MARCH 12 - mARCH 18, 2015 • TIMES 17 • A Look Back • street talk How do you plan on spending your income tax refund this year? BY ROSS BELSKY “Buy an XBox One.” Brandon Jolly “I will put it in the bank, but I know some way or another I will need it for an emergency.” Diane Valles “I am dependent on my mom.” Denise Surgent “Save it, of course.” Maria Nass “I will spend it exclusively on my own pleasures.” Peter Dodd “I don’t get one.” Anthony Modica “Go to a fancy steakhouse.” Tyrone Wilkerson “Invest it in my kids.” Mimi Melendez letters Won’t excuse mayor’s lateness Mayor Bill de Blasio was a halfhour late on Saturday for the Rockaways St. Patrick’s parade. The habitually late mayor gave another excuse for being late that sounds to me like a lot of blarney if you ask me, not to mention disrespectful to all those who showed up on time for the parade. Now If I was late like that I would have been fired years ago. I’ve worked for Northeast Plumbing in Great Neck and now in Mineola for over 35 years and still counting. I have been on average 15 minutes early and that is in bad weather and 30 minutes in good. I have painfully bad knees and now cancer, and still get to work on time. Now if I can do that, than why can’t Mayor de Blasio get to where he has to be on time? Mayor de Blasio please tell me, because inquiring minds need to know. Frederick R. Bedell Jr. Glen Oaks Village Muni-meter mess all winter long Have any of our elected officials paid any attention to the conditions of the muni-meters as a result of this difficult winter? Many of them in Queens, and I would guess, in the rest of the city, are virtually unreachable due to the pile up of snow and ice that surrounds them. Trying to obey the law by depositing payment in one of them requires drivers to risk life and limb just to reach them. Whose responsibility is it to clear the snow from around the meters so you can access them? In many instances, you have to walk a half a block or more to get to an area with a curb that is cleared of snow just in order to get on the sidewalk, then walk back to the meter and do the same thing in reverse to get back to your car. All the while, of course, you are walking in the street and not on the sidewalk. Apparently, it is no one’s responsibility. This is an inexcusable oversight given the conditions we have experienced this year. Alternate side parking has been canceled many, many times this winter, yet we still have to feed the meters. When the city cannot or will not provide a safe way to use them, they should cancel the requirement to use the meters as well. Irene Bernstein-Pechmeze Whitestone Send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected] or write to Times Newsweekly, P.O. Box 863299, Ridgewood, NY 11386. PHOTO FLASHBACK: Here’s an undated photo of home along 80th Street, then known as Dry Harbor Road, looking north in Glendale. Note in the distance the Atlas Terminals water tower (at right) and the Hemmerdinger Industries building and smokestack (center background), which is now part of The Shops at Atlas Park.
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