QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, February 18, 2016 Page 8
SQ page 8
EDITORIAL
P
AGE
Keep the warrants active
I
s Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito determined to ruin quality of life in New York City? It sure can seem that way, given how she’s constantly coming up with new ways to not hold people accountable for breaking the law. The latest scheme is her proposal to simply vacate about 700,000 warrants issued for people who never showed up in court for violations such as drinking in public, doing what one has to do after drinking, also in public, jumping turnstiles or being in the park after dark. Poof! Like magic, the fact that you allegedly broke the law, and then did it again by skipping your court hearing, will just be forgotten. This is what Mark-Viverito calls “reform.” It’s an odd word for encouraging lawbreaking. A better one would be “retreat,” as she seeks to reverse the gains the city has made in the last 25 years or so and bring us back to the days when you could ride the rails for free if you wanted, maybe spray-painting the train while you’re down there, and do all these other things a decent society frowns upon, without much worry the police would come after you. They’d be
too busy trying to solve the hundreds more rapes, murders and robberies that were a hallmark of the late ’60s through the early ’90s, when New York was rightly seen as the epitome of urban decay. Oh, and you folks who committed a violation but paid your fine? Suckers. Don’t expect any refunds. Corollary to Mark-Viverito’s drive to free the scofflaws is her proposal to close all the jails on Rikers Island. Does Rikers need reform? Absolutely. Does that mean it should be closed so everyone who would have been sent there can instead be locked up somewhere else? No. What’s the sense in that? Mayor de Blasio came out Tuesday against closing Rikers, noting that there isn’t room elsewhere for all the defendants and convicts there, and that the proposal would cost untold billions of dollars. Mark-Viverito has been a steady supporter of lawbreaking since she took office, whether it’s with these plans, handcuffing the police, decriminalizing certain violations or honoring terrorists (Oscar Lopez Rivera) and traitors (Ethel Rosenberg). Who and what exactly does she represent?
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Tax $ wasted Dear Editor: Drip, drip, drip … your tax dollars are going down the drain. Have you seen all the “Don’t Let Tax, Water, or Repair Charges Come Between You and Your Property” full-page ads in your daily and weekly neighborhood newspapers? Even worse was the 100-page supplement which appeared in the New York Daily News on Wednesday, Feb. 10. It lists line by line the name of every New Yorker who owes real estate tax; water, sewer, emergency repair or other property-related charges and says, “The City of New York may sell a lien on your property.” Is this the best way the city Departments of Finance, Environmental Protection and Housing Preservation and Development can spend taxpayers dollars? Why can’t all three agencies compare their respective lists of people who owe money with those filing city and state tax returns? Surely the technology exists to place a lien on any tax refunds. You could also extend citizens the courtesy of a telephone call or letter or email informing them of their overdue obligations. W hat’s next, will the city send out marshals going door to door, ser ving subpoenas? Larry Penner Great Neck, LI © Copyright 2016 by MARK I PUBLICATIONS, INC. All rights reserved. Neither this newspaper nor any part thereof may be reproduced, copied, or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilming, recording or by any information retrieval system without the express written permission of the publishers. This copyright is extended to the design and text created for advertisements. Reproduction of said advertisement or any part thereof without the express written permission of MARK I PUBLICATIONS, INC. is strictly prohibited. This publication will not be responsible for errors in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. Bylined articles represent the sole opinion of the writer and are not necessarily in accordance with the views of the QUEENS CHRONICLE. This Publication reserves the right to limit or refuse advertising it deems objectionable. The Queens Chronicle is published weekly by Mark I Publications, Inc. at a subscription rate of $19 per year and out of state, $25 per year. Periodicals Postage Paid (USPS0013-572) at Flushing, N.Y. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mark I Publications, Inc., 62-33 Woodhaven Boulevard, Rego Park, N.Y. 11374-7769.
Replacing Queens’ Scalia
D
ear Republican senators: President Obama understands his constitutional duty. Do you? The notion that the GOP-led U.S. Senate won’t even give a hearing to any nominee Obama names to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia is an outrage. There is no precedent for this idea that a president should not make a Supreme Court appointment in the last year of his term, and multiple instances when presidents have done so, with the Senate approving them. If the American people didn’t want Obama to name another justice, they’d have voted for Mitt Romney in 2012. The Republicans of course are just worried, as they should be, that Obama will name a liberal jurist who will tilt the court back to the left. Scalia was a leading conservative thinker, who made his rulings based on strict constructionism, the idea that the words of the Constitution mean what their writers intended them to mean at the time, not how they’ve been reinterpreted over the centuries. Whether you agree with Scalia’s philosophy or not — and most New Yorkers likely do not — you have to respect his success as a son of Queens who rose to the very top of his profession. An Elmhurst native, Scalia left a lasting mark on the nation. He also was a sharp, funny guy whom even those of opposite views, such as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, enjoyed being around. May this lion of the law rest in peace.
E DITOR
The great Scalia
Dear Editor: It is with a great amount of sadness that I heard of the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Here was a Supreme Court justice who was a champion of the conservative interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. The passing of Scalia is a great loss to the Court, our country, the American people and democracy. And most importantly to his family, and friends who are grieving for one so loved. Truly Antonin Scalia was a great American who loved our country and served the nation well with his loyalty, dedication and commitment to the laws that govern us all. Frederick R. Bedell Jr. Glen Oaks
GOP obstruction Dear Editor: In creating our republic, a nation unlike anything that preceded it, the founders
made it so the government consists of three branches: the executive, legislative and judicial. It was clear from the outset the executive and legislative would be involved with and have the right to political views. That was not the case with the judiciary. Indeed, to insulate it from politics and elective pressures, members of the federal judiciary were given lifetime tenures. The Senate’s right to “advise and consent” with regard to presidential nominees was intended to give the lawmakers the right to determine if the nominee possessed the ability to hold the office for which he or she was nominated. Political views were not intended to determine the fitness to serve on the federal judiciary, as indeed they should not. If Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, and other Republicans refuse to allow a hearing and an up-or-down vote on an Obama nominee to the vacant Scalia seat on the Supreme Court, and no action is taken until well after the coming election, they will leave the Court with a vacancy for about one year. In so doing they will not only violate