To the editor,
I am very disappointed in the article by Mike McLaughlin (“Adams Family Values,” Aug. 14) on state Sen. Eric Adams’s comments about the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates.
McLaughlin is manufacturing a disagreement between Sen. Adams and President Obama where none exists.
Sen. Adams is correct. As a peace officer, one’s duty is to immediately secure the scene. If that means handcuffing an unknown person on the premises of a possible break-in, that’s what you do.
President Obama called the actions of the Cambridge police “stupid” because Sgt. Crowley handcuffed and arrested Professor Gates after he was convinced Gates was the legitimate occupant of the home. We know this was the sequence because it is how Sgt. Crowley describes it in his own report.
This is the kind of shoddy journalism we see too often on cable television and almost never see in the pages of The Brooklyn Paper.
Fran Schafer, Park Slope
Editor’s note: Sen. Adams said it. McLaughlin reported it accurately. Readers can decide for themselves how they feel about it.
The horror!
To the editor
The movie locusts showed up on my block in Cobble Hill last week, and it’s been a mess ever since. For as many as 10 days, from 6 am until about 9 pm, people work, build sets, provide lighting, run thousands of feet of electrical cable, and air-condition the space to offset the heat from the lighting.
Hundreds of parking spaces in Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights are taken — all with the mayor’s permission. Residents and motorists are expected to put up with the disruption.
New York City gives the movie industry millions in tax breaks every year just to encourage them to make pictures here. People also rent their houses as props for these movies for thousands of dollars a day, some for many days. This is a very cushy deal for the movie-makers. Very cushy also for the homeowners! But what about the rest of us?
There are external costs for making movies in neighborhoods. Taking 200 on-street parking spaces, some metered, most not, increases the traffic around our neighborhood as motorists seek out a reduced number of available spaces, increasing air pollution and traffic noise. Air pollution, traffic noise, congestion, wasted time, increased fuel consumption all add up.
The mayor, since he is so free with our tax dollars, should be forced to undertake a real cost-benefit analysis, not the one he drags out claiming that for every tax dollar turned over to the movie industry, $1.90 is returned to New Yorkers. Other studies suggest the return actually leaves us well in the red.
As a resident, homeowner and taxpayer who has just experienced 10 days of the “benefits” the movie makers bring to us, I’d prefer if they pay the city for the grief imposed to produce their fuzzy-brained nonsense.
That would be a real Hollywood ending.
Brian Ketcham, Cobble Hill
Peas in a pod
To the editor,
Your Aug. 14 article about the public or private school status of a candidate’s child left out a very important fact — not only does Josh Skaller’s wife, Kelly, have a Master’s degree in early childhood education, she is a science teacher who regularly teaches Brooklyn public school students (“A schoolyard brawl”).
Both Josh and Kelly understand the difficulties of being Brooklyn parents and they oppose “teaching to the test.” Josh has the experience, training and vision to help create a better school system for the families of Brooklyn — and Kelly will be his knowledgeable ally in this struggle.
Lisa Fane, Park Slope
The writer is a volunteer communications director for the Skaller campaign.
• • •
To the editor,
In an era of mayoral control of public schools, the City Council has little direct impact on what goes on in the classroom, so the litmus test of whether a City Council candidate’s child goes to public school has accordingly lost much of its punch.
As relevant as ever is a candidate’s ability to do what is best for his constituents, rather than what is merely politically expedient.
Josh Skaller and his wife chose a school that in their judgment best addresses the special needs of their son, rather than one that best furthers Josh’s political career.
We would be fortunate indeed to have a City Councilman who governed with that same kind of integrity.Laura Edidin,
Carroll Gardens
Help Mom, Pop
To the editor,
One of the signs of a healthy and expanding small business sector is the diversity of new businesses entering the market.
The turnover in storefronts on Seventh Avenue highlighted in Shannon Geis’s article (“Here’s what’s eating Seventh Avenue,” Aug. 7) means that new business owners are entering the market, but there is less variety in the kinds of new businesses that are opening, as the article also points out.
I have proposed a plan to help small business owners purchase their own storefront space as retail condominiums so they can stay in our community, even in tough economic times.
Some politicians see small businesses solely as a revenue source, but we must understand that they provide the majority of private sector jobs and add to the unique character of neighborhoods like Park Slope.
As your next City Councilman, I will focus on local mom and pop stores and not big box retailers and chain stores.
Bob Zuckerman,
Carroll Gardens
The writer is a candidate for City Council in the 39th District.
Plane crazy
To the editor,
My family has lived in Bay Ridge for 15 years, and in all that time, airplane noise has never been as bad as it has been over last two-and-a-half weeks.
Directly over my building, jets are flying from 6:30 am to 11:30 pm, sometimes as often as two per minute!
There is no escape from the awful whistling sound that penetrates everywhere.
It is not possible to rest in the evening or on weekends. People come to work tired and angry.
We live in apartment buildings where the sound is trapped among the buildings, echoing from one to another — an absolutely horrible effect.
Did the FAA perform any tests in the city with so many multi-storied buildings?
Living in Bay Ridge, close to Fort Hamilton military base, we are used to helicopters and military planes — but they do not fly every minute or so for 17 hours a day. Please help us to protect Bay Ridge like you did with Park Slope from this new FAA policy.
They call it “Class B airspace redesign.”
They must re-evaluate it, and speak with the public about it.
Lisa Fubenstein, Bay Ridge
Truck no!
To the editor,
I just read the online version of your story about the Kent Avenue bike lane (“One dimensional! Kent Avenue will no longer go both ways by the end of this week,” online, Aug. 17) and have to say that this is the worst decision on the planet. They re-route maxi trailers to Wythe Avenue? The stupidest, most incompetent, pathetic and idiotic plan will never work.
Sam Jacoby, Williamsburg
