Addabbo meets with JFK Dems

About three dozen stalwarts braved the first wet snow of 2007 and trudged to the Margaret Tietz Center in Jamaica on Thursday evening, January 18, for a meeting of the John F. Kennedy Regular Democratic Club.
The featured guest of the evening was City Councilmember Joseph Addabbo, representing Howard Beach and Ozone Park, who visited the Jamaica club to inform the members of legislation proposed in the Council and sought their opinions and suggestions.
The topics covered a wide range of issues, from a bill granting non-citizens the right to vote (a large majority were opposed) to whether the pensions of all City employees who die while on duty should pass along to their spouse, which had applied only to cops and firefighters (a large majority approved.) Addabbo informed the crowd that the City Law Department is fighting over the definition of “on duty” in the law, which was signed by Governor Pataki.
In addition to these momentous concerns, the Councilmember took a complaint about road conditions in Corona, which he promised to pass along to his counterpart, Hiram Monserrate, who represents that neighborhood. He also found that most of those present were opposed to letting dogs off the leash in city parks.
Addabbo responded to concerns about school crowding by focusing the audience on the need for school construction and the problem of finding suitable building sites. He enlisted the support of those present, asking them to pass along the information if they see a potential school site become available.
He also outlined a program which he dubbed “There Should be a Law,” in which people reported situations which did not have administrative solutions; their suggestions would then would become the basis of legislation. The practice is growing in California, where at least one State Legislature has had a contest for students in grades 9-12 to suggest legislation.
The forerunner of these programs was a comic strip called “There Ought to be a Law!” which was nationally syndicated as early as 1944, where readers were encouraged to write-in with their pet peeves. The strip was drawn by Al Fagaly and written by Harry Shorten from that time until the mid 1960’s.