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Our dangerous drought Dear Editor: For the past five months, Metropolitan New York has been in a serious drought. Rainfall amounts vary from 8 to 11 inches below normal. The New York City water supply system, the Catskills and Croton Reservoirs, normally at 75 percent in November, are down to 57.5 percent. If this drought continues, we could possibly repeat the dangerous 1966 drought, when our water supply went below 40 percent. The 1966 problem was historic! The Delaware River starts flowing from our Catskills and heads south to Delaware Bay. NYC Water officials ordered a “shutdown” of our liquid gold going into the river. This decision caused a crisis for Philadelphia’s water supply. Delaware Bay saltwater backed up the river into Philly’s water supply. Here is where history comes in. Pennsylvania took New York to the U.S. Supreme Court and demanded that the court order NYC to restore the flow into the river. The Supreme Court agreed. Folks, with the help of the Queens Chronicle, I urge all Queens residents to take serious steps to conserve daily water usage. Anthony G. Pilla Forest Hills
Trump should be PC
Dear Editor: I am absolutely outraged! Enough is enough. When are our New York City Council, mayor and governor going to focus on the safety of schoolchildren and get seat belts on their school buses? Or, are our elected ones who swore to protect and serve us only doing so
The Nov. 24 editorial “A good Trump” misstated the day on which the president-elect spoke about not charging Hillary Clinton. It was Tuesday. We regret the error.
Correction
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FAITH TALK Pastor Stephen Roser Last week I watched a Times Square cop who was wearing a bullet-proof vest and holding an M16 rifle pause a moment and allow a young family to get their picture taken with him. He came across to me as a beautiful combination of muscle and patience – strong enough to put down a potential terrorist, yet kind enough to give personal time to some passing tourists.
powerful Ruler of the universe is also the One who kindly invites us, “Come unto me, all you who are weary Stephen Roser and heavy laden, is the pastor of and I will give you Howard Beach rest. Take my yoke Assembly of The human heart craves this balance of power upon you and learn God Church and kindness in its leaders. As small children, we from me, for I am wanted our Dads to be big and strong and able to gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest do anything we could think of, yet patient and for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is understanding when dealing with us. Adults light” (Matthew 11:28-30). want the same in government. “People want to be lightly governed by strong governments,” said Coming under God’s authority will never a writer in a Wall Street Journal editorial. He destroy true freedom; it allows for it. Just as a further observed that when evil people rise up, we piano student can express himself most skillfully want a government with the clout to back them at the keyboard only after he has confined himself down, but we don’t want that clout turned on us. to the rules of music, you will discover your true purpose and highest joy only when you bring your That is exactly how God governs. The all- life under the Lordship of Christ.
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School bus seat belts
Dear Editor: President-elect Trump has an aversion to political correctness, which he vilified throughout his campaign as a needless impediment. However, political correctness is not a recent creation, but it is an all-encompassing outgrowth stemming from our religious beliefs, our Constitution, the Golden Rule and many other teachings that encourage our civility, respect and manners toward others, especially those less fortunate. These beliefs are the fabric from which our nation is woven. Consequently, it will be disruptive and dangerous for the leader of this nation to promote anti-egalitarianism, particularly in a democracy as complex and diverse as ours; it will only engender divisiveness, ill will and negativism — domestically and internationally. Glenn Hayes Kew Gardens
BM
©2016 M1P • HOWA-070847
with lobbyists for school bus companies? Is it that kids don’t vote? I would like to see an organized protest by parents who want to be ensured of their children’s safety on school buses just as loud as those by people who are against housing for the homeless. I am sick and tired of hearing about so many school bus accidents. Now six children from kindergarten to fifth grade are dead because of the lack of seat belts on a bus driven by an incompetent driver. Joyce Shepard Bayside
BRADY & MARSHAK, LLP
©2016 M1P • BRAM-069326
hood, greatly hindering me. I would not say I am jealous of the other communities having their frequent bus service. However, I am still wondering why there is less bus frequency available to the rest of the communities throughout Queens. In 1979, the Straphangers Campaign was launched by the New York Public Interest Research Group to improve the transportation system because of the many deplorable conditions facing commuters, such as transit crimes and derailments. In 2007, NYPIRG was instrumental in the MTA creation of unlimited MetroCards, which improved ridership. NYPIRG has worked extensively to improve our bus system, the largest in the country, yet the slowest and most unreliable. So far, we have been successful in winning Select Bus Service in densely populated areas. According to the report “Turnaround: Fixing New York City Buses,” published by The Transit Center, Riders Alliance, the Straphangers Campaign and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, one understanding of the undesirable system is that ridership is at an all-time low and increasingly unpopular. There are some ways to fix these problems and make bus riding as attractive as subways: 1. Change how we get on and off the bus through tap-and-go fare collection and alldoor boarding. 2. Redesign depleting bus networks by mending indirect, unnecessarily long routes. 3. Redesign the distance between stops. 4. Keep buses on schedule, by ensuring that they run on time and intervening when buses run off track. 5. Redesign streets, creating enforced bus-only lanes, installing bus bulbs and boarding islands and creating queue-jump lanes for buses. 6. Increase transparency through more reports on performance so riders can understand. Check out the new interactive website busturnaround.nyc to see how your bus line measures up to the rest of the city’s. Participate in the change by submitting feedback, learn about public hearings and hear from others about how we are changing the system. It is possible to make a difference. Slow buses are not something we should settle for. Every New Yorker commutes, and a strong, reliable bus system is necessary for this hardworking city. I want my Queens neighbors to have a faster commute. The Turnaround Bus initiatives and partners like the Straphangers Campaign and the Riders Alliance are the true change-makers in our city’s future. We must support them. Evelyn England Project Coordinator, Straphangers Campaign New York Public Interest Research Group Queensborough Community College Bayside
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LETTERS TO THE