WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 13
LETTERS AND COMMENTS
WHAT HAPPENED
AT MASPETH HIGH?
The latest story about Maspeth High
School is just outrageous! Reportedly,
teachers are being threatened with
disciplinary action by school administrators
if they do not pass failing
students so they can graduate, and
some teachers have given answers to
students during regents exams.
Even students from other grade
levels at that high school have been reportedly
passed by their teachers due
to pressure from the administration to
do so. How could this high school principal
have been awarded the National
Blue Ribbon award?
I certainly concur with City Councilman
Robert Holden’s request for
an investigation into Maspeth High
School. If students are failing consistently
throughout the school year and
are not showing up for class, how could
they receive passing grades to either go
on to the next grade level, or to graduate?
What is the UFT’s input on all of
this? The union should also demand
an investigation.
No teacher should ever be pressured
by any principal or assistant principal
to “infl ate” any student’s grades for
any reason, nor should any teacher be
threatened with disciplinary retribution
for refusing to change a student’s
grades. Any school administrator
who acts in such an unprofessional,
demeaning way should be fi red!
John Amato, Fresh Meadows
TIME FOR LIGHT AT
LOCAL SCHOOL
This fall’s school semester marks
the 70th anniversary of P.S. 164 in
Kew Gardens Hills. I was part of the
inaugural class in 1949 and the fi rst
graduating class in 1951.
But when 2019 classes resumed, so
did a persistent problem: high volume
and hazardous traffi c conditions on
77th Avenue, where P.S. 164 is located.
As a nearby resident, I’ve witnessed
near collisions and road rage incidents
during the school’s
morning opening and afternoon
closing hours. Working with P.S. 164’s
principal Lisa Liatto last year, I drew
up a petition signed by teachers, safety
offi cers and parents to convert 77th Avenue
into a one-way street going east
from Park Drive East to Vleigh Place.
Community Board 8 rejected it. But
we have another option, installing
a traffi c light at the juncture of 77th
Avenue and 137th Road, which has a
much better chance of success.
That’s because NYC’s Department
of Transportation recently approved
a traffi c light for P.S. 376 in Bayside,
which faces similar traffi c congestion
and accident potential.
City Councilman Paul Vallone and
Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, acting
on parents’ complaints and with
Community Board 11’s backing,
pressured the DOT to authorize the
traffi c light.
P.S. 164 parents must urge CB 8’s
leaders to serve their community.
Make your voices heard.
Richard Reif, Kew Gardens Hills
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SNAPS
SUNSETS AT LITTLE BAY
PARK
PHOTO BY LISA FEST-KEIN
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OP-ED
Free apts., and chaos
BY JAY MARTIN
As building owners try to make
sense of the Tenant Protection
Act of 2019, a sweeping package
of rent reforms passed in the state
Legislature in June, it has become
increasingly clear that politicians in
New York are determined to put them
out of business. One way is by eliminating
almost all of the consequences for
tenants who don’t pay their rent.
Under the new laws, a tenant who has
a good credit score, a steady income and
a clean criminal history should have no
problem getting an apartment. And, if
they are willing to deal with the legal
process and move to a new apartment
every year or so, they can basically stop
paying rent.
Here’s how. In the new laws, there is
a ban on landlords using what has been
dubbed a “tenant blacklist.” The idea
that there is an actual list that is shared
with building owners and operators is
ludicrous, but what has been standard
practice was to check public data to see
if a tenant had been part of an eviction
proceeding. That is now illegal for a
building owner to do.
So building owners are now forced to
make all rental decisions based solely
on credit score and income. Some cautious
landlords have already started to
set strict thresholds for renting — like
a better than 700 credit score and an
income that is fi ve times the annual
rent — a standard out of reach for most
working-class New Yorkers.
Once securing an apartment, by
paying one-month security deposit
and your fi rst month’s rent, a tenant
can likely live rent-free for the rest of
the year. It’s illegal for the landlord to
“harass” you. They cannot change the
locks, padlock the doors, take any of
your furniture or do any of the other
horror stories you frequently hear spoken
about. If they do, the penalties are
incredibly harsh, and the government
is eager to make examples of the rare
bad actors — as they should.
Most building owners, despite the
propaganda of professional tenant
activists, are honest brokers who do
the best they can to follow the layers of
bureaucratic regulations. So, all they
will do when a tenant doesn’t pay rent is
send them a late notice by certifi ed mail,
and then eventually, follow up with
eviction proceedings that they know
will take months in the courts.
When the tenant finally has to
appear in court they can ask for an
adjournment, which gets you at least a
14-day delay. When the tenant returns
to court, and loses, the judge will set a
date for you to vacate the apartment
— which likely will be several months
later. If you don’t vacate by that date, the
landlord will hit you with a Warrant
of Eviction, which buys you at least another
14 days before you are forced to
move. And, the court is also authorized
to stay the eviction for up to a year to
avoid tenant hardship — including
the inability of the tenant to aff ord an
apartment in the neighborhood. So,
a tenant’s failure to pay the rent can
actually become an excuse to remain
in occupancy.
Most tenants are good people and
we expect they don’t take advantage of
this gaping loophole in the laws. But, it
is easy to see a tenant in the fi nal four
months of their lease, planning on moving
out, straddled with student loan
debt and a revolving balance on their
credit cards, just deciding they are
going to pay their other bills. Stiffi ng
the building owner up to or even more
than $5,000 is likely not going to come
with consequences.
As buildings crumble and building
owners abandon properties, even rent
payers will give up. Developers and
investors are going to see this mess
and run away from New York as fast
as possible. The city’s property tax
base, which is heavily dependent on
multiple family housing, will collapse.
Our subways and schools, already in
need of investment, will follow. As the
infrastructure and housing market
plummet, businesses will fl ee the city.
This doomsday scenario may sound
farfetched in New York City, but the
embers of this fi re have already been
lit by self-described socialist elected
offi cials.
Jay Martin is the executive director of
the Community Housing Improvement
Program (CHIP), representing building
owners providing rent-stabilized housing
to more than 400,000 New Yorkers.
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