TIMES, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015 • 16 Inside Street Fair’s Defeat My Say Times Newsweekly EEDDIITTOORRIIAALL Many Ridgewood residents were stunned to learn last week that Community Board 5 recommended that this year’s Fresh Pond Road street festival be scrapped. Opposition to the festival grew in recent years, largely from Ridgewood residents sick and tired of various quality-of-life problems that the event brings, including lost parking spaces, increased traffic on neighboring streets and instances of rowdy behavior among patrons. Nevertheless, the festival has plenty of fans around the community who enjoy rides, arcade games and assorted vendors selling food and other products. Street fairs, in general, are popular all over the city during spring, summer and fall—and these events do contribute to the local economy. So why did this street fair get voted down? The Fresh Pond Road festival closes one of the area’s busiest roadways on four consecutive evenings. Its duration also undoubtedly played a role, as other street fairs that Board 5 approved take place on one Sunday afternoon, when traffic is generally lighter. Civic activists previously suggested that the Federazione Italo- Americana di Brooklyn and Queens, which runs the Fresh Pond Road street festival, shorten its length, relocate it to another part of Ridgewood or break it up into four separate dates spread through the calendar year. Now that Board 5 has had enough, the organizers ought to adopt several of these ideas if they want another Fresh Pond Road feast. Risking It All For $27 A Day: The Bravest Need Better Benefits by Steve Cassidy When the FDNY began its efforts to recruit New York City Firefighter candidates back in 2011, it sold them on the merits of “the best job in the world has the best benefits in the world.” Now several years later, it appears that the city failed to tell these prospective first responders the truth. Since 2013, the city has hired more than 1,400 new FDNY firefighters, most who don’t have disability benefits. What the city recruitment posters should have read in 2011 was: don’t get hurt in the line of duty or else you and your family will be in trouble! Here’s why: If any probationary (rookie) firefighters’ hired by the FDNY since January 2013 are seriously injured, paralyzed or permanently disabled on the job, the approximate value of their disability protection amounts to only about $27 per day.T his all began when then-Gov. David Paterson vetoed the New York City firefighter and police Tier II extender bill in June 2009, forcing all future FDNY and NYPD hires into Tier III, which has no real disability benefits. Today virtually every firefighter and police officer in New York State has real disability benefits, except for those in the FDNY and NYPD. It is wholly unacceptable for newly hired city firefighters to face the same dangers as fellow veteran firefighters but only be protected to the sum of $27 a day, or less than $190 per week if they’re seriously injured. It’s already a highly dangerous profession and firefighters need to be 100 percent focused on their responsibilities in a fire/emergency situation and not distracted with “what if” concerns about who is going to take care of their family if they’re seriously injured. Having this lingering concern—especially among firefighters who are married or have children to provide for—clearly jeopardizes public safety, and simply doesn’t serve taxpayers interests. How can the city demand new hires enter a burning building, or conduct a dangerous rescue or take the other risks, while denying them the same disability protections? I believe most New Yorkers will stand united with New York City’s Firefighters to declare that it is immoral for the city to ask the young men and Times Newsweekly Established In 1908 As Ridgewood Times VVICCTTOORRIAA SSCCHHNNEEPPSS--YYUUNNISS aanndd JJOOSSHHUUAA SSCCHHNNEEPPSS..............CCoo--PPuubblliisshheerrss RROOBBEERRT POOZZAARRYYCCKI.......................................................EEdditorr--in--CChieef JJOOSEE VVAARRGAAS.............................................Prrodducction//Saaleess MMaanaageerr DDEEBBOORRAAHH CCUUSSICCKK..............................................CClaassssiffieedd MMaannaaggeerr MMAARRLLEENNEE RRUUIZZ.........................................AAssssisstaant CClaassssifieedd MMaanaageerr AANNTHOONNYY GIUUDICCEE...........................................................RReepporrteerr KEELLLLYY MMAARRIEE MMAANNCCUUSOO..................................CContrribbuting RReepporrteerr MMAARRCCINN ZZUURRAAWWICCZZ.......................................................Photogrraappheerr PPhhootoo SSuubbmmissssioonnss AAnndd RReeqquueesstss Photographs submitted to the Times Newsweekly/Ridgewood Times should be in electronic high resolution (300dpi) JPEG (.jpg) or TIFF (.tif) formats. 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This newspaper is responsible for only one incorrect insertion and only for that portion of the ad in which the error appears. It is the responsibility of the advertiser to make sure copy does not contravene the Consumer Protection Law or any other requirement. TIIMMESS NEWWSSWWEEKKLYY IIss Lissteedd WWithh Thhee SStaannddaarrdd RRaatee & DDaataa AAnndd IIss AA MMeembbeerr OOff Thhee Neeww YYoorrkk Prreessss AAssssoociaatioonn CCOOPPYYRRIIGGHHTT 22001155 SSCCHHNNEEPPSS CCOOMMMMUUNNIICCAATTIIOONNSS 60-71 Woodbine St., Ridgewood, N.Y. 11385 General Publication Office: 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 Periodicals Postage Paid At Flushing, N.Y. (USPS 465-940) TTEELEEPHHOONEE: 11--771188--882211--77550000/77550011/77550022/77550033 FFAAXX: 11--771188--445566--00112200 EE-MMAAIILL: iinnffoo@@ttiimmeessnneewwsswweeeekkllyy..ccoomm WWEEBB SSITTEE: www.timessnnewssweekklyy.ccoom OON TTWWITTTTEER @@timessnnewssweekklyy PPUUBBLLIISSHHEEDD EEVVEERRYY TTHHUURRSSDDAAYY FFOORR 110077 YYEEAARRSS women of the FDNY to risk their life and health without a safety net. What’s more, the public is best served when every firefighter is solely focused on their job, because they know that if they are seriously injured in the line of duty, they will be taken care of. The Uniformed Firefighters Association is advocating and fighting for necessary corrective legislation that requires the support of a majority of the New York City Council and passage of legislation via the State Assembly, Senate and signed into law by the governor. What legislation would do is guarantee that each of our city’s firefighters and police officers who risk their lives would have similar disability protections that more senior New York City Firefighters and other first responders across the state are granted. New Yorkers should want and expect a fire department with members that will never have to think twice about if their family be cared for if permanently disabled. New Yorkers should join with firefighters and call upon city and state legislators to take action and correct this serious problem. Steve Cassidy is president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association. Support Higher Education Funding Carl Heastie has been the Speaker of the State Assembly for barely two weeks, yet he has already thrown down the gauntlet over making higher education more affordable. There are few causes before elected officials that are more important. Any chance of advancement into the middle class in this day and age is almost entirely based on access to higher education, whether it be college or training for any of a new range of high-tech careers. And for the thousands of new immigrants coming to our state, higher education represents a bridge across cultures as much as it is a path to a career. During a luncheon sponsored by the City University last weekend, Heastie outlined several new initiatives aimed at making college more affordable, including offering tuition assistance to college-aged kids who are undocumented immigrants. Heastie, like Gov. Andrew Cuomo, supports a state DREAM Act, for the undocumented. We hope the two Democrats can convince Senate Republicans to join them during budget talks. A graduate of the State University himself, Heastie also rolled out proposals to let parents deduct student-loan interest from their New York income taxes, just as the feds already permit. He’s also called for expanding tuition aid programs. And Heastie wants to make it easier for single- and workingparents to go to college by expanding child care at City and State University campuses. “In communities across the state, there are young men and women who live each day with the knowledge that the education they need to make their dreams a reality is beyond their reach,” Heastie said in a statement. As lawmakers and the governor face a Mar. 31 negotiating deadline for a new state budget, we hope Heastie uses his new-found clout as Assembly Speaker to give more young people a shot at college and at the American Dream.
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