The recent crane tragedy has left the city scrambling to implement new regulations to improve safety at construction sites in the city. While the culprit in this incident seems to be a faulty piece of equipment, the spurt in development over the past few years seems to have caught city agencies off-guard in their ability to conduct meaningful and effective oversight.
After the last accident, we saw the DOB’s team of inspectors grow to 461, a menial number when you consider the size of the city and number of projects currently underway. It begs the question then that if massive building cranes can fall out of the sky under the watch of the DOB, what violations are going unnoticed at construction sites in our own backyards?
While growth is a necessity, it must be carried out in a responsible manner and closely monitored by our city’s agencies not only to protect lives but to also protect our neighborhoods. I hope that potential issues at construction sites in our own neighborhoods are planned for as the city moves forward in addressing the problems it now faces.
Mel Gagarin
Kew Gardens
Column struck home
I sat with The Queens Courier tonight, started to flip the pages, and came upon your column, Victoria’s Secrets. It was an amazing read and it just hit home. My daughter, Christina, will be 31 on July 24. She is diagnosed as bi-polar, mildly retarded. She also was born caesarean and suffered lack of oxygen and had severe seizures at birth.
Yes, I do remember Willowbrook and Geraldo Rivera doing all those stories.
Thank God for those stories! They woke the world up. And thank God for someone like you. We have to fight for our children. You did and I know I did. I was able to get her into good programs like the Herbert Birch program from before she was three.
It was after Chrissy was born that my mother-in-law told me the story of neighbors coming around to have her sign a petition so that a group home would not be put in their neighborhood. She did not sign and she told them off. She lived around the block from Gaskell Road!
I also looked at the WORC program. An excellent program but I did not choose it for Chrissy. We went with HeartShare and she is doing really well.
Last year I was asked to speak at a community meeting - HeartShare was opening another group home. I guess I am naive and cannot believe that in this day and age such ignorance still exists. I went home from that meeting devastated.
Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for what you did for my child and all disabled and mentally handicapped people.
God bless you.
Camille McMenamin
Parking lot woes
My car has been hit two times in [my local] Waldbaum’s parking lot, once by a cart and the other time by a careless driver, that left the scene. I think that some sort of security should be in place at parking lots. A security car would be most helpful. That would be a deterrent for these uncaring people and parking lots should be held responsible. There has to be some sort of law. People are in a rush and talking on cell phones while going to stores and they should be held responsible for their accidents.
Miriam Rodriguez
Ozone Park
Be proud to speak the English language
Bernard Weisenfeld’s rebuttal to national identity suggesting that America should become a bilingual nation is naive dreaming. One only has to look at Yugoslavia as an example. Composed of many the Balkan countries, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, etc., which had different customs, religions and languages, the attempt to make a single unified country failed because of those differences. Even if other things divide us, language is the most powerful tool to unify a country, E Pluribus Unum.
Balkanization is a synonym for disunity. We do not need to Balkanize the United States. We should be proud of our English language and culture.
Charles McKenna
Flushing
No free rides
For many years, the MTA Board members (current and former) enjoyed their free-transportation rewards illegally because they were not supposed to receive any “compensation” for sitting on the MTA Board.
However, not anymore. The New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo successfully intervened to stop this outrageous practice. Most of the members of the MTA board are very rich people and can afford paying for travel within the state.
I think the Attorney General should go a little further and demand refunds (with 10 percent interest) to be paid back to the taxpayers.
Victor Maltsev
Rego Park
Justice for our dead
It has taken seven years to bring the 9/11 planners to trial. Seven years! That is a disgrace. In any other country, they would have been executed years ago. We should be ashamed of ourselves for caring more about the civil liberties of terrorists than justice for our own dead.
Michael Chimenti
Oakland Gardens
Cops raise good to see
It was great to see that the police officers that serve us here in New York City have finally gotten what they have been fighting for all along - a well deserved pay increase. While it still does not put them on par with other police departments in our area, at least it is something. I have much respect for our officers in blue. You risk your lives for us every day and for that, I and all New Yorkers are truly grateful. Keep up the good work!
John Amato
Fresh Meadows
Taxing problem
Kudos to The Queens Courier for using its May 22, 2008 editorial “The Good… The Bad… The Ugly” to denounce Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s shameless practice of diverting water and sewer bill revenues to the city’s general fund for purposes that have nothing to do with our water and sewer system.
The Courier’s decision to direct blame jointly at the Mayor and the City Council for this regressive, backdoor tax, unfortunately, is misguided in its reasoning and misleading to readers.
The facts of the matter are that only Mayor Bloomberg - not any other individual or entity - has the jurisdiction or authority to change the unfair practices that are causing water rates to skyrocket every year.
City Councilman James F. Gennaro
Chair, Committee on Environmental Protection
NYC Council
Letters To The Editor
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