Support for the Creation of PS 267
March 10, 2010
Last night I delivered testimony to the Panel for Education Policy (PEP) in support of the proposal to co-locate P.S. 267, a new elementary school, in the P.S. 158 building beginning in the 2010-11 school year. This proposal represents a big victory for East Side students and their parents, offering immediate relief from school overcrowding and avoiding the earlier, much criticized plan to create a “mega-school.” The new PS 267 will have its own administration and will move into its own permanent location in the former Manhattan Ear Eye and Throat Hospital (MEETH) building on East 63rd Street.
The PEP will be holding a final vote on the proposal at its regular public meeting on March 23, at 6:00 pm in the Michael J. Petrides School, 715 Ocean Terrace in Staten Island.
My testimony is below.
3.9.10 PS 267 Public Hearing Statement
Enhancing Access to Hearing Aids
March 3, 2010
New York could take an important step this year in improving access to hearing aids for the growing number of hearing-impaired. This week, I along with Assembly Member Jeff Dinowitz of the Bronx introduced legislation that will make it possible for patients to purchase hearing aids directly from their doctors.
A current state law–the only one of its kind in the country–prohibits doctors who evaluate hearing loss from deriving a profit from hearing aid sales. As a result, few doctors’ offices offer hearing aid services to their patients, since doing so is economically unviable. These restrictions create artificially high prices and unnecessary inconvenience for patients. Doctors’ offices can provide patients with cost-effective and convenient services.
This new legislation will enhance patients’ access to treatment and increase competition among providers. Patients will be able to have continuity of care with their doctors, which is especially important when patients have complex medical conditions. A 2009 Consumer Reports article indicated that the best provider of hearing aids is a medical office headed by an ear, nose and throat doctor with an audiologist on staff- an unlikely option in New York under the current law.
Congratulations to New RIOC Board Members!
January 27, 2010
I am proud to congratulate Margie Smith and Michael Shinozaki on their long-awaited confirmation by the State Senate to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation Board of Directors, as well as Dr. Kathie Grimm on the confirmation of her re-nomination.
Margie, Michael, and Kathie are three of Roosevelt Island’s most talented and dedicated community leaders, and they will be key contributors to a Board that has steadily grown more representative of the island it serves.
I have been a consistent advocate for democratizing the RIOC Board, and these confirmations mark another important step forward in that process. I sponsor a bill (A.3953/S.1394) with Senator Jose Serrano, which would reconstitute the RIOC Board so that it is elected rather than appointed. And in 2008, I secured funds for ballot machines so that the Roosevelt Island Residents Association could run their balloting. In that historic election islanders chose Dr. Grimm, along with five other nominees, to represent them on the Board. Margie and Michael were elected last May, in another successful ballot with excellent turnout.
The island’s voters have chosen supremely qualified individuals with a proven commitment to serving their community. It goes to show that democracy really does work: when people are given the opportunity to participate in the governing of their own communities, they take their civic responsibility seriously. RIOC is better off for it, and so are the residents of Roosevelt Island.
Unfortunately, the Governor has not always respected the will of Roosevelt Island’s voters, as when he failed to officially nominate two of the winners of the 2008 election. I wrote to the Governor at that time urging the confirmation of all six nominees and I continue to press him to do the right thing. (You can find my May, 2008 letter in the Publications section of this blog.) Islanders deserve nothing less than full democratization of the RIOC Board.
