‘A Quality Education Is No Pipe Dream’

More than 1 million public school kids are being denied a sound education in New York City. For this reason, New York State’s highest court has ordered Albany to provide city public schools with $5.6 billion over the next four years. Andrew Wolf’s column is just wrong when it calls these resources a lottery fantasy [“Billions of Educrat Pipe Dreams,” Opinion, April 15, 2005]. This money is required by law. When a million children and billions of dollars are involved, it makes sense to have a plan in place before the funds are received. That’s why I appointed a commission led by top educators and parents that helped us come up with a comprehensive proposal for the money that focuses on teacher quality, high needs schools, and class size reduction. In response to Mayor Bloomberg’s 2006 budget, I came up with a plan that results in an $85 million surplus and more than $400 million to pay down the city’s debt.

My budget would keep an existing surcharge on New Yorkers earning $500,000 or more, with every dime going toward class size reduction. And we would eliminate the tax on everyone else, resulting in a savings of $130 million for 150,000 New Yorkers. We need smaller classes, quality teachers, safe schools, and stronger after school programs. Studies have proven again and again that quality education reduces crime, unemployment, and the cycle of poverty, benefiting the community at large and saving municipalities money. A quality education for our children is no pipe dream, it’s a necessity for the growth of our kids and for the strength of our city.

GIFFORD MILLER
New York City Council Speaker
Manhattan

Lawyers Riding With Disabled

Alicia Colon writes that “fear of such lawsuits has actually resulted in less employment [of the disabled]” [“Lawyers Are Riding Along With Disabled,” New York, April 12, 2005]. Baloney. Before the Americans with Disabilities Act, few employers were hiring people with disabilities – not unless they were able to “pass under the radar screen.” Now that people with disabilities are empowered to disclose what they once felt compelled to hide, and still others attempt to use public transportation to travel to those jobs, Ms. Colon cries “foul!” Fifteen years after the passage of this landmark legislation, it is, indeed, a sad fact that people with disabilities are the only group subjected to such gratuitous attacks. “Back of the bus?” Ha. Ms. Colon doesn’t even want them on the bus. We obviously have a long way to go.

JO ANNE SIMON
Ms. Simon is a former teacher of deaf children and an attorney in Brooklyn representing people with disabilities.
Brooklyn

Brava to Alicia Colon for writing what so many of us here in New York feel. I’m sure she will get bombarded with letters from lawyers and the disabled who will misread what the column is really about. Not a week goes by that a city bus is not put out of commission by the wheelchair lifts. Why not set up a regular route with specially equipped vans to transport the wheelchair passengers? This would be better for the disabled. Incidentally, Ms. Colon was incorrect in writing that the fare for Access-A-Ride is $1.50. She probably got that amount from the city’s public advocate’s Web site, which has not yet been updated.

RENEE DIAZ
Staten Island

I seldom use buses but I remember before, when I was able to walk with crutches, many times in order to get in the bus the driver would have to kneel down the step. I was able to get in the bus, but after if the bus door or lift didn’t work, everybody who needed to get out was blocked.

Recently, when I was using a wheelchair on the bus, a passenger behind me remarked that such people need to stay home and not use the bus. If such a remark were said to a person of color, everybody would say it is racism. But say it to a disabled person and it is nothing.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has changed people’s attitudes toward people with disabilities. The reason we have the ADA is because other people were treating us like second-class citizens.

LUDA DEMIKHOVSKAYA
Ms. Demikhovskaya is a board member of Disabled In Action and a member of the Paratransit Advisory Committee of Access-a-Ride and the Disabilities Network of New York City.
Brooklyn

In Alicia Colon’s article, the rider complained that she was inconvenienced because someone less fortunate also wanted to use the bus and mechanical equipment malfunctioned. Well, boo hoo. Laws in a free society are made to assure that the majority doesn’t trample on the rights of a minority. Because someone is less advantaged doesn’t mean that he or she shouldn’t have the same access to the mainstream as everyone else. Civil rights should not be enforced only when it is convenient to others.

MARVIN WASSERMAN
Manhattan

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