To the editor,
Looks as though “war on Christmas” is the liberal media’s new politically correct catch-phrase. Many malls and individual stores are terrified to display anything to do with Christmas, afraid that they might offend other religions. In downtown areas, nondescript, geometrical shapes have replaced Christmas-themed lighting and trees. Let’s remember we have power over this insanity.
Retailers and mall owners across America depend on you and your Christmas shopping dollars to keep them in the black, and in business. Take a moment to see who is part of this anti-Christmas trend and buy from businesses not afraid to support the Christmas spirit. For those of other faiths and beliefs, one great thing about Christmas is that it is all-inclusive. I know that my friends enjoy all this holiday has to offer.
There is a little story that brings a smile to my friends, Jewish and Christian alike: It is the day before Christmas and in school the teacher is asking her students what their Christmas day is like.
Little Bobby starts with: “My family will gather around the Christmas tree, open presents and then we all go to church and sing Christmas carols.” Little Jennifer adds: “My family will open the Christmas presents then head over to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for a big dinner. After dinner the family goes out and sings Christmas carols.” The teacher then realizes that little David, being Jewish, may not observe the holiday. She asks, “And what will you and your family be doing tomorrow?”
Little David replies with a smile, “My family observes Chanukah by lighting candles, opening presents and enjoying a big dinner with friends and family. We then go to my father’s store to look at the empty shelves and we sing, ‘What a friend we have in Jesus.’ ” Christmas is a win-win for everyone!
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Homeless problem
To the editor,
I recently witnessed a sight that I found very disturbing. I was walking on Ocean Parkway to Brighton Beach Avenue, going up to the Ocean Parkway subway station, when I saw benches full of sleeping homeless men.
This is a residential neighborhood.
Mothers walking their children to and from school and people going to work.
It is a blight on the neighborhood. One doesn’t feel safe. Something has to be done for these poor, homeless individuals. The weather is getting cold and winter will be upon us shortly.
Where will they go?
Mayor DeBlasio, do something. Rita Dorf
Brighton Beach
Sidewalk scofflaws
To the editor,
Why is Sheepshead Bay the only place where people can ride bicycles on the sidewalk — and they all do — without getting a summons for breaking the law? I think there should be a law that all bikes must have a bell or a horn to warn unsuspecting pedestrians.Judith Heller Bratt
Sheepshead Bay
Shun guns
To the editor,
Gun owners say the Second Amendment gives them the right to own a gun. They’re wrong. It gives a person the right to own a gun as part of a “well-regulated militia.” We don’t have militias anymore.
People say they need a gun for protection, this makes no sense because we have a professional police force. Politicians are too scared of losing votes to come out strongly for gun control.
They’re too scared to oppose the National Rifle Association and the gun manufacturers, who probably give them big campaign contributions. Because of cowardly politicians, mass shootings and other gun crimes will continue unabated.Jerome Frank
Coney Island
COLA ‘poppycock’
To the editor,
Not having a cost of living increase for Social Security is going to hurt people like me who need it. The blame lies mostly with Congress for telling the president how much money he gets to spend. The president may veto a spending bill and request a new one, but it is Congress the president goes to for money, and if Congress tells the president he can’t have the money, he does not get the money.
This business about there being no cost of living increase for Social Security because too much money goes to all those lazy people on welfare is pure poppycock.
I was on welfare for six months in 1978. By the time I paid my rent and utility bills I had around $40 to $50 left for the month. I include food stamps in that figure.
By the time I found a job, six months after starting welfare, I had lost about 40 pounds because I did not have enough money for food. That’s how it really is for most people on welfare: pay rent or eat, but not both.
If people really want to know where the money is, let them look at corporations like Exxon that pay no income tax and off-shore bank accounts harboring trillions of untaxed dollars, or how Congress approves spending in the billions for defense projects even the military doesn’t want.
But no, some people believe we are getting no Social Security increase because people on welfare are getting too much money.
Give me a break.
David Raisman
Bay Ridge
Unruly students
To the editor,
The security guard in the South Carolina high school should be given a ticker-tape parade for his actions in removing an unruly student from the classroom. Naturally there is no video showing the disruption this recalcitrant was causing that prompted such action by the guard.
When are we ever going to learn that any disruption can’t be tolerated in the classroom?
Remember when schools were for learning?
Why didn’t the student leave when she was told to leave by the teacher and assistant principal?
Don’t children who want to learn have rights? All we do is cater to the disruptive child. No wonder our schools are in the condition they are in!Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Menin-gitis
To the editor,
City Consumer Affairs Commissioner Julie Menin’s campaign to encourage all business owners with 20 or more employees to sign up for federal transit benefits worth up to $130 per month or face fines up to $250 per day may be an abuse of power.
Menin reminds me of the godfather making businesses an offer “they can’t refuse.”
This program popularly known as Transit Check has been previously marketed since 1993 by many other organizations. That is why today more than 700,000 New Yorkers are already active participants. Menin will waste taxpayers dollars to launch a public advertising campaign to inform both businesses and their employees of a program virtually everyone has been already aware of for years.
Strange that Menin overlooks the city’s largest employer with more than 300,000 employees, the City of New York along with City Hall and the City Council.
Real leaders set an example for others.
Has Commissioner Menin given up her municipal car to use public transportation and previously signed up for Transit Check?
How many of her agency employees have signed up?
Will Commissioner Menin send out notification letters to Mayor Bill DeBlasio, Comptroller Scott Stringer, Public Advocate Letitia James, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, and her 50 Council colleagues, along with all other city agency commissioners to sign up along with all their respective employees as well?
Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
Flip flop, Dan
To the editor,
As a former patient of Planned Parenthood of New York City and a current volunteer, I know full well its scope of services. When I was in my early 20s and I needed access to affordable reproductive health care, I was able to walk into a Planned Parenthood health center and receive quality, non-judgmental care. I am grateful every day that I lived in an area that did not limit my access to health care. I will never know the reality of living in a town where access to care is denied because of restrictive, dangerous laws.
Unfortunately countless women, men, and young people live in areas where access to Planned Parenthood is either limited or non-existent. This reality devastates me. Even more upsetting is the idea that elected government officials could be so out of touch with this reality, and downright cruel in their voting decisions. I am a constituent of Rep. Dan Donovan (R-Bay Ridge), and he voted against my right to access reproductive care in his first week on the job.
In his campaign he promised that he would not vote to place federal restrictions on abortion, yet one of his first votes in the House was in support of a bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks. He later voted in support of a bill that would defund Planned Parenthood of its federal funding. He then voted in favor of creating a special panel to investigate Planned Parenthood and its procurement of fetal tissue. In fact Donovan was the only city representative to support these outrageous bills.
In a September interview with Brian Lehrer Donovan said that the vote to defund would “redirect the monies allocated for Planned Parenthood to other women’s health care facilities.” He went on to justify this vote by blaming the recent smear videos released by anti-abortion individuals and said, “People have seen those horrific videos, I don’t know if they’re altered or not.” Dan Donovan, how can you be so out of touch with reality?
Days after his interview, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) told Brian Lehrer, “It’s an absolute, undisputed fact that the tapes were doctored and altered.” Maloney later mentions what we all know to be true: other women’s health care facilities cannot take on Planned Parenthood patients, if the organization were to lose funding.
I don’t know if Donovan has ever been to a Planned Parenthood health center. I don’t think he has ever been in the position to need access to affordable health care services like the ones Planned Parenthood provides. It is apparent that he knows absolutely nothing about what really goes on at Planned Parenthood. By supporting harmful bills that restrict reproductive health care, Donovan completely disregards the health of his constituents, like me and the 2.7 million women, men and young people that rely on Planned Parenthood. We come to Planned Parenthood for services like birth control, lifesaving cancer screenings, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and well-woman exams. Services that are provided at a low-cost that are not easily accessed elsewhere.
As one of his constituents, I sent Dan Donovan an email about Planned Parenthood funding and Title X, a federal grant program that provides individuals with comprehensive family planning and other preventive health services. In his response Donovan wrote, “I have concerns over whether one beneficiary of Title X funding, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, subsidizes its abortion practice with taxpayer dollars.” He went on to say that, “In an ideal world there would be no abortions. Unfortunately, this is not the case; for that reason, I believe there should be reasonable restrictions placed on the procedure.”
It appears to me that Dan Donovan’s motivation in voting to defund Planned Parenthood is because he wants to completely eliminate access to abortion. Despite the fact that no federal dollars pay for abortion services as a result of the Hyde Amendment, Donovan has made it clear that he would rather take away all affordable reproductive health care services than allow women to access legal abortion services.
By voting against Planned Parenthood to further his own agenda, Dan Donovan is ignoring real people and playing games with our lives. I am disappointed that he ignored my health care needs by supporting dangerous bills. The women, men, and young people of Staten Island and Bay Ridge deserve better from our elected representative.
Lauren Coe
Bay Ridge
On track
To the editor,
I whole-heartedly agree that express service should be restored to the F train in Brooklyn. I was able to enjoy the benefits of express service until I retired in 2003. However there was, and still is, another problem with F service, and probably with other trains going to and from Coney Island as well. Many trains terminate at Kings Highway, five stations away from the last stop, Coney Island. Passengers going further have to wait on the elevated platform in boiling hot or freezing cold weather until another train arrives.
I understand the need to avoid congestion at the Coney Island station. What I don’t understand is why they can’t get the arriving trains out of the station at the last stop as soon as they unload, either by sending them right back to Manhattan or to the train yard. I would rather wait five minutes on a heated or air-conditioned train while other trains are being cleared out of Coney Island than to be forced to leave my train and stand on a snow-covered platform shivering until another train comes in. Winter is coming! It’s time to take all trains to the last stop.
All stations are used by senior citizens and people with disabilities, at one time or another. All stations need elevators or escalators. Many stations need repair work, especially on stairways at elevated stations. Fares keep going up, but transportation services and stairways do not get any better. Many seniors who need elevators cannot use the subways in their neighborhoods. They are forced to use Access-A-Ride.
The city would save money in the long run, if it spent more on making subways accessible to seniors and other physically-challenged, would-be passengers, and would improve the service on city buses. Then fewer people would need to use Access-A-Rides.
Elaine Kirsch
Gravesend
‘Useless’ agencies
To the editor,
Of all the city, state, and federal agencies, I admire the National Transportation Safety Board the most because whenever there is a major plane crash, a train derailment or a tragic highway crash, they put 100 percent into their investigation on what caused the accident.
Never once have they sugarcoated the cause of an accident. Although it may take many months of a year or two for their conclusions, they often make recommendations that in the future will save countless lives.
When has the Department of Transportation ever listened to the concerns of the residents about any changes being made? How about never. Another useless city agency is the Parks Department. When there was an outcry about putting concrete on the Boardwalk, Parks claimed it was easier to maintain and that there was no way to get rainforest wood. What they never mentioned was that the design commission stated that recycled wood from out of state could be used just as easily.
Both these city agencies are deaf to the public’s concerns, so why do we even need them?
Solomon Rafelowsky
Brighton Beach
Frankly, Jerome
To the editor,
Jerome Frank seems to think I favor the upper one percent of Americans that achieved their wealth through hard work and a drive to do better (“Income inequality,” Sound off to the Editor, Oct. 16).
Maybe in his case, his attitude and the attitude of so many people who bemoan the fact that they are not rich are self-repressing them to the lower rungs of society.
My family emigrated from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and other European states prior to 1900. Nothing was handed to them on a silver platter. They knew that to succeed in the new land, they had to learn its language and get together, getting their hands dirty, to scratch a living out of whatever they chose to do.
I pride myself, in some little way, of championing the rights of the workers, as I once was a vice president in a local union. During my tenure I learned a lot of the so-called one percent versus the 99 percenters. I saw how the different attitudes of the workers determined how far they progressed or regressed through the ranks. Those individuals with a sense of drive and determination climbed the ladder of success, ultimately leaving the ranks for management positions. Those with an attitude, a socialist-communist attitude of I-deserve-everything, were always in trouble with the boss, calling upon me and others in the union to help bail them out.
I invite Jerome to learn the true history of his favored socialist parties and understand that even with them, there was an upper one-percent-plus crust of political hacks enjoying a very good living while the people, under their tutelage, were the true working “slaves of the state.”
Capitalism ain’t perfect, but at least under its reign and our hard-fought-for-and-won American freedoms, one has a chance to stand up, excel, and achieve a higher income and attitude status.
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
‘Weakened’ Chuck
To the editor,
I am not surprised that according to a recent poll conducted by Quinnipiac University, Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) most recent favorable approval rating is down to 52 percent. This represents his lowest approval ratings since May 2000.
There are two reasons for this decline: One, like the cowardly lion from the Land of Oz, Schumer came out against the proposed treaty with Iran, but with a wink and nod to President Obama refused to lobby his fellow senators in joining him to oppose the treaty. Many Jewish and non-Jewish friends of Israel are not happy with his abdication of leadership on this issue.
Two, since 1981 under Schumer’s watch as both a congressmember and senator our national debt went up by $17.4 trillion, increasing from $1 trillion in 1981 to $18.4 trillion, today. No wonder Schumer never talks about this at his standard Sunday news conferences. It is nothing to be proud of.
Besides conservatives and Republicans, many mainstream moderate Democrats and independent voters are not happy with his fiscal mismanagement of Washington. Younger voters who will have to pay off this debt are especially displeased.
Schumer faced unknown Republican challengers with no-name recognition, money or party support in 2004 (Howard Mills) and 2010 (Jay Townsend). New York Republicans now have a surprising opportunity in 2016. Given Schumer’s weakened poll numbers, perhaps a brave Republican candidate with both name recognition and the financial resources to offer a serious alternative will finally step forward to challenge him in 2016. It might make for an interesting contest as opposed to another Schumer coronation.
If New York Republicans give Schumer a free ride for the third time, he will be free to run around the nation in 2016 assisting other fellow Democrats running for the Senate. Democrats only need a net pick up of five seats to regain control of the Senate. Schumer will use his well-oiled, pay-for-play fundraising machine — he already has $20 million in the bank for his 2016 race with no announced opponent — to raise whatever it takes, be it $100 million or more, so he can become the Democratic Senate majority leader.Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
Classroom trenches
To the editor,
As Warner Wolfe used to say, “Let’s Go to the Videotape,” when he would want something investigated further. Similarly let’s go to the school records of violent criminals, or better yet, do something with them in their formative years so that they don’t resort to such violence. If you opened the school records, you would see evidence of cutting class, constantly disrupting the class, roaming through the hallways, cursing, screaming, fighting, and causing all sorts of mayhem.
The city’s school system has failed these students and others by their complete refusal to deal with disruptive youth. As a result, the latter become more emboldened with each passing year, and their deviant behavior worsens until an innocent life is lost.
We keep such students in regular classes if the parent refuses to sign for special placement. As a result, chaos results as teachers desperately try to keep order with burgeoning class sizes. When are we going to face this problem head on and not keep sweeping it under the rug? This is not a racist problem. Disruptive pupils come in all races, religions and all backgrounds.
Empty out the regional and district offices and get teachers back in the classroom. We need more psychologists and psychiatrists in the schools. Less suspensions will not solve anything.
So-called staff development is a complete joke and everyone knows it. Let all the militants, ultra liberals and critics of teachers get themselves teacher licenses and get a taste of what it is like in the trenches.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
