My perspective on the issue of immigration.
I have been thinking a lot about the illegal immigrant issue. If the authorities had succeeded in deporting my mother’s mother (grandmother) back to Trinidad, you would not have known ME or been a part of my world.
If my father’s father’s (grandfather) ancestors (Powhatan Indians) had handled the situation differently, some of you would not have been here and I would not know YOU or be a part of your world.
Something to think about…
Linda Mayo-Perez
Jamaica Estates
Fewer hours — longer lines
Shocking news from the Forest Hills Post Office (Queens Blvd.): As of Monday April 3rd, it will no longer be open at 7:00 a.m. for the hundreds of people who come to get a head start on their mailing needs. The daytime crowds reach panic proportions with every hour that passes and postal workers’ morale deteriorates.
The Forest Hills Post Office will now be opened at 8:30 a.m., bringing a new level of congestion that will be dangerous with the same five windows open for sales and one for passports. This is the only Post Office serving all the residents who live and work around Queens Blvd. Why was the Post Office closed on 108th Street a year ago, adding to this mess?
Our local leaders surveyed the congestion years ago and nothing was accomplished. With new high-rise buildings opening, they need to send a message to Washington, D.C. that we have a million people here without proper postal service and boiling mad tempers that might explode, if local leaders continue to do nothing!
Please send your complaints to:
Postmaster, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant Plaza West, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20260.
S. Richards
Forest Hills
Marathon needs safe route
I am writing for your support in finding a solution to the traffic congestion from the annual College Point Marathon. On Saturday, April 29th, 2006, the College Point Roadrunners Association has scheduled this event to take place again along a closed course beginning at McNeil Park across the four access roads to College Point and back to McNeil Park.
This marathon has grown exponentially, and now has thousands of runners who participate. It has become a burden to the business community and the residents of this town. As a member and director of the College Point Board of Trade, I have made pleas to re-route or stop this potentially dangerous event from occurring.
Since this event virtually shuts the entire town down for approximately three to four hours, businesses have lost revenue or been unable to open; the United States Post Office has been unable to process mail deliveries, and even funerals have been unable to pass through regardless of a police escort.
The most important problem is that of public safety. Since these roads are congested with automobile traffic, it is virtually impossible to get emergency apparatus in or out; there are too many cars on the streets, and I have witnessed people driving on sidewalks and going down one-way streets the wrong way to escape being trapped by the event.
It is important NOW that the community and city officials look at alternative means to conduct this event without a risk to public safety. Perhaps the marathon could start in College Point and end somewhere else outside of the town. Even the New York City marathon starts in Staten Island and finishes in another borough, namely, Manhattan.
William Johann
College Point
