FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM AUGUST 3, 2017 • THE QUEENS COURIER 25
oped letters & comments
TIME FOR
CONGRESS TO
PASS ‘PUPPERS’
Congress is presently in the
process of reviewing the bipartisan
PUPPERS Act (Preventing
Unkind and Painful Procedures
and Experiments on Respected
Species). Th is bill (HR 3197) was
introduced by Representatives
Dave Brat of Virginia and Dina
Titus of Nevada in response to
recent investigations by White
Coat Waste Project, the federal
government and some of the
media that exposed the many
painful, deadly and unfounded
experiments on dogs at
the Veterans Administration
(V.A.).
Th e V.A. has long been using
our tax dollars to perform these
lethal experiments on puppies
in the name of medical research.
However, these wasteful experiments
do not provide any useful
scientifi c conclusions for
humankind. Th is research is
outdated and archaic, and only
torture and death for the animals.
Th e money used to pay
for this is taken away from the
fi nancial support for veterans
and is a waste of billions of taxpayer
dollars.
If the act is passed, not only
will monies be released for
better veterans’ care, but the
egregious animal cruelty of
these tests will be permanently
stopped.
Valerie Horowitz, Queens
NEW YORK
SHOULD RAISE
SMOKING AGE
On Friday, July 21, New
Jersey Governor Chris Christie
signed a law that will raise the
statewide minimum age to purchase
tobacco products, including
electronic cigarettes, from
19 to 21, eff ective Jan. 1, 2018.
New York also had a golden
opportunity to pass our own
statewide Tobacco 21 (known
as T21) law last month, aft er
bills passed both the Assembly
and Senate Health Committees
only to have it held up by the
Assembly Rules and Senate
Finance Committees respectively.
Several venues within the
state of New York, including
New York City, have passed
local T21 bills but the pressure
by the tobacco industry once
again showed up in Albany to
prevent the statewide bill from
reaching the full Assembly and
Senate in the fi nal week of the
legislative session.
With the added impetus of
our neighboring state soon
implementing a T21 law it is
time that Albany fi nally gets
this done during the next legislative
session.
Phil Konigsberg, Queens
Tobacco Control
Coalition, Bay Terrace
CELEBRATING THE
OLD MILLENNIUM
The tortoise called
Millennium, a 17 year old
African Spurred tortoise
that was stolen was found in
Connecticut by a man who had
possession of the 95 pound
Millennium.
I am glad he was found
unharmed and not sold on
the black market as was suspected.
It is a sad thing when
a beloved animal is stolen
and maybe hurt by those for
financial gain and have little
concern for the welfare
of the poor animal. It was a
good thing that the man that
traded another tortoise for
Millennium realized that this
turtle was the one that was
stolen and called the police.
Millennium is now at home at
the Alley Pond Environmental
Center in Douglaston. To
Millennium let me say, “Live
long and prosper and be safe,
for your were dearly missed by
children and staff .”
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.,
Glen Oaks Village
Fixing Queens’ transit system
BY JOSEPH RASKIN
Almost a century ago, a visionary transit planner named Daniel
Lawrence Turner drew up a program for the New York Transit
Construction Commission for the expansion of New York City’s
rapid transit system.
Turner’s plan particularly aff ected Queens, calling for the extension
of all of the then-existing lines and the construction of new lines.
13 separate projects were proposed in the borough. His concept was
basic - build transit lines ahead of development, anticipating growth,
instead of reacting to it. Th is was the essential logic behind transit
planning for the fi rst half of the 20th century. Turner actually feared
that what he proposed wouldn’t be enough to handle the growth that
he saw coming in New York City. Expansion of the transit system
needed to be an ongoing process.
Much of what Turner proposed was never implemented, but it
had an eff ect on what growth would follow. One can actually argue
that the transit system has actually contracted in subsequent years.
Unfortunately for Queens, most subway expansion work ended
when lines had only crossed half of the borough. For example, the
extension of the Queens Boulevard Line to 179th Street in 1950 was
only meant to be the fi rst step in an eventual extension to Little Neck
Parkway.
Turner’s point was nonetheless true. Th e system needs to continually
grow. Moreover, the need to continually maintain the existing
system remain paramount
What does this say for the current state of the transit system in
Queens? As a result of station and structural improvements, new
trains and buses and anti-graffi ti work, I think that it’s in signifi cantly
better shape than it was before the 1980s, but the recent operating
crisis shows that much remains to be done.
Unfortunately, City and State leadership seems to be paying much
greater attention to rivalries and aesthetics than doing basic work.
Governor Cuomo criticized Mayor de Blasio and the city government
for not contributing a fair share of funding to the MTA. Mayor
de Blasio criticized Governor Cuomo and the state government for
diverting money from the MTA for other purposes. Th ey’re both
right (and this didn’t start with the current Mayor and Governor).
But what does this do for Queens transit riders?
Th e actions that MTA Chairman Lhota has called for is signifi -
cant, but only if it’s part of an ongoing process that must be funded.
Farebox revenue will never provide enough funding to pay for what
work is needed. Reliable, ongoing and protected sources of funding
beyond the farebox must be developed and maintained to meet the
short and long-term needs of the transit system.
We shouldn’t wait for crisis conditions to exist to take the actions
that are needed to properly maintain the transit system and to fund
the work that is needed to correct the issues that created the crisis.
Th e transit system must also grow to meet Queens’ needs, refl ecting
how the borough continues to grow.
Joseph Raskin is former director of governmental relations for
the MTA and author of “Th e Routes Not Taken: A Trip Th rough
New York City’s Unbuilt Subway System.”
A LOOK BACK
Felix Grodzki owned one of the last farms in Ridgewood, which lasted well into the late 1950s. As this photo from
the Ridgewood Times archives shows, Grodzki holds his horse Baby while his son Joseph hitches up the animal for
a plowing session in 1957 at the family farm on Flushing Avenue. In the background is the Albert Ehlers coff ee
plant, which stood at the corner of Cypress and Flushing avenues. 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.