FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com AUGUST 11, 2016 • TIMES 13 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com AUGUST 11, 2016 • THE COURIER SUN 19 oped oped This Bushwick-bound trolley is pictured turning from St. Nicholas Avenue onto Myrtle Avenue in Ridgewood in this 1940s picture provided to us via the Facebook group, “You must have lived in Ridgewood if you remember...”. In the background is the facade of Roman Paint, which remains in business to this day. The A&P supermarket, however, left long ago. Send us your historic pictures of Queens on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/QNS, email them to editorial@qns.com, or write to The Ridgewood Times, 38-15 Bell Blvd.,Bayside, NY 11361. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned to you. letters & comments HOWARD BEACH MURDER VICTIM Regarding the murder of Karina Vetrano: I live in Ozone Park and visit Howard Beach often. There are too many crimes that are happening in our area lately! We need to be extra cautious with new faces and keep a eye out for your neighbors, friends and family. I’m reading everyday now more and more crimes happening in Queens and it makes me very concerned. I’m going to start to be more active in my community and attend neighborhood meetings. Ozone Park sends its love to Howard Beach forever. QNS user Justin Taipe FINALLY TIME TO FIX UP & REUSE RKO KEITH’S It is about time. No one wanted to fi x an old movie theater. No one goes to the movies that much anymore. They stay at home and watch movies at home. It sat there for over 30 years, an eyesore. If somebody, or the community wanted to save it, then you all should have started an organization to get it done. And if you did, and you could not get the community to care enough to get it done, then so be it. At least now we will have something new. Something that brings revenue to the city. QNS user wansor HE HATES ABOUT HIS LOCAL SUPERMARKET I would like to warn supermarket customers of the Briarwood Key Food “Fresh” — Dan’s franchise — at 138-37 Queens Blvd., off 86th Avenue of a number of detrimental issues. First, the majority of the employees, as well as managers, are either unfriendly or seriously discourteous to customers. Second, sometimes due to either improper shelving of items in their respective brand and size categories or computer errors, customers are charged regular prices instead of the sale prices. If one doesn’t check A LOOK BACK each item while scanned or examine the receipt, then buyer beware. Third, sometimes sale items are not shelved, or not in stock, or the manager refuses to shelve the item. Fourth, there is no full-time frozen food manager, with a part-timer starting at 5 p.m., so sometimes the shelves are empty until fi lled post-5 p.m. Fifth, sometimes produce is spoiled, due to improper storage (I had bought eggplant and potatoes interiorly blackened, thus inedible). Sixth, every time I have purchased sirloin chopped beef, the interior was blackened. Seventh, the store doesn’t enforce the state law limiting recyclables to 240 per user per day; instead, they allow noncustomers to recycle 500, 1,000, etc. per day, thus preventing customers from returning small amounts, by occupying the machines or fi lling them up prematurely. The adjacent grounds are littered with glass debris thereof. Eight, a horrible, putrescent smell emanates from their dumpster in the rear parking lot. Nine, managers routinely smoke outside the rear door entrance. Ten, managers use their fi ngers to eat fruit and nuts out of their receptacles in the produce department. There is a solution. Shop at the Key Food in nearby Kew Gardens Hills at 79-15 Main St., and Union Turnpike. None of these problems are existent there, plus it is a cooler and more spacious store, with better parking. Shopping should be a pleasurable experience, not a nightmare. Joseph N. Manago, Flushing USE THE LEFT FOOT TO BRAKE, ONE DRIVER SAYS During a lot of panic crashes, infl uenced or not by drugs or alcohol, right foot pedal error plays a major negative role. It is so wide spread that it is called the Right Foot Braking Epidemic. Despite this the guys in charge of driver legislation and training don’t want to have this method of braking scientifi cally examined and compared to the Left Foot Braking Method. The teaching of right foot braking on automatic cars for student drivers should be banned. QNS user Trevor Frith IT’S TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT PASSING THE DREAM ACT BY STATE SENATOR TOBY ANN STAVISKY With the fall college semester around the corner, I can’t help but to be reminded about the DREAM Act and, despite years of pushing for its passage, it remains in legislative limbo. As the ranking member of the Senate Higher Education Committee and former teacher, I am particularly invested in college accessibility. A strong educational background is essential in today’s workforce, but remains out of reach for so many, particularly for the undocumented. It is estimated that 146,000 young people in New York, who spent most of their lives being educated in New York public schools, are ineligible to receive fi nancial aid through the New York State Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). Suddenly, their goals of obtaining a college degree and a well-paying job fall out of reach. In fact, out of the 4,500 undocumented students who graduate each year, 5 percent attend college. That rate is not only regrettable, it’s plain wrong. A student who has roots in this country, who studied alongside his or her peers and who managed to be accepted into college, should not be shut out because of their immigrant and income status. In 2011, hope came in the form of the DREAM Act, legislation that would authorize undocumented students who graduate from high school in New York State to apply for tuition assistance. As a representative for a district populated with a number of documented and undocumented immigrant families, I was proud to sign on as a co-sponsor of this very important bill. Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions about the DREAM Act, leading some of my colleagues in the Senate to vote against it time and time again. This bill does not provide incentives for people to come here illegally, it does not shut out documented New Yorkers from attending college and will actually make money for taxpayers as the students who would benefi t from the DREAM Act will each contribute tens of thousands of dollars to our state’s economy. Like many of the thousands of dreamers, I have grown frustrated. Five years after it was originally introduced, the DREAM Act has yet to be passed. And all the while, high school seniors are slipping through the cracks. It seems the only way to pass the DREAM Act is to get Democrats in the majority once again. The Democratcontrolled Assembly has passed the DREAM Act a number of times, but the Senate remains stagnant. We need everyone to get out there and vote for candidates who align with their conscience. It is not enough to voice support for legislation. We also need to take action. Failing to vote will maintain business as usual and keeps thousands of dreamers in the shadows for another year. Senator Stavisky represents the 16th Senatorial District, which covers parts of many neighborhoods across central and eastern Queens. This Bushwick-bound trolley is pictured turning from St. Nicholas Avenue onto Myrtle Avenue in Ridgewood in this 1940s picture provided to us via the Facebook group, “You must have lived in Ridgewood if you remember...”. In the background is the facade of Roman Paint, which remains in business to this day. The A&P supermarket, however, left long ago. Send us your historic pictures of Queens on our Facebook page, www.facebook. com/QNS, email them to editorial@qns.com, or write to The Queens Courier, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned to you. MOURNING HOWARD BEACH MURDER VICTIM FINALLY TIME TO FIX UP & REUSE RKO KEITH’S 10 THINGS HE HATES ABOUT HIS LOCAL SUPERMARKET LEFT FOOT TO BRAKE, ONE DRIVER SAYS Crowley to mayor: No Maspeth shelter BY COUNCILWOMAN ELIZABETH CROWLEY Editor’s note: The following is an open letter from the author to Mayor Bill de Blasio. I write in strong opposition to your administration’s proposal to turn Maspeth’s Holiday Inn Express into a homeless shelter. It is a shortsighted, fiscally irresponsible and completely inadequate plan for the homeless and for the Maspeth community. Hotel rooms are by no means suitable for anyone who has fallen on hard times. It puts occupants in an unstable environment, and is not the right answer when addressing our city’s homelessness crisis. Hotels are dangerous, expensive, and do not provide occupants with a real kitchen or other home amenities. On average, adult families have stayed in these shelters for nearly two years — hotel rooms are an improper home for days, let alone two years. Furthermore, both you, Mayor de Blasio, and Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Steven Banks have gone on record saying that converting hotels to homeless shelters is the wrong approach to housing families and individuals. However, this proposal completely contradicts those sentiments. Since you took office, three fiscal budgets have provided hundreds of millions of dollars to increase homeless services. This has allowed an increase in staffing levels and direct grants to keep families in their homes, and also enhanced the Shelter Repair Squad, which can fix violations at existing facilities. With the additional funding and services for homeless prevention we have seen a 5 percent decrease in the daily population at New York City shelters since the December 2014 height. Despite this decrease, homelessness continues to be a serious issue in our city. We must work together to build more affordable and permanent housing. City dollars should go toward safe, clean conditions for the homeless, and not toward converting hotels into temporary housing. Under your new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) zoning requirements, a minimum of 25 percent of the units constructed would be below market-rate units. There is currently no plan for more affordable housing in Community Board 5 in Queens, nor in my Council District. We need affordable housing, not another shelterhotel. In recent months, two real estate developers who are eager to build residential housing units in Maspeth and Woodside have approached me, looking to start a conversation about a zoning change consistent with MIH. Furthermore, there are already three shelters within blocks of the proposed Holiday Inn site, greatly impacting the Maspeth community. The Administration’s efforts should be devoted to working with the developers, community boards, and elected officials’ offices to build affordable housing in Maspeth and the surrounding area. This is the fiscally and socially responsible method to help those who lack the most basic of life’s necessities — a place to call their home. Councilwoman Crowley represents the 30th Council District, which includes all or parts of Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth, Middle Village, Woodhaven and Woodside.
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