FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARCH 30, 2017 • THE QUEENS COURIER 27 oped A LOOK BACK The Ridgewood Theatre, shown in a photo from around 1950, competed with the nearby RKO Madison for neighborhood moviegoers. Both featured vaudeville acts plus motion pictures, and the Ridgewood was part of the Fox circuit. The marquee pictured above collapsed during the February 1969 blizzard. Send us your historic pictures of Queens by email to [email protected] or mail printed pictures to A Look Back, The Queens Courier, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned to you. letters & comments ‘CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY’ RUINING THE COUNTRY After years of purchasing political influence, our new president has enabled “The Captains of Industry” to completely take over. Capitalism is now corporatism, a government of, by and for the benefit of large corporations and the wealthy. For decades, they held wages down while profits rose, causing workers to fall further and further behind. We are about to experience a further decline in our so-called democracy. First, they will substantially lower their own and corporate taxes while giving us a pittance. To compensate for lower taxes, they will cut spending on the social programs that benefit the rest of us. Next, they will undo all regulations that protect us from their predatory practices and hunger for profi ts. Th en they will try to take away the hard-won rights of women, the LGBT community and minority voters. Finally, because there is so much profit to be made, they will increase the size and budget of the military even though we already spend more than most other countries combined. These millionaires and billionaires have no empathy or concern for their fellow citizens. They claim to be Christian, but their actions are utterly heartless and their greed is endless. We will all suffer the consequences. Linda Imhauser, Whitestone CAN’T THEY JUST GET RID OF THE ROCKAWAY TOLLS? We are going to spend millions of dollars to have cashless tolls? How about we get rid of the tolls especially to a small isolated Queens community that has been separated and redlined by our government for 80 years? Why does Rockaway have tolls in the fi rst place? Corrupt leaders and real estate developers. Get rid of the tolls on our bridges and unite our borough and our city. People avoid tolls, which divides our city. Stop discriminating against Queens and the outer boroughs. Give us back our time, freedom, safety and prosperity. Who wants to pay $8.50 to go to the Rockaways when they can go to Coney Island or Long Island? QNS user Philip McManus HONOR BRESLIN BY MAKING NYC A STATE Th e passing of Pulitzer Prizewinning writer Jimmy Breslin was a sad day for journalism. He was one of the last old-fashioned man-of-the-people reporters. It reminded me of a great idea put forward by author Norman Mailer and himself in the 1969 mayoral election. Th ey proposed making New York City the 51st state. Considering the historic imbalance of tax dollars going to both Albany and Washington versus how much state and federal assistance is received in return, Big Apple residents would be better off keeping funds sent to Albany. Larry Penner, Great Neck Citizenship in These Times BY ETHAN FELDER Young people today inherit a world beset by challenge. Th e social and political order is being tested. Th e guardrails of politics breached in a way very few could have predicted just one year ago. Th ere are some who maintain that current political confl ict and our President’s movement lack ideology foundations. Th is could not be farther from the truth. Th e President’s ideology was embodied in his refusal to shake German Prime Minister Angela Merkel’s hand in the Oval Offi ce this past week. President Trump and his movement have strong ideological groundings in substance and in political alliance with an ideological movement across western democracies. A zero-sum world lies at its core. Th at national, personal, or group gain is inevitably a competitor’s loss. Th is view of the world and human relations is growing. It is reaction to real or perceived threat and vulnerability. Real threats are magnifi ed beyond justifi cation and human fears of the “other” are exploited. Merkel represents the world order that has existed since WWII. Growing up in Communist East Germany, she is a devotee of American liberal democracy that traditionally grounded itself on the freedom of pursuit and opportunity for advancement. Her country’s role as perpetrator of World War II and the Holocaust necessitated the post war order. A world without total war and nation-states unilaterally taking another’ territory is a modern and alien condition to world history. Th e symbolic manifestation of her worldview was the welcoming open hand of conciliation in the Oval Offi ce. What does this mean for young people? It is a call to action. Th e very foundational values that undergird American nationalism, institutions, and culture are subject to debate if not always openly and honestly in the daily scrum of partisan politics. Th e consequences of this battle for the soul of the Republic will undoubtedly shape our long-term economic potential but also the unspoken norms and values that pervade national life. Th is has to be an age of assertion for young people. Th e times demand pressure on leaders to speak assertively in defi ning our national character. Whether we want to live in a country that lives by its liberal democratic foundations is a question for every young person. For me, as a lawyer and citizen I felt this obligatory call and organized a solidarity rally in my neighborhood. At the outset, I thought a few dozen would attend. Little did I know that close to one thousand like-minded people would come out on a cold winter day to listen to young people and everyday citizens speak up for our cherish values. It was my very fi rst foray in grassroots democracy. It was an act of citizenship demanded by the times. Many feel this same drive and desire to act. You should. Th is moment calls for action. It is on each of us to do our part. Ethan Felder is a labor lawyer from Forest Hills and Co-Founder of the Queens Solidarity Coalition.
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