One last Fall Festival for our councilman
THE WOODHAVEN BEAT
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Grey Jones, Sightseer/Historian
Grey Jones is a self-described sight-seeing guy. However, he is hoping to do more than take pictures of New York’s most famous landmarks.
Jones moved to Brooklyn nine years ago after growing up in Louisiana and Texas. Back in the Lone Star State, he became involved with organizing an annual Juneteenth festival, long before it was a recognized federal holiday.
Now in Brooklyn, Jones aims to continue finding ways to celebrate and recognize the African-American experience.
“I started walking around in the neighborhood and wanted to do some research,” Jones explained of his many walks around Flatbush, Prospect Heights, and Lefferts Garden.
In his travels Jones encountered the Flatbush African Burial Ground, the last remaining burial site for enslaved African Americans in the city. Many of the people buried at the site are unidentified, so he set out trying to uncover their names and what he could about their lives.
“It was really hard to do that research and find those people,” Jones explained. “Some of the names are redundant and you are not sure if they are a unique person or the same person. It’s a challenge to get records and access information that might be useful.”
Jones not only wanted to recognize these people, but to also celebrate them. He hopes to eventually organize a 17 day freedom festival, which would mark the 17 days between Juneteenth and July 5, the day many African Americans in New York celebrated independence in 1776 when they heard the news.
“I tried to discover 17 insulated people who may have been buried at the Flatbush burial site,” Jones said. “I just found so much history around the life and culture of these people, and it was completely different from what I presumed. Our culture has such a great tradition of celebration, so we should celebrate these people.”
Leaving the county for another country
If you follow the Queens borough president on Facebook, you might have noticed that it was a busy week for Donovan Richards.
There was the installation of electric vehicle charging stations in Laurelton, a visit to Rudy’s Bakery in Ridgewood for the Queens Shops Small series, the unveiling of a statue of Claire Shulman at Crystal Windows, a visit to PS 19 in Corona, extended COVID testing at Borough Hall, and a rally to urge Governor Kathy Hochul to put the proposed AirTrain to LaGuardia on the shelf.
Or rather, the people who work in the Borough President’s Office were busy, because the borough president himself spent the first week of October on a trip to Ukraine.
He was there to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Babi Yar Massacre, in which 100,000 Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War II. The trip was paid for by the Assembly of Nationalities of Urkraine and facilitated by The Blue Card, the group who invited the guests.
The trip was kept hush-hush, with no mention that Richards would be leaving the country. His office has refused to comment on what expenses were covered for Richards.
The office did state that the official reason for the trip was to show solidarity with the Ukrainian and Jewish populations of Queens. Residents living in the borough who identify as Ukrainian American make up less than 1 percent of the population.
Technically, there is nothing illegal about Richards accepting a paid trip as long as there is ostensibly an official aspect to the visit. (See above paragraph.)
It just seems curious that his office wasn’t more forthcoming about the trip. You would think if the purpose of the trip was to show solidarity with the Ukrainian population in Queens, it might be nice if they knew about it.
Something seems a little off.
But don’t worry, if you live in Queens you were in good hands. The borough president’s purely ceremonial duties were in the capable hands of Franck Joseph, the borough president’s chief of staff, who stood in for Richards at all of the events we mentioned above.
Vaccine realities
Dear Editor,
Your editorial in the October 7th issue is myopic in claiming that the unvaccinated “now are the last obstacle standing in the way of finally ending this pandemic.”
The scientific evidence shows that a mucosal virus as SARS-CoV-2 is best targeted vaccinologically via intranasal immunization since it induces high levels of neutralizing antibodies.
The pandemic is still spreading since the oro-nasal route of transmission is not blocked by the current intramuscular (IM) route of inoculation of Pfizer, Moderna, and J & J vaccines.
However, intranasal immunization studies show robust systemic and mucosal immunity, thus curtailing and possibly eradicating pandemic spread. Recent Israeli studies show the waning effects of the Pfizer format after two months of the second shot, with efficacy down to 20 percent six months later.
With mucosal immunity, masks would be obsolete. An IM booster treadmill is perpetuating spread and facilitating the proliferation of new viral variants due to natural selection of immune pressure.
Several models, such as an Oral Polio-vectored SAR-CoV-2, would be promising to curtail the spread. The right idea in the wrong hands is the wrong idea.
Joseph N. Manago
Briarwood
The right to go
Dear Editor,
In June 2021, then-NYC Transit president Sarah Feinberg said she would like to reopen subway station bathrooms as quickly as possible. Three months later, MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said there are no immediate plans to reopen the existing 76 bathrooms inside the city’s 472 subway stations.
How many NJ Transit and PATH station bathrooms are open, closed or never had a bathroom to begin with? I guess when riding the subways, Lieber has never had the urge to go. Perhaps his bladder is stronger than most riders.
Until the early 1960s, subway riders respected authority. There was a ten-cent fee to use station bathrooms. That generation of riders did not litter, spit, or urinate on subway platforms or cars.
Before COVID-19, riders were always reluctant to use subway station bathrooms, even when available. Many stations had no working facilities or were closed. No one wanted to deal with the lack of toilet paper, soap or hot water, unhinged doors to stalls or finding a mess left behind by the previous patron.
Who wanted to find others using it as a safe place for consumption of drugs or sex? Homeless people afraid to go to shelters end up using the bathroom sink to shower in an attempt to maintain hygiene.
Why not assign a matron to each male and female bathroom? Ask any local business, college or hospital to adopt an adjacent station bathroom to help cover the costs of staffing. In exchange, give the sponsor free advertising space at the station.
If necessary, charge a nominal fee to use the facility. Reopening secure, safe subway station bathrooms with adequate supplies of toilet paper, soap and hot water would be one way to attract several million riders who have yet to return.
Sincerely,
Larry Penner
Great Neck
Mentally speaking
Dear Editor
Anthonia Egregbara, who is accused of pushing a woman into an arriving subway at Times Square, is reportedly mentally ill and has been arrested a number of times for attacking others over the last ten years.
She was repeatedly released because of reformed bail laws. Why was this woman allowed to walk the streets without being treated for her condition?
We have many people like Egregbara who are mentally ill and a danger to the riding public. More needs to be done to help the mentally ill from hurting themselves and others.
Sincerely,
Frederick R. Bedell, Jr.
Bellerose
Detail details
Dear Editor,
Once again, Mayor Bill de Blasio has done something illogical and unethical. During his inane presidential campaign, which was the biggest joke of the century, he had a police detail drive his family around.
If he wanted to do that, he should have hired a private security service and pay out of his own pocket. That money should be returned to the police department immediately.
If he refuses to repay it, then he should be sued by the city. De Blasio thinks he can do whatever he pleases, but he has been nothing but a thorn in our city’s side since the day he took office. It will be indeed a pleasure to see him leaving at the end of this year.
Sincerely,
John Amato
Fresh Meadows
