EDITORIALS
OTHER VOICES
Whitestone deserves better holiday display
Whitestone is a beautiful,
robust neighborhood with water
views and areas pristine for
New York City.
However, another year goes by
and so does another pathetic tree
lighting for our great village.
We are close to Little Bay
Park and Fort Totten, yet we
are forced to accept a ridiculous
miserable Christmas tree
hidden behind the mechanical
arm of a parking lot entrance
across from the Raspberry
Farm store? Sad!
Is life so busy that we cannot
approach this holiday situation
with a little more care and
beauty? How about a local band
singing and a much bigger tree
lighting ceremony inside Little
Bay Park or Fort Totten?
This brings our wonderful
families together and is a nice
tradition to start. I cringe every
time drive past this current
display. Sad!
Alice Murphy
Beechhurst
BAIL NIGHTMARE
The process of paying bail in New York City is a nightmare.
It is a tangled mess of outdated technology and bureaucratic
red tape that actively undermines our justice
system. We routinely hear stories of individuals who
spend extra time on Rikers Island for no good reason.
That is a complete disgrace. New York City is failing
these people. Earlier this month, Council Member Keith
Powers and I convened a joint hearing on the difficulties
of posting bail and the countless delays that stand
between accused individuals and their freedom. We focused
the hearing specifically on how the city was failing
to comply with a series of bail reform laws passed by
the City Council last year.
The Council’s laws were specifically designed to prevent
unnecessary incarceration and simplify the bail
payment process. These included legislation I sponsored
to require the NYPD to give people the opportunity to
get contact information off their phones after they have
been arrested, just in case they need help paying bail.
It was profoundly disappointing to hear reports from
advocates and public defenders that the city has failed to
implement these laws. The Bronx Freedom Fund found
that most of their surveyed clients were still in custody,
awaiting release more than 3 hours after their bail was
paid, despite the law requiring them to be set free in that
time, and that most did not receive the legally mandated
information about bail payment options.
Notably, the Bronx Freedom Fund reported that 70
percent of their clients were not granted access to their
contact information while in NYPD custody, as my law
requires. Based on this information, along with additional
testimony, it is clear that the city is not taking the
implementation of these laws seriously. We demanded
answers from both the Department of Correction and
the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice about what has
gone wrong, and what needs to be done to bring the city
into compliance.
The impact of the city’s failure is profound for people
unnecessarily stuck on Rikers Island for hours, days or
weeks: time away from family and loved ones; jeopardizing
employment or housing. And for taxpayers, unnecessary
incarceration is a waste of valuable public resources.
It is enormously frustrating to see the city drag its feet
on the implementation of these important bail reform
bills, but we will continue to push the administration for
answers in order to ensure full compliance with the law.
The city’s inability to fix the basics with bail or make
improvements as required by the City Council are selfinflicted
wounds. The city certainly can improve the
system if we have the will to do so.
This Op-Ed was written by Councilman Rory I.
Lancman
ASTORIA TIMES ■ BAYSIDE TIMES
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FRESH MEADOWS TIMES
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LAURELTON TIMES ■ LITTLE NECK LEDGER
QUEENS VILLAGE TIMES ■ RIDGEWOOD LEDGER
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