42 The QUEE NS Courier • NOVEMBER 20, 2014 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com editorial letters IDENTIFY THIS PLACE Go to www.queenscourier.com and search “Identify This Place” to find out where this is VISIT QueensCourier.com FOR MORE STORIES THE QUEENS Victoria Schneps-Yunis Joshua A. Schneps Bob Brennan Leela de Kretser Amy Amato-Sanchez Nirmal Singh Graziela Zerili Stephen Reina Ron Torina, Jennifer Decio, Cheryl Galagher Liam La Guerre, Cristabell e Tumola, Angy Altamirano Katrina Medoff, Eric Jankiewicz, Salvatore Licata Cliff Kasden, Samantha Sohmer, Elizabeth Aloni Cristabele Tumola Demetra Plagakis Louise Cavaliere Celeste Alamin Maria Valencia Daphne Fortunate Victoria Schneps-Yunis Joshua A. Schneps Publisher & E ditor queenscourier.com Co-Publisher Associate Publisher Acting 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 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 www.queenscourier.com editorial e-mail: editorial@queenscourier.com for advertising e-mail: ads@queenscourier.com Entire Contents Copyright 2014 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. DO NOT ABANDON YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE A midterm turnout is normally low, yet this year’s participation was last seen in 1942 during WWII. In a president’s second term, it is normal for votes to favor the opposite party. Reagan, Clinton and Bush all suffered apparently disastrous results in midterms during their second terms in office. For a large percentage of Americans, the country is headed in the wrong direction. Voter apathy was due to unhappiness not only with Obama but also with six years of Republicans in the Senate where “No” was their only voice. Yet who is to blame and to be held accountable for the present state of American politics? It surely does not rest with either major party. The political parties determine their course from voter support. Where have the voters gone? Primaries select the parties’ candidates. Primaries have even lower voter turnout than midterm elections. Less than 35 percent of voters showed up to this year’s midterms. Primaries suffer even fewer voters participating. The life blood of partisan politics hated by most Americans is directly the result of voters’ rejection of the political process that empowers each of us with the right to vote. Across the globe, there have been people rebelling in a fight to claim democracy. Often, Americans praise their efforts and demand our government support them. Yet, at home, we abandon the rights our forefathers earned through blood, thereby ensuring the election of politicians whose agenda is to gain re-election by pandering to the extremists who do care enough to vote. So we are responsible for the very sorry state we claim to hate. Edward Horn Baldwin, N.Y. REOPEN WOODHAVEN LIRR STATION There is an improvement that could be quickly implemented that could benefit thousands of residents. The Queens Courier published the editorial “Restoring The Rockaway Train Would Change Queens” on Nov. 13. Why not reopen the Woodhaven LIRR station that was closed in 1976? Look out the window when traveling on the LIRR from Jamaica to Flatbush Avenue Brooklyn. This underground station is still intact. It would probably require a minimum amount of work to restore this station including signal modifications to resume service. If the MTA could find $40 million to rebuild the Elmhurst LIRR Station from scratch on the Port Washington branch, why not do the same for Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Ozone Park and other residents who reside near the abandoned Woodhaven Station on the Atlantic Avenue branch? Restoration of the Woodhaven LIRR station would probably cost far less, since it doesn’t need to be built from scratch. Imagine within 15 minutes or less, neighborhood residents and those transferring from local bus routes adjacent to the reopened Woodhaven LIRR station upon reaching the Atlantic Avenue LIRR Terminal could access the Barclay Arena. Transferring to either the 2,3,4,5,B,D,N,Q or R subway provides access to employment opportunities, colleges, medical facilities, museums and the theater district, downtown Brooklyn, the Financial District, east side, west side and midtown Manhattan depending upon the final destination, between 5 and 25 minutes more. Reverse commuters wanting access to jobs and colleges in eastern Queens, Nassau and Suffolk County could transfer in less than 10 minutes at the Jamaica LIRR station to numerous LIRR lines serving eastern Queens, Nassau and Suffolk County. Larry Penner Great Neck PREPARE FOR WINTER The severe cold wave that is gripping most of the country is unprecedented for the month of November. We have not seen such a widespread Arctic outbreak this early in many years. Does this portend even more ominous weather for the upcoming winter? It is time for us to stock up on winter supplies and make sure that everyone is prepared to deal with whatever Mother Nature throws our way this coming winter season. Our climate is changing, and not for the better. We are all going to be affected by it, and we must be able to adapt to these sudden and violent changes. John Amato Fresh Meadows KEEP CALM AND GIVE THANKS ‘Tis the time of the year when it’s easy to get stressed. The shopping, the turkey, the travel… In the week leading up to the Thanksgiving celebration, it can all seem too much to bear. So don’t lose sight of what’s important this Nov. 27 — the family and loved ones with whom we will sit down and enjoy a meal, no matter our creed. Thanksgiving is a rare opportunity for a few uninterrupted hours with people we often only get to see a few times a year. Make the most of it. No need for cellphones and iPads at the table. Let your only distraction be a joint one, a game of football on the TV. And as you run down supermarket aisles and trip back and forth from airports, try to spare a moment to give back to your community. So many men and women in Queens, many of them veterans, poor, sick or elderly, could do with an extra hand during the holidays. Like many issues, this week’s newspaper is full of stories of good people in Queens doing good deeds. Preserving an abandoned house in Howard Beach, raising funds for local landmarks and a hospital, collecting goods for a food drive for veterans and finding a Jamaica family a new home are just some of the ways the borough has risen to the occasion in the last few days. Your gesture doesn’t necessarily have to be grand or newsworthy. Drop off food or a warm coat, serve the homeless, deliver a meal on wheels or invite a lonely person to join you for your holiday dinner. There are so many ways we can make a difference to someone in need, but we often miss the opportunity in the mayhem of this week. Perhaps if everyone who can gives a little — and if we can keep our tempers in the oncoming rush — we might just make this Thanksgiving even more special than it is usually is in Queens. Visit queenscourier.com for a list of volunteer opportunities in Queens.
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