FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com AUGUST 4, 2016 • THE COURIER SUN 19 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com AUGUST 4, 2016 • TIMES 13 oped oped Some of our older readers must remember that the For those who may not believe it, check out this 1944 and 164th Street, the heart of the neighborhood’s was eliminated east of Richmond Hill in the 1980s as pictures of Queens on our Facebook page, www.facebook.Ridgewood Times, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned to you! letters & comments READER ISN’T A FAN OF L TRAIN DETOUR PROPOSAL Regarding a proposal to shift the E train to the G line during the L train shutdown: This is the stupidest Brooklyn-centric idea for convenience of L train users. As a Queens resident who can take the E from either Sutphin Blvd or Kew Gardens our express trains in the past decade have become least reliable. Yes we’ve been lucky to have the new trains for the past fi ve or so years, but the service delays have only increased. This will make trains that are already packed (rush-hours leaving Queens or entering) even more unbearable. I take the F to work in the morning sometimes and the residents from Queensbridge & Roosevelt Island can’t get on a train, thus waiting 2 or 3 trains which is most likely 30 minutes. I take trains near the end of the E & F lines and it takes over 10 minutes to get a train at rush hour & non rush hour could be up to 20-30 minutes. The delays on the LIRR the past few days might have made the trip even worse! I dare this company to take a trip on the E during rush hour and witness Queens residents’ frustrations! QNS user CRina3 PRAISE FOR NEW SECURITY CAMERAS AT FOREST PARK Regarding the new security cameras at Forest Park: Great work, Assemblyman Mike Miller! It took me the same amount of time even with all the help of our local representatives and community members here in the confi nes of the 100th Precinct on Rockaway Peninsula. We all fought hard to get them and it pays off. Danny Ruscillo, former president 100th Precinct Community Council MOURNING THE LATEST VICTIM OF INTERNATIONAL TERROR I’m appalled over the beheading of a 84-yearold A LOOK BACK priest named Father Jacques Hamel in a church at Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in France. The ISIS jihadists who committed this egregious and nefarious act of hatred, I fi nd quite troubling. Is not a house of worship a most sacred place? A house of worship in my opinion is a place that only has one purpose — to promote love and to spread the message to commit acts of kindness to others. As a Catholic and as a member of the Knights of Columbus, I would like to extend my heartfelt prayers to this parish who are feeling a great loss of a good priest. Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Glen Oaks Village RANTING AND RAVING OVER THE NOMINEE At the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump spoke for 75 minutes. Never has one man talked so much and said absolutely nothing! It’s amazing. Trump praises Putin, a man who had Boris Nemtsov, his #1 critic, assassinated in the shadow of the Kremlin. But at least Trump has the endorsement of one prominent foreign leader — North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. As the GOP candidate for president, Trump is now entitled to receive classifi ed security information. Trump has displayed an ignorance of military and foreign affairs—at one debate he had no idea what the nuclear triad was. He has also fl oated the idea of withdrawing from NATO and ending other alliances. The director of the CIA and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have publicly spoken out against Trump’s proposed policies, and a recent news article described panic among current and former military offi cers at the prospect of a Trump presidency. As a former senior intelligence offi cial said, “It’s not an unreasonable concern that he’ll talk publicly about what’s supposed to stay in that room.” Tony Schwartz was the ghost writer for Trump’s “Art Of The Deal,” so he worked closely with Trump for 18 months. He got to know him very, VERY well. He says Trump is a sociopath. Robert LaRosa, Whitestone Transit blame game forgets city history BY LARRY PENNER It is disappointing that Mayor Bill de Blasio still has a poor understanding about his relationship with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority after three years in offi ce for management and funding of its capital program. His ongoing theme is that because the MTA is a state agency, he has no control over its capital program, operations and funding makes no sense when you look at the facts. Contrary to Mayor de Blasio’s rhetoric, NYC has signifi cant infl uence with both Albany and the MTA. He appoints four of the 15 members on the MTA board. Bronx New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie appoints one of the four members of the MTA Capital Program Review Board. They must approve all MTA Five-Year Capital Plans and plan amendments, including adding new projects or funding. There are also 59 fellow Democrats in the state Assembly, out of 150 from NYC, who owe their allegiance to Heastie. Three of the fi ve-member Independent Democratic State Senate Conference are from NYC. The federal planning process to access U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration funding is managed by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC). NYCDOT Commissioner Trottenberg and NYC Department of Planning Director Carl Weisbrod each have a vote along with representatives from the MTA, Nassau County, Suffolk County, Putnam County, Rockland County, Westchester County and New York State Department of Transportation. In FY 2016, NYMTC decides how over $1.2 billion in U.S. DOT FTA formula funding is distributed among the voting members. This also requires a unanimous vote among all NYMTC members. Too many municipal elected offi cials, including de Blasio, complain about the MTA has forgotten its transit history. In 1953, the old NYC Board of Transportation passed on control of the municipal subway system, including all its assets under a master lease and operating agreement to the newly created NYC Transit Authority. Under late Governor Nelson Rockefeller in the 1960s, the MTA was created. The governor appointed four board members. Likewise, the mayor appointed four more, and the rest were appointed by suburban county executives. No one elected offi cial controlled a majority of the votes. As a result, elected offi cials have historically taken credit when the MTA or any operating subsidiary such as New York City Transit would do a good job. When operational problems occurred or fare increases were needed, everyone says, “Don’t blame me; I’m only a minority within the board.” Decade after decade, NYC mayors, comptrollers, public advocates, City Council presidents, borough presidents and City Council members would all play the same sad song — if only we had majority control of the board, things would be different. All have long forgotten that buried within the 1953 master agreement between the city of New York and NYC Transit is an escape clause. New York City has the legal right at any time to take back control of its assets. This includes the subway and most of the bus system. Actions speak louder than words. If de Blasio feels he could do a better job managing the MTA including running the nation’s largest subway and bus system, he should man up and regain control. Instead of complaining, why not come up with the $2.5 billion the city still owes toward funding the MTA 2015-2019 Five-Year Capital Program? Let the professionals as opposed to career politicians run transit. 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. PLACE Some of our older readers must remember that the Jamaica Avenue El once extended all the way into Jamaica. For those who may not believe it, check out this 1944 picture of the streetscape at the corner of Jamaica Avenue and 164th Street, the heart of the neighborhood’s shopping district. The el, which once carried the J/Z train, was eliminated east of Richmond Hill in the 1980s as the tracks were moved underground. Send us your historic pictures of Queens on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com; by emailing editorial@qns.com; or by mail to The Queens Courier, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned to you! blame game READER ISN’T A FAN OF L TRAIN PROPOSAL PRAISE FOR NEW SECURITY AT FOREST PARK MOURNING THE LATEST VICTIM TERROR AND RAVING OVER THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE
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