To The [Queens Tribune] Editor:
Anyone who thinks that life in New York City has gotten demonstrably better over the past few years must be living in Manhattan. Those of us poor folk who live in “the outer boroughs,” if we are not delusional, should have a more realistic perspective.
From where I sit, my neighborhood, Astoria, has become dangerously overcrowded, its infrastructure is collapsing, it’s much dirtier and more graffiti-strewn than it was when I moved to Queens 10 years ago. The quality of life has definitely declined, but what makes the disintegration of a once-charming community hard to take is that it isn’t happening in parts of the City where the Census tracks are wealthier and better educated and where people are in a position to stand up and complain.
Last year, we, in Western Queens, suffered through days on end in the sweltering heat without electricity. That wouldn’t have happened in Manhattan; nor would it have happened in Park Slope or Williamsburg or Riverdale. But it happened here, because it was permitted to happen.
Mayor Bloomberg, who is has been touted as the greatest Mayor in NYC history, has contributed heavily not only to his own re-election campaign, but to the ever-widening divide between those who can go into a trendy Manhattan restaurant and pay upwards of $200 for a meal and those of us who, on very special occasions, eat takeout, rent a movie, and look wistfully to that fortress of wealth and privilege across the river.
John Borrillo
Astoria
11 comments:
It seems to be already too late for LIC and Astoria! The over-development tsunami has already washed over its shores!
Its residents had better move to higher ground or further East for a quieter life!
Bloomberg and his builder buddies view Queens shores merely as Manhattan East!
They're merciless mongers of real estate and take no prisoners in their voracious quest for extending their empire!
Bloomberg? Why don't you blame Pataki, Bush, and the Watergate Plumbers while you are at it? The fact of the matter is that the Republicans have all but written off Queens since Nixon was in the White House.
This area is solidly Democratic machine clubhouse. Pure and simple. Everything you see, and hear, and are told from official channels is clubhouse, clubhouse, clubhouse.
Dirty streets? A shot power grid? Overcrowding? Merchandise piled up in front of 99 cent stores interspaced by international food bodegas?
Thank the clubhouse for their policies. They serve THEIR interests not YOURS or heaven forbid the CITY'S. Tweeding and ‘honest graft’ is the heart of their policies.
The only reason your letter even saw the light of day is the eastern Queens (Tribune) faction and the western Queens faction don't see eye to eye. If the public starts to get effective in their criticism they will close ranks.
So go after the real culprits. Bellyaching is only the first step. Publicly going after the source of the problem is the next.
"..the Republicans have all but written off Queens..."
Ah, but visionary Phil Ragusa is running a Republican Campaign School with "star" pupils like former State Senator Ada "the Coffee Lady" Smith.
Actually, the reason his letter "saw the light of day" is that we tend to print all signed letters that we receive that discuss local subjects and are neither defamatory nor libelous.
Brian M. Rafferty
Managing Editor
Queens Tribune
That is a good policy, Brian. It's a shame your reporters can't stick to their promises of not revealing their anonymous sources, however. At least Queens Crap doesn't do that.
I received a letter to the editor of Queens Crap about the Queens Tribune that was in fact signed. In fact, you're mentioned in it, and not in a defamatory or libelous manner. I haven't posted it yet because it's so good that I am going to use it as a main post sometime in the near future. I hope you enjoy it as much as Crappy did.
Is the Tribune still in favor of tearing down St. Saviour's and keeping Tommy Huang's Maspeth building, or were those 2 positions just taken because the "wrong people" are fighting for/against them?
Funny how the Trib failed to send a reporter to that anti-Huang rally. And one of their editors, a "Maspeth Resident," could have walked outside in his bathrobe and covered it.
That's because Gary Ackerman (founder of the Trib), Nussbaum and Manes were all buddies back in the day!
The remaining question is......are they all in cahoots with Tommy Huang?
Tommy and Manes appeared to be!
anyone who jacks up property taxes, tries to schmooze the olympic committee into bringing the olympics to nyc and is in support of projects like the west side stadium and willets point is no republican and no friend of middle class outer borough nyc. bloomberg treats those in the outer boroughs as mere pawns in his game of condo building. rosie o'donnell supports the man! nuf said.
Wow all this exposing of the raw deal that the people of Queens generally get and the Trib says nothing.
A comment on clubhouse politics and we get the editor promptly carefully clarifying the newspaper's position.
What does this tell you?
Post a Comment