THE GOOD . . .
Chanukah, the Jewish festival of lights, begins at sundown on Friday, December 11. We want to wish all our readers and advertisers of the Jewish faith a happy and healthy holiday.
We also ask all our readers and advertisers to help us make the holidays brighter for the kids at Schneider Children’s Hospital, as well as for the Carpio family of Whitestone.
We are running suggested gift lists in our news pages and on-line at qns.com. We ask you to open your wallets and your hearts, to purchase a toy or article of clothing from either or both gift lists and bring your unwrapped presents to The Queens Courier’s offices at 38-15 Bell Boulevard, Monday thru Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. All gifts must be in by Tuesday, December 15 at 5 p.m.
THE BAD
The old saying, “You can’t get there from here,” is starting to apply to Bronx-bound traffic on the Cross Island Parkway going onto the Throgs Neck Bridge. The MTA Bridges & Tunnels authorities tell us that the mind-numbing morning rush-hour into mid-morning delays that back up for miles on the Cross Island Parkway are because the on ramp is down to one lane from the usual two lanes due to maintenance work.
The bad news is that they are planning to leave it that way, one lane onto the bridge only, citing a high volume of accidents on the bridge where the ramp lanes merge with other bridge traffic.
We say this is unacceptable. This decision must be reversed.
. . . THE UGLY
The Hiram Monserrate assault case has been an ugly mess from the beginning and the sentencing last week ended just as ugly and messy.
Judge William Erlbaum sentenced the Queens lawmaker to three years of supervised probation, 52 weeks of counseling, 250 hours of community service and a $1,000 fine, but spared the embattled Senator any jail time on Friday, December 4. He did however continue the order of protection for girlfriend Karla Giraldo for a period of five years.
Now it is up to his colleagues in the State Senate to do what the judge refused to do, hold Monserrate responsible for his abuse and his actions.
