Letters to the editor

Dear Editor:

Has anyone taken a close look at the traffic plans for the mega medical center being planned in Woodmere? The details are shocking.

This mega-medical center would pack hundreds of additional cars onto Peninsula and Branch boulevards, and on Rockaway Boulevard, while creating maddening traffic gridlock. Cars would be forced onto residential streets throughout our community for as long as this proposed regional medical center would plague our community.

Just imagine: No safe place for the kids to play, or to take a walk on Shabbos. Just a steady stream of cars heading to this regional medical center, seven days a week, 365 days a year. There is no way we can let this happen. Isn’t there enough traffic that we deal with? This is a precious residential neighborhood. Tell Mount Sinai to send their patients elsewhere. Join me on March 20 to vote NO on this mega-medical center.

My street – nor yours – will be turned into another Long Island highway.

Josh Justic

Woodmere, NY

Dear editor

The members of the School Board #15 ( Five Towns ) who voted for the sale of the # 6 school to Simone to create a Mega-Medical Center, did a major disservice to all the residents of our community.

As an exercise physiologist, with over 40 years history advocating for increased exercise and fitness for our children, I add my voice to all those who are outraged at the prospect of losing a vital community asset- the # 6 school playground and ball field.

For over 15 years I have been coming to the # 6 school field to play ball with my children and grandchildren, and to see baseball games and soccer practice by numerous neighborhood after school groups using the field. Where will all these children go to now? The Middle School field is overcrowded, Grant Park is saturated and everyone can’t go to Cedarhurst Park.

We need the # 6 School field to remain open for the use by the children of our community. With more and more children becoming overweight and less fit, it defies logic to want to reduce their exercise opportunity even further by removing this necessary neighborhood ball field.

And with so many of our residents yeshiva students, where exercise and fitness training have culturally not been a priority, losing this park will be additionally devastating. But this issue truly cuts across any religious or cultural divide and unites us all! Our children, regardless of their background need the park for their health!

We need to vote this ill conceived plan down on March 20 and demand from our representatives on school board # 15 to put our community’s interest first. I live down the block from the # 6 school on Barnard and I see daily the traffic backups and bottle necks created by the slightest increased traffic from trucks and construction on Penninsula Blvd. I can’t imagine the daily nightmare that awaits us with hundreds of patients, doctors, nurses, technicians, medical and pharmaceutical salesmen/women that will be coming and going and swarming all over our streets looking for parking places.

There are better options for the school district and our community that will not impact so detrimentally on our quality of life.

I will vote a resounding NO on March 20. I urge all of you to join me

Dr. Alex Sternberg MPH,Sc.D, M.Sc.

Brooklyn, NY