The Queens Chamber of Commerce thinks it is a grand idea to destroy over 225 small businesses in Willets Point and dislocate over 1,300 employees and thousands of their dependents. The statement of Albert F. Pennisi, President of the Chamber that appeared in The Queens Courier on June 5, is notable not for what it states, but for what it is lacking.
To destroy the lives of so many people for a useless convention center when one already exists in Manhattan and when there is a glut of convention space in the country is terrible. To build a 700-room hotel in an area already besotted with hotels and building luxury housing with a minimal amount of affordable ones thrown in as a sop is not a good plan. It is clear the function of the Queens C. of C. is not to support all business, but those that benefit fat cat real estate developers and their political friends.
Yes, it is true the infrastructure of Willets Point requires a great deal of work resulting from the neglect of the city, something it will, with taxpayer dollars, correct for the benefit of the developer of the proposal. If that were the case, no reason exists why the city cannot make the repairs and the current businesses remain. Pennisi fails to explain why an upscale Gucci store or a Victoria’s Secret will serve any greater public need than the businesses currently there. If, as he claims, “if it is good for Queens’ businesses, it’s good for Queens,” he does not explain why the current 225 businesses are not good for Queens. They are, in fact, good for Queens, but not for real estate developers.
Pennisi’s claim the Chamber will “make certain the needs of the existing businesses and economic revitalization of the area remain balanced” is nonsense. The current businesses and their employees and dependents will be offered up as sacrificial lambs to the fat cats that run this city. The Willets Point proposal is a political rip-off of the public on a grand scale and for supporting it, the Queens Chamber of Commerce should be ashamed of itself.
Benjamin M. Haber
Flushing
Heat wave tough on kids
The unusual heat wave during a few days this June has really been a hardship particularly for students and their teachers, “trapped” in school rooms that have been unbearably hot! Pupils and their teachers suffered, and some felt faint, newspapers reported!
Only the administrative offices are air-conditioned. It is way past time for the “powers that be” to close down the schools during unbearably hot periods! Teachers and students cannot perform properly under these extreme conditions!
Leonore Brooks
Whitestone
Buy from local farmers
In light of the tomato-related health scare, we should consider our local farmer’s markets as a vital alternative to the genetically engineered imported tomatoes found in many of our supermarket and restaurant chains. Better yet, let us take to the rooftops and grow our own produce. Locavores were once ridiculed, but when restaurants and supermarkets have no tomatoes, where else shall turn to for our food?
Sergey Kadinsky
Forest Hills
Duck soup?
Has the Albany State Legislature and New York City Council gone to the birds? The bill being introduced by Councilmember and 2009 mayoral candidate Tony Avella (which supports a similar bill by State Senator Frank Padavan) to outlaw the production of foie gras from ducks is a bad joke at taxpayers’ expense. If you don’t like the product, don’t buy it. Right now, consumers are more concerned with filling their pantries and gas tanks to be buying much foie gras.
Padavan and Avella have more important issues to deal with such as finding adequate funding to support critical services such as police, fire, sanitation, education and health. What about financial issues such as dealing with current fiscal year multibillion dollar state and city budget shortfalls along with reducing $50 billion dollar plus respective long term state and city debt?
Larry Penner
Great Neck
Cap property taxes
During this period of rising fuel, pension, and health care costs, it is clear that New Yorkers, especially middle class and working families, desperately need tax relief. That is why I fully support a cap on property-tax hikes, endorsed by both the governor and an expert tax-relief commission. It is truly a shame that Albany lawmakers have blocked this common-sense proposal, bowing to pressure from lobbyists and special interests.
New York’s property taxes are the highest in the country, a whopping seventy-nine percent above the national average. We New Yorkers live with one of the highest costs of living in the nation and, facing our current economic uncertainty, middle class and working families in particular are feeling the crunch. After years of rising taxes, now is the time to finally cap property tax increases.
Limiting local property tax increases to fewer than four percent a year is an essential first step as part of a broader tax relief and economic revitalization plan for our state. Lowering taxes on small businesses, entrepreneurs, the middle class, and working families is vital to attracting good-paying jobs and enticing younger, educated workers from leaving New York, as it has simply become too expensive for many to live here and raise a family.
Having created hundreds of jobs as a small-business owner and as a founder of the local business improvement district (BID), I know what it takes to grow our economy, here in Queens and throughout the state. Economic development, enterprise zones, and common-sense tax relief is what New York needs, now more than ever. Most importantly, it is clear that New York’s over-taxed taxpayers deserve better from Albany than politics as usual.
Peter Koo
Flushing
Editor’s Note: The writer is a candidate for the 16th State Senate District (which covers Bay Terrace, Elmhurst, Flushing, Forest Hills, Fresh Meadows, Oakland Gardens, Rego Park, Whitestone, Woodside).
Bloomberg for Governor
A Quinnipiac University poll recently released shows Mayor Michael Bloomberg is the top choice for governor for 2010. The statewide poll showed Bloomberg leading former mayor Rudy Giuliani and Governor David Paterson by four points and seven points respectively. Now that being said, I think Mike should consider a run for governor.
Mayor Bloomberg has worked hard for this city of ours, has made meaningful changes and has proved time after time that he loves New York. He has tried to do his best to improve the quality of life of all New Yorkers. Now imagine what Mayor Mike could do as governor.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Bellerose
Letters To The Editor
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