Category: Opinion

Op-ed: Workforce training programs offer hope amid affordability crisis

Jun. 26, 2023 By Joseph Walton

The cost-of-living crisis is spiraling out of control. Half of New Yorkers cannot afford to meet basic needs like housing, food, transportation, and health care. As a Navy veteran experiencing unemployment and homelessness, I know these challenges first-hand.

New Yorkers need better transit. Here’s the way to get there

The city should have a majority of seats on the MTA board

Opinion: By Jimmy Van Bramer

In 1968, the state took over New York City’s buses and subways and created the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Nearly 50 years later,…

Opinion: Our Community Board is Violating State Law

By John O’Reilly, retired attorney and former public official

“You ain’t seen nothing yet. B-b-baby, you just ain’t seen n-n-nothing yet.”

Randy Bachman’s lyrics written in 1974 provide a perspective on the emerging tidal wave of development in Sunnyside/Long Island City and the potential decking of the Sunnyside Rail Yards for possible housing and commercial developments.…

OPINION: Is Community Board 2 transparent?

OPINION June 15, By John O’Reilly
During recent Community Board 2 meetings, the term “transparency” has been used with greater frequency to describe the Board and its various committees’ actions and functions. Is this description accurate? No. Community Board 2 fails to make important community information easily accessible and does not provide details about who sits on the Board and how its decisions are made.…

Opinion: Let’s get behind Vision Zero

OPINION

May 4, John O’Reilly

The Sunnyside community, north, south, young, old, hip and unhip, must get fully involved and engaged with the Vision Zero Action Plan.

This ambitious and historic effort launched in the opening days of the de Blasio administration and newly constituted City Council,…

Daniel Dromm’s View On “Voting Rights”

NOTE: These are the opinions of the writer.

Councilman Daniel Dromm
To the Editor:

It is time for our evolving democracy to embrace voting rights in local elections for all residents. We are all stakeholders in our community and should have a say in important local issues.…