FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com NOVEMBER 19, 2015 • THE COURIER SUN 27 oped The Knights of Columbus, the Catholic fraternal organization, has a proud history of contributing to the betterment and its offi cial band standing outside the chapter’s clubhouse that once stood at the corner of Fresh Pond Road and Catalpa Avenue in Ridgewood. The clubhouse was once a farmhouse belonging to John C. Debevoise built in 1846. The Debevoise farm once covered 25 acres of Ridgewood, with chunks of it sold and developed at the turn of the 20th Century. The Knights Council acquired the farmhouse in 1915 and used the facility for its own meetings and gatherings of other organizations such as the Jefferson Democratic Club and the Catholic War Veterans Glen-Ridge Post. The Knights eventually relocate, and the clubhouse was torn down in 1974 to make way for the Peter Cardella Senior Center. Send us your historic photos of Queens by email to editorial@queenscourier.com, or by writing to The Queens Courier, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. A LOOK BACK of life in our borough. Here’s a picture from 1940 of members of the Knights Council 1814 standing GOLDFISH COUPONS WERE CATCH OF HALLOWEEN DAY I want to join other community members in commending our local pet store on Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood with giving out coupons for one free goldfi sh this past Saturday, redeemable through the month of November. This is in contrast to its tradition of giving out the goldfi sh to children for Halloween. This is a win-win situation and the best part is that the youngest among us will learn how to properly care for a pet by interacting with the store staff and learning proper goldfi sh care in the process. Thank you to Paradise Aquarium and owner Gary for looking out for both the health of the fi sh and the positive experience of the children who will become its keeper. Parents will appreciate that outcome as well. Ann Michitsch, Glendale VERBAL AND PHYSICAL ASSAULT IN KISSENA PARK On the morning of Nov. 5, while walking my aunt’s dog, I was verbally and physically assaulted by a middle-aged man on the walking path connecting Fresh Meadow Lane and 170th Street on the north side of Kissena Park Golf Course. This man, 6 feet with gray hair, wearing a black shirt with a Greg Norman Shark logo, shorts, and soccer sandals, had an off-leash overweight black lab with a red dog vest. The man watched his dog poop in the middle of the path and then simply walked away with his dog. I spoke up, asking the man, “Sir, are you going to pick up after your dog?” (As a member of the U.S. Military, the word “sir” is a natural part of my vocabulary.) He shouted back at me “No!” and when I once again spoke up and offered him a plastic bag I was carrying to give him the chance to pick up after his dog, he started cursing at me. He smacked me in the face, causing my sunglasses to go fl ying, and threatened to smash me over the head with the metal golf club that he happened to be carrying in his right hand. He walked away, still cursing at me. As a 29 yearold naval offi cer, I care about our country and the people that live here. That man needs to be reminded to pick up after his dog and also to not assault those who try to help him remember to do the right thing. Sarah Kuehl, lieutenant, United States Navy AUBURNDALE AGAINST HIGH SCHOOL PROPOSAL The Auburndale Improvement Association’s boundaries overlap with the Northwest Bayside Civic Association in the area where the proposed new high school is located on the site of the Bayside Jewish Center. We support the civic and the surrounding community near the site in opposing the construction of this proposed high school. There are many reasons why a high school on the Bayside Jewish Center site is the wrong choice, as 32nd Avenue is already a busy street. The site itself is too small to support a high school of over 700 students. And the issue of parking for teachers and other staff members is a very pressing problem. And then there is the question of enrollment fi gures. Students from outside the community choose and are accepted to attend our local three overcrowded public high schools (Bayside, Cardozo, Francis Lewis) because their own high schools are perceived by many as inferior and/or unsafe. The Department of Education should be concentrating on ensuring that all high schools are excellent and safe schools rather than putting the burden on our three local public high schools. The new proposed high school would also be packed with students and would not alleviate the overcrowding at our current three local public high schools. But perhaps the most important reason why this is not the correct place for a new high school is because the local residents just do not want a building of this potential magnitude in their neighborhood. They fear the impact that such a school would have on their community and on their quality of life as well as the property values of their homes. We urge local residents to continue to express their concerns against the project by contacting Council member Vallone, sending in written comments to the SCA by Nov. 20, and attending and testifying at the City Council hearing regarding this project whenever it is conducted. Terri Pouymari, president Henry Euler, fi rst vice president Auburndale Improvement Association New York’s fair share from Uncle Sam overrated BY LARRY PENNER A recent audit by New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli claiming that New York sends more money to Washington than we get back, resulting in our being shortchanged, is nothing new. Moving tax dollars from Washington to New York state redistributes the wealth from the haves to the have-nots. The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan documented how New Yorkers sent more money to Washington than we get back. This imbalance also holds true in the distribution of state aid from Albany to the 62 counties of New York state. Within NYC, residents of Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island (or each of the 59 community planning boards) don’t always get back the same amount of money sent to City Hall, Albany and Washington. Within Queens or any of our other 61 counties, you could take this analysis down to every town, village and local census tract in New York state. Since this imbalance will never change, we would be better off leaving tax levies at the most local level of government. There will be signifi cant savings in administrative costs and a greater percentage of locally generated revenues remaining in our communities. Generating, keeping and spending local funds in your communities also allows greater accountability and oversight by public offi cials and citizens from the same neighborhoods. The real question is how New York state manages the billions of dollars they are already receiving from Washington every year. Federal support for New York state has remained consistent and growing. It has actually increased over past decades. When a crises occurred, be it 9/11 in 2001 or Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Washington was there for us. Additional billions in federal assistance above and beyond yearly formula allocations were provided. In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provided billions more. Most federal transportation grants require a 20 percent hard cash local share. In many cases, Uncle Sam accepted toll credits instead of hard cash for the local share. This saved the MTA 1 billion dollars in the previous 2010- 2014 Five Year Capital Program. Does New York state submit grant applications on time? Are current federally funded programs being completed on time and within budget? Are all federally funded grant staff positions fi lled? Are construction projects being completed according to original specifi cations with few if any change orders? Is there any waste, fraud or abuse for expenditures of any taxpayers dollars? Has Comptroller Tom DiNapoli conducted audits of each respective state agency and authority to see if they are doing a good job managing current federal aid programs? Have New York State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan or State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie conducted public hearings to do the same? Have either Flanagan or Heastie ever asked any of their respective legislative committee chairpersons to do the same? The New York State Departments of Transportation, Education, Health, Housing, Economic Development Corporation, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, along with many other state agencies and authorities, have to submit quarterly milestone and fi nancial progress reports with their respective federal agency counterparts who review and approve funding from Washington. They document the progress being made by the recipient of federal funding. The reports might make interesting reading for those who want to fi nd out how NYSDOT, the MTA, other state agencies and authorities are spending the billions from Washington. It is diffi cult to convince Washington for more money when Uncle Sam faces annual short-term defi cits of several hundred billion dollars accompanied by a long-term national debt of over $18 trillion dollars! We should learn from past mistakes and attempt to reduce both borrowing and long-term debt instead of allowing them to grow yearly. The combined New York City, New York state and federal debt is already over 18 trillion dollars and growing. This inheritance could bankrupt future generations. Government at all levels needs to do a better job with the billions of dollars in taxpayer generated revenues already available, rather than pick the pockets of taxpayers for even more. Larry Penner is a transportation historian and advocate who previously worked in the transportation fi eld for 31 years. A LOOK BACK letters & comments
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