FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM OCTOBER 18, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 29
oped letters & comments
GET RID OF RIKERS
Th is is in response to Th e
Courier’s Oct. 4 article about community
opposition to the proposal
to move some inmates from the
horribly obsolete, and dangerous
Rikers Island jail complex. Unlike
NIMBY opponents, I have had personal
experience in teaching math
to former inmates at the Fortune
Society; all the young men I worked
with were sincerely motivated to
better themselves upon their return
to society. We need to recognize
their humanity and treat them
appropriately.
As the great writer Fyodor
Dostoevsky said, “Th e degree of civilization
in a society is revealed by
entering its prisons.”
The crumbling, obsolete jail
on Rikers Island is a factory of
human rights abuses that cannot
be reformed, a system that
enables physical and sexual assault
of detainees, and signifi cant danger
to correction offi cers. Eightyfi
ve percent of those incarcerated at
Rikers have not been convicted of
any crime.
Th e Rikers jail is a potent example
of a racist criminal justice system
that punishes the poor; 90 percent
of the inmates are black or
Latino, and 79 percent are there
because they couldn’t aff ord bail.
Rikers is also an absurd waste of
public spending; it costs $270,000
to detain a person on Rikers for one
year, and over $1.3 billion is spent
annually to keep it open.
Rather than policies that criminalize
and incarcerate, we need to
continue the precipitous drop in
number of incarcerated people, by
providing community-based social
services, mental health care, rehabilitation,
bail reform, speedy trial
and due process protection. Th e
new smaller modern facilities will
be safer for both inmates and correction
offi cers.
Shutting down Rikers, and moving
a portion of inmates to my
neighborhood in Queens — where
there was a jail for many years —
will save money, while assuring better
treatment of inmates, who are
being abused in our name, and ultimately
continue the steep decline in
crime. Inmates will have better and
more frequent contact with attorneys
and family members, ultimately
posing less danger when they are
released.
Long-term, the island may even
be converted to sorely needed housing,
a win-win for all New Yorkers.
Robert Keilbach, Flushing
WHERE ARE THE
PROTESTS?
Americans never cease to amaze
me.
Th ey didn’t vigorously object
when George W. Bush was handed
the presidency by the Supreme
Court aft er it rejected a recount in
Florida; or when we went to war in
Iraq while almost all of the 9/11 terrorists
were from Saudi Arabia; or
when big banks caused a devastating
economic crisis and were bailed
out; or when manufacturing was
outsourced to low-wage countries;
or when corporations became people
and spending on political campaigns
was deemed to be free speech
thanks to the Citizens United
ruling.
Americans didn’t vehemently protest
when children were repeatedly
massacred because of lax gun
control; or when President Obama
was prevented from appointing a
Supreme Court justice; or when
unions that fi ght for workers rights
were hobbled; or when huge tax cuts
were given to corporations and the
already wealthy; or when programs
for the poor were reduced or eliminated;
or when regulations that protect
us were undone.
Incredibly, Americans accept the
exorbitant price of our health care
and drugs, even though Europeans
pay much less because their governments
limit prices.
What will it take for Americans
to stand up and fi ght for their rights
and their democracy?
Linda Imhauser, Whitestone
Editor’s note: To our recollection,
over the last several years, there have
been numerous protests across the
United States regarding a litany of
the concerns raised in this letter —
including, but not limited to, the
Women’s Marches of 2017 and 2018,
and the March for Our Lives following
the Parkland, Florida, school
shooting back in February.
REMEMBERING
FRANK PADAVAN
It was with great sadness that
I read about the passing of former
New York State Senator Frank
Padavan at age 83.
He was elected to state Senate
in 1972 and served for 38 years.
Senator Padavan fought hard for
residents with mental health issues.
He also served 30 years as a colonel
in the reserved Army of Engineers.
He served the people of Queens
and New York state with honor and
dedication.
He was also on the board of
directors of the Queens Village
Republican Club, where I am also a
member. I had worked on some of
his campaigns and had posted signs
and had written to various newspapers
in their letters to the editor.
When I was fi rst Grand Knight of
St. Anastasia Knights of Columbus
in Douglaston, I had him speak
at our installations of offi cers on
issues that concern the many in our
community.
Whenever I had a problem I
would write to him for help and he
would respond and try to do what
he could for me. Frank truly has
cared for the concerns of the middle
class.
We in Queens and in this great
state of New York have been truly
blessed to of had Frank Padavan as
our state senator. Frank Padavan,
may you rest in peace, for you’ve
done good!
Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Glen Oaks
Village
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this newspaper or its staff .
NYC deserves real
aff ordable housing
BY CITY
COUNCILMAN
FRANCISCO
MOYA
Every Community
Board and city planning
agency in New
York City has likely
at one time or
another played host
to property developers
touting the
virtues of their projects
and highlighting all the aff ordable apartments such
proposals would create.
As the chair of the Subcommittee on Zoning and
Franchises, I hear these pitches all the time. Invariably
— and despite their sharp mock-ups and helpful graphics
— my fi rst question aft er hearing these proposals is
always the same: For whom are these “aff ordable units”
actually aff ordable?
Th at’s when the developers point to a metric called
the Area Median Income, or AMI, to show what income
levels their rent-regulated units would serve. In practice,
the developer might block off a number of aff ordable
units for households earning 50 or 60 percent of the
AMI, which equates to $46,950 or $56,340, respectively,
for a family of three. And therein lies the problem.
Th ose fi gures are wrong.
Th e AMI is set by the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development, which makes its calculation
based on data provided by the U.S. Offi ce of
Management and Budget.
In New York, developers cite AMI because it’s the
metric the city uses to assess which would-be renters
are eligible for subsidized housing. Th at median
income level, however, doesn’t actually refl ect the fi ve
boroughs. Th e “New York City-area” also accounts for
Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties — regions
with signifi cantly higher median incomes.
Th e result is a higher AMI for New York City.
Activists have long contended that the higher AMI
oft en results in so-called “aff ordable housing” being
built for New Yorkers earning 100 percent of the AMI
or higher. In other words, aff ordable housing units
aren’t always going to the lower-earning New Yorkers
who need it the most.
New York City residents deserve an AMI that refl ects
the truth on the ground here.
In a 2011 report, the Association for Neighborhood
and Housing Development found that the New York
City-area AMI for a four-person household in 2010 was
20 percent higher than the true median income for that
household within the city limits.
Defenders of maintaining an infl ated AMI argue that
lowering the fi gure too much will prevent developers
from collecting enough rent money to cover operating
costs, thereby disincentivizing them from building
more aff ordable housing.
Ultimately, if we are going to have clear-eyed discourse
on aff ordable housing — a perennial topic of discussion
in this city — we need to defi ne our terms. One
of the most basic points to start this urgent conversation
has to be what residents in this city are actually earning
and what they’re spending on rent.
Fixing the AMI comes down to the issue of transparency.
We must treat this housing crisis for what it
is. We can’t keep juicing the numbers and escape this
emergency.
Moya represents the 21st City Council District, which
includes Corona, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights.