 |
|
|||||
|
Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer has contacted Parks Commissioner Henry Stern to discuss the lifeguard situation for the upcoming summer. She has requested that Far Rockaway High School be named as a site to offer lifeguard-training courses. In a letter to Stern, Pheffer said, "I believe having more available sites to train prospective lifeguards will increase the number of applicants, benefiting everyone." We agree and commend Audrey for jumping on this issue right away before another summer season is upon us. More ... Big week in fashions and toys. To raise funds for New York City firemen, outstanding designer of men More ... Ronnie McCarthy was given a surprise birthday party by her children for her 80 birthday at the Silver Gull Club on February 10. As Ronnie blew out her candles the guests all blew bubbles. More ... Community support for "suitable space" for the Far Rockaway Social Security office is being sought by Stephen Hartenstein of Belle Harbor, representative for Local 3369 of the American Federation of Government Employees, the union for the personnel at the office. More ... I just love the notion that Bill Clinton will take his office space on 125 street in Harlem! I think it's a win/win all the way! I'm sure his constituents and supporters in the Harlem community are ecstatic. Even some Republican neighbors in the area might be happy about having him there. I just love the way this latest of Clinton bashing has played out. Yes, $800,000 a year for office space at the exclusive Carnegie Towers is perhaps a bit excessive at the taxpayers expense; so what does he do? Instead of insisting on the glitzy Carnegie Hall Towers where his blue chip neighbors would have been people like Barry Diller, Steve Case, and Producer Robert Benton, and where he would've been able to dine on Caviar at the Russian Tea Room, he goes to Harlem! To a building with a FUBU billboard on its side--and where he can dine on Caribbean cuisine or soul food at Sylvia's! More ... There is big money at stake in the education game today, particularly in this city with its thousand plus schools. Those who get to run charter schools have the potential to bring in some real money. The parochial schools will reap big bucks should Giuliani and President Bush get their druthers and their voucher plans passed. Those who run Head Start programs will get increases in federal aid if they will only teach reading rather than recess. Some superintendents have used their districts as a private fiefdom, converting money earmarked for school programs to such things as hotel stays, limos, cell phones and other amenities. One district superintendent reportedly even parlayed a district computer contract into a number of private homes and money-free mortgages. More ... The National Park Service has apparently taken Rockaway off the map when it comes to ferry travel. You will remember all of the photo ops and political statements about building a ferry slip at Gateway National Park that would facilitate commuter ferry travel to Manhattan. Now we know where we stand. The NPS is a major sponsor of a study that would provide for a 25-stop ferry loop that would "link Manhattan, Staten Island, Brooklyn and New Jersey with a fleet of 99 passenger vessels." According to the NPS and the other sponsors of the plan, this is the "comprehensive" ferry plan that would tie everything together. Is something missing? Sure, something is missing. Rockaway (and all of Queens for that matter) is missing. No Breezy Point. No JFK Airport. The stop that is furthest south according to the plan would be at Fort Wadsworth, just north of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. The planners do admit that subsidies will be necessary to get the price to the point where it would be affordable and that it will be difficult to get subsidies. They are counting on the NPS to bring federal money to the mix. What happened to the ferry at Breezy Point? Why was it not included in the new plan? Certainly, the NPS knew all about it, sponsored it, agreed that it was necessary for "special events at Gateway." The fact that our stop and the stop at JFK were omitted speaks volumes. Manhattan interests rule and we are at the far end of the table. More ... Copies of the long overdue MTA study of the reopening of the Rockaway Beach line of the LIRR were finally sent to some of us last week. Special thanks to Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer, who obtained the study from the MTA and shared them with us. The study, however, invents some foolish ideas and then tries to make our plan look foolish and too expensive. More ... |
      |
||||
