20 THE COURIER SUN • FEBRUARY 19, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com editorial letters sun WWW.COURIERSUN.COM Victoria Schneps-Yunis Joshua A. Schneps Bob Brennan Tom Topousis Amy Amato-Sanchez Nirmal Singh Graziella Zerilli Stephen Reina Ron Torina, Jennifer Decio, Cheryl Gallagher Liam La Guerre, Cristabelle Tumola, Angy Altamirano Katrina Medoff, Eric Jankiewicz, Salvatore Licata Cliff Kasden, Samantha Sohmer, Elizabeth Aloni Cristabelle Tumola Demetra Plagakis Warren Susman Celeste Alamin Maria Valencia Daphne Fortunate Victoria Schneps-Yunis Joshua A. Schneps Publisher & E ditor Co-Publisher Associate Publisher Editor-In-Chief VP, Events, Web & Social Media Art Director Assistant to Publisher Assistant Art Director Artists Staff Reporters Contributing Reporters Web Editor Events Manager Senior Acount Executive Classified Manager Controller Office Manager President & CEO Vice President Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441 Sales fax: 718-631-3498 www.couriersun.com editorial e-mail: [email protected] for advertising e-mail: [email protected] Entire Contents Copyright 2015 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. IDENTIFY THIS PLACE Go to www.queenscourier.com and search “Identify This Place” to find out where this is Condo and co-op owners need a break On Feb. 3, Mayor de Blasio delivered the State of the City speech, but it offered zero relief to the financially overburdened co-op and condo community. A main focus of the address was affordable housing, but it was overlooked that co-ops and condos are the very definition of affordable, middle-class residences. However, if these properties continue to experience increasing property taxes, they will soon become unaffordable to working families and those on fixed incomes. The tentative property tax rolls published on Jan. 16 have some co-op and condo properties facing increased evaluations of 11 percent to more than 20 percent. The mayor also called for raising the minimum wage. The co-op and condo community already sets a high standard by employing well-paid, unionized workers. As property taxes continue to go through the roof, properties may be forced to downsize staff in order to meet other expenses. No one wants to see that happen. When it comes to the challenge of creating and maintaining affordable housing in the city, the de Blasio administration must be made aware that the co-op and condo community is a large part of the solution. It’s time to finally end that “Tale of Two Cities.” Warren Schreiber, Bayside Co-President, Presidents Co-op & Condo Council R.I.P. Bob Simon The tragic and untimely death of veteran newscaster Bob Simon at age 73 will certainly leave a huge void in the “60 Minutes” broadcast. He was a part of the CBS family for many decades and was always a true professional. He was very well liked and always treated others with respect. He will be sorely missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and colleagues with whom he worked for so many years. We have lost a true icon in the television news industry. John Amato, Fresh Meadows Support local newspapers “Queens Courier acquires Ridgewood Times and Times Newsweekly” (The Queens Courier Staff — Feb. 12) could not have come at a better time with the New York Daily News closing its Queens Bureau office. Daily newspapers such as the Times, Post, Newsday and Daily News concentrate on international, Washington, Albany, City Hall, business and sports stories. They have few reporters assigned to cover local neighborhood news stories. As a result, daily newspapers miss significant news and political stories from Queens communities. Weekly newspapers based in Queens such as The Queens Courier provide more indepth coverage of local news not found in major daily newspapers. We are fortunate to live in a free society with a wealth of information sources available. Sadly, most American cities and suburbs are down to one local daily or weekly newspaper. Newspapers have to deal with increasing costs for newsprint, delivery and distribution along with reduced advertising revenues and declining readership. Please join me along with your neighbors who read The Queens Courier, Sun, Ridgewood Times, Times Newsweekly and other local weekly community newspapers. Patronize their advertisers; they provide the revenues necessary to keep them in business. Let them know you saw their ad. This is what helps keep our neighbors employed, keep the local economy growing and provide space for your favorite or not-so-favorite letter writers. Larry Penner, Great Neck The diet of Lent This Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the 40-day period before Easter, when many Christians abstain from animal foods in remembrance of Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the desert before launching his ministry. But meat-free Lent is much more than a symbol of religious devotion to Christ. It helps reduce the risk of chronic disease, environmental degradation and animal abuse. Dozens of medical reports have linked consumption of animal products with elevated risk of heart failure, stroke, cancer and other killer diseases. A 2007 U.N. report named meat production as the largest source of greenhouse gases and water pollution. Undercover investigations have documented farm animals being beaten, caged, crowded, deprived, mutilated and shocked. Lent offers a superb opportunity to honor Christ’s powerful message of compassion and love by adopting a meat-free diet for Lent and beyond. After all, it’s the diet mandated in Genesis I-29 and observed in the Garden of Eden. Supermarkets offer a rich array of plantbased meat and dairy alternatives, as well as the more traditional vegetables, fruits and grains. Entering “vegan recipes” in our favorite search engine offers more products, recipes and transition tips than we can use. Freddy Green, Flushing New Assembly speaker wants college affordable to all Carl Heastie has been the speaker of the state Assembly for barely two weeks, yet he has already thrown down the gauntlet over making higher education more affordable. There are few causes before elected officials that are more important. Any chance of advancement into the middle class in this day and age is almost entirely based on access to higher education, whether it be college or training for any of a new range of hightech careers. And for the thousands of new immigrants coming to our state, higher education represents a bridge across cultures as much as it is a path to a career. During a luncheon sponsored by the City University last weekend, Heastie outlined several new initiatives aimed at making college more affordable, including offering tuition assistance to college-aged kids who are undocumented immigrants. Heastie, like Gov. Cuomo, supports a state DREAM Act for the undocumented. We hope the two Democrats can convince Senate Republicans to join them during budget talks. A graduate of the State University himself, Heastie also rolled out proposals to let parents deduct student-loan interest from their New York income taxes, just as the feds already permit. He’s also called for expanding tuition aid programs. And Heastie wants to make it easier for single and working parents to go to college by expanding child care at City and State University campuses. “In communities across the state, there are young men and women who live each day with the knowledge that the education they need to make their dreams a reality is beyond their reach,” Heastie said in a statement. As lawmakers and the governor face a March 31 negotiating deadline for a new state budget, we hope Heastie uses his newfound clout as Assembly speaker to give more young people a shot at college and at the American Dream.
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