WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MARCH 21, 2019 13
LETTERS AND COMMENTS
CLOSE THE
STATION DOWN
A 21-year-old man was shot and
wounded on the platform of the 75th
Avenue subway station at Queens
Boulevard on March 15. This incident
sparks concerns over safety on our
subways and raises the question: Why
is the station still open?
It is, to my knowledge, the only
local Queens stop on the E and F lines,
forcing trains to make
detours en route to Manhattan and
Jamaica. Express stops exist within
6 blocks of this station either way at
the Union Turnpike and 71st Avenue
stations. Riders unable or unwilling
to walk the short distance can take the
Q60 bus at no extra charge.
Closing the station will save the
MTA money, while boosting service
and safety.
Richard Reif, Kew Gardens Hills
THE HARMFUL
ADMISSION
SCANDAL
The developing college admissions
scandal has revealed that a few wealthy
parents have illegally paid bribes
to various officials to falsify their
children’s test scores or their academic
or athletic achievements to improve
their chances of being admitted to
elite colleges.
In addition, many elite colleges give
preferential treatment in admissions
to children of alumni and to students
whose parents make large donations
to the college.
When an average student from a very
wealthy family is admitted to an elite
college because her parents have made
some type of fi nancial commitment to
the college, one wonders how likely the
student will be to graduate.
Presumably, in an elite college,
she will have to compete against
academically superior classmates
enrolled in highly demanding courses.
If she does graduate, one may question
the rigor of the curriculum off ered by
the college.
Her graduation would suggest that
a college is labeled elite if it is hard for
students from non-wealthy families
to be admitted, but easy for anyone
to graduate.
Theodore Sheskin, Flushing
Email your letters to editorial@qns.
com (Subject: Letter to the Editor) or leave
a comment to any of our stories at QNS.
com. You can also send a letter by regular
mail to Letters to the Editor, 38-15 Bell
Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All letters are
subject to editing. Names will be withheld
upon request, but anonymous letters
will not be considered for publication.
The views expressed in all letters and
comments are not necessarily those of
this newspaper or its staff .
SNAPS
The need for Queens to
back congestion pricing
COURT SQUARE STATION VIEWS IN LIC
PHOTO VIA INSTAGRAM @richardmazdanyc
Send us your photos of Queens
and you could see them online or in our paper!
To submit them to us, tag @qnsgram on Instagram,
visit our Facebook page, tweet @QNS
or email editorial@qns.com (subject: Queens Snaps).
OP-ED
BY JESSICA RAMOS AND
NKATHRYN WYLDE ew York City has added 1.3
million people and over a
million jobs since 1990. Queens
alone has gained over 400,000 residents
and almost 200,000 jobs during the
same period. But our transportation
infrastructure is about the same as it
was in the 1980s.
The New York State Legislature has
about two weeks to approve a smart plan
for modernizing our region’s bus, subway
and commuter rail services. Most New
Yorkers recognize the desperate need
for more reliable and accessible transit
services, so reform of the MTA and
funding for necessary improvements
should be a no-brainer, but that is not
necessarily the case in Albany.
Many legislators are hung up on
the plan’s primary source of funding:
congestion pricing.
This is a toll on private cars and
trucks that enter the Manhattan
central business district south of 60th
Street. Other world cities like London,
Stockholm and Singapore have reduced
traffi c gridlock and increased funding
for public transit with congestion
pricing and are happy with the results.
The proposal for Manhattan would
involve a toll that varies based on traffi c
conditions, so it would be highest during
rush hour and less on weekends, nights
and holidays.
Only a fraction (8 percent) of Queens
residents who regularly commute
into Manhattan do so by private car,
compared to 90 percent of residents
who use public transit. Those who
drive do so largely because subway
and bus alternatives are uncomfortable,
inconvenient and unreliable.
Queens is the borough that suff ers the
most delay and lost productivity because
of excess traffi c, much of it generated
by trucks and cars of nonresidents that
cross the borough in order to get to
and from Manhattan and the airports.
Congestion pricing in Manhattan will
ultimately reduce the vehicles driving
through. It will enable local ambulances
and other emergency vehicles to move
faster and cut down on pollution that
causes high rates of asthma in many
Queens neighborhoods.
Instead of objecting to congestion
pricing, the Legislature must demand
transit investments that will make it
easy to choose a fast-moving and timely
bus or train rather than driving into
Manhattan, where parking charges
are routinely as much as $50 a day. They
should eliminate the dashboard placards
that allow government workers to park
their private cars illegally and at no
charge. (Government is the industry
with the highest number of workers
driving private cars into Manhattan.)
The cost of upgrading transit
services is high: more than $40 billion
over the next fi ve years for the capital
improvements and many billions more
to run the system. Transit riders pay for
about half the operating costs through
the fare box. Businesses and other
taxpayers contribute more than $5
billion a year in tax subsidies. But many
of the vehicle owners who benefi t from
a thriving city economy (and create the
traffi c congestion that costs the region
more than $20 billion a year in delay and
lost productivity) are not paying their
fair share.
Transit services have deteriorated
to a point where customers are leaving
the system. The result is a crisis that
threatens the continued vitality of every
community. It demands immediate
action by the state Legislature through
the adoption of congestion pricing as part
of the state budget
Only with these actions will New
Yorkers get the transportation system
that our city deserves.
Jessica Ramos is state Senator for
the 13th Senatorial District in western
Queens; Kathryn Wylde is president and
CEO of the Partnership for New York City.
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
