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editorial 18 THE COURIER SUN • SEPTEMBER 1, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com SNAPS QUEENS NIGHT SHIFT // PHOTO BY ORESTES GONZALEZ 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). Bridges burned over homeless crisis This weekend, some 2,000 Maspeth residents took to the streets to protest the opening of a homeless shelter in their neighborhood. For many, their anger was the result of a lack of trust in the city to adequately address the homeless population. Who can blame them for feeling such mistrust? The city has totally botched its handling of the homelessness crisis as it pertains to Queens. The biggest example of the dysfunction must be the Boulevard Family Residence, formerly the Pan American Hotel on Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst. Right from the start, the city burned a bridge with the community by moving families into the hotel secretly in the summer of 2014 without so much as a phone call to a local elected offi cial. No one knew the Pan Am was being used as a homeless shelter until families were already there. This happened, mind you, just weeks after a Department of Homeless Services representative said at a public hearing that the hotel was ill-suited to be a homeless shelter because the individual units lacked kitchens. That fi b burned a second bridge. Still another bridge was torched when the city reached a deal with a nonprofi t group to make the shelter permanent. Despite a litany of violations that caused City Comptroller Scott Stringer to reject the deal three different times, he signed the contract the fourth time around. Now comes word that the city has made the Quality Inn on Queens Boulevard in Woodside another “emergency” homeless shelter. Much like the former Pan American hotel, nobody knew this was happening until homeless families were placed there. One wonders if this temporary shelter will eventually also be made permanent. Then there’s the proposed operator of the proposed Maspeth shelter, Acacia Network, which operates another converted hotelturned homeless shelter, The Verve in Long Island City. As we’ve reported, this site has had a number of violent incidents. But the city has enough confi dence in this network to give them another shelter to operate. At this point, there seems to be no more bridges left to burn. By continuing to convert hotels into homeless shelters, shun people from the process and rely on shelter operators with past histories of problems, it’s easy to understand why many Queens residents just don’t believe a word any politician says. The city must listen to the people of Maspeth and the people of this borough. We want to help our homeless, and we want them properly housed. Continuing the current shelter policy only fulfi lls Albert Einstein’s defi nition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result. It’s time to take a stand. sun WWW.COURIERSUN.COM 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 SUZANNE MONTEVERDI KATARINA HYBENOVA CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI JACLYN HERTLING DEBORAH CUSICK WARREN SUSSMAN CELESTE ALAMIN MARIA VALENCIA VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS 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 SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE CLASSIFIED MANAGER CONTROLLER PRESIDENT & CEO VICE PRESIDENT 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 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 offi ce telephone numbers, where available, as well as affi liation, 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 fi ve 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. The Queens Courier and the Mayor’s Offi 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 about anything 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! With schools opening soon, what should parents do to make sure their child is ready for the fi rst day of school and beyond? The summer months bring a wonderful opportunity for families to spend time together. Parents often have more time to spend with their kids, while students have the opportunity to be outside, enjoy the warm weather, pick up a book for pleasure, explore new activities, spend time in one of the city’s parks and play sports. And while relaxing is an important part of summer, it’s important that parents keep their kids active, engaged and prepared for the school year ahead so that they arrive on the fi rst day ready to learn. Tens of thousands of students participated in high-quality summer programming where they were exposed to new curricula, visits to cultural institutions, college readiness enrichment programs and more. Even after a summer program is completed, see to it that your child is reading, visiting a museum and pursuing areas of interests such as music or technology, which help keep them stimulated throughout the summer. Most importantly, as the fi rst day approaches, sit down with your kids and review their test scores, grades and teacher feedback from the previous year, to help develop support systems to ensure homework is done on time, and to alleviate anxiety about a subject that might have been a challenge. And if your child is entering a new school, traveling to a different neighborhood, or even a different borough, help them plan their trip or accompany them on the fi rst day so that they know how to get to school safely and on time. Finally, remain on the lookout for any additional information from your child’s school detailing classroom assignments and general instructions for the fi rst day, and remember that a good night’s sleep and a healthy breakfast is critical to a great fi rst morning. Ask the MAYOR


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