FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com OCTOBER 6, 2016 • THE QUEENS COURIER 29 oped FOR MORE NEWS VISIT QNS.COM letters & comments CITY NEEDS TO START SUPPORTING ITS HOMELESS Regarding the proposed homeless center in Ozone Park: By right the community should be upset, but we should do our part to have supportive services for those in need in the neighborhood. NYC is slow to adopt supportive housing models; even Community Board 9 isn’t too much in favor of them. I’ve seen homeless individuals along Jamaica Avenue near Lefferts Boulevard, and on Hillside Avenue. The only place they can go to in our community is the public library which I know the staff and managers have a hard time dealing with on a daily basis. So please let’s keep an open mind and help these individuals in the community. QNS user Rina HOORAY FOR NEW BIKE LANES IN QUEENS... On the bike lane expansion in Ridgewood and Middle Village: Really happy to hear about this. Hoping for some full-fl edged bike lanes as opposed to shared lanes. There is very little cycling infrastructure in Ridgewood/Middle Village — every bit will make streets safer for cycling and driving. Now if only we could start a conversation about Metropolitan Avenue. QNS user Juan Restrepo GIVE THE GIFT OF LIFE BY DONATING BLOOD How would like to save someone’s house and maybe be a hero? Life is such a precious commodity and I think some of us wonder if there is something we can do to help someone in need. I have a suggestion. St. Anastasia Knights of Columbus Council #5911 will host a blood drive at St. Anastasia Parish in Douglaston on Sunday, Nov. 13, between 8:45 a.m. and 2:45 p.m. The location is at 45-14 245th St., in Father Smith Hall at St. Anastasia Parish in Douglaston. This is a great opportunity to truly give the gift of life by donating blood and be a hero. There is no substitute for human blood. One in three people will need blood sometime during their lives. Blood lasts only 42 days. Your donation now is critically important. Close to 2,000 men, women and children in our communities, including cancer, transplant and surgery patients, trauma victims, newborn babies and many others need blood transfusions each day. We are fortunate to live in a region where sophisticated medical facilities and transplant programs are available. These programs require blood donations. When there is not enough blood, patients wait hours for the blood they need, delaying their recovery. Patients who are weak from low iron wait for red cell; patients whose bodies have been assaulted by chemotherapy wait for platelets that will allow their blood to clot again. Patients who have been on an organ transplant list for months or years and fi nally get an opportunity for an organ will lose that opportunity if there is no blood. Please give the gift of life. Remember we need more heroes. If you need more information regarding requirements you can go to the New York Blood Center at New York Blood Center or call 800-688-0900. Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Glen Oaks Village HOLD THE HAPPINESS, SAYS THIS READER. Lets see, Bike Lanes, Bike Lanes, Bike Lanes, Shared Bike Lanes, Shared Bike Lanes, Shared Bike Lanes, please enough is enough! QNS user Danny Ruscillo A LOOK BACK INSTITUTIONS ARE COMING BY MURRAY SCHNEPS The story regarding the developmentally disabled since the late 1960s until 2016 is continuing, persistent and predictable. One of the goals we must have as a nation is to ensure that our children receive all necessary and appropriate services and programs. In the late 1960s, no programs or services existed for my daughter, Lara. A supposedly existing program was at the Willowbrook State School on Staten Island. However, such services were only available to residents in the institution. No voluntary agency was interested in servicing my child who was profoundly developmentally disabled. In those days the agencies only served the mildly and moderately developmentally disabled. Even worse, many felt that Lara required an institution; a good one, of course. In reality, there has never been a good institution for the developmentally disabled. The term “good institution” is an oxymoron. Through the Willowbrook class action lawsuit that my family and other families of Willowbrook residents fi led, we were able to eliminate the institutional system and established a system of small community residential homes and services in New York. Eventually, voluntary agencies recognized the realities of change and funding benefi ts and provided good services to all developmentally disabled individuals. With a system of small community residential homes and services and ending a dysfunctional dual system, all enjoyed a period of approximately 30 or more years of advancement for our children. The Willowbrook ruling mandated specifi c services by the state; the state was obligated to provide appropriate services. However, more than 40 years later, the state and voluntary agencies have forgotten all they knew and what they should do. New York State is converting back into an institutional system with fewer and fewer individuals receiving services and funding. No small community residential homes are opening, and thousands are seeking placements but must live at home with their parents and family members with fewer services and less funding. Parents must demand full services for their children now. They must organize and threaten action, and be ready to take the next step. They must work to vindicate the rights of the developmentally disabled. We need a new class action lawsuit defi ning an institution for the developmentally disabled and seeking to have them declared unconstitutional. The lawsuit should further seek to defi ne and permit the opening of small community residential homes that permit the required services for its residents. Murray Schneps was a trial lawyer, an advocate, plaintiff in the Willowbrook Class Action on behalf of his daughter, an attorney in that case and a member of the Willowbrook Review Panel elected to be its Vice Chairman. Motion pictures were still silent when the Oasis theater opened at the corner of Fresh Pond Road and Grove Street in Ridgewood in September 1927. Here’s what the entrance to the theater looked like on its opening day in this photo pulled from the Ridgewood Times’ archives. When business sank during the latter part of the 20th century, the Oasis was transformed into a roller rink. It would later become a pharmacy and, most recently, a discount department store. Today it sits vacant, waiting for a new business to come. Send us your historic photos by email to [email protected], or mail printed photos to The Ridgewood Times 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned to you.
QC10062016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above