“Go for a Ride” (Andy Altamirano, April 25) concerning expansion of ferry service to Astoria makes sense. Our waterways are an underutilized natural asset which can offer significant transportation alternatives for thousands of New Yorkers. Most of our existing public transportation and roadways are already operating at or above capacity. New ferry services can be [...]
As chair of the City Council 19th District blood drives, I would like to thank the 29 concerned northeast Queens residents who volunteered to give the gift of life during our blood drive in Whitestone on Saturday, April 20. Thanks to modern techniques, the precious platelets which last just a few days may have [...]
BY PETER SMERGUT The word “autism” conjures up many images and emotions. We have all witnessed the pandemic growth of this disability and it is hard to keep track of the incidents among newborn. Whether you subscribe to the 1/88 births or the more recent 1/50 births, the facts are clear, this is an extraordinary [...]
As former elected officials from Queens County, we have had the opportunity to work very closely with Republican Party Chair Phil Ragusa. We have known Phil for over 30 years and in our experience, he is one of the most honest, diligent, decent and forthright people we have had the pleasure to be associated with [...]
As the city of Boston and the nation continue to cope with the aftermath of the horrific bombing that took three lives and injured countless others,some critically, it is important for all of us to be supportive of Bostonians. We are all Americans and are all in this together. The terrorists want to be able [...]
It is now time for the Catholic Church to stop living in its 1939 Emerald City fantasy world and allow its priests to marry. There is absolutely no logical reason why this should not happen. In other Christian and Judeo denominations, men who are clergy are permitted to marry. Being married does not lessen one’s devotion [...]
BY CLAIRE SHULMAN Why the borough president, I am asked. The 1989 Charter has the council voting on both land use and budgets, so what do you do to warrant the existence of the office? I will tell you. I can best describe it by telling you what we did before and after the 1989 [...]
Last week, an ad attacking City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and her campaign for mayor was released by what is known as a SuperPAC. While we’ve all been hearing about SuperPACs for years now, the most important thing to know about these groups is that they raise millions of dollars and are able to circumvent [...]
It is very important that the projects that were approved for funding in Councilmember Daniel Halloran’s 19th Council district under the participatory budgeting (PB) project be allocated those monies. The people voted and their choices must be honored. In addition, other projects that were put forth must also be considered for funding, because those ideas [...]
I am the blood drive chair for the 19th City Council District, in the district office of Councilmember Dan Halloran. We are hosting a blood drive on Saturday, April 20 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in front of Key Food in the Whitestone Shopping Center, 153-17 Cross Island Parkway. In the aftermath of news reports [...]
