EDITORIAL
READERS WRITE
In defense of protecting reproductive rights
The restrictive abortion laws
that are being proposed and
enacted across the country make
me shudder with apprehension.
Six-week abortion bans have
been filed or signed in sixteen
states already this year — that’s
unprecedented.
That’s why I am thankful to
our New York State legislators
for passing the Reproductive
Health Care Act (RHA) which
brings the protections of
Roe v. Wade into state law.
It recognizes that abortion
is health care and ensures
that New Yorkers can access
needed health care based on
their medical needs and their
doctor’s best judgment.
In the 2018 midterm
elections, the American people
spoke; they want more access
to health care. Some politicians
are rushing to try to enact laws
that would restrict women’s
reproductive rights even to
the point of banning abortion
access at a point before
most people even know they
are pregnant.
Like most Americans, I
believe in the right of each of
us to control our own bodies.
RHA is not controversial. It is
common sense.
We must fight the propaganda
of the extremists with solid
reason, facts and figures.
According to the CDC, over 90%
of all abortions are performed
in early gestation. Less than
2% were performed at more
than 21 weeks gestation.
Safe, affordable reproductive
health care is now a right of all
of New Yorkers. I hope we can
reclaim our power from those
that still want to take these
rights from us.
Elissa Goldstein, Whitestone
EDITORIAL STAFF
Reporters: Bill Parry, Mark
Hallum, Carlotta Mohamed, Jenna
Bagcal, Emily Davenport,
Max Parrott
Photographers: Nat Valentine,
Ellis Kaplan, Robert Cole
Copy Editors: Stephen Lepore,
Katrina Medoff
Contributing Writers/Columnists:
Tammy Scileppi, Robert Cole
ART & PRODUCTION
Production Manager:
Deborah Cusick
Art Director: Nirmal Singh
Layout: Robert Pozarycki
Cartoonist: Tip Sempliner
ADVERTISING
Senior Account Executive:
Kathy Wenk
Account Executives:
David Strauss
Sherri Rossi
PROUD MEMBER OF NEW YORK PRESS ASSOCIATION
PUBLISHER
Brian Rice
EDITOR
Robert Pozarycki
V.P. OF ADVERTISING
Ralph D’onofrio
CIRCULATION
Robert Palacios
CLASSIFIED
Classified Director:
Celeste Alamin
Classified Sales
Manager:
Eugena Pechenaya
A FACE ON HOMELESSNESS
The results of a new poll revealed that most
of Queens residents said they would support a
homeless shelter opening in their neighborhood.
Yes, the poll interviewed just over 100 residents
of the borough, but the notion of such support once
seemed unimaginable in neighborhoods such as
Elmhurst, Maspeth, Glendale, Rockaway, College
Point, Ozone Park and Blissville in recent years.
The shift in attitude certainly has less to do
with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “Turning the Tide of
Homelessness” plan and more to do with the good
deeds of people like Lester Lin and Giselle Burgess,
who in very different ways put a very human face on
shelter dwellers.
Lin was the youth director at the Reformed
Church of Newtown in June 2014 when his Elmhurst
neighbors rose up against a shelter at the Pan Am
Hotel on Queens Boulevard. Racial epithets were
hurled during rallies with the residents of the shelter
gazing down upon the crowds and City Councilman
Daniel Dromm and state Senator Toby Ann Stavisky
needed a police escort while exiting one explosive
town hall meeting.
So he arranged for a welcome barbeque for the
families living in the newly named Boulevard Family
Residence. That effort grew into City Mission, a
nonprofit made up of hundreds of teenagers from
Elmhurst, Maspeth, Middle Village, Jackson Heights
and Woodside that became a regular presence at a
number of shelters with monthly programs, reading
time, choreography sessions, arts and crafts,
picture day, toy drives and holiday parties.
Perhaps the youngsters interactions with
homeless families softened their parents thoughts
on the homeless crisis.
Burgess was a single mother of five who became
homeless in the summer of 2018 when their Flushing
home was sold. The family ended up living at the
Sleep Inn Hotel in Long Island City. As a community
engagement specialist for the Girl Scouts of Greater,
Burgess was able to create Troop 6000 with the help
of colleagues and City Councilman Jimmy Van
Bramer.
Troop 6000 was the first in the city for homeless
girls and has since been expanded. By 2018,
Troop 6000 expanded citywide with more than
500 members.
Maybe it is time for Lin and Burgess, and others
like them, who have helped put a human face on
the homeless crisis help change the way Queens
residents think nearly a half decade after the Pan
Am conversion. It’s about putting people ahead of
property value concerns.
HOW TO REACH US
MAIL: 38-15 Bell Boulevard, Bayside, NY 11361
PHONE: Display Advertising: (718) 260-4537
Editorial: (718) 260-4539
WEBSITE: Visit www.qns.com
E-MAIL: Editorial: timesledgernews@schnepsmedia.com
Display Advertising: brice@schnepsmedia.com
Classified: classified@schnepsmedia.com
TO SUBSCRIBE: Call (718) 224-5863 ext. 257
Copyright©2019 Queens CNG LLC.
TIMESLEDGER,16 APR. 26-MAY 2, 2019 BT QNS.COM
/www.qns.com
link
link
link
/www.qns.com
/QNS.COM
link
link
link
