The assertion by Fresh Meadows’ Ron Isaac that teachers deserve parking permits goes to show what a sense of entitlement today’s teacher feels. Yes, teachers do very important, meaningful work. So do many other people in our city.
The home attendant caring for the stroke victim who stormed the beach at Normandy. The addiction counselor attempting to turn the drug addict into a productive member of society. The caseworker investigating child neglect reports. The eligibility worker approving cases to alleviate poverty.
The only circumstances under which any city worker should be given free parking is if the nature of his job involves protecting public safety, and public transportation is a dangerous or impractical alternative. And sorry, but this does not include teachers.
Nat Weiner
Bronx
Another point of view
I write in response to the letter written by the President of the SJU Student Government, Lawrence King, to the local newspapers stating that the students of St. John’s deserve respect. There is no need to challenge the community “to learn what St. John University’s students are really like.” I agree that the vast majority of St. John’s students are talented and gifted individuals and I commend the 700 students who participated in SJU Community Service Day. So please accept my apologies if you felt otherwise.
That said, I also feel very strongly that the residents of Jamaica Estates also deserve respect, something SJU has not shown us. The anger and animosity that permeates our community is a product of the underhanded and secretive manner in which Father Harrington and St. John’s University secured the deal to construct the Henley Hall dormitory.
Regardless of how they spin it, the point remains, it is not whether the building is legal or not. It is the ethics of using the “community facilities loophole” in the zoning code, to build a private dormitory, for a private university in the heart of a residential community.
Before you condemn the community, you should take a few minutes to look at the situation through my eyes and the eyes of many of the residents on Henley Road.
Our home, our lifetime investment, is not only our residence of many years, but our retirement nest egg and our children’s inheritance.
I cannot help but cringe at the thought of double-parked cars in narrow Henley Road and people trampling over each other as they maneuver carts full of furniture and boxes for 485 students.
Teenagers and young adults have their internal clock a bit askew; most of you start partying way past midnight, about the time most of us have retired.
In addition to the above reasons, this project is moving forward without an environmental impact study to determine if the community can withstand a construction project of this magnitude. Kamali Developers is desperately seeking creative ways to dispose of the proposed building’s human waste in our aging sewer system.
At some point in the not-too-distant future, Mr. King, you will purchase your first home and I assure you that you will passionately defend your investment and the peaceful enjoyment of your home with the same vigor and determination that we defend ours.
Maria Collier
Member of the Concerned
Residents of Jamaica Estates
Save a Tree - Please Spare the staples
Once again, the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation (DOP) has proven that they often do not have a clue as to what is happening under their watch. No Parking signs for Monday, February 11, have been posted on 212th Street in Bay Terrace. The restrictions will be effect from 8 to 4 p.m. for tree pruning. Is this a good thing? Of course it is. For some time now, we have been asking DOP to prune the trees in that location.
So what is it that makes me so unhappy? Well, the notices, which are all along the street, were affixed to the trees with large staples. Therefore, on the one hand DOP is maintaining the trees with a much-needed pruning but at the same time are damaging the trees by puncturing them with staples.
Someone is asleep at the switch.
Warren Schreiber
President, Bay Terrace
Community Alliance, Inc.
Transplant organ shortage
Your story about Seung Hoon and Sunyun Lee highlighted the tragic shortage of human organs for transplant operations.
Over half of the 98,000 Americans on the national transplant waiting list will die before they get a transplant. Most of these deaths are needless.
There is a simple way to put a big dent in the organ shortage - give organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die.
Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer.
Anyone who wants to donate their organs to others who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88.
There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition. LifeSharers has 10,513 members, including 567 members in New York.
David J. Undis
Executive Director, LifeSharers
Message for Congress
Today I listened to a live broadcast of Congress grilling Roger Clemens over whether he was at a party at Jose Canseco’s house. This is the urgent business of our elected federal representatives. I have a message for Congress: WHO CARES? Let Major League Baseball take care of the steroids, and please get back to the business of ending a war and saving our economy!
Michael Chimenti
Bayside
Letters To The Editor
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