WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 13
OP-ED LETTERS AND COMMENTS
PROUD OF TRIBUTE
TO HER LATE SON
On behalf of myself and my
family, I want to thank the Forest
Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps,
Alan Wolfe, P.J. Marcel, and the
Punishers for the outstanding job
on Sunday 9/8’s Run For Richie.
Without the team work and all the
participants, it could never have
happened.
It is truly appreciated the dedication
given to keep Richard’s name
alive, as well as all the people murdered
on Sept. 11, 2001, by a group
of cowards with one mission: to
destroy and conquer.
The Run for Richie is one way
among many to show how strong
and united we are. There were
people of all walks of life, religious
and ethnic backgrounds showing
that we are one strong force to be
reckoned with, united for a cause.
We will never forget.
For the people who wrote or said
things on Facebook or elsewhere
about the Run for Richie, they
should look in the mirror and
thank every day they have with
their loved ones, and never have
to face what thousands of people
like myself face every day. They
were upset because of the delay of
traffic.
Well, time can be made up, but a
life can not be made up. Once it’s
gone, it’s gone forever. No amount
of time, money or material things
can bring back a lost loved one.
So those complaining should get
off their high horses and thank
God for every day they have with
family and friends.
Dorie Pearlman and Family,
Howard Beach
FEELING BLUES
ON QUEENS BLVD.
On Sept. 8, I made the unfortunate
decision to travel on Queens
Boulevard, from Rego Park to Forest
Hills in a vehicle.
I tried to get past the intersection
of Yellowstone and Queens Boulevards,
traveling east, without much
success. It seems that “blocking the
box,” at that intersection and others,
in Forest Hills, has become a
daily routine.
Where is the enforcement of that
very traffic violation that the 112th
Precinct has promised previously?
I had to wait for three changes of
the traffic lights before I was able
to pass that intersection!
Granted, there was a street fair,
on Austin Street that Sunday, but
the intersection in question is only
two blocks away from the stationhouse.
If traffic law enforcement is
no longer a priority, for the NYPD,
shouldn’t they tell us that?
This is an ongoing problem, for
this intersection as well as for the
intersections of Queens Boulevard
and 71st-Continental Avenue, and
71st-Continental Avenue and Austin
Street.
As I made my way along Queens
Boulevard, I recalled being a part
of the community group that years
ago gave New York City’s Department
of Transportation recommendations
for making Queens
Boulevard safer from Yellowstone
Boulevard to Union Turnpike.
The group was to make traffic
run smoother, to keep pedestrians
safer when crossing Queens Boulevard
and to help cyclists traverse
the boulevard without being run
down by fast-moving cars. Why
have none of our recommendations
been implemented by now?
Only with strenuous enforcement
of the current traffic laws,
will traveling on Queens Boulevard
be better than it has been. When
did the NYPD decide that traffic
enforcement, along Queens Boulevard,
is not worth their time?
S.M. Sobelsohn, Kew Gardens
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Pass personal time law
BY JUMAANE WILLIAMS
On Labor Day, we remembered
and elevated the countless ways
in which unions have fought to
improve the lives of people who work
to support their families and build
our nation.
These organizations have worked
across generations to secure the
five-day work week, paid family
and medical leave, safer working
conditions, child labor laws, and
other advancements, many of
which are often taken for granted
today.
To truly honor that legacy and
obtain justice for undervalued
working New Yorkers, we must
take another crucial step by leading
our nation – a nation that lags
behind dozens of countries in this
area– to secure paid personal time
for all.
The fight for paid time off is not
new. It spans generations, beginning
as early as the New Deal era,
when President William Howard
Taft argued in 1910 that Americans
need up to three months of time off
to ensure they could keep working
“with the energy and effectiveness.”
Our labor unions picked up
the torch and in the 1930s, began
negotiating to acquire paid time
off coverage as the Labor Department
investigated whether the
nation should have a federal vacation
policy. By 1943, eight million
unionized employees had paid time
off, up from two million in 1940.
Now, in 2019, a culture of overwork
dominates our nation, and
paid time off is treated as a privilege
afforded only to some well-off
workers.
Currently, the US is the only
advanced economy that does not
guarantee paid personal time for
workers. By comparison, Australia
requires employers to offer
at least 20 paid personal days
per year, while many European
countries of fer up to 30 paid
personal days per year. A recent
survey found that 52 percent
of low-wage workers nationally
have paid personal time as compared
to 91 percent of high-wage
workers.
These statistics reveal a question
of equity, fairness, and worker justice.
Mandating paid personal time
is the answer.
Workers who are viewed as
subjects unworthy of rest can be
forced to make a decision as to
whether they miss much-needed
pay or risk termination because of
needed time away from work. They
are forced to make an unjust choice
just to get by, paralyzed by policy
and by a culture that reprimands,
rather than rewards, taking such
personal time.
Ours is a culture of overwork
and undervalue. But it is
also a culture of working people
f ighting for their rights and
the rights of others, standing
together, and building a movement
for justice.
To advance justice and equity for
3.4 million working New Yorkers,
five years ago I introduced a firstof
its-kind bill to guarantee paid
personal time for most employees.
It would require employers
to give workers 80 hours of paid
personal time annually, attained
on an accrual basis. Some have
raised concerns about increased
costs, including in the small business
community – as a former
small business owner myself, I am
sensitive and receptive to their
concerns.
We can work together, as we
did with paid sick leave, as we did
in the Fight for 15, to enact legislation
that works for all in the
workplace.
Moreover, employers will benefit
from the proven gains that
paid leave provides employees
– improved mental and physical
health, lower stress, greater morale,
and increased productivity,
among others.
After five years with this legislation,
and the many decades of
work that led us to this point, we
can seize the momentum of the moment
and create transformational
change.
Williams is the public advocate of
the city of New York.
SNAPS
LONG ISLAND CITY SUNSETS
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