To the editor,
While I usually concur with Shavana’s incisive and tell-it-like-it-is comments, I plan to skip the next three weeks of her columns. In her last column (“You go girl! Caitlyn Jenner puts trans-folk on the map” online Aug. 7), she announced her intentions to devote the next three columns to a transgender male. Please, why do I need to be subjected to not one, not two, but three weeks of this topic? I understand reporters write about current and hot topics, but I don’t care to read even one week of this male-strom. (Note the similarity to the words “male storm!”)
What happened to your usual common sense, Shavana? What about self-restraint? The ultimate measure of a person is his challenge and self-discipline, to paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King. What makes humans different from animals is our neocortex, the thinking part of the brain, the ability to change and rise above challenges, not lower ourselves to the level of animals.
The so-called most advanced and greatest ancient civilizations like Greece, Rome, Egypt, met their downfall with sexual immorality. And, with the growing acceptance of sexual perversion, giving in to one’s baser instincts of the reptilian brain, and aberrant lifestyle, this decline is the same ill fate I envision for American and other civilizations.
I respectfully request that you reconsider your topic, Shavana.
Name withheld by request
Flatbush
Ambu-dunce
To the editor,
A man died last month on Manhattan Beach because, despite the valiant efforts of the lifeguards to revive him after finding him floating in shallow water as soon as they arrived to start their shift, it took the ambulance at least 20 to 30 minutes to arrive on the scene.
I don’t know if it would have made a difference, but the man still had a pulse when he was found. There should be an ambulance stationed on the boardwalk at all times, especially during a heat wave like we are experiencing.Andrew Feinstein
Sheepshead Bay
Kosher in M’Park
To the editor,
As a long-time resident of Marine Park, I can vouch for everything Ita Yankovitch wrote in her article about the lack of kosher markets in the area (“Where have Marine Park’s kosher supermarkets gone?” online Aug. 10). The owners of previous stores really tried (I spoke to them) but it’s a hard dynamic for any small business to survive when you are competing with BJ, Costco, ShopSmart, KeyFood, Food Basics, etc. I am pleased to see more and more kosher products at my local Met Food, and even the CVS on Kings Highway recently put in a kosher aisle with the “typical” Jewish food of gefitle fish, matzah, and latkes.Alex Lapin
Marine Park
• • •
To the editor,
It is inaccurate to say that there are no kosher supermarkets in Marine Park (“Where have Marine Park’s kosher supermarkets gone?” online Aug. 10). There is actually a great little store on Avenue N and E. 34th Street, which has been there for years and this is due to their amazing customer relations. And although there could be more kosher food stores, there are plenty of Jewish-owned establishments that seem to be thriving in Marine Park. This is a lovely community to live and do business in.
Batsheva (Beth) Perlow
Marine Park
• • •
To the editor,
I read with great interest Ita Yankovich’s coverage of the lack of kosher markets in Marine Park (“Where have Marine Park’s kosher supermarkets gone?” online Aug. 10), but I take issue with the implication that somehow it was us, the customers, that caused the downfall of these stores.
I was one of those that frequented all three establishments (BuyRite, Marine Park Glatt, and Kosher Discount) and I tried to give them my patronage and support local business, but it was hard since the food (especially the produce and meats) were not fresh and replenished. At times, I would buy milk or a fruit and it would go bad within a day or so. In addition, the cashiers were unhelpful (busy texting while working, and talking amongst themselves in a foreign language), and often when they would advertise sales, it was always with restrictions and they placed non-sale items near sale items, sometimes confusing the customer.
We do desperately need a kosher market around here. I don’t know why it is so hard to achieve. I appeal to both owners and customers — let’s make this happen!Fay Klien
Marine Park
Murderous rampage
To the editor,
A mentally ill man gets a gun and heads to a movie theatre where, thanks to his actions, there is more carnage in the audience than on the screen. Seems as though we’ve all heard of this type of murderous rampage too many times before.
Back in the 1980s the Sunrise Multiplex in Valley Stream on the Queens border made headlines when a crazed individual, while watching a “black-sploitation-shoot-um-up-hip-hop” movie, drew a weapon and killed and injured many innocent movie-goers. The theatre decided to protect patrons and install metal detectors at the door to screen all entering. The howl from the civil libertarians rose to charges of racism and invasion of privacy issues. Funny thing though, since the installation of these detectors, for more than 30 years before closing their doors, there was not one single incident in that tough neighborhood of guns and shootings.
Mark my words that many movie houses will begin the installation of security devices and start screening patrons. No, they are not looking to take away your candy bars, only your 357s and 9mm guns.
It is a sad commentary about this country, and even though there are calls for implementing the world’s most stringent gun laws, criminals and the criminally insane will always get weapons and use them.
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Wary-juana
To the editor,
Marijuana is not and should not be a part of mainstream America. The rush to legalize it is all about money. We close hospitals to build condos in this country.
People seem so desperate to get high on something or another. When you smoke you think everyone else does, too, but not everyone smokes pot! What we do in the privacy of our own homes can affect others. If you get high in your own home, then drive a car or perform surgery, it can have dire consequences. Pets and children should not be exposed to such substances.
If pot didn’t alter perception then why would you ingest it? If it is proven to truly help very ill people, then okay, and no one should have to go to jail for small amounts, but I for one do not want to smell it or ingest it. There is no such thing as “contact high” because of someone’s liquor consumption.Mary A. Pantano
Brooklyn
‘Stupid’ Dems
To the editor,
Pee on the Southern Brooklyn Democrats for being so stupid as to endorse the underground Republican spoiler for the Republican Party, James Inne, masking as a progressive candidate for Green Party U.S. — not to be confused with the real Green Party, which would never run a candidate to take away votes needed to defeat a Republican candidate, something Green Party U.S. has no problem with.
Indeed when Al Gore ran against George Bush, Ralph Nader, the Green Party candidate, got tons of money from the Bush people. Is anyone still too stupid to understand why this was done?
This is what Martin Kilian, a forming member of the German Green Party in 1979 had to say about this so-called Green Party when it ran Nadar for president during the Gore-Bush election: “The position of the American Greens is highly questionable and outright immature if you ask me.”
It is high time progressives and Democrats see this so-called Green Party for what it really is there for: to help Republicans by taking away votes from Democrats.
I challenge anyone to come up with a more intelligent answer that is not full of it from Green Party U.S. David Raisman
Bay Ridge
On track
To the editor,
Practically every Thursday evening at the end of the month I go to a Barnes and Noble open-mike poetry event at the Seventh Avenue and Sixth Street location in the northwestern part of Brooklyn.
I take an F train to and from my location from Brighton Beach taking the Q train to Stillwell Avenue and transferring to an F train getting off at the Seventh Avenue station.
On my return trip, however, I try to take an F train back to Stillwell Avenue, but I sometimes have a considerable wait, and to save time take a G train with its final stop at Church Avenue and then wait for an F line going back home to Stillwell Avenue, and again take a Q to Brighton Beach.
If the G train can’t go directly to Coney Island, wouldn’t it make more sense for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build a direct route from either Coney Island to Rockaway station in Queens or have a super express where the first stop would be either Canal Street or Grand Street?
This might be beneficial for commuters when tracks need to be repaired as an alternative to bus service. Elliott Abosh
Brighton Beach
Judge and jury
To the editor,
I have never been so bloody frustrated by the attorney generals and the court system — past and present. Do you remember the Savings and Loan scandal of the 1980s when the banking customers were left with the bill? I can’t remember if any of those people went to prison? Of course who could forget when Wall Street prime mortgage went down the tubes and not one person was indicted. Some big shots paid a fine that in my judgement was chump change.
Yet the attorney general went after the world-class soccer federation. A $100 million is chump change compared to the billions lost on Wall Street.
Also I can’t believe how the courts can rule about a women’s right, not only for an abortion but for other medical procedures that can save the life of all women. Who appointed them judge, jury, and executioner?Jerry Sattler
Brighton Beach
Chuck Schmuck
To the editor,
How very interesting that after several mass shootings of children, adults, and army personal, only now is senior Sen. Charles Schumer taking up the fight against gun violence. You may ask now why? His second female cousin made a movie where a shooting takes place and decided now it’s time to take a stand.
My question is where was Chuck all this time. With all the many emails I’ve been getting from him, I don’t remember anything dealing with gun control of any kind. To be honest I’ve gotten more emails from junior Sen. Kristen Gillibrand about the issues she’s concerned about. I applaud her for taking a stand on issues she really believes in.
When will politicians finally take a stand and not worry about being elected to another term in Congress, where nothing — and I mean nothing — ever seems to get done? It’s no wonder why less and less people go the polls to vote. It’s a case of the old hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
Solomon Rafelowsky
Brighton Beach
Coin art
To the editor,
I’ve been collecting coins for decades, and have grown to appreciate the fine and detailed artwork that goes into each one. Weinman, Roberts, Saint-Gaudens and Morgan, to name a few, made timeless the art on many of our most impressive coinage.
The U.S. Mint’s High Relief gold coin is designed by modern artists and sculptors. Taking a close look at the new Lady Liberty that graces it, when you view her face and body, it seems as though these new artists were heavily influenced by Lady Gaga and Madonna!
I guess that the old American coinage was too drab for the millennials to collect and appreciate.
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
New buzzwords
To the editor,
“Income inequality” are the new buzzwords across the political circles of America. If I am not mistaken, this great country was founded on hard-working individuals, striving to make life better for themselves and their families. Depending on the abilities, guts and drive of such individuals, the reward was commensurate with their efforts. True, some people worked harder than others and their financial income was different. That was called capitalism.
I say “was” because efforts are underway by certain politicians to reestablish failed socialist-communist policies here that guarantee every one is paid the same. These politicians are ignorant of history and blind to the disastrous outcomes in the former Soviet Union and other communist countries.
I pray that Americans listen carefully to what is being proposed and fight it to the bitter end. Failing this, we can look forward to a country where everyone is equal in stature and pay, as misery and stagnation rule the day.
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Cross Christie
To the editor,
In an era of tragic violence occurring throughout America, we do not need Gov. Chris Christie advocating violence by threatening to punch teacher union officials.
Perhaps his weight loss is affecting him emotionally. Christie reminds me of the late Broderick Crawford portraying Willie Stark in “All the King’s Men.” Christie is becoming a real demagogue. Perhaps when he leaves office as governor, he should go for anger management and when he calms down, he should try the rigors of classroom teaching.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Selfie-sh
To the editor,
I was watching a local news-entertainment station air live in Manhattan. It featured a live concert by a band of singers in front of thousands of screaming girls.
Funny thing though, I doubt any of them actually saw the singers on stage. Each girl held up a telephone, watching the screen and not the stage, to record the show!
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Missing Marty
To the editor,
I miss Marty Markowitz as borough president. He was a quintessential Brooklyn frontsman, who knew how to represent our great borough.
Marty was quick off the mark and ready with a doozy response to anything — just like a real Brooklynite. I loved his shtick! He was a cross between a used-car salesman, a ringmaster, a vaudeville performer, and the uncle everyone wants to sit next to at Sunday dinner.
I was at his last State of the Borough address at Barclays Center. It was a real show. He called it Brooklyn Tonight, and had featured guests. He was a laugh-a-minute. He called young Brooklynites hipsters and older ones the artificial hip-sters! Hahahahaha. Marty was a hoot, and I sure do miss opening the paper and reading about his lose weight campaigns, or his “fugghedaboutit” Brooklyn signs, or some other story he put his two-cents in on. He always had something to say and he said it well.
His successor Eric Adams is cut from a different cloth. He seems like a nice man, and as a former cop he is to be respected, but he is no Marty. Eric you need to ramp it up and get down with it. You are representing Brooklyn — the greatest borough in the world — and we need you to be a Brooklyn star.
J. Fischler
Midwood
Luv ya, Courier!
To the editor,
I pick up your paper each week, and read it from cover to cover. I like the blotters, the community news, and what your columnists have to say.
You paper runs the gamut of good stuff, from hyper-local goings-on to opinions on what’s happening around the world.
I also like your website. It’s bright and cheery, and always features something interesting to read. Kudos to your staff and keep up the good work.
Frank Greene
Kensington
Uncle Sham
To the editor,
When are Sandy victims gonna catch a break (“Claw-Back: The Sequel,” online July 30)?
Just when they are about to receive some relief from the enormous financial hardships they have endured since Sandy, the government is waiting like an eagle in the wings to snatch it back like prey.
How can you put a price on people’s grief and suffering, but apparently Uncle Sam — who thinks nothing of doling out billions in foreign aid to people who want to kill us — has no problem short-changing American taxpayers who lost everything in the Storm of the Century. How sickening.
Karen Smith
Coney Island
Doc day blues
To the editor,
Today, at least for me, was doctor day. My doctor’s appointment was for noon and sure enough he was late. After finally seeing him, he was not satisfied with the progress on my back, so he made out a prescription for a series of x-rays. Next stop was the radiologist office where I until almost 3 pm for my 2 pm appointment.
While waiting in the second office, I looked through the same old magazines one would find in a doctor’s waiting room. I thumbed through a health and lifestyle magazine and came upon an interesting page. There, in color, was a full-page advertisement showing a photo of a great-looking young man with strong arms and a washboard stomach. The text above inquired, “Don’t you want a high-definition body?”
I looked down at my round belly and mused, “No, I don’t want a high definition body. My old, black-and-white, round-screen Philco body will have to do!”
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Dim joke
To the editor,
I noticed an advertisement on a bus making a joke about mental illness. It should removed. I don’t see anything funny about a sickness which causes a lot of suffering, wrecks lives, and causes the suicides of thousands of people each year.
Dying from a mental illness is just as serious as dying from cancer. Heard any cancer jokes lately? Of course not! There shouldn’t be any about mentally ill people, either. How would someone with mental illness feel when they see that ad? Not very good, I would say. Mentally ill people are as human as anyone else. They should not be ridiculed.
Among those who have had mental illness are writers Ernest Hemingway and Virginia Woolf, poet Sylvia Plath, and actor Robin Williams. I don’t think anyone laughed when they died.
Jerome Frank
The writer is a member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Dump Trump
To the editor,
The worst thing that could happen to America is if Donald Trump was voted president. We would have World War III the next day.
He would offend our allies by ranting and raving about foreign policy, challenge drug cartels and terrorists to come get us, and before you know it, America’s long-standing reputation would be toast.
The Donald should stick with his private enterprises because public office is not for him. He is too much of a loose cannon, and besides we would have to fork out a small fortune in taxpayer-funded hairspray to keep him happy. Donald Trump for president? Make that a loud “No!”
Jackie Torrentino
Boerum Hil
• • •
To the editor,
Liberals have been unfairly using presidential candidate Donald Trump like a punching bag, as if a self-made billionaire is an idiot who deserves to be ridiculed instead of being admired for his contributions and success.
I think Trump would make a great president. We need a leader who can restore American cred on the world stage, and get things done domestically. A lot of what is great about the city has the Trump name on it. He is a true American, whose command of capitalism would stand the country in good stead.
Those who consider Trump a bloviator should consider the demerit points President Obama’s diplomacy has earned us both at home and overseas. We need leaders who mean what they say and say what they mean. So far the only candidate who measures up to that is Donald Trump.
John Harding
Bay Ridge
Tobacc-no
To the editor,
We don’t need more tobacco in my neighborhood. Just the other day I was walking from the park around my school and I noticed something new. Another tobacco shop has opened offering more deadly tobacco products to my community that we don’t need. Tobacco shops, bodegas and pharmacies that sell tobacco contribute to harming our neighborhoods instead of building them up. We need more positive things in our communities, not more tobacco retail.
I’m 16 years old and a typical walk down my block in East Flatbush has 80 retailers selling tobacco products. This saddens me, and I believe there needs to be restrictions on the amount of shops that sell tobacco in our communities. In Brooklyn alone, there are currently more than 5,000 of my high-school peers who use cigarettes. Tobacco companies target communities and neighborhoods like mine with heavy marketing in and around shops that sell tobacco. They make their products look more appealing to children by using bright colors and familiar designs. This is another contributor to youth smoking.
We clearly don’t need any more tobacco shops and products in our community. We should have more positive things being built, like recreational parks or basketball courts. Things that kids should like. Tobacco companies are basically corrupting minds so that we can become addicted to tobacco products, and it’s deteriorating the health of everyone who lives in that community.
As a student fellow with the N.Y.C. Smoke-Free at Public Health Solutions, my peers and I are working to create a tobacco-free generation. Our communities can come together for the good of the youth. All we have to do is make our voices heard. We don’t need any more tobacco. Please join us by visiting nycsm
Ryan Newman
The writer is a student at the High School For Public Service in East Flatbush.
Clean power
To the editor,
I wonder if the youth of the 1960s and 1970s were as fully aware of the health and environmental impacts the Clean Air Act would have on the nation, as I am. As a New Yorker, I think New York needs to lead the way in meeting and exceeding the goals set by the Clean Power Plan. One obvious first step would be for Gov. Cuomo to stop subsidizing dirty coal plants with hundreds of millions of dollars taken from the pockets of electricity customers. And we need to start thinking now about how to responsibly transition workers and communities away from a fossil fuel past and toward a clean energy future that can provide economic and employment security.
If Gov. Cuomo is serious about wanting New York to be a national leader on climate, he should use the historic impetus provided by the Clean Power Plan to get New York off coal for good.
Makayla Comas
Flatbush
ED SOUNDS OFF (Ed Greenspan letters)”:
Lesson 101
To the editor,
In reality, it doesn’t matter how long tenure is. Even tenured teachers can be fired. Principals just don’t want to go through the paper work in the process. If a principal doesn’t like you, you will be assigned the most difficult classes, and therefore with unsatisfactory results and the lack of discipline in these classes, you shall be terminated.
When Spiro Agnew resigned from the vice presidency in 1973, Nixon tapped New York’s Gov. Nelson Rockefeller to be vice president, and Lt. Governor Malcolm Wilson became governor and ran against Hugh Carey in the 1974 election. Carey won and thanked the teacher’s union for its support by going along with the legislature and increasing teacher tenure to five years. I vividly remember this because myself and others had to wait an additional two years to be tenured.
While this was occurring, Unity Caucus, which has run the union for more than 50 years, strongly recommended that we give money to the Committee on Political Education in order to get the tenure reduced to three years again. Had we stayed with Gov. Wilson, we wouldn’t have encountered this mess. Increasing tenure will only cause novice teachers to leave in droves.
No one wants to admit that unruly pupils are the causes of the ills of the public school system. You could make 10 years a requirement for tenure and you shall encounter the same problems. Start allowing discipline back in the schools and you would see those teachers being rated ineffective improve rapidly.Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Greedy landlords
To the editor,
Despite all their crying, landlords continue to make money on their rental properties, and it’s about time that they are being put in their place.
For example landlords are required to paint for their tenants in rent-controlled and rent-stabilized buildings every three years. Since many of the tenants are in frail health they’re unable to go through with the painting, so the landlord saves money by not having to pay for a painter or the paint. You can just imagine the quality of the paint that is used. It isn’t exactly Benjamin Moore. When tenants move into an apartment they have to pay security. This could either be a month or two months rent in advance. The money goes into an account and earns interest. When the tenant vacates, landlords find fault so that they can hold back part of the security money. I personally know of a case where a tenant’s security deposit was lowered because there was a nail left in the wall, or carpeting was still on the floor. Obviously, the landlord pockets the security money if the tenant dies while in residence. In both rent-controlled and rent-stabilized apartments, if the sink, stove or refrigerator are there for a certain number of years, the landlord is permitted to put in new utilities and therefore jack up the rent. Tenants beware. Many of our landlords know of places that recondition utilities. The utilities come in a carton and look perfectly new. What the tenant doesn’t know is that they have been reconditioned. Reconditioned utilities are not new, but the tenant is paying more in rent for supposed “new” utilities. Still another landlord rip-off. One thing I will give to Mayor DeBlasio: He is giving it to the landlords. The latter have had it great in this town since Mayor Koch opened the door to co-operative conversions, Giuliani continued the same, and Bloomberg allowed landlords to run wild with huge increases on expiring leases.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
DOE dunces
To the editor,
What is all the fuss about mayoral control of schools? It has been anything but a success and here is why. Class sizes continue to burgeon in our schools. Nothing is being done by the mayor, the union, or the supervisory union to ameliorate the situation. Thousands of regularly licensed teachers are displaced and placed in the Absent Teacher Reserve category. Most of these teachers were rated satisfactory during their classroom careers, but because of school downsizing or being unable to get along with the principal, they were essentially demoted. Their presence could help in lowering class sizes.
The mayor still allows for people from the so-called Leadership Academy to be principals in our schools. Despite the fact that many never taught a day in their lives, they are rating teachers and are the so-called experts. At least 10 years of classroom experience in teaching is needed before one becomes a supervisor.
Mayoral control has offered no help whatsoever in maintaining discipline in our public schools. Far too many schools are totally chaotic where discipline is a distant memory. The liberal lunkheads running the system refuse to reconsider the return of the 600 schools for the unruly. Under mayoral control teachers still have to scrounge around looking for funds to buy classroom material.
In short, mayoral control is a disaster and should be replaced by a committee of active and retired teachers and supervisors running the schools.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Rent unstablized
To the editor,
No matter what decision is made regarding the rent expiring on rent-stabilized apartments, the story will be for one day and then disappear for another year.
When controls were lifted on apartments in Boston or Detroit, the situation got so bad that they had to be brought back. No one ever bothers to discuss why landlords with violations in their buildings get automatic increases. There should be no rent increases until all violations are removed with no retroactive increase. Rent-controlled apartments also need scrutiny. The tenants there get automatic maximum base rent increases of 7.5 percent yearly. Don’t think that co-ops are the panacea either. At my luxury co-op, for an election of officers to take place, you must have a quorum. As there has been no quorum in seven years, we have had no elections in that time, and incumbent board members remain in office for another year. Anyone resigning from the board is merely replaced at the discretion of the board.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Race case
To the editor,
Good students and teachers come in all hues. You could see a teacher actually shine with one class and the same teacher do miserably with a class with discipline problems.
Stop relating everything to race. I had outstanding African American students when I taught, and unfortunately the opposite was true of other students — of all races.
How come the Department of Education has never established a rotation system of its teachers? As an example take the teachers from the top schools and place them in the most difficult schools. Why? They know what the results would be. Suddenly these highly effective teachers would be deemed ineffective. It’s a matter of the complete lack of discipline in our public schools. No one wants to face reality for fear of being hounded out. Yet I repeat, discipline problems come among all students, regardless of race, religion, and nationality. You can’t teach without effective discipline. Why haven’t we returned to the 600 schools for placement of chronically disruptive pupils? Why aren’t the parents of the disrupters fined for the actions of their children? Until we improve discipline in our schools, we shall see the same abysmal results. Please stop the nonsense of linking race and bad teachers. It is not the case, no matter what the statistics say.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Itchy-footed Blas
To the editor,
I wish that Mayor DeBlasio would visit city schools instead of his constant trips around the country to promote his supposed progressive agenda. With these visits, our liberal mayor would see the lawlessness occurring in far too many schools. With his lax view of discipline and removal of suspensions of disruptive students, his agenda is regressive.
The mayor belongs in the city for most of the time in order to oversee various agencies. We didn’t elect him to go around the country. While the mayor travels, crime is up as we hear that there are more shootings. Let him ride in a squad car with police to see what is occurring, let him visit apartment buildings to see what residents there have to put up with. Let’s see him fighting for renewal of rent control and rent stabilization.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Troubled schools
To the editor,
Our new State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia is dead wrong if she thinks that by making staff reapply in difficult schools conditions will improve, as new people are brought in to teach. Elia conveniently forgets that it is the students who make the schools the way they are.
Troubled schools are just that because of the disciplinary problems that teachers face each day. How about removing disruptive children from school to begin with? You can’t teach without discipline. Some of our schools are so bad that the National Guard needs to be called in just to restore order.
Doesn’t the commissioner realize that most teachers who end their careers in education do so due to working conditions in their assigned schools? Others flee to the world of supervision, as it’s much easier to criticize a teacher rather than do something with unruly students.
Elia should be calling for the reestablishing of the 600 school concept for behavior problems. We had these type of schools years ago and the minute they were ended, our once great school system began its long decline.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
LARRY SOUNDS OFF (Larry Penner letters):
Off-track
To the editor,
Legislation to fund the national Highway Trust fund and its Mass Transit Account (which funds public transportation) continues to be deadlocked in Washington, D.C. This vital funding source to cities, states and transportation agencies is used to pay for both highway and transit projects.
In the past presidents and Congress have been more interested in winning another term in office. So they have repeatedly kicked this can down the road. The national gasoline tax is used to support the Highway Trust fund was last raised to 18.4 cents in 1993. Taking any action to raise this tax by only pennies per gallon years ago would have resulted in a ample robust Highway Trust fund today.
With gasoline at record low prices, isn’t this a good time to raise both the federal and state gas tax by just pennies per gallon? For the first time in many years, this action could fully fund the national HighwayTrust Fund and its Mass Transit Account.
Most Americans — be they city, suburban or rural residents, Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative — benefit by good roads, bridges, and public transportation. With continuing gridlock and partisan bickering in Washington, renewal of the Highway Trust Fund and accompanying Mass Transit Account could be the one issue Congress can agree on. Wouldn’t it be great if both Congress and the president could be proud of accomplishing something for a change?
Larry Penner
Great Neck, NY
Bill-oney!
To the editor,
Mayor DeBlasio plans to hire a director of “Mayors Organizing” makes no sense. City Hall already maintains a full-time lobbying office in Washington D.C. Staff already works with both Congress and mayors on issues of interest to the city. The National Conference of Mayors does the same.
Mayor de Blasio’s justification of this position is based on his belief that the federal government is shortchanging the Big Apple and other cities when it comes to providing mass transit, housing and infrastructure funding. His position is flawed when you look at the facts. Federal support for transportation has remained consistent and growing. It has actually increased 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 federal assistance above and beyond yearly formula allocations were provided. In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provided billions more. Most federal transportation grants require a 20 percent, hard-cash local share. In many cases Uncle Sam accepted toll credits instead of hard cash for the local share. This saved the Metropolitan Transportation Authority one billion dollars in the previous 2010-2014 five-year capital program. All of these billions were above and beyond the billions in regular formula assistance from Washington every year. The same also applies to billions in yearly assistance from Albany, along with billions in locally generated tax revenues.
Does the city submit grant applications on time for both formula and discretionary competitive funding opportunities? Are current federal- and state-funded programs being completed on time and within budget? Are all federal-funded grant positions filled as they are needed for administrative purposes. Are funds being expended on a timely basis? Are there any unspent funds carried over year after year? Is there waste, fraud or abuse? Are all change orders for construction projects fair, reasonable and documented?
Have city Comptroller Scott Stringer and state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli conducted audits of each respective municipal agency to see if the city is doing a good job managing current federal and state aid programs? Has Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverto with her trusted political allies — Council Finance Committee chairwoman Julissa Ferreras and Council Transportation Committee chairman Ydanis Rodriguez — conducted public hearings to do the same? What oversight have the city Office of Management and Budget and the Independent Budget Office provided? Have either conducted any audits?
The New York City Departments of Transportation, Economic Development Corporation, Housing Preservation and Development along with the M.T.A. have to submit quarterly milestone and financial progress reports with their respective federal agency counterparts, which review and approve funding from Washington. They document the progress being made by the recipient of federal funding. The reports might make interesting reading for those who want to find out how both the city and the M.T.A. are spending the billions from Washington.
Perhaps government at all levels need to do a better job with the billions of dollars in taxpayer generated revenues already available, rather than pick the pockets of taxpayers for even more!
Larry Penner
Great Neck
‘Irrelevant’ Pataki
To the editor,
No one who truly believes in limited government, balanced budgets, reduction in long-term debt and support for the free enterprise system signed up for George Pataki’s ill-fated 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. The same will be true in 2016, which is why Pataki will once again never get out of the starting gate.
Pataki’s lavish spending of taxpayer dollars to special interest groups to grease his 2002 re-election for his third and last term made the late liberal Republican Governor Nelson Rockefeller roll over in his grave! His record deficits, excessive spending, and late budgets give real conservative Republicans anguish. Native New York Republicans who know Pataki best, will once again deny him the ability to carry New York as a favorite son candidate.
Pataki’s self promotion is really motivated by a desire to drum up both business for his consulting firm and consideration for a cabinet or other position in any future Republican administration. Pataki wrote his own political obituary long ago. Except in his mind and personal ego, Pataki is essentially irrelevant in politics today.
It is time he set his sights on something more realistic. Perhaps consider running against Sen. Charles Schumer in 2016.Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
Scott String-along
To the editor,
City Comptroller Scott Stringer’s report that New Yorkers spend more time traveling to work than those who commute in other cities told us nothing new. This has been previously documented in numerous other taxpayer-funded studies and newspaper articles. Older generations moved to two fare zones in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island in search of more affordable housing, safer neighborhoods, better air quality and better schools. They knew full well that they would be living in a two-fare (bus to subway) zone with longer commutes to and from work. Newer generations looking for the same quality of life moved to the suburbs. They had to deal with driving to a commuter railroad station, riding the railroad and transferring to the subway before arriving at work. More recent generations moved beyond the old inner suburbs to newer outer suburbs with even longer commutes.
The real questions Srtinger failed to look at is who is providing the appropriate level of funding to improve everyone’s commute and how those dollars are being spent. For decades under numerous previous Metropolitan Transportation Authority five-year capital plans, both the city and state collectively cut billions of their own respective, financial contributions. They repeatedly had the agency refinance or borrow funds to acquire scarce capital funding formerly made up by hard cash from both City Hall and Albany. This has resulted in long-term agency debt, doubling from $15 billion to more than $32 billion. More money has to be spent on debt service payments. This has resulted in billions of fewer dollars available for both operating and capital improvements for safety, state of good repair, and system expansion capital projects and programs. While Washington has consistently provided billions, it is both City Hall and Albany that have retreated from properly financing the capital program since the 1980s. How much money did Stringer bring to the city as a member of the State Assembly and Manhattan borough president? How much money has Stringer asked Mayor Bill DeBlasio, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, and the City Council to provide in the municipal budget? Talk is cheap, but actions speak louder.
Stringer’s staff time would have been better spent auditing both the city and the agency, along with their respective sub recipients and operating agencies, to see how prudent they have been in managing all those billions of dollars from Uncle Sam and Albany. Stringer could give up both his fee parking space at City Hall and his special police parking permit. He can use his transit check to purchase MetroCards. Why not ask his wife to do the same? This will afford him the opportunity to join several million constituents who use public transportation on a daily basis, and also contribute to a cleaner environment.Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
Then and now
To the editor,
Did you know that the first game to be played at the Brooklyn Dodgers Ebbets Field was an inter-league exhibition game against the New York Yankees on April 5, 1913? Ebbets Field officially opened on April 9, 1913 against the Philadelphia Phillies. The original Brooklyn Dodgers name was derived from residents who would dodge trolley cars when crossing streets for decades, until their own decline and final death in the 1950s. 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 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 player’s salary based on his 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, and grocer. 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 — which ended publication some time in the mid-1950s.
During that time, 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 funds. With limited seating capacity at Ebbets Field, he needed a new modern stadium to remain financially viable. City master mega-builder Robert Moses refused to allow him access to the current-day Barclays Center build on Atlantic Yards. This location was easily accessible to thousands of baseball fans from all around the Big Apple, via numerous subway lines and Long Island Rail Road.
Thousands of fans who moved to other neighborhoods in eastern Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk County would have had direct access via the L.I.R.R. Imagine how different Brooklyn would have been if elected officials had stood up to Robert Moses and allowed construction of a new Dodgers stadium in Downtown. 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 and the New York Islanders.Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
Tunnel vision
To the editor,
The proposed Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel, which might connect New Jersey to Brooklyn and Queens, is under consideration again. In theory, it might move thousands of trucks on a daily basis off the roads and on to railroad tracks for significant portions of the journey between New Jersey and Long Island. It reminds me of the long-forgotten proposed tunnel between 69th Street in Bay Ridge and St. George on Staten Island. The concept was to extend subway service from Brooklyn to Staten Island. Ground was broken with entrances at both ends in the 1920s, but the project quickly ran out of money and was abandoned to history. When living on Shore Road in Bay Ridge, friends and I would look to no avail in attempting to find the abandoned site filled in decades earlier. Flash forward almost 90 years later and we have the proposed “Cross Harbor” rail, freight tunnel project.
Construction of any new freight, public transportation tunnel or bridge project can take years if not decades by the time all feasibility studies, environmental reviews, planning, design, engineering, real estate acquisition, permits, procurements, construction, budgeting, identifying, and securing funding are completed. This is before the project reaches beneficial use. Construction for the Second Avenue subway began in the 1960s. Bond money intended for this project in the 1950s was spent elsewhere. The latest completion date for the first segment of three stations between 63rd and 96th streets on the upper east side of Manhattan is 2016 at a cost of $4.5 billion. Construction for the original tunnel to support bringing the Long Island Rail Road from Queens into Grand Central Station began in the 1960s. The latest completion date is now 2023 with a cost of $10 billion. No one can identify the source for the estimated $16 billion to build a new tunnel for New Jersey Transit and Amtrak, known as the “Gateway project,” to gain additional access to Penn Station from New Jersey. Ditto for paying back the $3 billion federal loan that covered a majority of the estimated $4 billion for replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge in Westchester. Any guess who will find the $5-to-$10 billion or more needed for construction of a new Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel? This may be just another in the continuing series of feasibility studies sponsored by various governmental agencies and public officials over decades. They generate some money for consultants, along with free publicity, for elected officials who promise a bright future, but all to often move on to another public office before delivering. You are frequently left holding an empty bag with unfilled promises. Just like the long abandoned Brooklyn to Staten Island subway project, don’t count on seeing any shovel in the ground before the end of this decade. Don’t count on completion of any Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel in our lifetime.Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
MTAwesome!
To the editor,
July marked the 50th anniversary of federal government support for public transportation. The success of public transportation can be traced back to one of the late President Lyndon Johnson’s greatest accomplishments, which continues benefiting many Americans today.
On July 9, 1964, he signed the “Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964” into law. Subsequently this has resulted in the investment over time of several hundred billion dollars into public transportation.
Millions of Americans, including many residing in Brooklyn today on a daily basis, utilize various public transportation alternatives. They include local and express bus, ferry, jitney, light rail, subway, and commuter rail services. All of these systems use less fuel and move far more people than conventional single occupancy vehicles. Most of these systems are funded with your tax dollars, thanks to President Johnson.
Depending upon where you live, consider the public transportation alternative. Try riding a local or express bus, commuter van, ferry, light rail, commuter rail or subway.
Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
Nuke deal
To the editor,
The nuclear deal between Iran and the U.S. will be detrimental to the survival of Israel. Providing Iran with 24 day advance notification for inspection of potential violations is ludicrous. Congress has 60 days to review and concur.
President Obama, in his usual arrogant way, has already said he will veto any votes by Congress to cancel the deal. It will require the votes of 67 senators out of 100 to overturn any presidential veto. Likewise in the House, it would require 290 representatives out of 435 to do the same. Assuming all 54 Republican senators object to the deal, Diogenes will be searching for 13 Democratic senators to come up with the magic number of 67.
Democratic Senate minority leader Harry Reid of Nevada wants to make Sen. Charles Schumer of New York the majority leader when the 2017 session convenes. This means that he can protect up to 12 senators who are concerned about being reelected in 2016 or 2018 with a wink and a nod to stand with Israel and vote against fellow Democrat President Obama. Will Schumer and Sen. Kristen Gillibrand be profiles in courage and vote against this disastrous deal? Neither has ever been bashful about speaking their minds in front of a camera or microphone. Will Schumer stand up and fight for Israel by seriously lobbying his fellow Democrats to ensure 13 or more defect from the president and vote against the deal and kill it? It may mean Schumer choosing between becoming Senate majority leader and standing with friends of Israel.
Those allies who are Democrats should withhold campaign donations to any Democratic presidential candidate, such as Hillary Clinton, who support this deal. Do the same with your local Democratic member of Congress, along with any fundraising letters from the Democratic Party National Committee, Senate, or Congressional committees.
Clinton has endorsed this deal. She no longer deserves your support. The same should be true with Senators Schumer and Gillibrand along with Rep. Jerrold Nadler and all other members of the New York State Democratic Party Congressional delegation if they lack the moral courage to stand with Israel in this defining moment in history.
Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
