WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MAY 31, 2018 13
LETTERS AND COMMENTS
ON THE NFL’S
STAND AGAINST
ANTHEM
KNEELING
I feel the NFL owners have fi nally
united and have fi nally have taken
a stand against kneeling during the
national anthem.
Teams will be fined and players
will be faced with the consequences
of their actions. Also those who
don’t want to stand can stay in the
locker rooms.
The act of kneeling during the
national anthem, I feel, is an insult
to all of us who have died and
served our country in the military
— not to mention those who have
lost limbs protecting the rights we
all hold most dear.
In my opinion protesting is the
right of those who feel abused by
police but there are many police
officers who protect the many and
meanwhile there have many police
officers who have been killed in the
line of duty nationwide. The majority
of our police deserve respect
and should be honored.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.,
Glen Oaks Village
Editor’s note: Time and time
again, NFL players who have chosen
to kneel during the playing of
the national anthem have stated
that their protest was not intended
to disrespect members of the Armed
Forces.
As Eric Reid, a San Francisco
49ers safety, explained in a September
2017 op-ed for The New York
Times, he and his former teammate,
Colin Kaepernick, chose to kneel
“after hours of careful consideration,
and even a visit from Nate Boyer, a
retired Green Beret and former NFL
player.”
“We chose to kneel because it’s
a respectful gesture. I remember
thinking our posture was like a flag
flown at half-mast to mark a tragedy,”
Reid wrote in the Times. “It baffles
me that our protest is still being
misconstrued as disrespectful to the
country, flag and military personnel.
We chose it because it’s exactly
the opposite. It has always been my
understanding that the brave men
and women who fought and died for
our country did so to ensure that we
could live in a fair and free society,
which includes the right to speak out
in protest.”’
Even NFL Commissioner Roger
Goodell, in announcing the league’s
new national anthem policy last
week, said as much: “It was unfortunate
that on-field protests created a
false perception among many that
thousands of NFL players were unpatriotic.
This is not and was never
the case.”
The NFL, as a private business,
has a right to regulate its own practices,
so they are free to penalize
players who choose to kneel during
the national anthem. That is their
prerogative.
However, in the United States
of America, people have the right
to protest — an inalienable right
guaranteed to them under the First
Amendment of the Constitution that
our armed forces have valiantly defended
through the years.
Despite the perception of some,
Reid, Kaepernick and other players
who have knelt during the anthem
seem to realize and appreciate the
sacrifices made in defense of their
freedom to protest.
While there is always room for
disagreement in this great republic,
in the words of Edward R. Murrow,
“we must not confuse dissent with
disloyalty.”
Robert Pozarycki, editor-in-chief
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in all letters and comments are not
necessarily those of this publication
or its staff.
OP-ED
LaGuardia AirTrain won’t be for a billion
born out by the facts. There will be signifi
It’s that time of year again
when schools across our
borough bid farewell to
their graduating classes.
We checked the Ridgewood
Times archives for some old
graduation pictures and came
across this black-and-white
vintage photograph. Here are
the eighth-grade graduates
of the Class of 1952 from P.S.
68 in Glendale. Send us your
historic photos of Queens by
email to editorial@qns.com
(subject: A Look Back) or mail
printed pictures to A Look
Back, The Queens Courier,
38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY
11361. All mailed pictures will
be carefully returned to you.
GBY LARRY PENNER overnor Andrew Cuomo continues
to be overly optimistic
concerning building a train
to the plane for LaGuardia Airport.
In early 2014, Governor Cuomo
said the estimated cost for construction
of the LaGuardia AirTrain would
be $450 million. At the time, this was
based upon a planning feasibility
study. Over four years have passed
since Cuomo announced this project
with little progress to date. There are
no environmental documents or any
preliminary design and engineering
eff orts necessary to validate any actual
construction costs. The environmental
review process will be further delayed.
More time will be needed to look at
new proposed concepts of building the
AirTrain over Flushing Bay versus the
original option of using the Grand
Central Parkway median. This could
easily add several hundred million
dollars to overall construction costs.
I previously wrote that the anticipated
fi nal potential cost for LaGuardia
Airtrain could end up being several
hundred million dollars above Cuomo’s
estimated fi gure of $450 million.
I also predicted that the promised
completion date by 2019 was unrealistic.
Both have proven to be true.
The Port Authority 2017-2026 capital
budget plan lists this project at $1 billion.
Costs will be further refined as the
project progresses through the environmental
review process, preliminary
and final design, award of construction
contracts followed by change orders to
the base contracts during construction.
Cuomo’s belief that this will provide
a “one-seat ride” for those traveling
to and from LaGuardia Airport isn’t
A LOOK BACK
Ridgewood Times archives
cant confl icts when the LaGuardia
Airtrain is built and open for service
with connections to both the Mets Willets
Point subway and LIRR stations.
Why would any LaGuardia Airport
bound travelers with luggage attempt to
squeeze in on already packed morning
and aft ernoon rush hour subway and
LIRR trains?
There is no room to run additional
trains in or out of Penn Station via the
East River tunnels with connections
via the Port Washington LIRR branch to
any LaGuardia AirTrain. This confl icts
with Cuomo’s promise to have the MTA
LIRR introduce a new frequent service
between Penn Station and Mets Willets
Point LIRR Station.
With three tracks merging into two
tracks between the 33rd Street and
Queensboro Plaza stations, there is also no
space to run any additional 7 line rush hour
trains to serve the LaGuardia AirTrain. It
could easily cost $5 to $10 billion to construct
a third track plus a new East River
tunnel west of Queensboro Plaza. This is
necessary to extend express service into
Manhattan. The concept is clearly not
feasible either technically or fi nancially.
To build a train to the plane within
fi ve years for $1 billion is a planner’s
dream. In reality, it will be a nightmare
for both taxpayers and riders.
You can count on cost overruns in the
hundreds of millions and multiyear
delays in construction before reaching
benefi cial use.
Larry Penner is a transportation
historian and advocate who previously
worked 31 years for the U.S. Department
of Transportation Federal Transit Administration
Region 2 NY Offi ce.
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