EDITORIAL
READERS WRITE
Mail & Ride is LIRR commuter’s best-kept secret
May 2019 is the 44th
anniversary of the successful
MTA’s LIRR Mail & Ride ticket
program. Over 160,000 Queens,
Nassau and Suffolk County
residents benefit from this
program riding the LIRR on a
daily basis to commute from
home to work.
As a long time Mail&Ride
member starting in the class of
1983 before retiring in January
2015, I know first hand how user
friendly LIRR Mail and Ride is.
Few remember a brief period in
the 1980s when the LIRR offered
a one-year ticket which arrived
monthly.
By prepaying for your
monthly pass once per year
in advance, you received a 4%
discount. Sadly, there were only
several hundred of us including
myself who took advantage of
this amazing bargain so it was
quickly discontinued.
Fast forward to today and you
can also purchase an unlimited
MetroCard with your LIRR
monthly ticket. You end up with
savings on your LIRR monthly
fare plus unlimited monthly
NYC Transit rides. This affords
incredible savings for those who
use the subway to and from Penn
Station, Hunters Point, Long
Island City, Woodside, Jamaica or
Flatbush Avenue Brooklyn. The
savings are multiplied with local
trips at lunch time or after work.
The card also provides you with
unlimited free transfers to NYC
Transit, MTA Bus and Nassau
Inter County Express NICE Bus.
More LIRR riders continue
to purchase tickets via Mail &
Ride, ticket vending machines
or various Apps. By 2021, the
new MTA One Metro New York
(OMNY) fare collection system
will be coming online. Staffed
ticket windows and offices may
go the way of the dinosaurs.
Larry Penner, Great Neck
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NO REST FOR JUSTICE
While most New Yorkers enjoyed their
Memorial Day weekend at family cookouts, beach
outings and baseball games, Assemblywoman
Aravella Simotas was hard at work in her
Astoria home drafting new legislation at a
breakneck pace.
Simotas has always been a prolific legislator
since she was first elected in 2011, committed to
supporting women and families, but what she
heard during the May 24 joint legislative hearing
on sexual harassment drove her to spend the
weekend writing a series of measures to address
sexual misconduct in healthcare settings.
The Simotas legislation, unveiled May 28,
would establish background check requirements
for medical licenses, publicize information
on the reporting process, and mandate
disclosure of professional misconduct and
malpractice allegations.
It was the testimony of survivor advocate
Marissa Hoechstetter in particular that inspired
Simotas to act with such speed. Hoechstter was
one of over 20 survivors who reported being
sexually assaulted by former gynecologist Robert
Hadden, who was forced to surrender his license
in a 2016 plea deal with the Manhattan DA’s
office.
Since coming forward, she has fought to
reform the culture of the medical industry that
encourages secrecy on behalf of healthcare
professionals that enabled her serial predator
to retain access to patients for more than two
decades.
Simotas has always been passionate about the
issue of sexual abuse by medical professionals
and has talked with Hoechstetter in the past, but
hearing her testify last Friday drove Simotas to
act quickly in drafting her legislation.
The first measure proposed by Simotas will
mandate that all medical professional pass
background checks as a condition of initial
licensure. The second bill directs the Office
of Professional Medical Conduct to publicize
information on their website explaining the
rights and reporting options available to patients
who have been subjected to sexual misconduct at
the hands of a healthcare provider.
The third piece of legislation requires that
doctors provide written notice to their patients
if they are subject to ongoing proceedings, placed
on probation or disciplined by the Office of
Professional Medical Conduct.
Simotas delivered three bills in three days
time. We hope the state legislature moves quickly
to pass them.
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TIMESLEDGER,16 MAY 31-JUNE 6, 2019 BT QNS.COM
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