To the editor,
Kudos to columnist Shavana Abruzzo for slamming disgraced ex-Sen. Carl Kruger (“Carl-amity for crooked Kruger,” A Britisher’s View, May 3).
Kruger was a nothing politician. Why does a crooked politician apologize after he is caught?
I believe in term limits! A crooked politician should serve his full sentence, as other criminals.
Crooked politicians, or any person caught with their hand in the cookie jar, should be denied their pensions.
Ugo Rosiello
Gerritsen Beach
Wooden logic
To the editor,
I read with fascinated incredulity the recent letter from a gentleman describing his epiphany that, whereas he once signed a petition to keep the Coney Island Boardwalk wood, he has “since come to my senses and now know that it’s safety first and foremost,” and thus now favors a concrete walkway (“Concrete boardwalk a good thing for Coney,” Letters to the Editor, May 3).
He says that the reason that the Boardwalk is in such poor condition “is just the sheer volume of traffic, cars, trucks, and people that makes it impossible to keep the boards down,” leading to a safety hazard for all who use the Boardwalk.
Putting aside the fact that pedestrians contribute negligibly to the deterioration of the Boardwalk, the writer seems to surrender his critical thinking capacities at this point, seemingly accepting as some immutable law of nature that this must be so, and thus that a safe wood boardwalk is an impossibility!
He does not ponder how it is that other boardwalks made of wood are able to be maintained so that they provide a safe and enjoyable experience for those who use them, while being subject to the same considerations that apply to our Boardwalk. While the city has been intransigent with respect to minimizing vehicular use, and using lightweight vehicles at slow speeds that do not destroy the Boardwalk, other wood boardwalks have this as standard policy.
The Ocean City Boardwalk in Maryland, which has far more vehicular traffic than we have here, including a daily tram as well as car and fire engine parades, has built a support structure that allows for this, while keeping wood boards on top.
The writer says that he does “not blame the maintenance workers, who do a great job of cleaning the beach.” Of course the workers are not to be blamed!
They are not at fault for city policy, which, as anyone who lives here knows, provides virtually no maintenance for the Boardwalk, allowing complete sections to fall into disrepair and then using borrowed capital funds to request new projects be approved.
These so called “pilot” or test projects, which include the two recently installed concrete sections, the plastic board section on the pier and the recently preliminarily approved project from Coney Island Avenue to Brighton 15th street, which will include a concrete strip down the middle, once again prioritizing vehicles over pedestrians.
Plastic boards on either side have seriously damaged the integrity of our Boardwalk and markedly diminished the enjoyment of those of us who use it on a daily basis and in a variety of ways, including running, walking, dancing, pushing baby carriages or wheelchairs, or using walkers.
Thus, we have a toxic mix of an overuse of heavy vehicles, a lack of even basic maintenance, a lack of caring on the part of those entrusted to do so for the preservation of one of the city’s jewels, in addition to a disregard by the city and its agencies of the suggestions and the wishes of those of us who live here, and a Parks Department policy that takes out large swaths of the Boardwalk for tests, as though they were doing high school science experiments where negative results would have no serious consequences. Add to this mix one final element — the lack of vibrant and clear support from our local elected officials demanding of the city that our 90-year-old wood Boardwalk be preserved!
Instead, we have elected representatives who talk about “maintaining the character of the Boardwalk”, whatever that means, or show up at a hearing and testify in support of a plan that uses concrete and plastic instead of wood — a plan that the vast majority of their own constituents don’t want — as did Councilman Domenic Recchia (D–Coney Island) and Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny (D–Coney Island), thus doing a disservice to the communities they ostensibly represent!
The letter writer suggests that those who advocate for a wood Boardwalk are “dreamers.”
It would appear that the only one that has been asleep is the writer, as he is ignorant of the facts. Keeping a safe wood Boardwalk for all who live here and visit to enjoy, is a matter of will and commitment, not one of possibility!
Rob Burstein
Brighton Beach
The writer is president of the Coney-
Brighton Boardwalk Alliance.
Stan for President
To the editor,
Stanley Gershbein always shows interest in how to improve our government and alleviate our problems.
He suggests more drilling in the eastern half of the gulf in Alaska, and more offshore drilling in the Pacific and Atlantic coasts (“In an election year, think energy and gas,” It’s Only My Opinion, May 3). By approving construction of the Keystone pipeline, more people would be put back to work.
He is saying a lot more than our president, who says, “We have come a long way, but still have a long way to go.”
President Obama does have excellent use of words, but “coming a long way and a long way to go” says very little. Stan Gershbein gives concrete solutions.
I would nominate him to be a cabinet member where he would be in a position to give real advice to our president. And why stop there?
Why not let Stan occupy the White House and implement his ideas?
That position would also give him exclusive rights to Air Force One; probably more luxurious than the rooms he occupies during his many cruises with his roommate.
And his roommate would then be “First Roommate” of our nation.
Harold Braunstein
Brighton Beach
Power to Powell
To the editor,
An unchecked, highly politicized process kept Mary Powell, long-time activist and president of our civic association, from being appointed a member of Community Board 15 during her lifetime.
The powers that be did not want to deal with an independent spirit who might expose the board’s capriciousness.
Now, some two years after her passing, it looks like Mary still can’t get recognition for her numerous contributions or for their impact on the community. Not only did Community Board 15 recently reject naming a portion of a street for her, but also your front page story did not include mention of her (“Bklyn snubs Joe Pa,” May 3).
Who’s to blame for this glaring error?
Ed Jaworski
Madison
The writer is president of the Madison-
Marine-Homecrest Civic Association.
Mom burn
To the editor,
I can’t believe the way the media is trying to destroy the “Tanning Mom” from New Jersey, as if she is the next Lizzie Borden.
Her daughter, a light-skinned redhead, got some sunburn — quite normal for redheads who tend to burn in just a short time in the sun.
The mother said she didn’t put her daughter in the tanning booth, as did her husband and the manager of the salon. This sounds like a case of the school nurse overreacting.
If that girl was at the beach and got some sunburn, would everyone be making such a deal over this? Let’s give the mother and father the benefit of the doubt and stop crucifying them until all the facts come out.
I have never seen this much media coverage, even for children who are beaten, abused, and killed, as much as this family is getting over a little sunburn. If it is proven the girl did go into the tanning booth what’s going to happen?
Child services takes away the kids, mother and father go to jail, along with the salon manager, and the tanning mom gets a place on America’s most wicked mother list?
Watch some of the reality shows on TV and see who is really mistreating their children.
Peter Orsi
Marine Park
OWS ‘losers’
To the editor,
The Occupy Wall Street protesters are a bunch of lazy losers with no life.
If it weren’t for people working making money and paying taxes, what would they be doing? Who do they think is supporting them?
Maureen Parker
Homecrest
Cat-astrophe
To the editor,
Regarding the latest story in the Brighton Beach cat saga (“Helper Hisses Back,” April 26), there’s more to this story.
Josie and Brooklyn Rescue Umbrella did, indeed, work miracles to reduce Barbara Berger’s cat collection, but Josie felt that she would be unable to find homes for many of the remaining cats because some were feral or scared and less likely to be adopted. At that point, according to Barbara, Josie began pressuring her to give up a few of her 12 personal cats that everyone knew she wanted to keep and move with, which Barbara reluctantly surrendered in the belief that Josie would abandon her if she did not.
These personal cats had been clearly specified in a cat inventory spreadsheet that Barbara and I compiled at the request of the Mayor’s Alliance for Animals, listing, for each of the 45 cats. It was from this inventory that Josie, and the North Shore Animal League, selected the cats they felt they could most easily place for adoption. Things started to fall apart between Josie and Barbara when Josie, having persuaded Barbara to give up Bushy Boy and Francesca, came back for a third cat and persuaded her to give up Vicki. When Barbara later had second thoughts and said that she missed Vicki and wanted her back, Josie refused, insisting that the surrender was not coerced. The dispute escalated to angry phone messages from Barbara, and disparaging blog and Facebook posts by Josie, and the rest is history.
The bottom line here is that, while Barbara appears to have made arrangements to temporarily foster all but two of her personal cats until she can relocate to a pet-friendly apartment — and so that she does not get evicted from her current one — she still has 13 remaining cats that need homes, shelters, or sanctuaries, so that they do not end up at the City’s Animal Care and Control facility, where most will be euthanized due to their age, physical condition, or because they are too shy to be readily adoptable.
What we need now, desperately, are people or rescue groups who can take these cats, even temporarily, so that they can be re-socialized and triaged into appropriate settings to live out their lives in comfort and safety.
If anyone can help, or knows anyone who can, please contact me at (347) 374-3903 or (718) 791-3628. Time is of the essence. The deadline for removing all but two of Barbara’s cats is May 13th. We’ve come this far, thanks to some wonderfully helpful people and some incredibly supportive media coverage, but we still have more to do if these defenseless animals are to be saved.
Andrew Kent
ASKent@msn.com
‘Despicable’ Bam
To the editor,
I find it disgusting and despicable that President Obama went to Afghanistan to address this nation in what can only be characterized as another campaign speech. There was no reason to spend an obscene amount of taxpayer dollars on that trip when that speech could have been made from the White House at far less of a burden on an already overburdened taxpayer base.
As I recall, “Candidate Obama” stated in 2007 that if elected President, his first order of business would be to bring our troops home. Yeah, right. This man has no shame. His party ran an attack advertisement in which Bill Clinton praised President Obama as a great wartime leader who made the tough decision to take out Osama bin Laden. Then a trailer ran under the video that asked whether Mitt Romney would have done it. That is way out of line, even for this administration.
Obama does rate the credit for giving the order, but then that’s his job. He’s the commander-in-chief, it goes with the turf. I hope he enjoys his 15 minutes of fame, because that’s about the only thing he did right as president.
He must also take the heat for his massive investments in his green agenda that went bust, as were ObamaCare, runaway spending, the massive debt, the bailouts, the pipeline deal, the ban on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, the czars, the loss of our credit rating, the failure to deal with the illegal aliens, Fast and Furious, the appointments of all the cronies, buffoons, criminals, incompetents, communists, socialists, and left-wing zealots who are destroying the republic, the insults to our best allies, and the butt-kissing of our enemies, Medicare, Social Security, the glaring lack of transparency in his bloated government, and last but certainly not least, not passing a legally mandated budget for the third year in a row!
Knowing this gang, they’ll wait until after a presumed re-election of Obama so he won’t have to worry about the political backlash. To vote for another four years of this carnival barker’s conniving would be insane.
David Podesta
Marine Park
Double standard
To the editor,
Crime apparently is up in the city. Of course, we’re told that things are still better than what they were 10 years ago. If crime is up, should police have their names splashed all over the papers for being ineffective? Of course not. No one believes that this should ever be done to our Finest. This only applies to New York City teachers.
Could you imagine if we factored into the crime rates, the rate of crime in our schools occurring daily? The police are doing an outstanding job in combating crime and terrorism in our city. Yet according to Mayor Bloomberg’s standards, some might be described as being ineffective.
Just like teachers, police are dealing with disruptive groups intent on breaking the laws and causing mayhem. It’s the same thing in our schools, yet we can’t wait to blame the teachers or their union. Isn’t there a double standard here?
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Del-monstrous Jew hater
To the editor,
Why haven’t Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton spoken out about the low blow against a white man by drunken Detroit Tigers’ outfielder Delmon Young, who spewed anti-Semitic remarks at a yarmulke-wearing man in a midtown hotel? Could the reason be that they are probably as prejudiced as Young, and speak out only when it’s a white person who is in the wrong?
I pray there’s lots of community service in the future for Delmon Young, like cleaning garbage off the streets of the city.
Joan Applepie
Mill Basin
Reach reporter Shavana Abruzzo at sabruzzo@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2529.
