By Eric W. Schoen
It Ain’t Easy to Get into College
Wealthy Parents have been making large donations to get their “qualified” students into top schools from pre-kindergarten through graduate school for generations. This is in addition to the tuition for the respective schools. This is money we would hope would provide scholarships so that less affluent students would be able to attend prestigious schools.
And now we hear that actors and actresses, folks with big jobs on Wall Street, and other wealthy individuals have been paying “fixers” to get their unqualified kids into some of the top universities in this country. Paying large sums for individuals to take qualifying exams in place of these “unqualified” kids, paying off coaches and athletic officials so that their kids can receive scholarships, but most importantly, to get their kids into the top schools.
Even Photoshopping their kids’ pictures onto crew team pictures to make believe their kids participated in the sport and hopefully obtain college entrance based on their high achievement on the crew team.
Something is wrong with this picture. What’s amazing is that this scheme could go on for so many years with so many players and nobody spilled the beans.
The parents should be jailed. They should be forced to pay equal dollars to the colleges as they paid these fixers so that other qualified students can receive scholarships, giving them the opportunity to attend prestigious schools.
The children who benefited from this scam also should be punished. Many of them are of legal age and knew someone was taking an admissions test for them. Jail time, community service – there should be some penalty so they learn their lesson.
The whole college admissions process needs review. The college board, the organization that charges mega bucks for testing, is the place to start. They need to make sure the person sitting for the exam is that person. Could that be so difficult?
Parkview Avenue Fire
Why is it always workers using blowtorches that start these big fires like we had on Parkview Avenue? All those people displaced, some maybe for several years – their lives up in smoke because of workers using a blowtorch.
If we find that the work was done without proper permits or by unqualified people, those involved need to go to jail and be fined considerably, even though there was no loss of life. When you have old buildings like this, the wood used to build the structure is old and must be handled with upmost care.
How difficult is that to understand?
City Sidewalks, Busy Sidewalks With No Garbage Cans
People are still complaining about the loss of garbage cans on the busy streets of Yonkers. Many of the cans that were removed were replaced after public outcry, but there are many spots where cans were not replaced. For example: the can on Bronx River Road near Starbucks.
The city put this garbage can right in front of Starbucks. Now, some people would throw their Starbucks garbage in the can, but many would put their non-Starbucks trash in the can. If the can overflowed onto the sidewalk, Starbucks would get a ticket for a messy sidewalk. So the can was moved to in front of the parking lot for Starbucks and adjacent stores.
The city removed the can and now we see garbage on the parking lot wall against the side of Starbucks.
Yonkers needs solar garbage cans for garbage disposal like Mount Vernon and New York City have. Yonkers needs to work out a deal that will allow these solar receptacles to be used and garbage from them to be collected during the day. Have businesses sponsor a garbage can with their placards on its sides.
Doesn’t everybody want a clean Yonkers?
School Zone Cameras
New York City is in line to get a big increase in the number of school zone cameras on city streets from the New York State Legislature. Why does Yonkers not replace some of the accident-causing, fuel-draining red light cameras with school zone cameras that have proven to save lives?
Basically, school zone cameras catch speeders and other violators of traffic laws in and around NYC schools. And they raise money for NYC and communities where they exist (although that’s not supposed to be the reason they exist). With all the speeding going on in front of schools and people violating traffic laws, it’s an easier way to stop people from breaking the laws and raise some dough.
67% of New Yorkers Want Amazon
Still in shock that a few folks scared away Amazon from locating to Long Island City? Billions of dollars in revenue lost; 125,000 good-paying jobs lost; many more people on the sidelines won’t get the business Amazon would bring.
Now we learn that 67 percent of New Yorkers are not happy that Amazon won’t soon be their neighbor. I would have thought the number was higher than that. And we still have the mayor of New York City making believe it’s all Amazon’s fault and that they gave up on New York City.
The only way we will have more money for federal, state and local governments other than taxation (we are already overtaxed) is to increase revenue. It’s as simple as that.
Baseball in March in Japan?
The first game of the baseball season, Oakland A’s vs. Seattle Mariners, takes place in Japan as this column goes to press. They had to fly in 12 tons of dirt from the United States for the game.
Japan doesn’t have dirt? Baseball in March? I hope that’s a sign that spring is here. The warm weather will be great for my knees and back. Play ball!
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericyonkers. Listen to Eric Schoen and Dan Murphy on the Westchester Rising Radio Show on Thursdays from 10 to 11 a.m. on WVOX 1460 AM or go to WVOX.com and click the arrow to listen to the live stream.
