To the editor,
I was sad to find out that the Del Rio Diner on Kings Highway is closing on July 25. When I asked someone there why, I was told that deliveries became much too expensive to continue operations.
This was an excellent diner, and I know of only a couple other diners remaining in the area, including Vegas.
It’s a shame that we are losing these types of establishments.
Ronald Cohen
Gravesend
Jo’s readers
To the editor,
If Joanna DelBuono wants a uniter, then she should ask people to vote for one in November (“Jo keeps on watching the watchers, and she doesn’t like what she sees,” Not for Nuthin’, July 8).
One only need to read the people’s opinion letters in various publications to see how divided the country is on race issues; Barack Obama should be proud of himself.
We the people must take control, stop the bloodshed, and obey the law.
Elected officials must also follow the law. Amendment I clearly states: “Congress shall make no law…abridging…the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” I repeat “peaceably…assemble.”
Instead of peaceful demonstrations, criminals have burned neighborhoods, looted stores and murdered cops, while elected officials have tethered law enforcement. In cases where officials don’t tether law enforcement, the Department of Justice conducts ludicrous civil rights inquiries.
There is overwhelming evidence that the current divide has been created by the White House. Consider that Obama sent former Attorney General Eric Holder to fan the flames of violence in Ferguson, while the White House urged Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon to tether the National Guard, a pro-criminal stance that has spread to other American cities.
Mayor Bill DeBlasio and Baltimore’s Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake have tethered law enforcement, resulting in destruction, looting, injuries, and the fatal shooting of two NYPD cops.
Obama’s disdain for law enforcement was evident in his recent eulogy for the five officers murdered in Dallas, when he cited himself dozens of times, gave credence to Black Lives Matter, and promoted self-serving policies.
If we follow the thinking of John Adams that “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people,” then our Constitution no longer applies because we do not have a moral and lawful government.
This divide can be greatly minimized when voters weed out the current cesspool of elected officials and replace them with honest American leaders. They can begin on Nov. 8 and continue the process until we have a reasonably moral government. Whether or not the bloodshed continues is up to the voters because a crook in colorful pantsuits is not the answer.Elio Valenti
Brooklyn
• • •
To the editor,
We can agree to disagree. However, the facts will always be the facts. And negative history is destined to repeat itself if not corrected. Therefore, your editorial stating President Obama has divided this country instead of uniting it, is not a factual or honest view of the problems facing our country. And until we as “one America” face the problems with truthfulness (real soul searching), history will continue to repeat itself with continued negative results.
President Obama at the memorial tribute for the five brave police officers’ wake made that point, as he mourned them all. However, he asked us all where do we go from here? Do we continue as before or do we move forward together in a positive direction as “One America?” This is the heartfelt speech I heard of unity.
You mentioned, “All lives matter Mr. President.” Black Lives Matter isn’t saying all lives don’t matter. It’s a fact that whites in America have lived lives of entitlement, status, and privilege in comparison to people of color. From slavery’s pain and its insult to their humanity, the Civil War, the Jim Crow freedom reversals in the south 1877, and the civil rights movement, blacks have fought to be recognized as equal to anyone living in America. Blacks helped build these United States, fought and died in every war declared, freeing others in other countries who were held in the horrors of bondage, only to return home and made to sit in the back of the bus, drink from the colored fountains, forced to sit in the balcony at a movie, and hung, robbed, beaten, raped.
The southern white churches turned a blind eye to the mass hated. Then as now, blacks are still in the bondage of hate and mistrust. Back Lives Matter is standing up and loudly saying enough is enough. That they are human beings, equal and valuable, then as now, no longer willing to be quiet, accepting what’s handed to them.
The summer of 1991, a 7-year-old boy named Gavin Cato was hit and killed by a rabbi’s limo, as he and his little cousin rode their bikes on the sidewalk in Crown Heights. A Hatzolah ambulance refused to take the child to Kings County Hospital. Gavin’s little body had to wait for a city ambulance for aid. Several days later, a 29-year-old Jewish student from Australia named Yankel Rosenbaum was stabbed in retaliation for Gavin’s death. After Yankel’s brother Norman’s long battle for justice, the verdict ended in an acquittal for the defendant, 16-year-old Lemerick Nelson, Jr. In his anger Norman yelled out, “Jewish blood is not cheap.”
His words then are the same now for Black Lives Matter, which isn’t taking anyone’s value or rights away, but asking for human equality.
Joanna, you ended your editorial comment stating, “It really is time for the race rhetoric to end.” It isn’t rhetoric when it continues to surround you. You have never ever walked in their shoes nor would you ever want to. I am sure you have enjoyed all of the perks of entitlement bestowed. My challenge to you during a quiet moment when time is not an issue, is to sit down, close your eyes, and think of all the things you know are true. Be honest.
What are blacks shut out of in 2016? Finding jobs, salaries of value, trying to buy a home and being told it’s sold, but you find out a white couple was able to view the same home after you and submit an offer. You are followed in stores because they think you are stealing, being pulled over while driving because you are driving a nice car (you must be a drug dealer). Just recently a black couple wanted to make a reservation at an Airbnb. They were told there was nothing available, so they asked their white friends to make a reservation, and they received the room for the week the black couple had requested.
Black, white, brown, red, yellow, or multi — enough is enough in our “One America,” Joanna. Peace be with you.D. Justin
Canarsie
Donald Dump
To the editor,
There is a song from “Fiddler on the Roof” that goes something like this: “If you’re rich, people think you’re smart.”
The fact is no one knows how much money Donald Trump lost in his business deals, compared to how much money he earned. The bottom line for me is that he has the backing of the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazi party, and other hate groups.
Whatever one wants to say about Hillary Clinton, she does not have people like this on her side. Think about that when you vote in November.David Raisman
Bay Ridge
Dressed to chill
To the editor,
Someone please tell Hillary to hang up her long-sleeved woolen suits and dress for the weather. She looks like she’s dressed for Alaska.
Short sleeves? Floral print? Summery print? Jeez, she needs a costume designer.Joan Applepie
Mill Basin
Hubba bubba
To the editor,
So another Clinton has an incident on the tarmac at an airport. What a coincidence.
Wow, I remember back in 1996 when Hillary was met with sniper gunfire, when the plane she was in landed in Bosnia, but later she said she misspoke and it really never happened. Now Bill just happened to meet Attorney General Loretta Lynch in Phoenix on the tarmac, where apparently he just talked about his grandkids and some other idle chit-chat.
Someday he might realize he also misspoke about the casual, unplanned meeting, like his wife did. I can see him now shaking his finger and saying, “I did not plan to see that woman Loretta Lynch, and I never talked about Hillary’s legal problems!”Peter G. Orsi
Marine Park
War and peace
To the editor,
Another senseless loss of life in Nice, France, where men, women, and children who had nothing to do with politics of the country paid the ultimate price.
Can leaders be so blind? For every loss of life, the anger of many begins to build up. Quite often we hear that war should be the last resort, but why do we continue bombing countries that never attacked our nation?
I suppose that history will not judge us in a positive way. We stoke the flame of anger with each bomb drop and drone strike that kills innocent people. Payback is what we reap.
How many times have we heard let’s have a dialogue? Have we really tried that? Or are they just a bunch of empty words?
Name withheld upon request
Err waves
To the editor,
I tried to watch the Republican National Convention only to find that regular broadcast TV — a wasteland of inane comedies, unreal reality shows, and a spattering of highly filtered and biased network convention coverage — did not have continuous coverage of this most important event. I and the millions of others who have cut the cord find that we just have to muddle through whatever limited coverage is offered.
It is only too well known across this land that the talking heads of the networks have their own slanted democratic agenda, which are only to be believed with a really big grain of salt.
After they put their spin on the events, we’ll just have to keep our eyes and ears open to get the straight story.
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Bad sports
To the editor,
It’s baseball season again. Teams will be battling it out on baseball diamonds across the country.
I watched a game in which the Atlanta Braves were playing. It was obvious to me that Native Americans would be offended by this team being called “Braves” and having a tomahawk symbol on their uniforms. Another offensive thing is the tomahawk chop.
The equivalent of that would be to have a team called the San Francisco Soldiers, and the symbol on their uniform was a rifle, with fans doing a mock rifle shoot in the stands. I think many people in this country would be offended by that.
After the genocide we caused them, the least we can do is to treat Native Americans decently.
Jerome Frank
Coney Island
Ain’t no rest
To the editor,
I hate it when I’m trying to exercise at Dreier-Offerman Park in a quiet atmosphere, when some folk insist on turning the children’s playground next to the basketball court into their personal amphitheater.
Layfayette Park is also a total lost cause, with loud music blaring in the mornings. I tired of complaining to the city with no corrective action taken and no warnings of any kind given to the offenders.
Music should be confined to a gym or home, unless it’s played on headphones.
Joseph V. Comperchio
Bath Beach
Coney past
To the editor,
I will never call Coney Island the “People’s Playground.”
Hurricane Sandy changed the lives of people living there, and many residents are still struggling years later, but every year there is a hot-dog eating contest, the Mermaid Parade, and other festivities. Now there is the new amphitheater. But do the residents benefit from any of these events? I think not.
With more traffic congestion now, how will any emergency vehicles, such as police, fire, and ambulance, will be able to respond in time to save lives?
I remember when there was a rush to not only replace the amusement area, but also the broken Boardwalk from West 12. Street to Stillwell Avenue. Wow, how fast those new boards were replaced. Can’t say the same about the other broken and cracked wood that has not been repaired.
So, people will fall on the Boardwalk, sue the city, and collect more money. Don’t you think it would be more cost affective to fix the boards?
Right next to Childs Restaurant there was a beautiful community garden. African Americans, Spanish, Russians had their own plot of land to grow fruits and vegetables. Each group got along in an open and friendly manner. I felt at peace there, with only the sound of the water being used to keep the plants alive, and nourish the fruits and vegetables.
It’s a shame when the same city talks about having a clean environment and decides to destroy all the hard work of those community gardeners.
Jerry Sattler
Brighton Beach
‘Comm’ off it
To the editor,
I read Jerome Frank’s letter about how the media is not liberal, but conservative ((“Rob ‘ Jerome,” Sound off to the Editor, July 10). I want to thank you for a good laugh, but my next thought was how can an adult person be so naive?
Jerome, for you knowledge, the media is overwhelmingly liberal and bias. I emigrated from a so-called Latin-American country. I know what Communism does to people.
When I was younger my compatriots were immigrating in masses to Venezuela for a better future. Venezuela was the most prosperous country in Latin America. And now after years of Communism the Venezuelan people are looking in the garbage disposals to feed their children.
I am old enough to remember the old Soviet Union where stores were empty and people were waiting in line to buy any food available. Today if you visit Russia and the rest of the former Soviet Union, nobody is waiting in line for food, the stores are full of merchandise. So what does Venezuela today and the former Soviet Union have in common? The answer is very simple: Communism.
Is that what you want for the United States? The most corrupt politicians in the United States in recent history are the Clintons, without a doubt. They did not invent bribery, but they perfected it. Do you really think that anybody pays hundred of thousands of dollars to listen to Hillary’s words of wisdom?
Then you were parroted the Clintons’ line about Donald Trump failing several times in his businesses. That is right, he failed and he picked himself up, and he started again, that is something to admire, actually.
Hillary never failed because she never risks her own money, she is playing safe, she is always using our money.
Ana Pusar
Marine Park
Blame game
To the editor,
Everyone seems to be blaming someone else for the killings of black men, the killings of cops, the killings of people in custody, the killings of innocents — whether at war or just walking down the street minding their own business.
I’ve heard it’s the president’s fault, the mayor’s, Al Sharpton’s, the guns’, the judges who let loose career criminals, and parents who don’t give their children family values and discipline, or teach them about consequences for bad actions.
We can blame friends, gangs, the father who wasn’t around, the courts and the legal system, drugs, unemployment, the media, and the weather. Hey, what about blaming Ted Turner, who started the 24-hour cable news networks bombarding us with much of the same stuff over and over. But let’s not blame the rotten, dirty, no-good, demented scoundrel who pulls the trigger or causes the mayhem.
He’s usually just a good boy who made a mistake or is being falsely accused. Just look at his cherubic face on his first-grade graduation picture, but don’t look at the one on social media — you know the one where he is holding a gun and flashing gang signs.
Peter G. Orsi
Marine Park
Oy vey
To the editor,
Jewish people have a way of addressing trouble with two little words — oy vey — and oy vey, do we have trouble. We have a president worse than Carter or Nixon. This president lied and made a treaty with a terrorist country that calls for the death to America and Israel.
We also have the worst-ever mayor who should go to jail. We have a Congress which would rather protect pedophiles and perverts than innocent children. Oy vey! Oy vey!
What can we look forward to? Two wannabe presidents who out-lie each other. What to do? Just say oy vey and go on our way.
Jay Sonners
Coney Island
Parking hogs
To the editor,
I live on East Third Street between Avenues X and W. There are two cars, owned by brothers, that are constantly illegally parked during alternate side parking.
We have alternate side parking on the west side of the street on Tuesday and on the east side of the street on Fridays. The two cars parked illegally are left in the same parking spots for months — one of the cars has been in the same spot since January! Currently they are parked on the west side of the street which has alternate side parking rules on Tuesday. The reason why they get away with this because they have covers they put on their cars that prevent Sanitation from issuing tickets.
I understand that there are problems like this in other parts of Brooklyn — some are also worse than my street — and I was told by someone knowledgeable that these cars were slated to be towed away, but they still sit here. If the city doesn’t have enough tow trucks to handle the removal of all these illegally parked cars, then it should let towing companies in each borough bid in order to remove these cars.
I know the police have many priorities during their shifts and this maybe considered low priority and a quality of life issue, but I and my fellow car owners in this neighborhood have to drive around sometimes half an hour or more to find a legal parking spot so we don’t get ticketed. We usually have to walk several blocks to get home and go back to our cars, yet because these cars have covers — one has a beige cover and the other a blue cover — preventing Sanitation from seeing their registration stickers so they can be ticketed they get to skirt the law.
Car covers are illegal on city streets. You can use them for a car parked on your driveway or in your garage, but not on a city street. This is not fair and something has to be done to ticket them and make sure they don’t park these cars for weeks and months at a time, abusing the alternate side parking regulations.
Name withheld upon request
•••
To the editor,
I am not one to wrote to newspapers, but the letter from Charles K. Barra — regarding his mother getting a summons for double parking her car — made my blood boil (“Law and marauder! City’s ‘unfair’ ticket blitz,” Sound off to the Editor, June 2).
Does Charles and his mother know that to double park a car is against the law? It causes lots of accidents. Alternate side street parking means that the Sanitation Department sweeper can sweep that particular street. When the sweeper driver sees cars double parked, it is difficult to get through, and many times skips the street. Therefore that street has litter, and along comes the Sanitation inspector and gives the homeowner a summons (the 18-inch law).
How dare Charles and his mother think they were not performing a criminal act by double parking a car. If she is elderly, as he says, and does not know the law about double parking, she should not be driving a car. If any councilman is helping them, he is enabling them to break the law.
Thank God for the diligent meter-enforcement agents. I hope there are hundreds more like that because double parking is against the law.
Name withheld upon request
Tech-NO-logy
To the editor,
There are not too many jobs around, as technology seems to have taken over. At my local Chase Bank, there are the usual ATM machines at the entrance, but now they are in the lobby itself — two machines have taken the place of two tellers.
When will the two remaining teller windows be replaced by machines? I find it very disturbing.
I like to do my banking with a human, one who smiles and wishes me a good day, not a machine that spits out receipts and currency.
Etta Dorf
Sheepshead Bay
Brexit and USA
To the editor,
British exit and America’s future choice!
The vote taken in Great Britain to extract them from the European Union is a direct result of government ignoring the will of the people. Citizens ultimately get frustrated, angry, and then decide that; they must take matters into their own hands.
This scenario has unfolded over many millennia when the people, fed up, rise against their existing ruling establishment and yet another change of government is executed. For better or worse.
What happened in England, now expanding to Germany and other European Union member states, should be a clarion call to the entire American government. Your people are sick and tired of the same bull, year after year. Your people are frustrated at the severe lack of representation this republic was founded upon. Your people are disgusted with city, state, and federal elected officials ignoring the will of the constituents and, going on a tangent, doing the exact opposite of what they were voted in to do. Your people see the deteriorating conditions when it comes to foreign policy, finances, and immigration, and their calls for help and change fall on deaf politician’s ears.
I know in my heart that there will be no change from now until November where the citizens will be given a stark choice. Then and only then will the people make it known at the ballot box the direction they want to take. Do they want to continue being “sheeple” led down a road to third-world status or will they grow a pair and say enough is enough, and force a major change.
It’s in your hands now my friends — your hands!
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Dems’ hissy fit
To the editor,
So now the Democrats in the Congress and Senate are throwing a hissy fit because they didn’t have the votes to pass a Second Amendment-compromising, anti-gun bill. Since they couldn’t get their way, they staged a takeover of the house, fostering demonstrations and sit-in protests.
It is funny to note that the gentlemen and women Republicans have never done anything as despicable as this, and cause such uproar in the sacred halls of government. When we lost a vote, we grumbled a bit, licked our wounds and continued forward. I guess the old adage is true where Democrats are seen as low-life street people where the Republicans show a touch of class in their dealings.
Hopefully, this fall, Democrats do not retake the house, senate and presidency where mob rule applies!
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Off-track
To the editor,
Problems with New York City Transit subway and buses may be attributed to less funding provided by both Albany and City Hall, not Washington.
Federal support for transportation has remained consistent and growing over past decades. When a crises occurred, be it 9-11 in 2001 or Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Washington was there for us. Additional billions in assistance above and beyond yearly formula allocations from the United States Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration were provided. In 2009 the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided billions more.
Most federal transportation grants require a 20 percent hard-cash local share. In many cases, the feds accepted toll credits instead of hard cash for the local share. This saved the Metropolitan Transportation Authority $1 billion in the previous 2010-2014 five-year capital program. The same will be true with the 2015-2019 five-year capital program.
Washington has made available over $1 billion in 2016 for the M.T.A., and funds 35 percent of its capital program. There are other opportunities for several hundred million more in discretionary competitive grants.
Larry Penner
The writer is a transportation historian, advocate, and former 31-year worker with the United States Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration.
Black n’ white
To the editor,
I have heard many times that President Obama is the first black president, when in actuality his father was black and his mother was white, so Obama is of mixed blood. He is not the first mixed-blood president — Dwight D. Eisenhower’s mother was of mixed blood.
J.A. Rogers (Joel Augustus) wrote a book in 1965 titled “The Five Negro Presidents.” Very interesting! Google this information for more on this usually unspoken subject.
I was a librarian down in clean, wonderful Atlanta in the early 1990s, and many times our readers would check out this thin book, which was eye-opening to me. Doubt if that book is still around, but the information is, I believe, factual.
Joan Applepie
Mill Basin
BDS boycott
To the editor,
Governor Cuomo spoke eloquently at the memorial at the Stonewall Inn. After he spoke, a Muslim woman, also an LGBT member, spoke and denounced him for wanting to boycott industries that wish to boycott Israel. What does this have to do with the tragedy that occurred in Orlando?
May I also remind the lady that if she lived in many of the Arab countries, her sexual preference would never be tolerated. Ironically, but she would be tolerated in Israel.
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions’ members should be ashamed of themselves for what they advocate. They take umbrage at the idea of a boycott on places that wish to boycott the Israel nation. What hypocrisy they show.
Even more shocking are those of the Jewish faith who align themselves with this group, like Sen. Bernard Sanders. They are nothing more than self-deprecating Jews. Since they are ashamed of our religion and abandoned it long ago, they think that by trying to assimilate into non-Jewish tradition, they will win the favor of others.
We owe it to humanity to denounce Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions for its actions. We owe it to the memory of the six million Jews and others who perished for the sanctification of the Lord’s name.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
‘Embrace” gentrification
To the editor,
I have been reading stories in your newspaper and others of how people are so upset at the gentrification taking place across the city. I scratch my head and wonder why? I’ve lived long enough to see the old Coney Island parks close in the 1960s only to be replaced with projects which became nothing more than warehouses, crime-ridden hulks. Our beloved Brooklyn Dodgers waved goodbye for greener pastures in Los Angeles. Here, too, the fields were razed and yet another instant slum, Ebbetts Field, was constructed.
City officials may have had good intentions, but the result of these complexes across the five boroughs has proven devastating.
Now there are complaints about building middle- and upper-income housing in Sheepshead Bay. Here, too, I scratch my head and wonder why! Sheepshead Bay ceased to be a quaint little fishing village years ago. Monstrous luxury party yachts have replaced most of the fishing boats moored in the bay. Old Mcguinnese’s roast beef restaurant is long gone, replaced with a kitschy, upscale Russian nightclub, and the remaining stores and other businesses are benefiting somewhat, from tourists and residents alike.
The immigrant (read-Russian) developers need to be directed to not only build their condos, but there should be strong input from the city forcing them to maintain the many restaurants and shops along the avenue. Unless Mayor DeBlasio, whom the feds are investigating for fiscal improprieties, has been taking their money under the table, too.
As gentrification takes hold across the city, one sees a big improvement in life and lifestyles. True, we must save historic districts that deserve saving. But tearing down and rebuilding for the better is a way of life that must be embraced.
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Reader v. reader
To the editor,
Donald Trump is doing so well because there is a huge segment of the population that is suffering economically. Their legitimate concerns must be dealt with. There has been a decrease in low-level jobs for many reasons, including automation, increased technology, and jobs going overseas to nations with lax labor and safety laws. Online shopping also puts stores at a severe disadvantage, further reducing entry-level jobs.
If wages went up some businesses would fail. This has always been the case. When the price of goods go up, businesses either fail or pass on the cost to their customers. It’s a risk all businesses take. Workers in low-end jobs often resort to food stamps and other government subsidies. Raising the minimum wage would give more spending power, create more jobs, and reduce government expenditures on items like food stamps.
Critics claim making the tax rate more progressive will result in every individual becoming poor. This is ridiculous, as a small increase in the tax rate paid by the top one or two percent will only have a minimum impact, if at all. It will increase government revenue and enable our government to improve our terrible transportation system. This will help increase jobs and productivity.
There are people who will take advantage of paid sick time and maternity leave. I worked at a job with those benefits and very few people abused the privilege. The few who did were watched and some were fired. I do not want to work in an environment where there is no sick leave, nor do I want sick people coming to work because they can’t afford to miss a day’s pay.
As to those who think free college tuition never existed. I am approaching 70 years of age and I remember when City University was free. There were vigorous admission standards, and it was recognized that by giving needy students a free education society would benefit in the long run. Many leaders of industry and government took advantage of this opportunity. They paid back this investment many times over through taxes, creating businesses, and serving on civic associations.
Alan Podhaizer
Trump Village
Oaf-icials
To the editor,
Too many municipal elected officials who complain about the Metropolitan Transportation Authority forget their transit history.
In 1953, the old city Board of Transportation passed on control of the municipal subway system, including all its assets, under a master lease and operating agreement to the newly created New York City Transit Authority. Under late-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in the 1960s, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was created. The governor appointed four board members, the mayor four more ,and the rest by suburban county executives. No one elected official controlled a majority of the votes. As a result, elected officials have historically taken credit when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority or any operating subsidiary such as New York City Transit would do a good job. When operational problems occurred or fare increases were needed, everyone could put up their hands and say, “Don’t blame me, I’m only a minority within the Board.”
Decade after decade, city mayors, comptrollers, public advocates, council presidents, borough presidents, and council members would all play the same sad song — if only we had majority control of the board, things would be different.
All have long forgotten that buried within the 1953 master agreement between the City of New York and New York City Transit is an escape clause. The city has the legal right at any time to take back control of its assets, which includes the subway and most of the bus system as well. Actions speak louder than words. If municipal elected officials feel they could do a better job running the nations largest subway and bus system, why not step up to the plate now and regain control of your destiny?
Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
Pissed off
To the editor,
Doesn’t our ultra-liberal idiotic City Council members realize that many of the deviants started their way to crime by committing so called “minor offenses?”
It is outrageous that the Council has voted not to have jail time for such people. Besides being disgusting and vulgar, public urination definitely poses health problems. The stench will permeate the city, and with no fear of going to jail, it will only embolden them to do even worse things. Let us hope that the deviants now urinate in front of the homes of these legislators. Let them get a whiff of a situation they have made much worse.
I’m wondering just how more “progressive” the Council can get. Setting aside a day to honor Ethel Rosenberg was awful, but this even tops that. I wonder if the deviants will use the supermarket bags they’ll pay a nickel each for to relieve themselves.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Town halls
To the editor,
As the Republican District Leader of the 46 Assembly District, I was compelled to attend the recent densely packed town hall meeting with Mayor de Blasio in Bay Ridge, the heart of my Assembly District. While I recognized the usual politicos and their staff filling the room, it was refreshing to see that actual concerned citizens and residents of Bay ridge were there in full force. Too bad the current Assemblymember of the 46 Assembly District did not present her views on the topics discussed, and opted to sit quietly.
Some of the issues discussed were the illegal conversions in Dyker Heights, sex shops posing as spas, and the waste transfer station being built upon our shoreline. A question was posed to the mayor about property tax rates and assessments. He stated that he would look at the tax rates, and request the City Council not raise tax rates, but he skirted the assessment issue. Let us clarify the fact that property assessments are based upon the property’s market value. Market value is how much a property would sell for under normal conditions. The property’s assessment is one of the factors used by our city government to determine the amount of the property tax.
Property tax rates are set by the City Council by determining the amount of taxes it needs to raise in proportion to the amount of money it needs to spend to maintain city programs.
Property tax rates and assessments are important points that pertain to illegal conversions of one- and two-family homes, especially in Dyker Heights, into multi unit dwellings. The main bone of contention is the lack of enforcement by the city and their inaction to alleviate this burgeoning problem. I believe that city agencies remain inactive in dealing with illegal conversions because illegal conversions generate high profit margins to those who invest in certain areas. Homeowners are offered and paid very large sums for their one- and two-family homes, increasing the market value of these homes, which result in higher assessments. Thus, the higher the assessment, the higher the tax rate for the neighborhood, resulting in more money for the city’s coffers.
The mayor stated he is aware of the situation, and has hired some new building inspectors, but he also pointed out that not every complaint is a true illegal conversion. He also placed the burden of accessing these illegally converted properties onto the shoulders of the NYFD. Mr. Mayor, the NYFD is there to save lives, not to generate income for the city through inspections resulting in fines and violations.
Quality of life issues regarding “spas” acting as illegal sex shops were brought up. A resident pleaded with the mayor to close down these “spas,” and shut down at least one avenue of human sex trafficking. A “follow the money” approach was the mayor’s cookie-cutter answer for this problem, but clearly more needs to be done to close these sex shops. In addition, the proliferation of Hookah lounges in Bay Ridge leads to the problems of exposing minors, especially teenagers, to the dangers of smoking. There are smoking bans throughout the city of New York, I am curious as to how and when these hookah lounges became exempt from this law.
Regarding the waste transfer station under construction on our neighboring shoreline, the shoreline of Brooklyn is not a dumping ground and our concerns need to be addressed and not be brushed aside. The sanitation commissioner clearly stated that Bay Ridge is one of the better areas in the city that follows recycling rules, and that garbage tonnage is down five percent in our area. Obviously no good deed goes unpunished!
Many other issues and concerns of Bay Ridge still need to be addressed and discussed. It is only through participation and awareness that they can be resolved. Town hall meetings should be more common, proliferate, and not be an occasional occurrence.
Lucretia Regina-Potter
The writer is the Republican District Leader of the 46th Assembly District and the Secretary of the Kings County Republican Party.
Challenger ‘lie’
To the editor,
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster took place 30 years ago, leaving us with more questions than answers over the decades. Why did it lift off on a day when it was too cold to function properly? President Ronald Reagan liked to talk to the astronauts in space. His State of the Union speech was the next day. The shuttle had to be launched the day before to be up and running so he could talk to them during his speech.
Reagan pressured NASA to go through with it, even though it was too cold. Unfortunately the astronauts, who were also scientists, were not told about this. A news conference was held by the panel which investigated the disaster. The panel members were from NASA, except for Richard Feynman, a noted physicist and an independent member. He showed that the sealant got brittle and lost its ability to seal if too cold. He put a piece of it in a beaker of liquid nitrogen, then he took it out and broke it. Likewise the shuttle seals were rendered useless. The official story said the disaster was caused by a defective worker, but that was a lie.
Jerome Frank
Coney Island
Nuke mook
To the editor,
So now it’s the little fat guy with the bad haircut from North Korea trying to shakedown America by pounding his chest like a gorilla to show his strength so he doesn’t have to fight another gorilla. We used to call this “selling woof tickets” when we were kids growing up in Brooklyn — it was all for show.
Obviously President Obama, who is said to be a poker player, probably isn’t a very good one because he can be bluffed over and over again. I doubt Obama ever read Trumps’ book “Art of the Deal” or Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” a book written more than 2,000 years ago, and still used today by generals and leaders all over the world. Obama telegraphs his intentions to our enemies, telling them when we are sending troops and when we are leaving, complete with date and time. He traded five hardened terrorists for Bowe Bergdahl, a deserter whom he praised and who is now being court marshaled.
Obama made a deal with the devils of Iran, a country whose mantra is “Death to America,” giving them billions of dollars and withdrawing sanctions so they won’t continue making a nuclear bomb. They went back on their word and broke the agreement before the ink was even dry. So now the little fat guy with the bad haircut is going to see what he can get from Obama, like some other tyrants will certainly be doing soon because they only have about another year before he leaves office. They have to work fast, but they also know that if the new president has some cojones, like a Trump for instance, they will be out of luck.
Let’s not forget Iran held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days during the Carter administration. Jimmy Carter — a good, decent and very intelligent man, but a poor president in many ways — wasn’t respected at all by the Ayatollah of Iran at the time. Yet only hours after Ronald Reagan was sworn in, the hostages were released. Any guess why?
Maybe Trump is pounding his chest with his fists like the others who have been shaking Obama down, and maybe he isn’t, but either way I really don’t think those who bully Obama will try their crap on a Trump.
Peter G. Orsi
Marine Park
Chapter and verse
To the editor,
I am writing to convey my dismay at my treatment at a branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, where I went to replace a lost card. When I attempted to inquire about a new card at a room marked “staff” I was rudely told that I was in a staff work area. Someone vaguely gestured toward a hidden information desk, without standing up. At least four staffers were drinking coffee from large painted mugs.
I am a semi-retired, visually impaired senior citizen who has lived in Sheepshead Bay for 59 years. Two days after my family moved to the neighborhood in 1956, my father took me to the library to show me a place of “learning and safety.” He would be very surprised at the way library consumers are treated there today. When I reached the information desk and asked about renewing my card I was met with blank stares from two staffers. After repeating my question two times I was told to go to the computer behind the desk. A staffer expressed impatience when the computer was slow to reboot. She said she did not have time to hold my hand and said I should “just fill in the blanks and press send.” I asked how long it would take to obtain a new card and she clearly said one to two weeks.
I returned to the library in the given time period to inquire about my card. Two staffers ignored me until I asked to see a supervisor. Within five minutes I had a new card. One of the unnamed staffers asked me why I had waited so long to come back to the library. When I asked the supervisor what she was going to do about the way I was treated, she said she would meet with the staff “sometime in the future.” I returned to the library a few days later to pick up a book for my wife and asked a staffer about the supervisor that I had spoken to. I was told that she was at an all-day meeting. I went back to the library the next day and asked to talk to a supervisor. I was told they were off until the following month.
That Saturday I went to the library to read a newspaper. The supervisor I originally talked with suddenly appeared and asked to speak with me. With her voice raised so that all of my friends and neighbors in the room could hear, she said she hoped that we could be good friends and that I could be a “star” of the library. I told her that I had called the New York City Human Rights commissioner to lodge a complaint for discrimination. She said loudly that was my right. As she continued to talk to me in a raised voice she was joined by two other staffers. I left the library immediately because I felt embarrassed and confronted.
Martin Adelstein
Sheepshead Bay
****LARRY PENNER****
Off-track Andy
To the editor,
There is more to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s announcement that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority- New York City Transit will increase rehabilitation for subway stations to a state of good repair by 10-percent to 50-percent from originally 20 planned in the proposed 2015-2019 capital plan. The original $34 billion plan announced in Oct. 2014 proposed $448 million for bringing 20 subway stations to a state of good repair. The plan was cut by $6 billion to $28 billion. The MTA Board approved this revision. That was prior to Cuomo’s declaration about increasing the number of stations (or dollars) for New York City Transit’s renewal program. This plan still needs approval by the State Capital Program Review Board. It also requires the State Legislature to find $8 Billion promised by Gov. Cuomo. The City Council must also come up with $2.5 billion to meet commitments made by Mayor Bill DeBlasio to fully fund the capital plan..
If you increase the number of stations, the overall station renewal program would grow by $224 million to $672 million. Just what other transit capital projects and programs would have to be cut to support finding $224 million? Cuomo was silent on this key question.
According to a New York City Citizens Budget Commission report released several months ago, it will take 52 years or until 2067 for all 468 city subway stations to reach a state of good repair. Cuomo’s math just doesn’t add up. He reminds me of the cartoon character Wimpy who famously said, “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” When the bills become due, taxpayers will end up paying Cuomo’s bill.
Larry Penner
Great Neck. N.Y.
Tarnished Silver
To the editor,
The legacy of former State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in the area of transportation leaves much to be desired. Consider the schedule, budget, and the cost for four major transportation projects that he took great pride in promoting.
Washington paid twice with your tax dollars for building the new South Ferry subway station. First, for almost $600 million in 9-11 funding, a second time with more than $300 million in Hurricane Sandy funding to rebuild what was damaged. The downtown Manhattan Fulton Street Transit Center was first paid for with 9-11 funding. Cost overruns of several hundred million were covered by American Recovery Reinvestment Act funding.
Fourteen years after 9-11, the Cortland Street World Trade Center subway station is still several years away from being back in service. If there are no new delays, perhaps the station will reopen by December 2018. Transit officials fought for years over budget, funding sources, scope, and schedule. Construction for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority portion of the project just started a few months ago.
There is no funding in the agency’s propose 2015-2019 capital program to initiate construction for the second segment of the Second Avenue subway, north from 96th Street to 125th Street. It will take several decades and $20 billion more for completion of the next three segments of the Second Avenue subway, north to 125th Street and south to Hanover Square downtown in the financial district. The project was originally proposed in 1929!
Silver claimed to be a friend of both commuters and the 99 percent. In reality, he lived the life style of the one percenters. He frequently traveled around town with a personal driver at taxpayers’ expense. I doubt if he ever purchased a MetroCard or rode the subway, like several million New Yorkers do daily.
Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
Two-fare drone
To the editor,
The proposal by state Sen. Marty Golden (R-Bay Ridge) to offer two free transfers for those who have to ride two buses before boarding a subway is wishful thinking. People who moved to Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach and Gravesend — areas represented by Golden — knew full well that they would be living in a two-fare (bus to subway) and sometimes three-fare (bus to bus to subway) zone with longer commutes to and from work.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority services continue to be one of the best bargains in town. Since the 1950s, the average cost of riding either the bus, subway or commuter rail has gone up at a lower rate than either the consumer price index or inflation. The MetroCard, introduced in 1996, affords a free transfer between bus and subway. Prior to this, riders had to pay two full fares. Purchasing either a weekly or monthly pass further reduces the cost per ride. Many employers offer transit checks, which pay even more of the costs.
For years, local politicians would stir the pot on this issue. Now the latest cause is the cost for those handful of people out of several million daily riders who have to pay two fares versus one. An overwhelming majority can afford and already purchase either a weekly or monthly unlimited MetroCard, which makes the “double fare” issue moot.
Residents, taxpayers, and commuters in Golden’s district would be better off if he worried more about how the State Legislature will find the $8 billion Gov. Cuomo promised to bridge the $8.3 billion shortfall in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority-proposed $28 billion, five-year capital plan when they reconvene in January.
It all comes down to the availability of increased funding for additional transportation service to serve residents of two fare zones in the outer boroughs. Operating subsidies are required to increase the level of service and reduce the amount of time one waits for a bus on existing routes. Same for adding more off-peak, late night and weekend service.
Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
MTA delay
To the editor,
No one should be surprised by the recent news from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that the Second Avenue Subway won’t be open by next December. The agency reminds me of Capt. Renault from “Casablanca” when he said, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on!”
Riders who have been waiting since construction restarted in 2007 with an original service date of 2013 may not be able to pick up their “winnings” until 2017 or 2018. The project was originally proposed in 1929!
Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
****ROBERT LOBENSTEIN*****
Immi-ingrates
To the editor,
As I voted on Primary Day, I noticed the fellow in front, after registering, was handed a sticker with the Statue of Liberty on it. He said, “No thanks, the Statue of Liberty represents the Democrats, as on its base is a big sign stating, ‘Give us your poor, outcast huddled masses.’ The perfect representation of that party to a T.”
I know that most of us have immigrant roots and family members worked their fingers to the bone to make it here in the new land. Today there seemingly are no requirements to be an immigrant, other than to be alive and breathing. I won’t even bother to mention the illegals as the present administration turns a blind eye to them.
Many will step up to the plate and assimilate into American society, but all too many will enter a segregated enclave of similar backgrounds, add nothing to better our country, and have their hands out for welfare, unearned social security benefits, Medicaid and other freebies, courtesy of the government.
One wonders why the media portrays us poor Republicans as mean and angry. Why shouldn’t we be? When politicians and officials have their hands in our pockets, robbing our own children and families of hard-earned money, to fork over to freeloaders — yes, we are angry!
I salute that fellow refusing the Statue of Liberty sticker, and the voting results that day truly reflected how the New Yorkers from Buffalo to Brooklyn feel!
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
GOP v. Trump
To the editor,
The secret meeting of Republican leaders in Georgia made me think of Hitler’s “weekend of the long knives.” It was so hush-hush, almost no one knew about it. Then information leaked out that these high-powered politicians, other party bosses, and big-money contributors were working overtime to dump Donald Trump, and attempt to possibly install Mitt Romney as savior of the Republican Party.
Liberal media and newspapers call Trump Hitler, saying that his supporters wave their hands in a Nazi salute, but people in his own party are staging a modern-day “night of the long knives” — a purge that took place in Nazi Germany, from June 30 to July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders.
It also made me think of how back in the 1970s Orson Wells starred in and narrated a special broadcast covering the quatrains of Nostradamus. One by one the predictions made hundreds of years ago were discussed, and each one was chillingly accurate: The attacks then destruction of the World Trade Center, the rise and fall of the Third Reich, and the exploits of Napoleon were a few predictions that were right on. At the end of this broadcast nuclear missiles from Iran and other Arab-Muslim countries were shown, blasting off into history as they were aimed at the “new city,” generally regarded to be New York City of today.
Iran, in violation of all too many treaties, has fired off nuclear-capable missiles bearing the Hebrew words for “death to Israel!” The video news reports mirrored almost to the exact detail what was shown on that Nostradamus program so many years ago.
Iran and fellow terrorist Muslim states have no intention of stopping development of missile technology and the so-called nuclear agreement is a sham. Everyone knows that they are busy making and testing nuclear materials, in secret desert locations. This present administration shows no backbone in stopping the proliferation of these weapons of mass destruction. I only pray we are not too late and a change in Washington takes place soon or the last prediction of Nostradamus may very well come true.
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Hill-n-Donald
To the editor,
Hillary Clinton was complaining that the Muslim terrorist groups were using Donald Trump for video recruitment purposes. That lie was quickly exposed and Hillary wound up with egg on her face. Then a video surfaced where Muslim terrorists actually were using footage from Trump’s campaign to recruit new terrorists. I wonder how much Hillary paid them to do this?
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Pie in the $ky
To the editor,
Our dear Gov. Cuomo has been on a media blitz unveiling grandiose building schemes — rebuilding the old Pennsylvania Station to an almost former glory, expanding the Javits Center to house the world’s largest ballroom and exhibit center, and other fantastic municipal works endeavors.
One thing that was silently spoken about, off camera, was the way the multi-billion-dollar projects will be paid for. Yes, it will be you and I, and our children and future grandchildren, who will be paying off his follies for decades to come. To build any project on time and within budget is a pipe dream, knowing the ineptness of state and city governments. After these clowns leave office, we all will be saddled for years with the debt load created by their schemes.
Maybe most of these plans should be voted down until Albany straightens up its own corrupt financial mess though, as these politicians are busy picking our pockets, I doubt it.
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
*****ED GREENSPAN****
Class suspensions
To the editor,
The mayor and schools chancellor brag about fewer suspensions in public schools, but we read that things were never worse in the schools with lower suspension rates. It now becomes a case of do as you please without fear of severe punishment.
A paper reported recently that at a Brooklyn school with a suspension room, three boys on suspension went out to lunch, and while in the halls, two of the boys set upon the third, beating him so badly that he required hospitalization. Suspension really worked here, right! These boys should never have been in school to begin with and probably should have been jailed. Are the other two boys already back in the building despite the assault?
No one in this city has the guts to talk about unruly behavior in school. We all forget that no child has the right to disrupt another child’s education or to prevent a teacher from teaching. Please bring back the 600 schools for unruly youngsters!
Facing a possibly tough reelection fight for union president, Michael Mulgrew is suddenly talking about suspensions and unruly school behavior. Where have Mike and the other cronies of unity caucus been for the last 50 years or so? They have conveniently kept quiet and ignored the worsening of discipline in the schools. No teacher can teach without discipline, and when the teacher is stymied by do-nothing principals and an intransigent union, we have a recipe for continuous failure and disaster in the schools.
City schools have the largest class-size registers. With classes bursting by the seams, this will also account for poor behavior. Why not reduce class size by placing Absent Teacher Reserve teachers back in the classrooms, instead of these regular teachers being relegated to do substitute work?
How much of a teacher’s time during the day is devoted to constantly disciplining disruptive behavior? Going to school should be something regarded as a privilege and not something that everyone is entitled to by birth. Any child unable to control himself in a school-setting needs to be removed immediately.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Hell-ma mater
To the editor,
Another day, another gun. This time a gun was brought into MS 61 in the very troubled District 17 of Crown Heights.
I attended that school and graduated in 1961. Seven years later when I returned to do my student-teaching there, I found a totally different school. Things have just deteriorated terribly over the years in practically all of the District 17 schools and other districts throughout the city.
Why has this occurred? No one wants to admit that we have a major social problem in this society in the form of a refusal to accept authority. Civil libertarians add to the problem by not allowing teachers or supervisors to properly discipline recalcitrant youth. You can’t even tell a child to stand in the corner or write over and over that they must behave themselves. These are regarded as corporal punishments. By not disciplining youth properly we are emboldening them to commit more serious infractions as they get older. The refusal to follow orders from teachers just carries over to the police department years later.
We now have a mayor and chancellor who advocate for fewer suspensions and taking away metal detectors from our schools. These people refuse to admit that some of our schools are so bad the national guard needs to be called in just to restore order.
Not only did I attend District 17 schools, I also taught in them for 19 years before transferring. I had some very good students there, but there was also a group intent upon total disruption. You can’t teach without discipline, and one day our elected officials will realize this.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Southward bound
To the editor,
So now there are summonses to be issued and not jail time for those caught urinating in the street. Would city officials like it if these recalcitrant people were caught urinating in front of their homes? Our city and nation continue to go southward due to these liberal politicians.
The lack of respect continues towards our police and youngsters in school can now literally get away with anything now that it is becoming impossible to suspend an unruly child from school. Then we have candidates such as Democratic presidential challenger Bernie Sanders who is upset that too many prisons are being built and minorities are occupying the jail cells. Well, this wouldn’t be the case if the latter people and others behaved themselves and followed societal rules.
It’s a vicious cycle. Allowing youngsters to get away with anything in school only emboldens them to create further havoc as they get older.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead BayRoving Randi
To the editor,
It’s bad enough when elected officials are running for other offices and they are away from their official positions. It is just as bad when people, such as American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten will be criss-crossing the country for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Randi, you have responsibilities that await your urgent attention. In the city more teachers are resigning than ever, they’re throwing the towel in because of the discipline procedures you and other liberal lunkheads have created. Hillary does not need you directly, but teachers throughout the country do, as they struggle with burgeoning class sizes, unruly pupils, overly aggressive administrators, and parents who rule the teacher and principal.
If Randi Weingarten and other officials can’t fulfill their responsibilities, they should take a leave of absence without pay.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Get a grip
To the editor,
There is always an excuse for outrageous behavior. As the years have gone by, the new one is that the perpetrator was off their medication. In a recent case, several women were slashed by someone in and out of hospitals for mental illness. Why was he always released after each episode, only to cause additional mayhem? Same thing in school. Any teacher can tell you which of their students will go on to commit crimes. No one bothers to listen to them as children, when they are literally crying out by acting out for help. Instead, we either play their friend or just pass them on.
Since the family of the slasher knew what he was capable of, it was their responsibility that this individual be looked after. That is what families are all about. Don’t throw your problems on society and expect them to clean up the mess.
I just love when they say that the recalcitrant was in the process of getting his or life together. It is time for individual initiative and responsibility for one’s actions to rest on the individual and family members. Sure, many of these recalcitrant people and family receive welfare benefits and therefore they feel that everything is coming to them.
Ed Greenspan
Sheesphead Bay
Classroom sham
To the editor,
Politicians have conveniently ignored the problem of discipline in our schools. The
