editorial 24 THE COURIER SUN • JUNE 2, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com SNAPS QUEENS NORTHEAST SUNSET PHOTO BY STEPHEN REINA Send us your photos of Queens and you could see them online or in our paper! Submit them to us tag @queenscourier on Instagram, Facebook page, tweeting @queenscourier or by emailing editorial@qns.com (subject: Queens Snaps). THE QUEENS Ask the PUBLISHER & EDITOR CO-PUBLISHER ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF VP, EVENTS, WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA ART DIRECTOR ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR ARTISTS STAFF REPORTERS DIGITAL EDITOR CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS EVENTS COORDINATOR ASSISTANT TO PUBLISHER CLASSIFIED MANAGER CONTROLLER PRESIDENT & CEO VICE PRESIDENT VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS BOB BRENNAN ROBERT POZARYCKI AMY AMATO-SANCHEZ NIRMAL SINGH STEPHEN REINA RON TORINA, JONATHAN RODRIGUEZ, CHERYL GALLAGHER KATRINA MEDOFF, ANTHONY GIUDICE, ANGELA MATUA BRIANNA ELLIS KATARINA HYBENOVA CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI JACLYN HERTLING 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 2016 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. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, AS WELL AS OP-ED PIECES IN NO WAY REFLECT THE PAPER’S POSITION. No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE QUEENS COURIER. 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 QUEENS COURIER within fi ve days of publication. Ad position cannot be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication. Schneps Communications 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 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. MAYOR Making Queens’ Vietnam vets proud Somewhere, Pat Toro must be smiling. The late president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 32 fought hard for Queens to have its own memorial to the 420 local residents who served and died in the decade-long Vietnam War. Toro, who died of leukemia in 2014, resided in Forest Hills, was a retired investigator for the Port Authority and served with the Marines in Vietnam. He worked hard to honor his fellow Vietnam veterans in some way, including bringing the “Moving Wall” — a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. — to Middle Village’s Juniper Valley Park in 2012. But Toro wanted a permanent monument so future generations in Queens would recognize the service of the borough’s Vietnam vets. He wouldn’t live to fi nally hear the good news from Borough President Melinda Katz on May 26 that the memorial would fi nally be built at Elmhurst Park. Katz secured the fi nal $1.5 million required for the Parks Department to move forward with the memorial’s design and creation. It will take some time before it’s all complete, but the hardest part — securing both the political and fi nancial capital — has been accomplished. There are those who will lament how long it took to get this memorial project moving. Toro and his fellow vets began advocating for it nearly a decade ago during the planning stages of Elmhurst Park, which was built on the site of the former Elmhurst Gas Tanks. It’s a shame that it took so long, but the only thing more tragic for this cause would have been for the memorial to have never happened at all. When they came home from the war more than 40 years ago, Vietnam vets were welcomed back with insults and disdain. They were not thanked for their service, as today’s veterans are thanked. Building a memorial won’t take back all the insults and misplaced anger hurled at those who served in Vietnam, but it will serve as a long-deserved token of gratitude for those vets, both living and deceased, who served us with honor. We applaud Katz for coming through with the funds to complete this noble task. We await the day when the memorial is completed and dedicated. We also applaud the tireless efforts of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 32 for keeping Toro’s dream alive and advocating for the Queens memorial to their fallen comrades. Finally, we thank them for their service to our nation. e Queens Courier and the Mayor’s O ce are proud to present a weekly column in which Mayor Bill de Blasio answers your questions about issues that concern you the most. If you have a question aboutanything going on in the city, in your neighborhood or on your block, we want to hear from you! Email us at editorial@qns.com and Mayor de Blasio will get you an answer! How can I apply for a permit to use ball- elds or tennis courts in our city parks? New York City’s parks host thousands of sporting events every year, and we encourage every New Yorker to take advantage of our numerous elds and courts. In order to reserve a NYC Parks athletic eld or court, organized leagues or individuals must request a permit online through the Field and Court Requests system. If you have any questions about whether you need a permit for your activity, or which type of permit you should apply for, visit the Requesting a Field or Court Permit page for more information, including further details about when request periods open up for each athletic eld season. If you need help with your permit request, please visit our Help For Field and Court Permit Requests page, which will guide you through the process of requesting a eld and court permit and also provides contact information for any of our borough sports permit o ces.
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