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Flyer Is False To The Editor:
The city has been reviewing all of its municipal lots for possible sale or development, with particular focus on those lots deemed underutilized. The Department of Transportation (DOT) determined that this lot was, in fact, underutilized and primarily accommodated “park and ride commuters”. When I found out that the city had its sights on the lot for either sale or development I immediately initiated a dialogue with them about its future. Keeping the needs of the community in mind, my office was instrumental in preventing any possible sale and negotiated with the city to build much needed affordable senior housing and a public parking lot on the site. I also worked with community leaders to incorporate additional public parking into the proposed project to meet the immediate area’s parking needs. The lot will be closed during construction. However, the developer will make every effort to keep a portion of it open to the public if it is safe to do so. In addition, I am currently working with DOT to determine whether changes should be made to existing parking regulations that would increase short-term parking and parking in general in the area, as well as the conversion of unused space beneath the Triborough Bridge between Crescent Street and 26th Street to a parking lot. The flyer sarcastically claims that the proposed development of the municipal lot is akin to “...giving the citizens of Astoria a present that they will always remember me by”. The fact remains that this underutilized lot, which could have been sold to a private developer for any purpose, will soon become an affordable home for over 225 of our most important citizens— the elderly (50 percent of which will come from our district), while maintaining a substantial amount of public parking. Despite the existence of these factually challenged leaflets, it is important to remember that the vast majority of the community understands the importance of this project and supports it. This project is a “gift”, not from me but from our entire community, to those who have given so much to many of us throughout the years, our senior citizens. It is only appropriate that we not allow this rare opportunity to provide affordable housing and relief to our elderly, as well as public parking, slip through our fingers. Peter F. Vallone Jr. Councilmember—22nd Council District Bono Deserves Title To The Editor: I like to applaud her Majesty Queen Elizabeth for appointing the Irish Rocker Bono to be an honorary Knight Commander of the most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Here is a man that thought beyond his own worldly needs and desires, and has shown great concern for humanity and for those who suffer the most, like the children of man. He has campaigned tirelessly with a great deal of courage, a tenacious spirit and a commitment to alleviate the suffering in the world. He has seen first hand the extreme poverty and the diseases that have plagued Africa. He has seen the children that are dying from AIDS which is running out of control in many nations of Africa. I therefore believe Bono is the personification of what Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 25 verse 40, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” And to that I say, kudos, Sir Bono, for being a great humanitarian. Sincerely Yours, Frederick R. Bedell Jr. Bellerose News Enlivens, Enlightens To The Editor: Several news items that I either read in your Dec. 6, 2006 issue of the Gazette or heard on the radio, are worthy of sharing with you, the readers of the Gazette, and all of them are of a positive nature. I was pleased to read in the pages of the Gazette that our Police Precinct in our area has chosen an officer of the month due to her good work and dedicated efforts and in the light of the negative press that many police officers have been given lately, this was really a positive news item. The idea of selecting an officer of the month motivates others to achieve the same, and in addition demonstrates to the public that police are doing their best to protect the health, safety and property and lives of others. I applaud our Councilmember [Peter] Vallone [Jr.] for his tireless efforts in serving on committees concerning affordable housing in our area. New buildings are shooting up so quickly and unfortunately the rents are so high and it is my concern that families will not be able to move into our area due to these exorbitant rents that have to be paid. Affordable housing is not a luxury, but a necessity since shelter is a basic and very important human need necessary for survival. I am also happy that I.S. 125 students are striving to plant gardens and are employing their abilities and talents constructively. [Editor’s Note: These were not planted gardens but painted panels named “Garden in Transit” for New York taxis.] I am a former graduate of that junior high school and am proud of those students who are role models for the youth of today and leaders of tomorrow. Lastly, I am happy to learn through TV and radio media that by 2008 all restaurants will ban trans fat in food. Trans fat is dangerous, causing heart problems, losses in productivity, illness, untimely deaths and huge medical costs. Our health both today and tomorrow is precious and most valuable and must be protected. Thus, again, positive has been accentuated in this letter, putting us all in the holiday spirit. Cynthia Groopman Long island City Create New Parks A copy of the following letter was received by the Gazette. Mayor Mike Bloomberg City Hall New York, NY 10007 Dear Mayor Bloomberg: We have read your Plan 2030 and agree with your interest in the future of New York City. Many civic leaders in Queens are concerned [with] what one million more people in our city do to our quality of life. Queens is concerned with the proliferation of more cement and bricks and the loss of green growing things. We agree there should be more parks in NYC. There are two locations in Queens which would make fine parks. The closed Klein Farm in Fresh Meadows is a good location for a farm. The current speculator can’t build McMansions there because it is in the Fresh Meadows Preservation District. It could be added to the Colonial Farm in Little Neck and administered by Parks. The West Cunningham Park Civic Association is working with a group of civic and tenant associations towards this goal. The second location is the St. Savior’s Church property in West Maspeth. The property is for sale and has this fine old church and magnificent trees, which would make it ideal for a park. The Juniper Park Civic Association is working toward this goal with a number of dedicated community activists. We hope you will consider these suggestions. Yours truly, Bob Harris, President West Cunningham Park Civic Association, Inc. Get Out Of Iraq To The Editor: In early November, an editorial calling for Donald Rumsfeld to be replaced as secretary of defense showed up simultaneously in the Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Corps Times. Distributed to members of the U.S. Armed Forces throughout the world, these publications stated that President [George W.] Bush must face the hard truth that Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. Only days earlier, [President] Bush stated that he wanted both Rumsfeld and Vice President [Dick] Cheney to remain in their posts for the remaining two years of his administration. As he spoke, more troops were being killed and wounded in a war that has degenerated into a civil conflict between Muslim factions competing for power. Then, one day after the Republicans suffered what [President] Bush called a “thumping” on Election Day, Rumsfeld’s resignation was announced. To replace him, the president turned to Council on Foreign Relations veteran Robert Gates, a move that does not bode well for the troops caught in a war between Islamic factions. Iraq is no place for American forces, no matter who is secretary of defense. Very truly yours, Janet McCarthy Flushing Media Keep Public Informed To The Editor: How disappointing to learn that the weekly broadcast of “Inside Albany” will soon be no more at the end of December. How fortunate we are to live in one of the few remaining free societies. There is a wealth of information sources available for any citizen. The end of “Inside Albany” represents a major loss for those of us who really want to know what is going on inside New York state government. As a long-time viewer of the show since 1975, I have enjoyed the original reporting of both Dave Hepp and in later years by Lisa Bang-Jensen. Who could forget watching a broadcast with an attempted interview with Norman Adler - then a key aide to the Democratic Speaker of the Assembly Mel Miller. Mr. Adler was very upset with a simple question from New York Post reporter Fredrick R. Dicker and became rather physical. Everyone subsequently knew that they had gotten the goods on both Adler and Assembly Speaker Miller as part of yet another story that the power brokers didn't want the public to know about. Mr. Adler lost his temper resulting in a very “physical” confrontation with both the reporter and camera. Years later, like so many other former employees of the Albany state legislature, he went on to become yet another well compensated political consultant or lobbyist. He and many others interviewed over the years wished they never ran into “Inside Albany”. While a majority of citizens continue to be apathetic, there are still many of us who really care about the actions and activities of both our elected officials and state government agencies. Their budgetary, legislative and regulatory actions directly impact both our individual civil and economic liberties. The demise of "Inside Albany" will put an even greater burden on those few brave remaining independent players including “New York Week in Review”, the Albany Times Union, the Legislative Gazette and weekly newspapers like the Queens Gazette to hold the governor, state comptroller, state attorney general and members of the state legislature along with various New York state agencies accountable. News releases and newsletters from members of the state senate and state Assembly are written, prepared, printed and mailed by staffers at taxpayers‘ expense. All too often they serve as propaganda vehicles used to announce pork barrel member item projects or selective votes on issues. These so-called constituent newsletters are really just campaign literature used as a tool to raise the name identification of incumbent public officials to help grease the wheels for winning the next election. There is no real information provided as to actual votes on all bills, how many hours worked, listing of campaign contributions from various “Pay for Play” special interest groups, disclosure of financial reimbursements for daily meals along with travel from home to Albany and back along with the hours and amount of compensation for those holding down second outside jobs. Too many downstate members of the state legislature enjoy keeping what goes on north of the Westchester County Tappan Zee Bridge in Albany a secret from both constituents and family. The same is true for many upstate members as well. How many scandals have there been over the years involving members of the state legislature having a child out of wedlock or an “Albany” girlfriend on the side while away from home? No members of the state legislature like to openly talk about the goings on taking place at the Albany evening cocktail party circuit sponsored by the army of lobbyists and pay for play crowd while the legislature is in session. This is like the commercial for Las Vegas. “What happens here, stays here” and will not be passed on to the outside world. Newspaper reporters assigned to the Albany state government beat have to fight each day for every column inch in the limited space available in their respective daily newspapers. There is intense competition between international, state, county, city, local, business, sports, entertainment and other sections of every daily newspaper. With the increasing costs of news print, plus competition from local nightly news broadcasts and the Internet, it continues to become more difficult for newspapers outside of Albany to provide real detailed coverage of state government on a daily basis. News about votes on key legislation, member earmarking for their own pork barrel projects, state legislature committee hearings including testimony by fellow members and representatives from various special interest groups along with fund raising events hosted by the Albany “pay for play” lobbyists is difficult to come by. There are more registered lobbyists in Albany than anywhere in the nation. Only the famous Washington, D.C. “K” Street Congressional lobbyists are more abundant in numbers and dollars. James M. Odato and Rick Karlin from the Albany Times Union; Marc Humbert from Associated Press; Jay Gallagher from Gannett News Service; Yancy Roy from Ottowa News Service; Fredrick R. Dicker and Kenneth Lavett from the New York Post, Joe Mahoney from the New York Daily News and Queens Gazette’s own "Eye on Politics" columnist John Toscano try to do their best by shining a light into the many hidden corridors of power. Who wouldn’t want to be a fly on the wall when Governor Pataki, Republican state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Democratic state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver “Three Men In the Room” got together behind closed doors to cut all the backroom deals, which the faithful members of the state legislature usually follow in lock step. Who wouldn’t also want to be a fly in the room when Senate [Majority] Leader Bruno or Assembly Speaker Silver convened a meeting with members of their respective flocks to inform them how they should consider voting on future legislation? Usually with only one staff person assigned by those major daily newspapers who can afford to assign a full time employee these handful of brave reporters are vastly outnumbered and outgunned by all the press spokespersons for both elected officials, government and quasi government state agencies along with hundreds of lobbyists from various special interest groups. In the marketplace of ideas, let us hope there continues to be room for everyone remaining, especially “New York Week In Review”, Albany Times Union, the Legislative Gazette and the Queens Gazette. There are still many taxpayer citizen civic activists like myself who have a continued thirst for news from our state capital. I'm grateful that the Queens Gazette has on many occasions over the years afforded me the opportunity to express my views along with many others who may have different opinions on the issues of the day. Thanks to you, an ordinary citizen like myself is afforded the freedom to comment on the actions and legislation of various elected officials. Public officials are powerful, with easy access to taxpayers’ dollars used on a regular basis to promote their views. This is done via mass mailings of newsletters, news releases, letters to the editor and guest opinion page columns. In many cases, they are produced by campaign or office staffers paid for by taxpayers on public time. Ordinary citizens like myself only have the limited ability when we can to find the time and just submit a simple letter to the editor. Sincerely, Larry Penner Great Neck |
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