FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM AUGUST 1, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 27
oped letters & comments
EXPERT BLASTS
BOULEVARD BIKE LANE
I have served on Community Board 11
for 50 years, 30 years at its chair and
until this year chaired its Transportation
Committee. Simultaneously, I was the managing
partner of one of the largest and oldest
consulting bridge and highway engineering
design fi rms in the country.
Th e bike lane on Northern Boulevard
at the Cross Island Parkway is an outrage.
Th ere is no other bike lane in New York
City, or probably anywhere else, in front of
exit and entrance lanes to a major highway.
Board 11 proposed, before the current
bike lane was built, to use the existing
15-foot sidewalk as a shared bike and
pedestrian greenway and connect it to Joe
Michaels Mile on the east side of the Cross
Island Parkway.
Aft er two years, the NYC Department of
Transportation came around to our idea but
had no funding to convert the 15-foot sidewalk
to a greenway. What a shame!
Bernard Haber, Little Neck
THE RISING COST OF DRUGS
I am very troubled over the rise of drug
prices by pharmaceutical companies. More
than 3,400 drugs have reportedly boosted
prices in the fi rst six months of 2019.
Th e average price hike is said to be 10 percent,
which is fi ve times the rate of infl ation.
Another 41 drugs have reportedly boosted
their prices by 100 percent.
I can attest to that. I’m 70 years old and
my wife and myself are both on Social
Security and Medicare plus supplemental
insurance. And yet we struggle with drug
price increases. I’m working part-time to
pay for some of these higher costs for my
wife and myself.
Th e other day I put in a prescription for
medication which I have paid for about $15
to $18 over the last few years. Now I am told
it is now $30. Well, that’s about 100 percent
increase in my co-pay.
I thought Congress was to address this
problem for the millions of Americans paying
excessive prices for their medication.
What’s that all about? It has come down to
this: paying for medication or buying food,
paying rent or paying the mortgage.
Th is is a most sad situation. Something
needs to be done and now!
Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Glen Oaks Village
EXPLAINING THE RECOUNT
As a poll worker for three years, I think
your readers would like some additional
information about the recount for the
Queens DA race, and how the votes were
recounted.
If a voter fails to fi ll in the circle next to
a candidate’s name or makes some other
mark on the ballot, the optical scanner does
not record the vote. Th ere is more to it than
that, though. Since I was a scanner inspector
in the election in question, I can attest
to what happens next with that vote and the
ballot in question.
Th e voter is given a choice: to have their
ballot accepted by the voting machine, but
their vote is not counted, or they could
return to the ED (Election District) table
they got it from and be given a new ballot,
to replace the one fi lled out in error.
As for the fi rst ballot, it would be labeled
as a “voided” ballot and placed in a separate
envelope to be given to the Board of
Elections aft er the poll site is closed.
Every scanner inspector has a specifi c
procedure to go through when the voting
machine does not accept an off ered, fi lledout
ballot. Our goal is to make sure every
vote is counted and if that involves the voter
going back for a new ballot, so be it. We
want every regular ballot to be accepted by
the voting machine, but problems do occur.
Th erefore, the ballots the optical scanner
did not record are the ones either voided by
the process above or it was the voters who
decided not to obtain a new ballot.
I let the voter know what his or her
options were and all of them decided to go
get a new ballot, to make sure their vote
counted in such a close race.
As for the affi davit ballots, which are not
scanned into the voting machines, a different
procedure is used to insure that the
public’s vote is counted.
It might be that the voter’s name was
not found in the voter registration lists,
given that they were dropped from the roll
for some reason, or that they came to the
wrong poll site. Whatever the reason, the
voters are given the option of marking an
affi davit ballot so that their vote might be
counted. Whether it is or not is determined
by the Board of Elections and that is happening
right now.
Th e problem is, the Affi davit Oath, which
is fi lled out by the voter, on an Affi davit Ballot
Envelope, is a longer process than voting.
Th at process involves fi lling out several
sections on that envelope, for the person’s
name, address, birth date, why an affi -
davit ballot was necessary, voting history, a
way to identify the voter and which political
party they belong to. It takes way longer
to fi ll out that Affi davit Oath than it does to
mark the ballot and mistakes do happen.
Given that this was a primary election for
Democratic voters to choose the candidate
on the Democratic line in November, making
sure all the voters were Democrats is
important.
It’s no wonder that it took so long to make
sure every legitimate vote was counted.
SM Sobelsohn, Kew Gardens
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views expressed in all letters and comments
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or its staff .
Let police
offi cers police
BY ASSEMBLYMAN
MIKE MILLER
What happened
recently
with our brave
police offi cers
in Manhattan,
who risk their
lives every
day, was unspeakable. No offi -
cer should have a bucket of water
thrown at them or be disrespected
in any manner whatsoever on
the job.
We live in the biggest, safest
city in the world and the
NYPD protects us from day-today
harms. What if the buckets
of water were not fi lled with
water? What if it was harmful
liquid, like bleach or acid?
One may argue that the offi -
cers took the high road with
not reacting to the men who
splashed them with water. Th is
could have escalated the situation.
One can also argue that the
individuals should have been
arrested immediately. For me,
it was shocking and angry to
watch. I was appalled by this
inexcusable behavior.
One point we can take away
from this horrifi c incident is that
there is more work to be done
connecting communities and
police offi cers.
The Neighborhood
Coordinating Offi cer program
links the community with their
local police offi cers. In my
Assembly District, the NCO
program has been a huge success.
I even held a one-year anniversary
celebration for the 102nd
Precinct NCO program with all
the great work they have done
building the bridges between
residents and offi cers.
Unfortunately, this is not the
reality for every precinct in the
city. Mayor de Blasio needs to allow
police offi cers to do their jobs.
Why did these police offi cers feel
inclined to walk away from the
individuals who were harassing
and taunting them and not make
an arrest?
Th e mayor needs to stand with
police offi cers and make them
feel empowered to do the job
that they are trained to do: to
protect and enforce the law. Take
the handcuff s off the police offi -
cers and let them do their jobs.
Miller represents the 38th
Assembly District, which
includes all or parts of Glendale,
Ozone Park, Richmond Hill,
Ridgewood and Woodhaven.
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