By Bob Harris
Her daughter went to the local schools so she was involved with the PTAs of PS 33, JHS 109 and Martin Van Buren HS. Zaro, who lives in the Bell Park Manor Terrace Co-op just a block from Martin Van Buren HS, can be found in the school gym on Primary and Election Day as an election worker.Zaro was also a vice president of the Queens Federation of Parent's Clubs and an editor for the state PTA publication. I knew her as a member of Community School Board 26, which extends westward into Fresh Meadows. She was vice president during her 16 years of activity. Every once in a while you can still find a letter about education in our local weekly newspapers by Helene Zaro.I also knew Zaro as a civic leader who represented her Bell Park Manor Terrace Co-op in the Eastern Queens Civic Council and at the Federation of Queens Civic Councils, which has now become the Queens Civic Congress. Zaro was one of those who had and still works to make the civic conventions held every year or two function smoothly. She is currently chairwoman of the Nominating Committee of the Queens Civic Congress.Another activity she has been in for over 20 years is as member of Community Board 13, where she has been president and vice president. She is member of the Eleanor Roosevelt Democratic Club and the Queens County Democratic Club.She is the social action chairwoman of the Sisterhood of the Bell Park Jewish Center. This led her to become active in the Queens Jewish Council, where she is on the Nominating Committee, among other activities. She has been involved with the North East Queens Jewish Council when it was formed and is now a vice president.She has also been a member of the board of the Queens County Farm Museum in Little Neck. She is chairwoman of the Nominating Committee there, too. I remember sitting with her at civic meetings in the main room, next to the fireplace, of this splendid example of a colonial farmhouse right here in Queens.Zaro had worked in market research in Manhattan before she retired. She is married to Sidney Zaro, who is a retired school supervisor. One daughter, Stephanie, is a criminal defense lawyer, while her other daughter, Gail Hoffman, was once a teacher, but now works for several doctors and has two daughters of her own. This is the family of the woman being honored for her dedication to the ideals of the American spirit.Good and bad news of the weekSocial Security is a fantastically successful and popular federal program. In talking about the program one should know that its formal name is Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance. Social Security is not a retirement savings program. About 6.7 million children and spouses of deceased workers are receiving survivors benefits. About 7.9 million disabled workers and their families receive benefits. About 33 million people receive retirement benefits which are meant to insure against abject poverty for those who retired with very low incomes.Since Social Security is an insurance program, it is foolish to speak of its 'rate of return' as if it was an investment program. There should be no foolish talk of privatization of Social Security. You can't afford to borrow $1 or $2 trillion to change the program so some people can invest money in risky stocks.Our nation is already $7 trillion in debt since we reduced taxes for the wealthy and started spending on the war in Iraq and against terror in the past four years. We also have a high trade deficit. The cost of health care, however good, is terribly high. Medicare is in much worse shape than Social Security and if the state governments try to cut health costs due to their high deficits, there will not be enough money to pay for Medicaid expenses either.In 1983 a bipartisan Congress did some tinkering with Social Security. Payroll taxes were raised a little, the age for receiving benefits was raised a little, some of the benefits were subject to taxes, the annual cost of living adjustment was delayed for six months, both sides agreed to some sacrifices and a deal was made. Today the pressure is not as bad because the system is solvent until 2042 or so, depending who you talk to.In about 10 years we will have to start using the Social Security surplus trust fund money which the federal government has borrowed to finance its own deficit so it will have to find somewhere else to borrow money. That is a looming problem. Lets see if we have statesmen or plain politicians in Washington, D.C.
