By The TimesLedger
The New York Legislature is nothing if not consistent. Despite hopeful predictions, the state budget will be late again this year. This marks the twentieth year in a row that the state budget has been late.
The repeated inability of the state Legislature to reach a budget agreement by the April 1 deadline is inexcusable. Although the governor and the entire state legislature share in the responsibility for this failure, the lion's share of the blame rests on the shoulders of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R- Rensselaer) and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan).
These men have failed repeatedly to provide the leadership needed to get a budget approved by the mandated deadline. In the interest of good government, both men should step down from their leadership positions.
Not surprisingly Silver is blaming Gov. Pataki for the delay. Silver has said the budget is stalled because of Pataki’s failure to release a report on public school financing produced by a commission created by the governor. The report is intended to guide the state in complying with a judge’s order to more fairly distribute public school funds, particularly for New York City.
We are tired of their excuses. Clearly Silver and Bruno cannot get the job done. The delay is not harmless and it is not unavoidable. Hundreds of nonprofit organizations depend on state funding to continue their work. As of April 1 their funding streams will run dry.
The yearly budget fiasco has made Albany the laughing stock of the nation. Since the current leadership can’t fix the problem, it’s time to find leaders that can.
If the chaos at the College Point ballfields was not adversely affecting so many families, it might be funny. Nearly seven years after the city padlocked the fields, it still cannot or will not say with any degree of certainty when the fields will open.
Like Cub fans waiting for their team to win the World Series, the people of College Point keep hoping that this will be the year that the nightmare will end. Some have learned to live with the inconvenience. In an article published last week, Jerry Castro, the president of the College Point Little League, said registration is back to where it was when they first lost their fields. His teams play their games on borrowed fields in nearby Bayside and Whitestone and he’s hopeful that when the fields open even more kids will want to play.
While we admire his resilience in the face of massive and inexcusable bureaucratic incompetence, we cannot understand why on earth the city can’t at least say when the fields will be open. In spring, they said. Hello, it’s spring and the fields are still closed.
The City Department of Design and Construction said the stands and bathrooms are being finished. But the Parks Department said it doesn’t have funds to BEGIN the second phase of the work. After nearly seven years the people of College Point deserve better. How much money did the Parks Department spend on Central Park in each of those seven years? Like anyone with a conscience, Mayersohn says she is “deeply frustrated” by the delay.
We urge the city officials to can the bull and tell the people of College Point when their fields will be open. For nearly seven years more than 1,300 children have been deprived of an opportunity that most children in New York City take for granted. During that time the city has encouraged massive commercial development on nearby 20th Avenue while the people who live here are treated like second-class citizens.
Sadly when the Little League season opens this month, in College Point the answer to the question “who’s on first?” will still be no one.
There are striking and disturbing similarities between the crash of a runaway LIRR train in Queens last week and the deadly crash of the Staten Island Ferry earlier this year. In both cases there are allegations that experienced crews routinely ignored standard safety procedures.
The National Transportation Safety Board has yet to reach a final conclusion in either accident. Nevertheless in both cases it appears that the accidents were the result of human error. Fortunately no one was killed in the train crash, although the train destroyed five vehicles and injured four people. The ferry crash killed 11 people and injured 71. A hearing that could last more than a year will begin this week to determine liability in that accident.
In both cases the persons directly responsible for the crash will face tough discipline and possible criminal charges. But that will do little to prevent the next disaster. Agencies responsible for public transportation need to re-examine existing safety measures to see if they are sufficient and, more importantly, to see that they are enforced.
It is human nature to grow lax when things routinely operate smoothly. The men working on the train didn’t place wood blocks in front of the wheels, even though that was art of the rules, because they didn’t think it was necessary. Former LIRR employees told the TimesLedger that such safety measures were routinely ignored.
There may only have been one person at the helm of the ferry because it seemed that only one pilot was needed for a routine docking.
We have frequently been less than sympathetic to community organizations that want to reject public accommodations based on theory that their neighborhood is “oversaturated.” The argument is often a thin veil for selfish NIMBYism.
However we are inclined to side with the Jamaica activists who are seeking to block the expansion of the Saratoga Interfaith Family Inn, run by a nonprofit organization called Homes for the Homeless. The organization is taking its case to State Supreme Court in Manhattan to appeal an earlier rejection by the Board of Standards and Appeals.
The expansion that would create space for 91 additional families would make Saratoga the largest shelter in Queens. There are countless reasons why a community might not want to host a homeless shelter. By their nature the shelters attract a transient population that has no connection to the community. The shelter is in every sense of the word a burden.
The BSA rejected the application because it didn’t seed the need for additional homeless housing in Queens. The mayor has said that the focus should be on early intervention, helping families before they become homeless.
And although we do not question the motivation of Homes for the Homeless, Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) points out that although such organizations are nonprofit, “They still generate a lot of money.”
The city must find a way to balance compassion for homeless families with compassion for the working-class families that live in areas like Jamaica. There is also the danger that a surplus of homeless residence will discourage families from seeking permanent housing solutions.
