FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com MAY 26, 2016 • THE COURIER SUN 25 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com MAY 26, 2016 • TIMES 13 oped oped Thousands of Queens residents fought in World War II. While they served in combat and risked it all for the country they loved, many of them grew bonds that would last long after the war ended. This July 1945 photo from the Ridgewood Times archives shows pictures of soldiers from Ridgewood, having returned from the war, reuniting for a game of softball at the P.S. 81 playground on Menahan Street. Among those pictured is Nino LoBello, who would go on to be a writer and editor with the Ridgewood Times years later. Send us your historic pictures of Queens by sharing them on our Facebook and Twitter pages, emailing [email protected], or by mail to The Queens Courier, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All mailed pictures Ridgewood Times, letters & comments PIMPS, NOT THE PEDDLERS Regarding prostitution busts in Ridgewood: Another waste of time and resources, and criminal records for people who aren’t a threat to anyone or anything. Arrest the pimps and regulate the prostitutes. QNS user Harvey Wachtel SHOULD BE A BUS, NOT A TROLLEY Regarding the Brooklyn Queens Connector: Will this be better transportation or another make work, big spending project? Projected at $2.5 billion and with no timetable, how long and how much will it really cost? We do have buses that run everywhere. We could have a Brooklyn Queens Connector bus route set up in a few days to a few weeks, with the cost of a few buses. Once the rails are put in, these cars cannot be moved or rerouted in an emergency. It seems like an awful lot of taxpayer money for a project that could cost very little being a bus route. And we all know $2.5 billion is the beginning cost, not the fi nal price. Robert Hartling, Flushing GRAFFITI VANDALISM WAS CHILD’S PLAY On the Whitestone graffi ti vandal: This adult didn’t use enough crayons when he was little so now spraying graffi ti is a fun game for him. QNS user FlipoutNYC PROPERLY In these diffi cult economic times, it is especially A LOOK BACK important to patronize your favorite restaurants and honor the employees who make them a success. Why not join me in celebrating National Waiter and Waitress Day on May 21? As regular patrons of several restaurants including Aunt Bella’s, Joe’s Marthan Food Shop and King Wok in Little Neck along with Fontana Famous Gyro and Pizza in Bayside, there are several ways to say thank you. Let your server(s), cooks and owners know how much you appreciate the excellent food and service. On this day, don’t forget your cook and server. We try to tip 20 percent against the total bill including taxes. If it is an odd amount, round up to the next dollar. Why not leave a 25 percent tip on this day? If you can afford to eat out, you can afford an extra dollar tip. When ordering take out, don’t forget to leave a dollar or two for the waiter or cook. Trust us, it is appreciated. Remember the people who work at your favorite restaurant are our neighbors. They work long hours for little pay and count on tips, which make up a significant portion of their income. If we don’t patronize our local restaurants, they don’t eat either. Your purchases keep our neighbors employed and the local economy growing. Why not drop off a box of candy, cookies or some other treat for your favorite waiter or restaurant staff on this day as well? Larry Penner, Great Neck ABOUT BUSTS How are they being charged with patronizing a prostitute when there were no prostitutes, only undercover cops? QNS user Michael G. Klein will be carefully returned to you upon request. Time to bring back back real banking reform reform BY STATE SENATOR JAMES SANDERS JR. What do Senators Elizabeth Warren and John McCain have in common? If you answered “not much,” you are not wrong. However, they do share one interesting thing: both lawmakers support reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, whose repeal played a key role in the 2007-2008 economic collapse. Restoring Glass-Steagall enjoys bipartisan support for good reason. The Banking Act of 1933, introduced by Senator Carter Glass and Representative Henry B. Steagall, was one of the signature legislative achievements of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. It established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to protect bank deposits. It also created a wall between commercial banking and investment banking, the provisions of which we refer to as Glass-Steagall today. Under the law, only commercial banks which did not engage in investment or “non-bank” activities enjoyed national protection. As we know, New Deal policies such as this one helped us recover from the Great Depression. With Glass-Steagall in place, we did not experience major collapse. Unfortunately, the narrative of fi nancial deregulation began to rule the day in recent decades. The protections of Glass-Steagall were chipped away until outright repealed in 1999. Investment banking was no longer separated from commercial banking, and our fi nancial system turned into a casino. We’re all too familiar with what happened next. The communities I represent in southeast Queens were and remain the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis. Former World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz noted when the risk-averse world of commercial banking met the high-risk world of investment banking, the latter’s culture prevailed. Financial institutions admitted their exceedingly risky behavior contributed to the foreclosure crisis and have agreed to multibillion-dollar settlements with the state. I have called for all of these monies to be used for helping the victims. Aside from restitution, we have to look to the future. The proactive approach to ensure this does not happen again is to restore Glass-Steagall. This is particularly crucial when one considers the top Wall Street banks are getting even bigger, having received government bailouts and massive infusions from the Federal Reserve. The top bank holding companies now have over $247 trillion in derivatives – many times their own assets, and many times the $17 trillion of the United States GDP. If they were Too Big to Fail before, what are they now? Indeed, we may be on the verge of another collapse. It is past time to protect the physical economy of our country, not the virtual economy of manipulated fi nance. My recent letter to the New York congressional delegation, which was also signed by six of my colleagues, urged the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall. Securing a safer banking system is of utmost importance. Whether you are a liberal Democrat or a conservative Republican, that is a priority you can get behind. CUFF THE PIMPS, NOT THE PEDDLERS CONNECTOR SHOULD BE A BUS, NOT A TROLLEY GRAFFITI VANDALLISM WAS CHILD’S PLAY BE SURE TO TIP PROPERLY ONE QUESTION ABOUT PROSTITUTION BUSTS
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