To the editor,
The Parks Department has sold off some of our Boardwalk’s wood to Milan, where it has been used to construct a small boardwalk as part of the Milan Expo (“Reclaimed portions of Coney Island Boardwalk is now Italian esplanade,” online June 10).
What a travesty, shipping our Boardwalk’s wood off to another country to be repurposed and enjoyed there, while we have plastic and concrete shoved down our throats!
How ironic that the very agency tasked with preserving and enhancing the Boardwalk, the Parks Department, is the one that’s responsible for it’s diminishment and destruction. Their use of the Boardwalk as a highway for their heavy sanitation trucks is what’s most responsible for the damage the Boardwalk has incurred for many years. Combined with their almost complete lack of timely, ongoing maintenance of the damage they cause, it’s a wonder the Boardwalk is still standing at all.
Positing that they need a concrete lane for emergency vehicles is an outright lie! The Boardwalk has existed for nearly a century without one and there is no rational need for one now, since no emergency vehicles ever come on to the Boardwalk. Traversing the crowds makes it impractical, as well as the fact that for vehicles like fire engines, the Boardwalk was not built to support them.
Now, they put forth the lie that Hurricane Sandy caused substantial damage to the Boardwalk and thus necessitated this plan. The original iteration of this plan which called for simply converting the Boardwalk to all concrete — how creative and forward thinking of them — has been in the works for five years, well before Sandy occurred. More importantly anyone that lives here knows that our Boardwalk was unscathed by Sandy and anything said to the contrary is simply false. Additionally, their claim on their website, that Kebony, a fine alternative durable and attractive wood product, is only available in Europe, is similarly false, as is their claim that black locust wood is also unavailable.
Suddenly they wish to appear to be the most ecologically minded agency around. There are a variety of alternative woods, including sustainably grown and sourced Forestry Stewardship Council-certified rainforest wood, the use of which is both ecologically sound and beneficial to the local communities producing it. Thus its use is supported by the largest national rainforest group, the Rainforest Alliance. Our suggestions of a variety of alternative products, as well as Boardwalk designs, have been met with nothing but resistance and refusal. Commissioner Silver simply parrots the talking points he has been provided by his underlings.
The Parks Department has demonstrated time and time again that they believe themselves to be a power that need not answer for their actions or decisions, and without a serious interest in our community’s wishes, input or safety. Now that their plan continues to be funded by double-dealing Assemblymen Steven Cymbrowitz (D-Sheepshead Bay) and Alec Brook-Krasny (D-Brighton Beach), they are emboldened to continue their destructive actions.
With so many people opposed to their plan for such a sustained length of time, and with strong opposition from Councilmen Mark Treyger (D-Coney Island) and Chaim Deutsch (D-Sheepshead Bay), one would think that they might reconsider the wisdom of their plan. The fact they refuse to do so, and cite lies and half truths to justify it, speaks to a hubris that leaves one both speechless and very angry. The timelessness of Deep Throat’s dictum remains, when he cautioned, “Just follow the money!”
Rob Burstein
The writer is president of the Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance
• • •
To the editor,
It is comforting to know that the parks department is saving our Brooklyn citizens and visitors from the rest of the world the dangers of actual wood on the “Boardwalk” and replacing them with concrete and plastic. Thank heaven those fools over there in Milan took them off our hands. What suckers!
So, let me try to understand this event. The wood from our own Boardwalk isn’t good enough for the intended purpose that it had served for well over 100 years, but it is good enough to represent some of the great things about America over there in the American pavilion at Expo 2015 in Europe, where visitors can experience what it is like to walk on a wooden boardwalk in America? Too bad we here in Brooklyn won’t be able to do the same for very much longer, if the Parks Department gets their way with it. Ironic isn’t it? I must be missing something.
Nelson Levine
Brighton Beach
• • •
To the editor,
I just learned that the lumber from our historic Coney Island Boardwalk is being parceled out to others, as far away as Milan, to be appreciated for its beauty and authenticity.
Many years ago singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell wrote a wonderful song called “Big Yellow Taxi,” in which she embedded a warning: “They took all the trees, put ’em in a tree museum; now they charge the people a dollar and a half just to see ’em. Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, they paved Paradise, put up a parking lot.”
Let’s not wait to realize what we are losing only after it is gone. The dishonest and steam-rolling bureaucracy that stubbornly holds to an unpopular, unsustainable and unbeautiful direction needs to be halted in that path. It is not too late to save the Boardwalk! Alice Shechter
Brooklyn
• • •
To the editor,
Italy has been blessed with an endearing, timeless beauty who endured the deprivations of World War II and is known and beloved all across the world as Sophia Loren. Now it is in possession of another famous icon, a natural beauty that survived the ravages of mother nature — a swath of the Reigelmann Boardwalk.Suzy Friedman
Brooklyn
• • •
To the editor,
I was shocked to learn from your article that supposedly destroyed wood from our Boardwalk has been used to construct a boardwalk in Milan. This is yet another example of the double-dealing and lying that the city has engaged in on this issue since the beginning.
They claimed there was no viable and economical alternate wood source we could use, but that was false. They cynically invited the public to a last-minute meeting on the issue of concrete supposedly for community input, when their work with it was already under way. They were totally intransigent at every stage, always shutting down legitimate voices of opposition to their dastardly plans. And they said that concrete fares better and is safer than wood, when just the opposite was proven true by physical evidence as a result of Superstorm Sandy.
They seemed to have been operating under the maxim, “Don’t confuse us with the facts, our mind is made up.” They were determined to push through their agenda come what may, to the detriment of all who will continue to live in the area and those who come from far and wide to enjoy a boardwalk that no longer exists in its historic treasured fashion and will not protect the surrounding areas as well as it could should another devastating flood take place. This situation is appalling.Carole Pozner
Sheepshead Bay
• • •
To the editor,
Once again the Park Department, entrusted with the maintenance and upkeep of our parks and recreational facilities. has shown its ever-egregious nature by its move in direct opposition to the community’s wishes and in direct opposition to our elected officials’ stance on this issue. It has decided to regardless, move ahead and remove the Boardwalk in the section between Brighton 15th Street and Coney Island Avenue and replace it with a concrete walkway. The boards were for the most part in perfectly good condition, in the sense that they have stood up to extreme weather conditions, as the concrete section recently installed around Ocean Parkway did not, and this has been documented.
What makes this whole matter particularly egregious is that the wooden planks removed will be reclaimed and sold to a concern in Milan for the purposes of constructing a boardwalk in that city. In other words, it is good enough for the people of Milan, but not for us. The fact that it is being planned for use elsewhere is the whole point that it can be used here. The matter of concrete being more durable has not been borne out by experience.
I would think that some sort of investigation should be launched over this matter, to ascertain as to whether any collusion or payoff is involved. William Zucker
Brighton Beach
•••
To the editor,
I run on the Boardwalk every day. I am a university professor teaching politics, not a conspiracy theorist, but you’ve got to wonder if someone is not being paid off, why would the Parks Department destroy the majestic Boardwalk?
It’s not enough that they commissioned hideous bathrooms that look like the Starship Enterprise shuttle crafts hitched onto rat mazes. Now, they want to turn our beloved Boardwalk into a concrete driveway. Where is Mayor DeBlasio? He is supposed to be the people’s mayor. Why is he letting something near and dear to beach-goers be destroyed?
Norman Finkelstein
Brooklyn
•••
To the editor,
How creative and generous of the Parks Department to reach out and partner with artists, furniture makers, jewelers, and most recently with the city of Milan, and provide them with our Boardwalk’s wood. Now if they could only seem to value and maintain the Boardwalk we already have here, what a blessing that would be.
However the management of our Boardwalk by the Parks Department has for many years been characterized by a lack of care for the entity itself, as well as by a lack of caring about what the people who live here think or want. There has been little to no appropriate maintenance provided, to the point that whole sections have become dangerous. The initial and major damage is due to their own heavy vehicles which they refuse to run on the beach. Any alternative suggestions are dismissed by them out of hand.
Their final solution to their vexing problem of how to have and maintain a real boardwalk, that is, one made of wood — which almost all other boardwalk communities throughout the country have not been similarly perplexed by — is to deal it a final death knell by turning it into a concrete-and-plastic nightmare. Their explanations — when they decide to provide any, since they rarely answer inquiries — are marked by half truths and disingenuousness. Their claim, for example, that no suitable alternatives to their chosen materials exist, has been shown to be false. There are black locust wood and sustainably sourced rainforest wood to name but two. Let them call around and see what other boardwalks are using rather than sending off our wood to construct a boardwalk in Milan!
They claim that they need a concrete path for emergency vehicles, when, as was pointed out in your article, no such vehicles ever go on the Boardwalk. As to their claim that concrete is more resilient in a major storm, they need to be reminded that the Boardwalk is not a storm barrier, and that whatever material is used will likely be destroyed. Let them look at the remnants of the concrete esplanade that used to extend from Brighton Beach to Manhattan Beach that was destroyed and smashed a hole in the nearby apartment building during Hurricane Sandy.
Since the Parks Department clearly lacks the will and the vision to conserve and maintain our Boardwalk, and since it treats our local community residents as pariahs, inviting them to comment on their conversion process after it is underway, let’s keep our Boardwalk and replace the Parks Department’s management of it with a Boardwalk Conservancy, since it is a city agency whose only desire and capability it seems, is to destroy it!
Cindy Chalet
Brighton Beach
•••
To the editor,
The Parks Department has no problem wasting millions of dollars to move the site for the bathroom in its secret deal with our say-one-thing-do-another Assemblyman Cymbrowitz, yet when it comes to our Boardwalk they suddenly become penny-pinching fiscal watchdogs, to the exclusion of all other important considerations. It’s as though they wish to do the cheapest and easiest thing right now, rather than what’s desirable and makes sense for everyone in the long run. Such a lack of vision is not merely a disappointment, it’s destructive. To not cherish what we have, and maintain and enhance it, is sinful.
A few years ago when one of our community members asked a Parks official what research they had conducted that convinced them that concrete and plastic were appropriate materials for a Boardwalk, that official responded, “Research, what research? We didn’t have time to do research. We had to spend the money!” How concerned then are they really about using our money wisely? I would have to conclude that their decisions seem based more on laziness and ineptness rather than any real understanding or caring about how we use the Boardwalk and what it means to the vast majority of us that live here. The sad and infuriating fact though, is that we who live here are made to suffer as the result of decisions made by these uncaring, unknowledgeable bureaucrats, all of whom live elsewhere and have shown that they don’t at all care what we think. Sending off our wood to Milan is only the latest misstep from an agency that has a long list of missteps, poor decisions, and ill treatment of our Boardwalk to its discredit.
William Burg
Coney Island
Martial schools
To the editor,
I was about to come up for tenure when Hugh Carey defeated Malcolm Wilson to become governor of New York in 1974. The United Federation of Teachers wholeheartedly supported Carey. No sooner was he governor than tenure was changed to five years, and therefore myself and others had to wait two additional years to achieve this job protection.
At the time the union urged membership to donate to vote for the Committee on Public Education to get the tenure back to three years.
Gov. Cuomo is falling into the same trap as Gov. Carey did. It doesn’t matter how many years of teaching is required as long as the system allows us to work under the same abysmal conditions. City classrooms have the largest classroom registers and consequently disruptive children in them. No matter what is tried nothing will work until we attempt to resolve the problems of class size and children who refuse to behave themselves in school. It is ridiculous that people who never spent one day in the classroom as a teacher attempt to make rules that classroom teachers have to work under.
When it comes to class sizes, the union pointed out years ago that it had established an expedited grievance procedure in dealing with large classrooms. What expedited procedure? I’ve been retired now for nearly 14 years and the problem persists. Similarly the problem of disruptive children is ignored because no one wants to touch the issue. It is much easier to blame the teacher for the behavior of children who either will not or are unable to control themselves in classrooms. The 600-schools for problem children were done away with years ago, and now the mayor and chancellor are talking about eliminating suspensions for the unruly. The mayor and other critics of teachers desperately need to get back into a classroom and see what goes on during the course of a day.
Stop with the liberal nonsense of total child, alternate assessments, and other jokes, and institute military discipline in those schools requiring it. Any teacher cannot teach without discipline — Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina knows that.Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Bad economics
To the editor,
Is there real reason to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the New York City Economic Development Corporation? New York City prospered and successfully grew prior to creation of this group and it’s predecessor, the N.Y.C. Public Development Corporation which was created in 1966. In 1991 the N.Y.C. Public Development Corporation (P.D.C.) was merged with the N.Y.C. Financial Services Corporation (F.S.C.) to form the N.Y.C. Economic Development Corporation. In many instances projects supported by these government corporations have been heavily subsidized by taxpayers, commonly known as corporate welfare. Between direct government funding, low-interest and below-market-rate loans, and long-term tax exemptions, the bill to taxpayers in the end is greater than the so-called public benefits.
There is also a relationship between pay-for-play campaign contributions from developers to elected officials looking for favorable legislation, private-property condemnation under eminent domain, building permits, public infrastructure improvements, along with direct and hidden subsidies. In some cases city and state development corporations actually compete against each other attempting to outbid each other in offering potential investors the best deal. This translates to the highest subsidies at taxpayers’ expense.
Don’t forget the conflict of interest for senior staff from municipal regulatory and permitting agencies. Too many leave in the twilight of any mayoral administration to become employees or consultants to the same developers they previously oversaw.
Take Seth Pinsky, former executive director of the N.Y.C.E.D.C. who went on to become executive vice president of the RXR Realty. Some developers try to purchase the support of local community groups by making so-called voluntary donations. They also make promises for capital improvements, which after the major project is completed don’t always appear. Other commitments for creation of permanent new jobs and tax revenues frequently do not meet expectations. If these projects are worthwhile, why can’t major developers use their own funds or obtain loans from banks, like medium and small businesses?
Real business people who believe in capitalism build their companies on their own. How sad that some don’t want to do it the old fashioned way by sweat and hard work. They are looking for shortcuts in the form of huge subsidies at taxpayers expense and favors from elected officials.Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
Tunnel vision
To the editor,
Your story “Tunnel Aversion” (March 26) concerning 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 is completed. This is before the project reaches beneficial use. Construction for the 2nd 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 which covered a majority of the estimated $4 billion for replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge in Westchester. Any guess who will find $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. At the end of the day 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.
Bklyn 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 1950’s. 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 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 the County of Kings.
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 — which ended publication some time in the mid-1950s.
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. 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 LIRR. 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 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.
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 Oct. 1973, Nixon tapped New York’s Gov. Nelson Rockefeller to be vice president. 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
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 and other career politicians continue to miss how both the Department of Transportation and Metropolitan Transportation Authority manage their respective capital and operating assistance programs. Both the city and the agency combined have an active portfolio in billions of ongoing capital projects and programs. This includes almost two billion dollars of yearly assistance from Washington. These dollars are supplemented by billions more from various discretionary federal funding sources, including post 9-11 aid, American Recovery Reinvestment Act, and Hurricane Sandy funding.
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 Stringer 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.
‘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 US 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,” he said during an internet interview.
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
No-prez Pataki
To the editor,
Former New York governor George Pataki’s announcement that he is running for president in 2016 will be followed as being one of the first to drop out. 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 his 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.
