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Sound Off to the Editor

To the editor,

I was so disturbed to read that state Department of Environmental Protection is seeking to kill mute swans (“Swan song: State targets elegant, invasive birds for eradication,” online Jan. 24).

Nothing is a surprise to me anymore. All this proves is how insane people are when then don’t like something. Are we really so out of control that we can justify this slaughter? We’ve taken away their home, so developers can build a stadium or a high-rise condo. The same can be said for the borough’s community gardens.

I give great appreciation to Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (D–Sheepshead Bay) for coming to the aid of the mute swans (“Cymbrowitz speaks up for mute swans,” Feb. 7). I have never seen any of them attack people. Has anyone noticed that often they swim in polluted water from the sewers along Ocean Avenue? Please tell me what great disaster they pose in these waters?

What should be of more concern are people who fish in this polluted waters.

Who came first, the animals or the developments? My guess is the animals, so when we take away more land from them, why are we surprised when there’s a backlash? I really hope other wiser heads will follow the assemblyman to do the right thing.Jerry Sattler

Brighton Beach

To the editor,

I commend Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (D–Sheepshead Bay), a member of the Environmental Conservation Committee, for his opposition to the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s draft “Management Plan for Mute Swans in New York State” (“Cymbrowitz speaks up for mute swans,” Feb. 7), which would send the state’s 2,200 mute swans back into lifelong captivity — and to their deaths by government agents.

The horror of the plan is that it is based not on what the mute swan has done, but what it is projected to do, if left to live out its natural life as a self-sustaining population.

There have been only four swan strikes on commercial aircraft since 1990. The mute swan population has been stable for the past 10 years, never reaching 3,000. Its “invasiveness” is as real as the tale of “The Ugly Duckling,” only this time its beauty may not save it. And it displays aggression towards people and other waterfowl only during its nesting period — and why shouldn’t we champion its parental protection as a model for our city, where we are failing to protect our own children from parental aberration?

Our waterways have been contaminated from human-induced pollution, and the agency refuses to acknowledge that habitat destruction and human expansion remain the actual threat to native waterfowl — whom the mute swan is alleged to adversely affect — and not the potential threat of mute swan expansion.

Before we eliminate a species for fear of environmental destruction and displacement of others, we could set an example by eliminating our nuclear arsenals and controlling our own population.Jeffrey Kramer

Bergen Beach

Flake-y dwellers

To the editor,

It’s time that sidewalk shoveling law was applied to the homeowners on Nostrand Avenue, near Voorhies Avenue.

They never shovel, and to add insult to injury, one has thrown an old Christmas tree onto the sidewalk, and it has been there for a week.

Name withheld upon request

Education pow-wow

To the editor,

I applaud Sen. Marty Golden (R–Bay Ridge) for spearheading a power luncheon to discuss future visions with the Bay Ridge Community Council.

As an educator and community education advocate in Coney Island, it’s wonderful to see the major stakeholders in the borough, local neighborhood leaders, and Community Education Council 20 representatives at the same table. This is the formula for community success that has to be duplicated in every community in Brooklyn. When we talk about having one united Brooklyn, let’s not forget about the sum of its parts equal one.

The biggest mistake, in the structure of our local community boards, is that the representation of education is missing from the board’s panel. How can we discuss the progress of our local communities without input from our school representatives? In addition to the structure of our local community boards, let’s not forget about the structure of our local educational councils.

Our local educational councils are wonderful, but they lack having a teacher on their panel. The parents are essential to the educational panel, but we still need to have a voice or pulse from our local district schools.

Let’s talk one Brooklyn and each neighborhood having its own state of the community address. It works when the formula for community success is applied.Scott Krivitsky

The writer is a teacher at PS 188 in Coney Island.

Hot-headed pols

To the editor,

I deplore Rep. Michael Grimm’s (R–Bay Ridge) threat to a reporter to throw him off the balcony, and a censure by the House of Representatives would be appropriate (“Grimm tale: Pol backtracks after threatening reporter,” online Jan. 29).

But it should not be forgotten that former Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) beat up columnist Drew Pearson of the now-defunct Daily Mirror in 1950. Newly inaugurated Sen. Richard Nixon came to Pearson’s defense, telling McCarthy, “Joe, it is time for you to go home.”

Let us also not forget that President Harry Truman called a press conference and stated that if Pearson — his pet peeve — said anything against his wife or daughter, “I will get a gun and shoot him.” Truman also threatened to kick music critic Paul Hume in the groin for saying his daughter Margaret’s voice was not of operatic quality.

After Nixon resigned the presidency in 1974, we were supposed to have a new morality for elected officials, but now we have the same tyranny that was typical at Tammany Hall. At least Nixon did not threaten to kill any reporters or threaten to punch anyone in the nose, or kick anyone in the groin.Elliott Abosh

Brighton Beach

E-Z farce

To the editor,

Governor Cuomo announced that Staten Island residents who have E-Z Pass will receive a toll discount for using the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. They will pay $5.50 per round-trip. This is welcome and deserved news. However, Brooklyn residents get no discount.

When I ran for State Assembly in 2008 in southwest Brooklyn, which includes Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, I said that I would make a Verrazano Bridge discount for Brooklyn the very first piece of legislation I would introduce, if elected.

Many Brooklyn residents also use the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge regularly to go to work, take their kids to school, and visit family. I believed in 2008, and still do today, that these Brooklyn residents deserve the same discount, and respect.Bob Capano

The writer was a Republican, Conservative, and Independent candidate for the 46th Assembly District in 2008.

Wasteful DOE

To the editor,

How much money is the Department of Education wasting every time it takes out multi-page ads in local dailies, along with other daily and weekly newspapers for the “latest news from the NYC Department of Education public school press?”

These dollars would be better spent educating children, than promoting Mayor DeBlasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina.Larry Penner

Great Neck, N.Y.

SUV holed up

To the editor,

The other day, after babysitting my two little grandsons in Long Island, I headed home on the Belt Parkway and was greeted with traffic at a standstill.

As I crawled up to the flashing police emergency lights, I saw one of those super-luxurious, European SUVs blocking two lanes. You know the one that is shown on TV climbing mountains, traversing the rain forest, fording rivers, and bounding down the steps of a piazza.

Well, it seems as though they never tested their vehicles in Gotham, especially on the pothole-ridden belt, as the front right wheel was torn off, causing the delay.Robert W. Lobenstein

Marine Park

Canarsie woes

To the editor,

Your newspaper supposedly covers Canarsie, as well as other Brooklyn neighborhoods. Why don’t we ever see coverage of a Canarsie event?

More important, why is Canarsie’s 69th Precinct Community Council meeting — held at the Hebrew Educational Society building — eliminated from your police blotter?Gerry WeinerCanarsie