without having the Board of Elections taking poll sites away. Last week, the board eliminated polling places from the Scheuer House in Bayside and the Le Havre co-op complex in Whitestone. The board ruled that both sites failed to meet accessibility requirements under the Americans for Disabilities Act. Those who use those sites will have to travel to nearby public schools to vote in the next election, a decision that will likely give some voters in these areas second thoughts about participating in the next election. This decision speaks, in a way, to the antiquated nature of voting in New York City. In this progressive place, people can only vote on a certain day and must visit a certain place to cast their ballots. New York is one of 14 states that does not have early voting, where ballots can be mailed or dropped off at a person’s leisure, nor does it have an online voting system. Those who aren’t registered to vote but want to cannot register and vote on the same day; they must register in advance and wait many long weeks or months to exercise their rights. The various constraints on where and when a person can vote discourage people from exercising their rights as Americans. This needs to change. We believe New York City and State should adopt new voting models that include no-excuse early voting, an online voting system and same-day registration and voting. Our democracy needs to catch up with the times.
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