All the News Thats Fit To Print
Media should focus on stories that lead to a safer, more just society By [Bette Dewing] NY1"s â??In The Papers morning segment is worth the viewing even when its choices aren"t exactly mine. Happily (healthfully), there"s no screaming studio audience or screeching panelists like most of the other early shows. Of all the papers, I worry most about what"s in the New York Times, our â??paper of record, because it"s the bible to so many movers and shakers, world wide and close to home. First, let me give a most hearty thanks to St. Stephen of Hungary for its recent second annual Thanksgiving dinner for the community, and the volunteers who made the food and service so great. The excellent talk â??over the plate was happily (healthfully) shared by all in attendance. And the lighting was of the kind that made someone even think I was beautiful! Speaking of lighting, we must get the powerful Times to protest those no-vision Greeners who"ve banned the manufacture of non-toxic bulbs after 2012. Lets reduce our culture"s excessive lighting trend instead! We also need more papers to cover the plight of Second Avenue Subway businesses like Dan Rivoli"s â??Aid Needed for 2nd Ave, Business. But How? article in last week"s Our Town. All papers should be urging their readers to shop, eat and entertain along Second Avenue for the duration of the project. In a just society, the Second Avenue Subway would not be built â??off the backs of small businesses in our neighborhood. Nor should the new Select Bus Service be thriving â??off the backs of First and Second Avenue small business. â??The delivery and parking restrictions are killing us, Tony Samartzis, who â??founded 33-year-old Eva"s Garden Flowers on First Avenue just south of 79th Street, told me. Co-proprietor, Nick Vlahos, worries about business â??being down 30 percent and being socked with $800 in parking tickets because of the new rules. For starters, let"s shop afflicted small businesses, because a just and livable city needs them more than a somewhat faster bus service. And its bus riders sure don"t need the new hybrid bus"s difficult to maneuver multi-leveled and cramped interior. These buses are only blighting First and Second Avenue now, but they likely could be the bus of the future. Help! Now, no one advocates more for mass transit than I do, especially for safe and comfortable bus service, but the new surveillance cameras ticketing motorists entering bus lanes, should first be catching motorists who break that most lethal of pedestrians law: failure to yield when turning into a crosswalk. I only learned of the critical head injuries suffered by Spanish tourist, Maria Hermosin Jimenez, 58, from the Nov. 30 edition of the Daily News. Police said, â??She was crossing the crosswalk [with her husband, at Third and 42nd] but he [the livery car driver] was making a left-handed turn when he hit her. The driver, Dave St Bernard, only received a ticket for failing to yield. And if the Times covered the â??City"s Warning to Boozers article that the Daily News ran Dec. 1, my scanning missed it. The story was about the new campaign by the city"s efforts to curb over-drinking. One of the ways that it"s doing that is by posting ads in the subway. The caption, under one of the ads, shows a man and woman passed out on the subway stairs and says, â??Two drinks ago, you could have got yourself home. Another shows a man after a bar fight, with the caption, â??Two drinks ago you would have walked away. This campaign comes after a recent report that shows 1,500 alcohol-related deaths and 70,000 emergency room visits annually in our city. It finally prompted this overdue City Health Department â??Stop drinking while you are still thinking campaign. If ever there was a story with a â??fit to print message this was it. Anyone else wish they"d never had â??one too many? _ dewingbetter@aol.com