The MTA has just proposed a fare increase of eight percent and an additional toll increase. This is highway robbery and the second year in a row that this is being done. All we can do as commuters is demand all officers of the MTA to be held accountable for trying to fleece the public. CEO Lee Sander must be able to say to every New Yorker that everything is being done to eliminate waste and mismanagement. Then and only then, should a fare increase be proposed.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Glen Oaks Village
Parks’ Folly
This week we learned about rubber mats in our playgrounds overheating and causing severe burns to our children. It is unacceptable that this problem, which seems to pop up each summer, has gone unanswered by the Parks Department and our mayor.
It is ironic that in an effort to increase safety in our playgrounds the city has replaced the risk of broken bones with the risk of third degree burns. The Parks Department should post a warning of this danger on their web site accompanied with a list of affected playgrounds.
Secondly, a study should be conducted to find a suitable and safe replacement for the rubber mats. Finally the Parks Department needs to take stock of their playgrounds and ensure that signage indicating the overheating warning are posted and clearly visible by park patrons in all affected Parks.
The department’s lack of action on this issue is a perfect example of the city government failing us. As of this writing, even facing legal action, the city seems unable or unwilling to accept responsibility for poor decisions that keep our children at risk of injury.
Mel Gagarin
Kew Gardens
Move FDIC rate higher
The current fiscal crisis has the potential of some banks going under and their depositors concerned. The assurances that savings accounts are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) up to $100,000 may be comforting but it raises a point I haven’t heard mentioned by the government, the legislature and the media.
How long has the insured amount been in effect? What did it buy when it was instituted and what does it buy today? Business deals today are struck in the billions of dollars while not long ago it was only millions.
Everyone seems to have forgotten that even steady, normal inflation decreases the value of fixed amounts. It is time for the FDIC to change its coverage ceiling to reflect the cost of living increase or eventually it will be worthless.
C. Tan
Jamaica
Live and let live
As long as some cultures and religions differ from our own, is this a reason for some to destroy in hateful ways these other groups’ manner of displaying their differences publicly?
I am referring particularly to the deliberate removing of the turbans and cutting the hair of some members of the Sikh culture, who harm no one, and proudly never cut their hair or dress in ways preferred by their culture!
Why can’t people simply respect the fact that some people, unlike themselves have the right to also live peacefully, and go about their business without being harassed by ignorant, nasty individuals?
Am I really being naive to believe that the quote, “Live and let live” may someday become a reality? Leonore Brooks
Whitestone
Nobody cares about their shenanigans!
Here we go again! Another possible scandal that involves a rock star and a baseball player, who happens to earn 275 million dollars per year!
With all of the more serious problems in our world today, and with over 4,000 of our soldiers dead in the Iraqi war, who really cares about the shenanigans of Alex Rodriguez and Madonna?
I give his wife a lot of credit. After the nonsense of him fooling around with that blonde bimbo, she should have given him the ax! But, she faithfully stayed with him. The public does not need to hear about these soap opera like situations. I feel sorry for Alex Rodriguez’s two little kids. What kind of a father is going to be to them?
John Amato
Fresh Meadows
Comments from Queenscourier.com
On ‘THE PERV NEXT DOOR: Child molesters and sexual predators live among us’
“You people are crazy. Sex offenders have the LOWEST rate of recidivism of all crime excluding murder … I do not in any way, shape, or form agree with what these people do, however, once they have served their time, life should go on and we do not allow it.”
-Unreal
Editors Note: It takes one to defend one…
On ‘Star Of Queens: Captain Maria Garcia, United States Army’
“HOOAH for the Captain. She is truly a hero and inspiration to many.
Great article from The Courier!”
- Joe Williams
On Ron Isaac’s Education blog: ‘No principles when appointing principals’
“It is a shame that most positions are acquired by who you know and not what you know. This is one of the many reasons that education is flawed as it is. Students are not reaching their full potential because the right people are not out there encouraging and pushing them. It’s quite sad really.”
- JLM
On Fred Bedell’s ‘Gripes’ blog: ‘Let us pray (in school)’
“I agree with Bedell. As the child of Holocaust survivors, I am sensitive to legitimate concerns about official religious expression. But never in all my years in school, from kindergarten through graduate school, did I ever feel threatened by references to a Supreme Being, even of a faith that is not my own, but happens to be the inspirational force that is largely to be credited for moving forward our great Western civilization. Neither would I feel alienated by references to Eastern traditions, provided they were ones of tolerance and acceptance.”
- knappertsbusch
Letters To The Editor
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