WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES SEPTEMBER 21, 2017 13
LETTERS OP-ED
YOU CALL THIS A
PRIMARY WIN?
Mayor Bill de Blasio shouldn’t be
proud of his 2017 Democratic Party
Primary win. Out of 3,100,000 eligible
Democratic primary voters, only 316,361
of them (10.2 percent) voted for de Blasio.
The other 90 percent either voted for
Sal Albanese (66,636, or 2.1 percent of
registered Democrats), Michael Tolkin
(20,445), Robert Gangi (13,537) or Richard
Bashner (10,538), or they voted for
None of the Above by staying home —
2,793,639. In reality, when you add up
the combined votes of de Blasio’s four
opponents with those who stayed home
by voting for “None of the Above”, less
than 10 percent of registered Democrats
supported de Blasio. He had the benefi ts
and perks of four years of being mayor,
including daily free media coverage.
In addition, virtually every NYC Democratic
Party elected offi cial, county and
district leader, local club house along
with most labor unions endorsed him.
This included mailings, phone banks
and get-out-the-vote drives. He raised
and spent several million dollars. De
Blasio has a two million media buy. In
contrast, his chief primary opponent
former NYC Council member Sal Albanese
only raised several hundred
thousand dollars. Albanese was vastly
outspent and could aff ord no media
buys to get his message out.
Larry Penner, Great Neck
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The case for keeping MVP charter open
BY SERPHIN R. MALTESE
Last week, Christ the King
High School (CTK), Middle
Village Preparatory Charter
School (MVP), and Christ the King
Continuing Education (CTKCE)
received the welcome news that a
judge from the Appellate Division
had granted us a temporary restraining
order.
This gives us the necessary time
to appeal a decision by Justice Grays
of Queens Supreme Court who had
denied requests from each of our
institutions to stay enforcement of
her March 23, 2017 order, requested
by the Brooklyn Diocese, to force
MVP to cease operations on the
CTK campus. We are currently
appealing that decision to the Appellate
Division.
It is unclear why Justice Grays
denied these requests after both
MVP and CTK had already started
their new school year. Despite the
Brooklyn Diocese fighting our stay,
no harm would be done to any of the
parties by allowing the requested
stay while our appeal is heard at the
Appellate Division.
However, the potential impact
of this ruling on MVP as an educational
institution is devastating.
MVP will be faced with the almost
impossible task of finding adequate
new educational facilities in the
middle of the school year and transitioning
its operations, resulting
in confusion and dislocation.
And that’s if such facilities could
even be found. It is well known
that there is no comparable space
available for MVP in the Middle
Village area.
If MVP is forced to end its operation
on the CTK Campus, and
unable to find suitable space to operate,
it will be forced to shut down.
That is a cold, hard fact. MVP’s 432
students, in grades 6 through 8,
would need to be accommodated
in public schools in one of the most
overcrowded school districts in
New York. This would be detrimental
to their education, and a cause
of severe anguish for parents who
have seen their children thrive and
succeed year after year in state
math and reading scores.
Flooding the local School District
(District 24) with an influx of 432
students after the school year has
already started will also have a
negative impact on other students
far removed from the CTK Campus
as well as the administrators
and teachers in the public school
system.
In addition to the turmoil visited
on MVP families, the teachers,
administrators and support staff,
MVP will also be thrown into confusion
with possible job losses if the
school is forced by the Diocese to
cease operations.
MVP has become over the last
four years an essential presence
on the CTK Campus. Rent from
MVP helps fund scholarships and
grants for most of the 700 students
at CTK. These funds add up to hundreds
of thousands of dollars that
directly affect CTK students and
their families by keeping the high
school tuition affordable for so
many hard-working people in our
community. Justice Grays’ decision
puts these scholarships in danger
of being defunded.
So, what is this really about, if it
can cause so much pain and disruption
to so many people?
The Diocese of Brooklyn says
they have no issue with MVP, but it
is their lawsuit that holds MVP students
as hostages, that fi ghts against
MVP’s right to intervene and their
intransigence at every turn that
puts MVP’s existence in peril.
They have refused to negotiate
any terms with Christ the King
High School unless we hand them
back a “reverter” clause. The same
court that the Diocese is using for
all these legal challenges has ruled
after a three-year lawsuit that the
Diocese lost that “reverter.” They
now seek to regain it by threatening
MVP, its 432 students and, in effect,
the stipends that enable almost 700
other students to attend Christ the
King High School.
The legal counsels for all three
entities, CTK, MVP and CTKCE, are
confident that we will prevail with
the appeal of Justice Grays’ original
ruling from March 2017.
Perhaps, with some additional
time, the Diocese will reconsider
this ill-advised and coercive lawsuit.
Hopefully the Diocese and
the board of CTK can reach a fair
agreement that benefits all parties,
especially those students at both
MVP and at Christ the King High
School.
Fairness and equity for the
students, families, teachers, administrators
and our communities
affected by this lawsuit requires
no less.
Serphin R. Maltese is chairman
of the Board Christ the King High
School.
Anyone familiar with Laurel Hill Boulevard in
Woodside today would fi nd it diffi cult to believe
that it looked like this nearly 80 years ago. This
1938 photo shows a rather pastoral fl ower shop
and restaurant at the northeast corner of Laurel
Hill Boulevard and 49th Street, adjacent to Calvary
Cemetery. They were both popular stop-overs
for visitors to and from Calvary, but they met the
wreckers ball many decades ago as Woodside
became further developed, and more importantly,
the city constructed the Brooklyn-Queens
Expressway above this particular stretch of the
boulevard. Send us your historic photos of Queens
by email to editorial@qns.com, 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.
A LOOK BACK
