Concerning the Buffalo Bills beating our beloved Jets, we can’t help but to be greatly saddened. The Jets are now 1-7 and Chad Pennington is benched. Well that being the case the Jets stand for, “Just End The Season.”
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Bellerose
COLA is too low
The government recently announced a 2.3 percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) in the 2008 Social Security benefits. Reportedly, this is based on comparison of current prices to last year’s for a comparable period.
It would be of interest to see what items were considered and where these costs were obtained. The increase - the lowest in four years - recommended by this study seems to indicate it was conducted on some far, undiscovered planet still in its early evolution. The reality of the one I live on, along with my contemporaries, is quite different.
I just received notice that my Medicare drug health plan costs would increase by 12 percent next year and based on past years my Medicare supplementary insurance premium would also increase in that range. This follows the three percent increase in my stabilized rent effective this October. My wife keeps telling me that prices are going up every time she shops for food.
Let us see a published, detailed report showing where and how the study was conducted and its conclusion calculated so that we all can retire to that Utopia.
C. Tan
Jamaica
Build a bus terminal
“John Liu says area projects on slow pace” (Pete Davis – October 18), which included the Flushing Commons project at Municipal Lot 1, may be a blessing in disguise.
This site was originally considered by city and transportation planners in the 1960s for construction of a bus terminal. This facility would have taken hundreds of buses off the surrounding streets, where they discharge and pick up riders.
Since the 1960s, there has been an explosion in the number of commuters riding buses to Flushing and transferring to the No. 7 subway line. Construction of a climate controlled intermodal bus terminal could assist in improving traffic circulation in and around the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue along with the rest of downtown Flushing.
Tens of thousands of rush hour riders would be protected from being abused by hot summers and cold winters - rain, snow and winds.
Which brave elected official will step forward and honor this commitment from decades ago before this final opportunity disappears forever?
Larry Penner
Great Neck
Disgusted by ‘Hate Crimes’
I believe that most people in Queens are very disgusted by the spray painting of two swastikas on the property of Young Israel of Hillcrest as reported by Victor G. Mimoni in a story entitled “Cross of Hate in Hillcrest” in the October 25 edition of The Queens Courier.
I agree with Queens Borough President Helen Marshall that it is especially important for all community members regardless of their particular religion to speak out against this type of intolerance. I was glad Assemblymember Rory Lancman responded in a quick and appropriate way.
Hate crimes are usually committed by people with the intention of sending a message to the rest of the community. The perpetrators of hate crimes often want to scare the targeted community into silence. That is why speaking out against this type of anti-Semitism is so important.
The bigots who do these things need to know that for every criminal act they commit, there will be a greater reaction from the community at large. Their cowardly acts will not serve to silence a community but rather help to galvanize it against this type of hatred.
In Queens, our diversity is our strength.
Daniel Dromm
Jackson Heights
Auburndale still waits …
The Auburndale Improvement Association, Inc., the oldest civic association in Queens County, has been actively lobbying the New York City Planning Commission for contextual rezoning of the Auburndale community for the past several years. Although we have received assurances from representatives of the Commission that Auburndale would be rezoned, there has been no progress in even beginning the process.
As the zoning and housing chair of this organization, I have witnessed first hand the effect that this inaction has had in Auburndale. Since some surrounding communities have been contextually rezoned, certain developers have zeroed in to the Auburndale community to take advantage of its vulnerability by constructing out-of-character buildings and multi-family structures that overpower the existing housing stock.
Large areas of this community are currently zoned with designations that permit too dense development. This affects the quality of life in these areas and puts severe strain on the infrastructure. If these areas were zoned with the appropriate zoning classification, the overdevelopment problems would be mitigated.
In 2005, we were promised that the rezoning work would begin at the beginning of 2006. That did not happen. Then we were told that we would have to wait for the Douglaston-Little Neck rezoning initiative to be passed. It passed. Nothing happened in Auburndale.
Next, we were told that the Jamaica Rezoning plan was taking up the time of most of the Queens office of City Planning. That plan has now passed. Auburndale still waits. The time for action in Auburndale and the other non-rezoned communities is now before they become completely unrecognizable due to inappropriate development.
Henry Euler
Auburndale
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