26 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 20, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM THE QUEENS editorial PUBLISHER & EDITOR CO-PUBLISHER ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF VP, EVENTS, WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA ART DIRECTOR ARTIST SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER STAFF REPORTERS CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS ASSISTANT TO PUBLISHER CLASSIFIED MANAGER CONTROLLER PRESIDENT & CEO VICE PRESIDENT VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS BOB BRENNAN ROBERT POZARYCKI AMY AMATO-SANCHEZ NIRMAL SINGH RON TORINA EMILY DAVENPORT KATRINA MEDOFF, ANTHONY GIUDICE, ANGELA MATUA SUZANNE MONTEVERDI CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI DEBORAH CUSICK CELESTE ALAMIN MARIA VALENCIA VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441 www.qns.com editorial e-mail: [email protected] for advertising e-mail: [email protected] Entire Contents Copyright 2017 by The Queens Courier All letters sent to THE QUEENS COURIER should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should include a full address and home and offi ce telephone numbers, where available, as well as affi liation, indicating special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, AS WELL AS OP-ED PIECES IN NO WAY REFLECT THE PAPER’S POSITION. No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE QUEENS COURIER. The publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. Errors must be reported to THE QUEENS COURIER within fi ve days of publication. Ad position cannot be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication. Schneps Communications assumes no liability for the content or reply to any ads. The advertiser assumes all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold THE QUEENS COURIER and its employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the publication or recording placed by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement. ELMHURST AT SUNSET// PHOTO BY ROBERT POZARYCKI Send us your photos of Queens and you could see them online or in our paper! To submit them to us tag @queenscourier on Instagram, visit our Facebook page, tweet @QNS or email [email protected] (subject: Queens Snaps). Ride-sharing won’t fi x our transit woes We are constantly reminded by local offi cials that we should use public transportation whenever possible to keep cars off the roads and reduce congestion. But what does a commuter do when the buses and trains they rely upon aren’t showing up on time, besieged by delays and sudden cancellations due to all kinds of system failures? In the digital age, more commuters are turning to ride-sharing. A February New York Times report pointed out that annual subway ridership fell slightly in 2016, the fi rst time the system experienced such a decline in seven years. Ride-sharing was listed among the reasons for this rather unexpected downturn in commuting. Without a doubt, ride-sharing apps such as Uber, Juno and Lyft have made it far more convenient — and rather cheaper — for Queens residents to get where they need to go. Ride-sharing has the added benefi t of creating jobs for scores of drivers who either make it their full-time job or work a few hours each week on the side to make a few bucks. But the increase in ride-sharing is also symptomatic of a far greater problem that will cost billions of dollars and years of time to repair: a public transportation system that’s outdated, broken down and doesn’t give Queens commuters the bang for their buck. For instance, look at the Long Island Rail Road’s Port Washington line, the only rail link between much of northeast Queens and Manhattan. A recent study by State Comptroller Th omas DiNapoli found that it had three of the worst performing scheduled evening rush hour trains in the entire LIRR system. Th en there’s the constant construction on the 7 line that has caused dozens of weekend service disruptions over the last few years. Riders in western Queens are bracing for the upcoming two-month closure of the M line for much-needed improvements; this will happen in advance of the twoyear shutdown of the L line tube below the East River, which will disconnect Ridgewood, Bushwick and Brooklyn neighborhoods from Manhattan. What alternatives does the MTA off er during construction? Shuttle buses that compete with livery cabs and other vehicles on the same roadways that are growing more congested each week. Queens’ transportation infrastructure is in need of major upgrades, and those in power must provide the resources — billions of dollars in funding — to make it happen. It won’t be cheap, it won’t be quick, but it is a necessity to keep this city moving. Ride-sharing helps the people move, but it doesn’t fi x what’s broken in our borough. STORY: Scores of Elmhurst residents left homeless, 11 fi refi ghters injured after fi ve-alarm inferno SUMMARY: A fi ve-alarm fi re broke out at an Elmhurst apartment building, leaving many residents homeless and 11 fi refi ghts injured REACH: 20,954 (as of 4/17/17)
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