To the editor,
Has anyone taken a good look at Kings Highway lately? The once premier shopping street in Brooklyn is nothing but basically a schlock street … drug stores on almost every block, produce stands that take up half the sidewalk and, from Coney Island Ave. to East 19th St., there are about 17 banks. All the good stores are gone.
Recently, in mid morning, I walked under the construction sidewalk cover for the new building at 16th, when I almost reached the end, there were homeless men sleeping there. These are in addition to the regular panhandlers under the subway.
Under the subway are the bicycle racks. The ground there is absolutely disgusting. It looks like it hasn’t been cleaned since the year 1. I went to Councilman Deutsch’s office to see what could be done about that. I was given a lot of double talk, about angle parking, etc. The fellow I spoke to (and out of the goodness of my heart I won’t mention his name) told me that Councilman hired people to work for the summer and it is being taken care of. Really? I hope they aren’t getting paid with government money. The Business Improvement District cleaning man tries hard but is fighting a losing battle. He needs help, and a lot of it. He is outnumbered. Almost every traffic light pole has several bags of garbage around them. Some may be residential, some look like i is from the sores. I have seen stacks of papers near the curb in front of some stores. Maybe they don’t want to pay for garbage pick-up.
The one public garage there was has been torn down for some new stores, so parking on, and around, the Highway is a nightmare. New apartment buildings are up, and more being built; they don’t have adequate parking.
Something, and a lot of it, has to be done.Rowena Lachant
Homecrest
He’s thinking pink
To the editor,
A wonderful “Pink” issue of the Courier.
I enjoyed the informative pink women’s health issue of your newspaper. It pretty much covered everything from breast and other devastating cancers to ways doctors fight the disease and keep women healthy during recovery. And now, for the flip side. Where was your promised “Blue” issue to highlight men’s health issues, just as devastating?
I visited a nursing home recently to find the ratio of older patients, 10 women to one man. While those odds were all too desirable when I was a much younger, it starkly outlines an important statistic. Men die at a much younger age than women. As the old joke goes; “Why do husbands die before their wives? They want to!
Seriously, men are afflicted with cancers; heart problems and diseases of all strains, and the coverage of our issues are barely a pittance compared to the fairer sex. No marches or processions, at least from my standpoint, highlighting our health issues, looking for funding for cures.
I am sure that doctors, hospitals and clinics would love to sponsor a “Blue” issue and hopefully, sometime in the future, they will come together to help out the male population of the city.Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
The answer? Vote!
To the editor,
Curtis Sliwa and Bob Capano apparently think that a constitutional convention for New York state would be a great thing and all our problems in Albany would be solved. It sounds too good to be true — because it is. I agree 100 percent with them that politicians need to be watched like hawks, to keep them honest. The corruption in Albany is legendary, but a constitutional convention is not the fix that they are telling us it would be.
What is needed —very badly — is for the voters to get up off their butts and get to their polling places on election day. Voter apathy is rampant in this city and this state, and to a lesser extent, the whole nation. Our governor is pushing the people to vote for a constitutional convention, con-con for short. Anyone who trusts the governor to do the right thing by the people of New York state is smoking some really good stuff. Why did he dissolve the Moreland Commission to root out corruption in Albany when the investigation got too close to his office? There’s a great, big red flag. Furthermore, like some other governors before him, Gov. Cuomo would just love to get his hands on the money that is sitting in the New York state and city Employees Pension Funds. There are literally billions of dollars in those funds which are funding public employees’ retirements. These are people who have worked for the state for 20, 30, or more years under contracts that were negotiated in good faith with their employers with the promise and the understanding that they would receive “X” amount of dollars each month during their golden years. If the governor could get his hands on that money to fund his other programs, he may not have to fund the retirement system as it is presently funded and the pensions of every public employee in New York state and then what has happened in California and other states could also happen here. Pension benefits might be cut by 20 percent or more to keep the funds viable.
Remember what happened to Social Security over the years. The politicians got their hands on that money — our money — they “borrowed” it , to be repaid. It has never been repaid and now they say Social Security must be reformed or it will go bankrupt is as little as 20 years. Well, duh! — if they pay back what they “borrowed” the fund wouldn’t be in trouble in the first place, now would it? The words “trust” and “politicians” cannot be used in the same sentence, unless the word, “don’t” is used as the first word. Especially if you are a public employee or retiree, you would have to be totally, certifiably crazy to give that much power to any politician, especially one who wants to steal your future. There are some other things mentioned in the op-ed which could be changed by the Legislature, if the voters showed their elected officials that we are watching them like hawks, and got up and voted. These bozos count on the fact that they could be elected if only 30 percent of registered voters actually voted. That is outrageous! 30 percent deciding who will run City Hall, the state Capitol or Congressional, Senate seats or judgeships? Machine politics and voting along party lines have to go. That has been the ruination of New York state and city politics for over 150 years. One thing is painfully certain. We will (and we do) have the government that we deserve. We need to look past the “D”, “R”, or “L” identifiers behind a candidate’s name and vote for whom we believe will be the best candidate for everyone. Yes, there are problems in Albany but the biggest problem is voters who do not vote.
David F. Podesta
Marine Park
New, and old, shame
To the editor,
While what Harvey Weinstein did is a shanda — a scandal — it’s enough already. The women should have spoken up immediately after his lewd, disgusting actions. The Motion Picture Academy did the right thing by booting Weinstein out of the group, but how come Mel Gibson was never removed for his vile anti-Semitic outbursts? How come, Emil Jannings, who was the first to win the best actor Oscar for “The Way of All Flesh,” and “The Last Command,” in 1927, never had his Oscar rescinded? When Hitler came to power, Jannings returned to Germany and made propaganda films for Goebbels and the other pieces of garbage of the horrible regime. In the case of Jannings, especially, all decent people should demand that his Oscar be rescinded. After all, many are demanding the removal of certain statues which they find offensive. Jannings turned his back on the nation that had once honored him. Disgusting man.Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Prescription for VA
To the editor,
Having watched the Brooklyn News on Channel 12 this morning, a health care worker at a VA hospital said that there is a 50 percent shortage of doctors as well as health aide workers and they are being forced to work on their days off as well as possible a double shift which is hard on these workers as well as harmful to their patients. I agree.
About 23 years ago I attended a local meeting where the then-Congressman Chuck Schumer addressed his constituents. I asked him why the federal government could not finance a medical school for bright but indigent students who could not afford to become doctors because they did not have the financial means, where they would be serving in the military for five years upon graduation and completion of their internship and residency.
The then-congressman told me it was introduced but did not clear the House Commerce Committee. Why can’t this measure be reintroduced and signed by the President, [under which] the doctors who [are] under [such a] government plan would be bound to work wherever they are called for five years. Either that or [mandate that] these government medical graduates pay back the cost of their education to Uncle Sam. If President Trump truly cares about veterans he should push for such legislation and if that fails he should issue executive order just as he is doing to try to repeal Obama Care.
Elliott Abosh
Brighton Beach
