WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JANUARY 26, 2017 13 LETTERS AND COMMENTS NEW DEVELOPMENT PUTS RIDGEWOOD IN DANGER: READER I would like to thank Robert Pozarycki for his attempt to bring to the community’s attention the gradual destruction of the aesthetic integrity of our neighborhood in his article “Ridgewood residents to stop proposed fi ve-story apartment house” in the Jan. 12 edition of the Ridgewood Times. This has been going on for some time now and there are already several examples of this move to make a buck by demolishing structures that are part of a larger row of houses. As I understand it, once this takes place, the block can no longer be given historic status. Is this the ultimate goal of these developers — some of whom I have noticed are obviously not from the neighborhood? Will Ridgewood go the way of other neighborhoods ending up being a lot of fairly ugly high rises owned by absentee landlords fi lled only with people capable of aff ording the higher rents? Where are our lower- and middle class neighbors supposed to live if this happens? Where will our children be able to buy one- and two-family homes? Please keep the spotlight focused on this issue since the well being of our neighborhood depends upon stopping this “rape” of our urban landscape. Barbara Reed, Ridgewood MIXED REACTION TO THE QUEENSWAY PLAN Regarding the QueensWay plan (Jan. 19): I think this is a tremendous idea and I hope our local political leaders will have the will and foresight to do something innovative in this community. Forest Park is not in a state of good repair and underutilized. Why should Brooklyn, Manhattan and LIC have the beautiful new parks with amazing amenities? Central Queens has loads of families who would benefi t from this, as well as seniors who would have a peaceful, car-free, and safe walkway. And our mom and pop shops around Metropolitan might actually get some foot traffi c for a change. The need for transportation is an important one but not sure the multibillion-dollar cost of reactivating this rail line, along with the eminent domain and construction issues that will arise, make this a feasible option. QNS user QueensFan718 Why doesn’t anyone report on the fact that the stretch of land aft er Union Tpke leading to Forest Park is actually in fact NOT abandoned and a parking lot for 80+ cars that are now going to have to park on the already crowded streets? QNS user Alyssa Listen to the Queens Public Transit Committee; they’re correct. The reactivation of this Rail Line is MUST! Please, we have enough parks! QNS user Danny Ruscillo ONE-SEAT RIDE TO JFK IS PIE IN THE SKY Governor Andrew Cuomo in his recent State of the State speech joined outgoing MTA Chairman Tom Pendergast and the Regional Plan Association in calling for a one-seat ride on public transportation for those traveling to and from Kennedy Airport. This idea is nothing new and has been periodically studied before going back to the 1960s by various other agencies including the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Office of Planning, Long Island Rail Road, NYCDOT, NYC Department of Planning Transportation Division, NYC Economic Development Corporation and New York Metropolitan Transportation Council. They all died due to priority given other competing projects for funding, lack of local consensus among elected offi cials, various transportation operating agencies along with potential city, state and federal funding agencies. No one can spare several billion dollars to make this happen. Larry Penner, Great Neck OP-ED Tuition-free college a real game-changer We found this amazing picture of Ridgewood in the early 1970s through our friends at the Facebook group “You must have lived in Ridgewood if you remember...” Submitted by Frank Guella, this shows a liquor truck parked at the corner of Gates and Onderdonk avenues. Send us your historic photos of Queens by email to [email protected] or mail printed pictures to A Look Back, c/o The Queens Courier, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned to you. BY DR. GAIL O. MELLOW Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to make attending New York state’s nationally renowned public colleges tuition-free for families making under $125,000 is a game-changer. It is a profound and essential step forward in conceptualizing what the U.S. education system must look like in the 21st century. The proposal will need approval from the State Legislature before it can go into eff ect, and while we await details there is much to celebrate. Seeing our governor place higher education, and the need to make college education accessible and aff ordable to more New Yorkers, as the focal point of his agenda is of national signifi cance. Cuomo’s proposal indicates a resetting of the minimal education standards needed to be successful in today’s America. It reimagines what requirements are needed to have a chance at a life of economic stability, as a member of the middle class, for individuals and their families. It aligns state policy with what is widely understood to be needed in today’s job market: a post-secondary degree. It acknowledges that an educated citizenry is vital for our country’s future as a democracy. About a hundred years ago, the campaign to make high school free and mandatory got underway. Up until that point, high school graduates were mainly those from wealthier families who could send their children to private high A LOOK BACK schools. Today we can’t imagine a world in which our young people don’t attend high school. Some have argued that our country’s success throughout the past century was built upon free K-12 education. This new proposal will encourage those who had presumed that a college degree was unobtainable for them — and there are many who hold this unfortunate misperception — to pursue their undergraduate education at the State University of New York (SUNY) and/or the City University of New York (CUNY). Who are these people? They’re parents who want to make a better life for their families. Older adults who need to upgrade their skills for the changing economy. Adults who had poor grades in high school but are eager for a new chance. Or high-achieving young people from low-income families, oft en with few or no college graduates to look to as role models. As with any new big idea, there are questions. But those can and will be answered and addressed as the legislation moves ahead. Governor Cuomo’s Excelsior Scholarship proposal is more than a starting point. It sets a marker for where we as a state and nation need to head. It recognizes that investments in higher education are among the most important ones we can make to our country’s economic and social infrastructure. Yes, of course, the devil is in the details. But Governor Cuomo has raised the bar for how our country creates and builds the middle class in the decades ahead. Gail O. Mellow is the president of LaGuardia Community College.
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