By Dee Richard
The naysayers this weekend attacked two of the many men I both like and admire in the city. One is Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the other Joe Franco, the former proprietor of Caffé on the Green and who is now the owner of the former White House restaurant in Whitestone. Franco plans on turning The White House into a new restaurant/catering facility.
Is it a slow news week, a slice off the cake known as “the revenge of the fat cats” or the elimination of future competition?
One of the issues I am referring to is that the mayor was booed as he marched in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Saturday in the Rockaways. Apparently the union workers were upset over his perceived attacks on members of the teachers union.
I was not aware St. Patrick was a card-carrying member of the teachers union. What right did these members have to try and ruin a non-partisan, non-political event which everyone assumed was to celebrate Irish heritage and ancestry? The parade was not organized to give them a platform to promote their own personal issues and agendas. Keep it up, guys — you’re endearing yourselves to the public more each day.
Don’t you realize the majority of the public is also experiencing lean times — in fact, a huge number of them have lost their jobs and you at least have a job, whether or not you like the terms and conditions. At least it is a job and I’m sure many of the unemployed would be more than happy to change places with you.
Your survival depends more and more upon your willingness to sit down at the negotiating table and work out a compromise that everyone can live with or get together on. Do you think the city, state and federal governments are lying to you when they say the well is running dry?
There simply isn’t enough money to give everyone what they want or think they should have. Now is the time everyone has to tighten their belts and deal with the reality of insufficient funds to cater to everyone’s desires. You simply can’t make a dollar out of 15 cents.
What sort of an example is it for children who have attended a parade for the simple pleasure of enjoying it to see it turned into a verbal confrontation with the mayor? The verbal catcalls, booing, etc., mainly performed by the teachers who are jockeying to keep their jobs — not a good pubic relations display for the children.
Fellows, here is a taste of reality for you. The best teachers can be hired at a tremendous savings of money by giving lectures and courses on big-screen TVs in the classroom. Not only would that save money and angst, but it would also provide the best first-class education for the children. After all, isn’t that what teaching is supposed to be about, rather than racking up additional pay and benefits for teachers? Unfortunately, there are not enough of these teacher superstars to go around, but if the courses were broadcast on closed-circuit TV, then every child would have the equal opportunity to be exposed to the best of the best.
Many college courses have been or are offered online for degrees and they have been successful and effective. It is not conducive to learning if children are exposed to constant chaos and turmoil of dissatisfied teachers. Private and charter schools are filling that void. Many parents are willing to spend the money for private schools or spend the time for home schooling to see that their children get the education they need and deserve. Something needs to be done sooner than later. The children and their education are our future.
We got so carried away with the teacher union issue that we used up all the space and will have to delve into depth on the attacks on Franco next week.
Apparently, gays are more tolerable of differences of opinion than the teachers are. On Sunday, the mayor marched in the St. Pat’s For All Parade in the Sunnyside/Woodside area. Everyone was happy to see the mayor and welcomed his participation in the parade. There wasn’t a single boo to be heard. God must love the gay Irish because he held off the predicted torrents of rain till after the parade was over.
That’s it for this week.
I look forward to hearing from you with information on people, parties and politics or gossip. I like receiving your voice mails at 718-767-6484, faxes at 718-746-0066 and e-mails at deerrichard@aol.com.
Till next week, Dee.
