Editorial
Vote ‘No’ On Charter Change

On Tuesday, voters will find several proposed changes to the City Charter on the ballot. Chief among these is Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal to do away with partisan primaries. The chief opposition to the idea is coming from the Democratic Party and major organized labor organizations.

The Gazette also opposes the change and urges readers to vote "no" on Charter Proposal 3.

Primary elections have been a part of our election process forever, it seems. Primaries are an orderly way for a political party to select a candidate to run in a general election. In some cases they attract many would-be candidates, who make their case for the primary nomination, giving party members within a district a chance to judge them. The competition can sometimes be very sharp, but it is orderly and narrows down choices.

Under the mayor’s plan, there would be an open primary, where Republicans and other political parties would have a say in voting for the prospective Democratic candidate and vice versa. An open primary has the potential for all kinds of political mischief and chicanery and would do more harm than good. Wealthy candidates, as always, would have a greater opportunity to use their personal funds to easily subdue most other opponents, giving them an unfair advantage.

We think Mayor Bloomberg has been misguided in advocating the end of a traditional part of our political and election system. It the mayor finds flaws in the system, perhaps he should move to change them. But we see no reason to throw out the baby with the bath water. This is never a solution.

Vote no on Charter Amendment Proposal 3 on Tuesday.

Truck Route A Good Idea

On Monday, November 17, a pilot program to allow trucks and other commercial vehicles to use the Grand Central Parkway to travel between the Triborough Bridge and the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (BQE) will go into effect.

It’s an excellent idea which was long in the making and the Gazette supports it without reservation.

The new traffic regulation, replacing the ban on truck traffic on the Grand Central Parkway, will benefit everyone—truck drivers and private automobile operators that use those roadways, as well as the people in the Astoria community.

Presently, trucks coming off the bridge are forced to use Astoria Boulevard between the bridge and the 49th Street entrance to the BQE. This has created a nightmare of slow-moving traffic on Astoria Boulevard that inconveniences and places in danger vehicular as well as pedestrian traffic that use the boulevard.

Beside the reduction in noise levels and pollution along the narrow corridor, an additional beneficial effect of the plan is that traffic will move more fluidly on both the Grand Central Parkway and Astoria Boulevard. Motor vehicle and pedestrian traffic will move with greater safety as well.

The pilot program was instigated by Assemblymember Michael Gianaris and City Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr., both Astoria area representatives. They proposed the idea to Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and the trio then sold Department of Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall on the idea. Gianaris, Vallone, Marshall and Weinshall are to be applauded for working out the agreement to change the traffic pattern between the Triborough Bridge and the GCP and BQE.

But other public officials, past and present, who proposed the same idea previously, are also to be applauded. These include state Senator George Onorato and former Council Speaker Peter Vallone, Assemblymember Denis Butler and Borough President Claire Shulman, Community Board 1, led by Chairman Vinicio Donato and District Manager George Delis, also supported the proposal in the past.

At one time or another all had made the same proposal for the changes that will start on November 17, but obstacles viewed by some as insurmountable at times might have stood in their way. At present, however, all those involved in the effort, plus the Bloomberg mayoral administration, worked in unison to get the pilot project started. We foresee major benefits flowing from the plan.