To the Editor,
This morning, while at the Broadway–
Lafayette subway station, on a
ride home from an early morning appointment
at NYU–Langone, I came
to meet and befriend fireman K. Summers
from Sacramento — yes, Sacramento,
my Sacramento local friends.
This most warm and engaging
person and I struck up a conversation
all the way to my home stop,
where he was getting off to attend
the funeral of firefighter Steven Pollard
(“Fatal fall: Bravest plummets
to death while responding to crash
on Mill Basin Bridge,” by Kevin Duggan,
online Jan. 8).
We talked about many things during
the ride home, and when we exited
to the street, I pointed to where he
could find the bus to take him to the
church. At that bus stop were 20-plus
other firefighters, all on their way via
bus because this funeral was so large
that a few square miles of neighborhood
streets were completely closed
down. I offered to drive them, but
they smiled because they knew, like I
knew, that myself and my Prius, even
with them inside, would never get past
the police stations at nearly every intersection
between my home and the
mile drive to the church.
Fireman K. Summers from Sacramento,
who is distinguished by
his perfectly waxed handlebar moustache,
is far more distinguished in
that he paid his own way to fly to La-
Guardia Airport and his hotel stay in
Manhattan, because, to him, it was
something that he had to do; and has
done for years. As we talked, I came
to learn that he was flying out tonight
to head to Chicago, where he will be
attending another funeral for a firefighter
who died near there.
After walking away from the station,
I turned to look at the large group
of firefighters waiting for the bus and
I was compelled to go and talk with
them. The talk didn’t last long because
I started to tear up listening to
them talking about the power of community
that firefighters have in this
country and around the globe.
I said my goodbye and turned to
walk the two blocks to my home. My
only regret was not capturing a photo
of myself with firefighter K. Summers
of Sacramento; I didn’t ask because
it felt like it was inappropriate
under the circumstances.
Helicopters were in the sky and at
Avenue S, near my home, a straight
ride east to the church was as silent
as could be, and looking east I could
see endless lights of fire and police
cars keeping the avenue free of traffic.
Turns out the procession with
firefighter Steven Pollard would drive
very near to my home on its way to
Green-Wood Cemetery for the burial.
Powerful was this experience of
talking with a noble K. Summers
and then meeting his brethren. My
thoughts continued wondering why
can’t our city, our state, our country,
this world show the same respect for
others that these folks do? Why must
we have a leadership, an economic
system, and mainstream media system
that continues to focus their
words and work on ugliness instead
of the beauty that most definitely emanates
from people?
As I write this, the funeral at Good
Shepherd Church is still in progress,
and I can see and hear it via live
stream. The thought of heading there
crossed my mind, but it seemed like
an almost impossibility considering
the hundreds, possibly thousands
who are already in attendance, filling
the streets and church.
RIP, firefighter Steven Pollard.
I will walk outside my home to pay
my respects as the procession drives
by, heading toward your final resting
place in Green-Wood Cemetery.
Barry Brothers
Homecrest
To the Editor,
Congratulations to Rep. Hakeem
Jeffries (D–Canarsie) on being
elected Democratic Caucus chairman
of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep. Jeffries has shown a willingness
to work for positive change
in a bipartisan manner and find solutions
to the issues that impact families
most, like accessing quality, affordable
healthcare.
Alzheimer’s disease has become
a public-health crisis, costing Americans
$277 billion annually. The disease
impacts families at all socioeconomic
levels. In the eight years my
grandmother suffered with Alzheimer’s,
it took a physical toll on my entire
family. Especially on my mother,
who lived with her for many years,
and whose additional physical and
emotional stress affected her own
COURIER L 38 IFE, JAN. 18–24, 2019 M B G
health. She, like caregivers across the
country, incurred additional costs for
her own healthcare that were directly
related to caregiving. I am passionate
about raising awareness about the
need to support Alzheimer’s caregivers.
That is why I became an ambassador
for the Alzheimer’s Association,
New York City Chapter.
I applaud Rep. Jeffries for voting
yes on the Building Our Largest Dementia
Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s
Act — or Bold act — which was
recently signed into law. Bold will establish
Alzheimer’s Centers of Excellence
to promote early detection and
diagnosis, as well as innovative and
effective interventions to help caregivers
with the challenges of caring
for someone with cognitive loss. A national
public-health crisis calls for a
coordinated public-health response,
and the passage of this legislation is
a huge step in the right direction.
Darcy McCarthy
Prospect Heights
To the Editor,
While the City Council should be
commended for the work it is doing
in trying to improve the poor quality
of school-bus service to students
in the city’s school system, what is
it doing to improve conditions in the
schools themselves?
I am very disappointed with Councilman
Mark Treyger (D–Coney Island)
regarding this issue. After all,
he was a New York City teacher before
he fled the classroom for government
service. As a result, he is aware
of the problems schools have to face —
severe overcrowded classrooms and
the continuous presence of students
whose agenda it is to disrupt classes
so that no one learns anything.
When it comes to these issues,
the Council is woefully silent. Why
aren’t hearings called to discuss
overcrowding in the classrooms, as
well as the daily violence and disruption
by students who are in school
only to create mayhem while getting
their free lunches? By refusing to admit
the existence of these problems,
our politicians will guarantee the
continued failure of the school system
to provide a thorough education
for its students. Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
To the Editor,
The devil is in the details concerning
Gov. Cuomo’s proposed new
design for the Canarsie L line subway
tunnel project (“L-pocalypse
no! Gov pulls plug on 15-month L
closure, reveals new plan that allows
continued service” by Julianne
Cuba and Anthony Rotunno,
online Jan. 4). Several hundred million
in funding was provided under
a Federal Transit Administration
Super Storm Sandy Recovery and
Resiliency grant in 2016. What is
the new design’s impact on budget,
engineering, milestones, scope of
work changes, useful life of the investment,
overnight and weekend
track outages along with more New
York City Transit Force Account
(employees) to protect private contractor
workers, which nobody has
seen?
When will the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority headquarters,
board members, Department of Transportation
managers and engineers,
along with the Federal Transit Administration
(which is providing funding),
formally review and comment on
this “new design” and budget impacts?
Ditto for both the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority and Transit Administration
independent oversight
engineering consulting firms.
The winning contractors Judlau
and TC Electric’s $477 million
bid was based on the original scope
of work and design proposed by the
MTA. This included 24-seven site access
to both tunnels with no active
subway. This contract will now have
to be renegotiated. They now have
the basis to request additional reimbursement
in the millions. These
added costs will be far more than
any credits given to the contractor
for deletion of work as a result of the
new design. Contractors’ claims for
additional financial reimbursement
can be based upon delay claims due
to limited site access and change orders
for significant design and work
scope changes to the original contract.
Who will cover costs for materials
previously ordered by the contractor
in preparation for initiation
of work in April that may now not be
needed?
How will the MTA find additional
funding to supplement previously approved
federal Super Storm Sandy
Relief and Resiliency grant dollars?
How many more months and even
years will it take beyond 15 months to
now complete all work? Don’t be surprised
if it takes between two to three
years. Larry Penner
Great Neck