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Editorial: Agenda for Y2K

By The Times/Ledger

As it stands on the brink of new year, a new century and new millennium, the southeast Queens community would do well to give serious thought about where this community is heading. Change is inevitable. Progress is not.

The battle over the proposed building of a multiplex cinema in Laurelton highlights how very difficult it can be to reach a consensus about what is good for the community. With that caveat in mind, we offer some thoughts about the community we'd like to see in the year 2010.

1. A safe place for families. We look forward to a time when mothers can send their young boys to play basketball at a local playground without worrying if the child will come back or if someone will try to sell that child drugs. And we look forward to a day when donuts are not sold from behind the protection of bulletproof glass. Great strides have been made in reducing crime. Nevertheless, this part of Queens remains unacceptably dangerous. Just ask the thousands of elderly citizens who still live like prisoners in their own homes, sometimes with three or four locks on a single door. Or ask the families who feel compelled to put bars on the first-floor windows of their well-kept, middle-class homes.

2. Schools as good as those on Long Island. It's no secret that the schools in this part of Queens are no match for their counterparts in Nassau County. The quality of the physical plants and the quality of the education offered is second rate. This is due in part to the failure of the School Construction Authority to live up to its expectations and in part to the entrenched bureaucracy at the central Board of Education. It has been proposed that this board be broken into five autonomous borough boards. This may be the best hope for giving the community a real voice in the future of public education. One hopeful sign that public education is moving in the right direction is the feasibility study for the building of a giant three-school complex on the grounds of the former Creedmoor Hospital near the border of School Districts 29 and 26. This would go a long way toward relieving the overcrowding in both districts.

3. A real democracy. Although on rare occasions an outsider has managed to penetrate the political system, the Queens Democratic Machine has dominated the electoral process. The party bosses decide who will get the official nod and every effort is made to disqualify challengers, thus avoiding primaries. With the exception of Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose), Republicans are virtually nonexistent. And even the Republican Party does everything possible to keep challengers off the ballot throughout the state.

4. Economic development. There is no reason why the people of southeast Queens should not embrace widespread economic development. The multiplex cinema is just the beginning. The commercial zones in this part of Queens must begin to keep pace with the needs of nearby homeowners. It is not acceptable that residents in this part of Queens should have to travel to Long Island if they want to enjoy modern supermarkets, shopping centers and entertainment.

5. A vital airport. As we have said repeatedly, the Port Authority plan to build an elevated rail link to Kennedy Airport is totally inadequate. Work is almost completed on the section of the AirTrain that will link the various terminals at Kennedy. The problem lies in the plans to build a rail connection to Manhattan. The Port Authority is moving forward with a plan that does not include a one-seat ride and does not offer a connection to LaGuardia Airport. This is destined to be as big a failure as the Train to the Plane. The current strategy will not ensure Kennedy's future as one of the most important airports in the world.