WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MARCH 9, 2017 13 LETTERS AND COMMENTS CITY MUST TAKE MAJOR ACTION TO STOP ILLEGAL STREET ADS There is a New York City administrative code that says it is illegal to post advertising materials of any kind on public property. This law gives city officials (specifically, the Department of Sanitation) the power to remove any such materials and fine those responsible for placing them. Based on the prevalence of this advertising where I live in Glendale, Queens, this could be a real money-maker for the city. So why then have neighborhoods like mine been inundated with illegal advertising—mostly in the form of stickers—from these “Cash for Cars” and “We Buy Houses” organizations? I have also seen advertisements for contractors, printing companies, wedding photographers, nightclubs, and DJs, just to name a few. Where I live, there is barely a traffic sign, light or utility pole, or overpass that does not have at least one of these decals somewhere. Not only is this practice illegal, but the decals are unsightly, distracting to drivers, and difficult to remove. I am all for a free market economy, but there are limits on where advertising can be placed. If organizations are truly legitimate, there are plenty of legal venues for them to advertise. It’s time for the city to crack down on this illegal advertising. And fines have to be substantial enough so that the organizations responsible can’t so easily dismiss them as just another cost of doing business. Leonard Klie, Glendale WHY IS THIS BLOCK SO INUNDATED WITH INDUSTRY? One single block, from the Clearview Expressway to Oceania Street, from Northern Boulevard to 45th Road, there are five auto dealerships, an auto repair/body shop and a transmission business. Do you have that on your block or near your block? No resident should have to put up with the injustice of looking out their window and seeing this blight. The fumes from all of the automobiles running around on a daily basis are noxious and irritating. The danger of so many vehicles in motion threatens pedestrians, especially our children. Parking on 45th Road is near impossible for the residents. How did this happen? Who allowed this to happen to my community? Most of the people living in this section of Bayside are African American and other people of color. What else could it be but blatant racism? Look around the rest of Queens. You only see this type of business blight in neighborhoods predominantly made up of people of color like in South Jamaica. I blame some of the city agencies for this problem. The worst offender is the Department of Buildings. I am elderly. I am handicapped. But I will continue to fight with every ounce of strength that I have to see that justice prevails on this block. Mandingo Osceola Tshaka, Bayside OP-ED Turning the Tide on Homelessness BY DR. HERMINIA PALACIO HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES As a doctor I learned to be relentless when treating my patients. So, I am proud of the relentless eff ort the de Blasio administration has put into taking on the homelessness crisis. As a New Yorker, I share the frustration of many that we haven’t made enough progress. We have already stopped the decades-long rise of people coming into shelters with an aggressive set of programs, including rental assistance, street outreach, aff ordable housing, and expanded legal services for those facing eviction. But we must do more. Now, we will create a more rational and eff ective shelter system that responds to homelessness borough by borough, neighborhood by neighborhood, human being by human being. New Yorkers will see fewer shelters. We will end the use of all cluster apartments by 2021 and all commercial hotels by 2023, reducing the number of shelter facilities by nearly 45%. New shelters will be cleaner, safer, and situated strategically to help residents stay near their old neighborhoods and supplied with services to help residents back into stable housing. This isn’t a quick fi x, but it will turn the tide on a decades-old reality. From 1994 until 2014, the number of people living in shelters soared 115%. Years of rising rents combined with stagnating wages means that today 70% of those in our shelters are families; 34% of them have at least one member working. Reacting to this crisis, the City sent people wherever a shelter bed was open, even if that bed was far from their old home. When shelters overfl owed, people were sent to more isolated hotel rooms or apartments in buildings with renters. Far from their old lives, in shelters that lacked appropriate services, shelter residents had no easy path back to stability. Our reformed shelter system keeps people in the boroughs they call home and off ers career counseling, health counseling and more to help them back on their feet. This approach, coupled with other eff orts, will reduce the number of homeless people in shelters by 2,500 over the next fi ve years – the fi rst reduction in a decade. We are also committed to reforming how we notify communities about new shelters, giving advance notice of new facilities and creating an advisory board in every new shelter to handle local complaints. In turn, we are asking neighborhoods to be our partners, helping to make new shelter sites work and helping to house people in need from their own community. Working together, this city of 8.5 million people will make sure that no New Yorker has to face homelessness alone. A LOOK BACK DEPUTY MAYOR FOR The golden age of the trolley in Queens is the focus of our look back through the borough’s history this week. Here’s a picture believed to be from the 1940s of a trolley car passing along Myrtle Avenue in Glendale. St. John’s Lutheran Church stands in the background. Send us your historic pictures 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.
RT03092017
To see the actual publication please follow the link above