To the editor,
Late Courier columnist Lou Powsner lived a long, full, fruitful, and productive life, helping to preserve the middle class as the fiber of our society (“Legendary Brooklyn columnist Lou Powsner dies at 93,” online April 7).
I first met Lou when I wrote a letter to this newspaper about the number of deaths due to drunk drivers, and how the city and state were also culpable because of inadequate street lighting.
My father Hyman Abosh was the victim of a hit-and-run accident on March 23, 1998 at E. 12th Street and Neptune Avenue. He died on Feb. 19, 2005, having never fully recovered.
Lou Powsner took up this issue, calling me personally. He stated in a letter to this newspaper, “Change lights, change commissioners, but save lives.”
He further addressed the issue at a Community Board 13 meeting, and the city put a new light in that area, but we still have a long way to go in making our city and state safer.
A school guard at PS 225 at E. 13th Street and Ocean View Avenue alerted the city that a light should be installed at that corner because a guard is not on duty 24 hours a day, and accidents can occur day and night, and on weekends. But the city replied that a light was not necessary.
There are more than 300 fatalities a year in the city, and 1,500 statewide. I find this reprehensible.
One Courier poll rated Neptune Avenue and Atlantic Avenue as two of the worst crossings in Brooklyn.
I am glad that Mayor DeBlasio is working to correct Atlantic Avenue, but Neptune and Brighton Beach avenues also need looking into, since pedestrians have no more than five seconds to cross on the east side of Brighton Seventh Street.
Do more lives have to be lost while the mayor awaits action from the state for more cameras to be installed?
Low Powsner was a vital force and a credit to his community, borough, city, and state. May he rest in peace.Elliott Abosh
Brighton Beach
Marty’s baaack!
To the editor,
It’s wonderful to hear that Marty Markowitz was hired to lead the Borough Promotion and Engagement division as veep with the firm N.Y.C. and Company (“He’s baaack!” Standing O, April 11).
As an educator and community education advocate in Coney Island, I’m always looking for new and creative ways to engage my students in the learning process. Sometimes, it’s important for educators to step outside of the box and partner with local businesses to improve the quality of life of our students.
This leads me to the connection between Marty Markowitz, NYC and Company, and student-learning through field trips. Let us showcase the richness of our city through the eyes of our students.
Field trips give students educational experiences away from their regular school environment. Popular field trip sites include zoos, nature centers, fire stations, hospitals, government agencies, local businesses, and science museums. Field trips provide alternative educational opportunities for children and benefit the community, if they include some type of community service.
Students visiting different educational facilities learn in a more hands-on and interactive manner than they do in school. Science museums, for example, often have displays that children can touch to help them understand the material that is being covered. Zoos, nature centers, and botanical gardens show kids animal and plant life up close, and often have areas where kids can touch displays, such as petting zoos and interactive computer programs.
Learning in assorted ways can appeal to varied learning styles, helping children to succeed, whether they are visual, auditory or kinetic learners.
When we think of promoting city tourism, let’s also think of how many students have never really experienced the city. Scott Krivitsky
The writer is a teacher
at PS 188 in Coney Island.
Unfair trading
To the editor,
I have to agree with reader Bill Gee that Chinese, Russian, and Irish supermarkets and restaurants are immensely bigoted (“Bigoted menu,” Sound off to the Editor, April 4).
He neglected to mention the biggest equal opportunity violator of them all — 7–Eleven stores.
If you are not Indian (and I don’t mean Iroquois, Apache, or Mohican), don’t even dare to apply for a job. My nephew applied for a job at a 7–Eleven and was turned down — immediately.
Zev Ben Dov Bear
Sheepshead Bay
Library closures
To the editor,
Brooklyn Public Library has 15 branches closed on Mondays to students, children, and adults: Bedford, Brighton Beach, Cypress Hills, East Flatbush, Eastern Parkway, Flatbush, Flatlands, Highlawn, Jamaica Bay, Marcy, Mill Basin, Pacific, Saratoga, Sheepshead Bay, and Stone Avenue.
Queens Public Library has all branches open Monday through Friday, some on six days. New York Public Library has all branches in Manhattan, Bronx, and Staten Island open six days.
Contact your City Council member and Borough President Adams, and register your complaint that all branches in Brooklyn should be open Monday through Friday.
Also contact www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org or request a patron form at local branches.Mary Buchwald
The writer is a member of
Citizens Defending Libraries.
School discipline
To the editor,
Violence is increasing in public schools, but we still do not adhere to what has to be done.
No matter how much money we pump into schools, if we allow violent, disruptive pupils to remain, our system is doomed for constant failure. We must have alternate settings for troubled youth. All it takes is to have one of these recalcitrants in your class, and whatever lesson you have planned is ruined.
Our elected government officials refuse to admit the problem exists. Principals find it much easier to blame teachers for not supposedly motivating these pupils, and parents will say that it’s never their child who is causing the turmoil.
A committee on school discipline must be convened by the mayor with representatives from the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, and the United Federation of Teachers. Teachers and students who have been assaulted should chair the meeting.
We’re quick to talk about Common Core, alternate assessments, and the total child, but we refuse to do much about discipline. Is it any wonder that far too many schools are out of control with students running amok?Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Teen guns
To the editor,
I want to know where juvenile delinquents, whose parents are completely absent in their lives, are getting guns from to kill people on our city buses, street corners, grocery stores, and playgrounds?
Something needs to be done. A teen killer walked on the B15 bus a few weeks ago to hunt down a rival gang member, killing an innocent bystander, while three deranged lunatics on Staten Island lured a delivery man to his death.
The parents — if indeed the authorities or even the kid himself knows who they are — also need to be charged with murder.
Nobody is doing anything about it. Nobody.Name withheld upon request
Why Hillary?
To the editor,
Is Hillary Rodham Clinton the “Kim Kardashian” of politics?
I have been contemplating this in my “own private Idaho” for quite some time now. Please understand that I am all for a female, male, white, black, and all-color president; hell I’m for anyone who is truly qualified and who meets me on many of my core issues and concerns.
Can someone please enlighten me, and explain to me all the hype about Hillary beyond the “she’s the best option for a first female president?”
Hillary was a first lady, a New York senator, and Secretary of State, but can someone please share some of her notable accomplishments? Are there not more qualified candidates that the Democratic side can offer up? John Kerry? Elizabeth Warren — sure, she’s a neophyte, just like President Obama was. Anyone else? Joe Biden?
I’m tired of the Hillary hype, simply because I do not understand it. Any thoughts, please?Barry Brothers
Homecrest
…
To the editor,
This is my version of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s shoe-tossing incident in Las Vegas:
“This is crazy — another vicious attempt on my life. First in 1996 in Bosnia where I was shot at and ducking bullets with my then-16 year old daughter Chelsea, who thankfully has no recollection of the incident. Now, another attempt on my life.
“I was giving a speech in a Las Vegas hotel on recycling — nothing unusual, plenty of security, and of course my Secret Service detail was present — when out of the blue here come shoes from all different angles being thrown at me. I started ducking and bobbing and weaving not to get hit with these missile-like objects.
“There were all kinds, dozens of them — men’s shoes, women’s shoes, shoes with stiletto heals, even men’s construction boots with steel tips. I managed to deflect a few pairs with some basic monkey-style kung fu moves I learned after I was shot at by snipers at the Bosnia airport back in 1996.
“Still moving at lightning speed from side to side and ducking, I managed to not get hit with any of these dangerous and deadly projectiles. Believe it or not what got me through this attack was a song that was playing in my head while all this was going on: “It’s raining men” by the Weather Girls. I only changed one word, and sang “It’s raining shoes” over and over.
“Thankfully I came out of this horrible attack unscathed when they ran out of shoes to throw, the Secret Service subdued the assailants, and I continued my speech, which I’m certain everyone loved.”
Rosie Boxer
Rockaway Point, N.Y.
Dem Bums
To the editor,
Did you know that the first game to be played at Ebbets Field was an inter-league exhibition game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees on April 5, 1913?
Ebbets Field officially opened on April 9, 1913 against the Philadelphia Phillies. If it had not been for mega builder Robert Moses, along with both the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers leaving the Big Apple in 1957 for California, there may have been no Barclays Center or the Brooklyn Nets.
The golden era of baseball in the city took place in the 1950s with a three-way rivalry between the American League New York Yankees, and the National League New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers. All three teams claimed to have the best center fielder in baseball. On street corners all over town, citizens would argue whether the Yankees’ Mickey Mantle, Giants’ Willie Mays or Dodgers’ Duke Snider was champ.
Ordinary Brooklyn natives could ride the bus, trolley or subway to Ebbets Field to see their beloved Dodgers. Working and middle-class men and woman of all ages, classes, and races co-mingled in the stands. Everyone could afford a bleacher, general admission, reserve or box seat. Hot dogs, beer, other refreshments, and souvenirs were reasonably priced.
Team owners would raise or reduce a players salary based on their performance the past season. Salaries were so low, that virtually all Dodger players worked at another job off season. Most Dodger players were actually neighbors who lived and worked in various communities in Brooklyn.
Residents of the era sat outside on the neighborhood stoop, shopped at the local butcher, baker, fruit, and vegetable stand. Television was a relatively new technology and the local movie theater was still king for entertainment. Brooklyn still had its very own daily newspaper — the Brooklyn Eagle. During the 1950s, Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley tried to find various locations for construction of a new baseball stadium which he pledged to finance using his own monies. With limited seating capacity at Ebbets Field, he needed a new modern stadium to remain financially viable.
Moses refused to allow him access to the current day Atlantic Yards project site. This location was easily accessible to thousands of baseball fans from all around the Big Apple via numerous subway lines.
Thousands of fans who moved to other neighborhoods in eastern Queens, Nassau and Suffolk County would have had direct access via the LIRR. Imagine how different Brooklyn would have been if elected officials had stood up to Moses and allowed construction of a new Dodgers stadium in downtown Brooklyn. Without the departure of both the Brooklyn Dodgers (becoming the Los Angeles Dodgers) and New York Giants (San Francisco Giants), there may have been no National League expansion in 1962. There would have been no Colt 45s (original name of the Houston Astros), our beloved New York Mets or the Barclays Center hosting the Brooklyn Nets basketball team.Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
