22 The Queens Courier • JANUARY 10, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com
22 THE QUEENS COURIER • JANUARY 10, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS WWW.QNS.COM
Time to take transit back
The Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA) was formed on March
1, 1968 — a point in which New York
City lacked the fi nances to update its own
transportation system.
From the start, there were vows to modernize
THE QUEENS
editorial
sun
PUBLISHER & EDITOR
CO-PUBLISHER
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ART DIRECTOR
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
STAFF REPORTERS
CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS
PRODUCTION MANAGER
INSIDE SALES MANAGER
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
PRESIDENT & CEO
VICE PRESIDENT
WWW.COURIERSUN.COM
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
BOB BRENNAN
ROBERT POZARYCKI
NIRMAL SINGH
EMILY DAVENPORT
JENNA BAGCAL, MARK HALLUM, KATRINA MEDOFF,
CARLOTTA MOHAMED, ALEJANDRA O'CONNELL-DOMENECH,
BILL PARRY, NAEISHA ROSE
CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI
DEBORAH CUSICK
CELESTE ALAMIN
MARIA VALENCIA
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361
718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441
www.qns.com
editorial e-mail: editorial@qns.com
for advertising e-mail: ads@qns.com
Entire Contents Copyright 2017 by The Queens Courier
All letters sent to THE QUEENS COURIER should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should
include a full address and home and offi ce telephone numbers, where available, as well as affi liation, indicating
special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request.
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publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the
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be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication. Schneps Communications assumes no liability for the content
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QUEENS COURIER and its employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the
publication or recording placed by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement.
STORY: Suspect sought for stealing 3,500 cases of beer off freight
train car on Ridgewood/Glendale border
SUMMARY: Detectives from the 104th Precinct are looking for the
whereabouts of a man who they believe brewed up quite a caper on
the Ridgewood/Glendale border: stealing approximately 3,500 cases
of beer from an idle train car on a freight rail line.
REACH: 16,324 people reached (as of 1/7/19)
and improve the subways and commuter
rail lines under the MTA’s control.
Speaking specifi cally about the city’s
transit system, the fi rst MTA Chairman,
William J. Ronan, said, “We’re making up
for 30 years of do-nothingism.”
Fast forward to today, and one could
suggest that this 51-year forced marriage
between the MTA and New York
City Transit — the city’s subway and
bus lines — is now mired in the same
do-nothingism which Ronan had vowed
to end. All of the delays and problems
commuters have to endure every day
serves as evidence of the MTA’s many
shortcomings and outright failures.
But the shoe’s on the other foot now.
Th e city fi nds itself in much better fi nancial
shape than it was back in the late
1960s — and better than the MTA is presently.
Commuters are already seething
over the prospect of paying hire fares this
year for shoddy service on a dilapidated
transit system operated with antiquated
mechanisms, held together by makeshift
bandages.
Now there’s talk that control of the
city’s subways and buses should be
returned to City Hall rather than the
MTA board room or the legislative halls
in Albany. City Council Speaker Corey
Johnson fl oated the idea during a visit
with Queens straphangers on Jan. 7.
Th en on Jan. 8, the Daily News reported
that Governor Andrew Cuomo himself
said that the MTA should be disbanded.
“Blow it up” were his actual words to
the editorial board. It would seem, however,
that the governor would want a new
authority to take over the MTA’s operations.
But we side with Speaker Johnson
here; the city should have the control
once again to control its transit system.
It shouldn’t be beholden to a board of
bureaucratic appointees or attached to
commuter rail lines, bridges and tunnels.
Th e city could create an executive agency
under the mayor’s purview to oversee
the operation of all subways and buses.
It can better coordinate and expedite
major improvements to the transit system
and fi nance them with fares, tax revenue
and bond sales (the city’s bond ratings
are higher than that of the MTA, so
theoretically, the city has greater borrowing
power).
As a result, the city’s transit system
could best serve its own needs without
worrying about getting revenue from the
rest of the state, or jumping through extra
bureaucratic hurdles to get what it wants.
Th e legislation needed could be modeled
aft er the law which granted New York
City control over its public school system.
We hope that our Queens representatives
in the Assembly and state Senate
take notice of this and support a bill this
session which would fi nally give the city
its transit system back.
Publisher & E ditor Victoria Schneps-Yunis
Co-Publisher Joshua Schneps
Chief Operating Officer Bob Brennan
E ditor-In-Chief Robert Pozarycki
Art Director Nirmal Singh
S ocial Media Manager Emily Davenport
S taff Reporters Jenna Bagcal, Mark Hallum, Katrina Medoff
Carlotta Mohamed, Bill Parry, Naeisha Rose
Alejandra O’connell-Domenech
Contributing Reporters Cliff Kasden, Samantha Sohmer, Elizabeth Aloni
Production Manager Deborah Cusick
I nside Sales Manager Celeste Alamin
Chief Financial Officer Maria Valencia
President & CEO Victoria Schneps-Yunis
Vice President Joshua A. Schneps
Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361
718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441
www.qns.com
editorial e-mail: editorial@qns.com
for advertising e-mail: ads@qns.com
Entire Contents Copyright 2017 by The Courier Sun
All letters sent to THE COURIER SUN should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should
include a full address and home and office telephone numbers, where available, as well as affiliation,
indicating special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request.
No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE COURIER SUN. The
publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by
the error. Errors must be reported to THE COURIER SUN within five days of publication. Ad position
cannot be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication.
VIctoria Media Services assumes no liability for the content or reply to any ads. The advertiser assumes
all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold The Courier SUN and its
employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the
publication or recording placed by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement.
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