Sound Off to the Editor

To the editor,

For those of us in our community that have recently celebrated the Passover holiday, we are reminded of the part in the Seder where the song Dayanu is sung which tells of the multitude of things that God did to help free his chosen people from bondage, and that if he had done even just one of them, it would have been enough, Dayanu! In our own community, in the present moment we have the Bizzaro-world version of the biblical tale of Dayanu when it comes to our Boardwalk and the Assemblymen responsible for its continued destruction. To wit: had Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (D–Sheepshead Bay), who along with Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny (D–Coney Island) funded it, raised his voice in protest in year one of the Parks Department plan for the Boardwalk, it would have been enough! Had he raised his voice in protest in year two, it would have been enough, Dayanu! Had he raised his voice in protest in years three or four, it would have been enough! Had he questioned what the plan was in any of the nearly five years that it was being widely discussed, debated and protested, it would have been enough! Had he kept his word and halted the funding of a plan that he claims the Parks Department “hoodwinked” him into funding, it would have been enough!

But the Assemblyman, did none of these things! Instead, he remained silent for all the years this plan was on the table and widely known. In year five he claims to have been “hoodwinked” and promises to defund it, then goes back on his word committing to that and continues to fund it, then tries all manner of lame explanations of why he is doing so, none of which amount to more than a pile of manure.

Speaking of manure, here is where the esteemed Assemblyman really commits his energies in full force to free his chosen people from their bondage. That is, the bondage of having a bathroom in their line of sight, heaven forbid. He works tirelessly on behalf of his precious ones and garners support from other politicians to pressure the city to let his people go, and to let others go, but to have them go elsewhere.

The Parks Department’s decision to waste taxpayers money and move the location of the bathroom when they themselves previously declared that there was no good reason to do so, must be seen in the context of Assemblyman Cymbrowitz’s decision to continue to fund Parks’ Boardwalk messover project. At the Boardwalk rally a few months ago, many were openly talking about the assemblyman having worked out a quid pro quo arrangement at meetings he had with Parks, wherein he would continue the funding if they were to free his chosen people from their bathroom bondage. This would appear to have now come to pass. The assemblyman has liberated his chosen few while ignoring the legitimate concerns of the less important, but vast majority of his constituents.

No doubt he will be rewarded by those he has served, as all feckless politicians are. As in the biblical tale, we must hope that such hypocrisy and fecklessness will be accorded their righteous desserts by all the rest of us that he has self-interestedly flushed down the toilet!

Rob Burstein

The writer is president of the
Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance.

• • •

To the editor,

A few months ago there was a meeting on a very cold rainy Sunday on the Coney Island Boardwalk, the purpose of which was to discuss and protest the Parks Department’s going forward with it’s awful plan to concrete over the wood boards.

At that time it was revealed that Assemblyman Steven Cybrowitz (D-Sheepshead Bay) had made a quid-pro-quo deal with the Parks Department to continue the flow of funds if they would remove the bathrooms that were now installed in front of the Oceana complex. This has now been confirmed with the recent news that the Parks Department is in fact doing just that, as was revealed by your article, “Whizzed away: City to move beachfront bathrooms from Oceana” (online April 9).

Now we read that the Parks Department by being “responsive to the peoples wishes” is moving the bathrooms 350 feet to now reside in front of the Shorefront Y. So let me try to see if I understand the concept of being “responsive to the people” correctly: when a very tiny handful of wealthy supporters want something done, you respond to their demands to remove some toilets, but when a very large majority of people want something, like keep the iconic status of a wooden boardwalk that has existed for more then 100 years, you do nothing as long as you perceive them to not be larger donors to your election efforts.

I think I understand the concept of responding to the peoples wishes much better now. Thanks, Mr. Cymbrowitz, the idea was a little fuzzy before. I guess national level elected official aren’t the only purveyors of dirty politics.Nelson Levine

Coney Island

Shav’s ‘wrong’

To the editor,

Shavana Abruzzo (“A Britisher’s View”) thinks American nationalism is unblemished (“America’s problem with red, white, and blue,” March 20). She is wrong as far as American Indians go.

At Wounded Knee, South Dakota, Indians gathered to do the ghost dance, but because of a misunderstanding of the meaning of the dance, the cavalry was sent there, and the dance was banned. After a shot was fired (no one knows by whom), the soldiers opened fire. The Sioux, mostly unarmed, had women and children. This resulted in 146 of them being killed. At Sand Creek, Colorado, the cavalry attacked the peaceful village of Cheyennes and Arapahos in a pre-dawn raid. Colonel Chivington said, “I’ve come to kill Indians.” His soldiers opened fire, even using canons. Indians ran to an almost dry river bed trying to hide. Soldiers followed them and kept shooting. There were 183 Indians killed, mainly women and children.

President Andrew Jackson pushed the Indian Removal Bill through Congress. It said all Indians should go to Indian territory (now Oklahoma). Many were forced by the cavalry to go many miles. There were old people, little children, sick people, pregnant women. Many people could not keep up and dropped. Thousands of them died along the way.

Shavana says our nationalism is “a torch for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” She mentions the colonists. Indians taught them how to grow crops, but the colonists were the first to massacre Indians.

Children in school should learn these things. They should learn an accurate view of America. History class now is propaganda to make us think we never did anything wrong. That results in people having the same view that Shavana has. Of course, there are a lot of good things, too.Jerome Frank

Coney Island

Out of step

To the editor,

So protesters are at it again, marching across the Brooklyn Bridge, tying up rush hour traffic, to protest a handful of unfortunate shootings of black perpetrators by white policemen. These sad, under informed individuals turn a blind eye to the literally tens-of-thousands of attacks, rapes, robberies and murders of blacks on blacks, occurring each year in their own neighborhoods.

Prominent civil rights personalities, like Al Sharpton, march in lockstep with protesters against white policemen while not a word is uttered when thousands of blacks are killed and maimed at the hands of their own. I guess they can’t line their pockets and make a buck off of these poor souls.

Robert W. Lobenstein

Marine Park

Jeb Boo-sh

To the editor,

If Jeb Bush runs for president he will not get my vote. He is a job killer. Back in 1989 he outlawed “dwarf tossing” in Florida. Many little people lost their income because of this ban. It was a safe sport mostly played in bars. The dwarfs wore helmets and other protective gear and were tossed onto a mattress or against a wall of velcro. They made a pretty good living until then-Gov. Bush stopped it. Who is he to decide what people do for a living?

Nick Finer

Hallandale, Fla.

Merry-juana

To the editor,

National Pot Day on April 20 made sense. Consumption of marijuana for both medical and recreational use is part of mainstream America, transcending generations. Creative entrepreneurs will always provide the citizens’ desire, regardless of government approval.

Consumers have voted with their dollars, making marijuana consumption a multibillion-dollar enterprise today. Legalize it and add a sales tax. Revenues will more than cover the costs of any abuse. Our tax dollars will be better used if police and judges spend more time prosecuting those who commit real crimes against individuals or property than going after those who consume or distribute marijuana. Citizens have more to fear from murder, arson, rape, muggings, robberies, auto and identity theft or home break-ins than individuals who get high in the privacy of their own home. Law enforcement authorities should be free to pursue those who commit real crimes against citizens and property.

At 18, you are old enough to vote, be a parent, pay taxes, own a car, take out a bank loan, serve in the military and die for your country — but not consume marijuana. This makes no sense.

What consenting adults consume, inhale, perform, read or view in the privacy of their own home or private social club isn’t the concern of government. Individual economic and civil liberties prosper best when government stays out of both the bedroom and marketplace. Let us hope that we have finally learned from the obvious failures of Prohibition. It is time to permit consenting adults to access any so-called illegal products or substances without fear from government harassment.

Larry Penner

Great Neck, N.Y.

Oaf-icials

To the editor,

Looks as though the veterans’ affairs chief was caught with his foot in his mouth, lying about his military service, and on camera too! It is a sad state of affairs as one by one, our leaders, our so-called impartial newsmen and the people that seek the trust of the populace are exposed. Especially when they boast of experiences they never had or college degrees they never earned, though, most have an excellent B.S. in bull!

My generation was taught not to trust anyone over 30 (I’m 63 now), and my father had a saying that pretty much covered his opinion of politicians and glad handlers: “They all lie — like a rug!” As each politician is disgraced or carted away in handcuffs, it only reinforces my opinion of these leaders. Dad was only too right.

Robert W. Lobenstein

Marine Park

GOP death wish

To the editor,

Apparently, the Republican Party shares the late Charles Bronson’s idea of a death wish. They have at their disposal to run on a platform of an abysmal foreign policy record of the incumbent president, and an apparent fiasco at Benghazi regarding Hillary Clinton. Instead of starting to concentrate on this, candidates Marco Rubio and Chris Christie begin to attack Medicare and Social Ssecurity, respectively.

In 1964 candidate Barry Goldwater told a group of senior citizens in July of 1964 that he wished to make Social Security a voluntary system. What boss in his or her right mind would contribute to the system if it were voluntary? Social Security would go bankrupt in no time. It was said that Goldwater lost the election on that night. Ronald Reagan knew that Social Security and Medicare are never winning issues and therefore kept quiet about them during his 1980 and 1984 campaigns.

The Republican Party shall continue to lose presidential elections until they realize that Social security and Medicare aren’t punching bag issues. May I remind the GOP that senior citizens vote in elections and you are only turning them off with your diatribe against systems that so many Americans depend upon.

Ed Greenspan

Sheepshead Bay

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.

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.

Blott Stringer

To the editor,

Comptroller Scott Stringer is a spoiled child having a temper tantrum. Perhaps he needs a time out. Who knew that taxpayers are paying for members of the NYPD Intelligence Division to serve as his personal security detail. Stringer recently fired four of New York’s Finest from this security detail because they were late in picking him up from his expensive Manhattan home one morning. Is anyone aware that Stringer is the target of any terrorist groups which would merit this level of protection? I seriously doubt that al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Islamic State or any other terrorists are even aware of his existence.

Municipal employees could never get away with the same abuses. They could not use city vehicles during work hours to chauffeur spouses around town. At a minimum, they would have to reimburse the city for the costs of all these personal trips. The Department of Investigations needs to take a look at this serious potential waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayers dollars.

Let Stringer assign one of his several hundred staff members to serve as his personal chauffeur. Better yet he could set an example and follow Manhattan Councilman Dan Garodnick’s bill requiring employers with 20 or more workers to sign up for transit checks. Stringer could do likewise and give up both his free parking space at City Hall and his special police parking permit. He can use his transit check to purchase MetroCards. 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. Stringer talks about being a friend of the 99 percent, yet he prefers the perks of a one percenter.Larry Penner

Great Neck, N.Y.

Cop cop-out

To the editor:

Is excessive force the new norm? The police go through an extensive period of training in hand-to-hand combat, use of a nightstick, pepper spray, and Taser guns. The purpose of this training is to keep the cops safe, have his orders obeyed and in the event of a physical altercation, for the other person to survive and face justice. Killing a person should be the last resort and then, only on the rarest of occasions.

This is not the case: excessive force is the new norm. This allows cops to use excessive force with impunity. Whether this occurs out of malice or fear is irrelevant, the result is the same — dead civilians, and cops who go on as if nothing happened.

As a first-year college student at Bard’s BPI campus, a victim of the criminal justice system, and a man who has studied and practiced law for the past 16 years, I am well aware of how our criminal justice system works, or rather does not work. In my own case, the district attorney and every witness testified that I used a .38 caliber revolver. At the age of 17 that was used to indict and convict me. According the medical examiner and an NYPD ballistics report the victim was shot with a 9mm gun. Guilt, innocence, and evidence are irrelevant, the district attorney will trump all else.

Cops, who are not given consequences for killing civilians, sends a message that cops can kill with impunity. No race of people is safe, as cops kill more white people than any other race. It has been reported that cops have killed everyone from kids to old ladies. None of these cops are locked-up. This encourages a cop versus civilian atmosphere. A civilian has no way of discerning a good cop from a bad cop, a killer cop from one who will not kill them or someone around them. People have video footage of some of the deadly incidents and have seen the footage explained away as inaccurate. This leaves people in danger at the hands of the police, prosecutors, and judiciary. Accountability for cops is not on the horizon.

A civilian that kills a cop is put in jail, generally with no bail, or bail that should be called a ransom. They will remain in jail for years facing either a death or life sentence, before the case is adjudicated. Their conviction is almost certain. In contrast, a cop whokills a civilian, in the extraordinarily rare instance they are charged and indicted for the person’s death, will remain free on bail for years. They will usually not be facing a death or life sentence. Once the case is resolved, which statistically results in an acquittal, or a conviction of some lesser included offense, but not the murder they will go about life with no more than a slap on the wrist. This reinforces the notion that cops are beyond the law, and their lives are more valuable than civilians are.

Michael Kirshtein

The writer is an inmate 96A7220 at Eastern Correctional Facility, Naponoch, 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.

No ‘Ted’ fan

To the editor,

A short while ago a friend sent me an email that included the following Susan B. Anthony quote: “I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.” and out from my fingers came this:

At the behest of a friend I watched the short speech Ted Cruz gave the other day in announcing his candidacy for the 2016 Presidential election. Ugh, it was not easy to make it through.

Ted Cruz, an anti-establishment candidate, is extremely biased in his views and hopes for the country; what he expressed is not inclusive of the many. The mere fact that he chose to announce at a strictly Christian university speaks to his affirmed bias that negates the inclusion of far too many citizens.

Constitutionalists like Ted Cruz are extremely focused on the issue of “freedom.” They feel that government and freedom are not great bedfellows and that many governmental decisions impinge upon freedoms. The other side of the coin is that there are many who believe that without governmental oversight, absolute freedom allows those in positions of power to retard access and progress of those who are less “wealthy” or to harm the environment without care, or responsibility should harm be done. Often time they feel that those who are strict constitutionalists interpret aspects of it to their own beliefs which negates those of others. They use the correct wording that “every child, every citizen,” but their conservative backgrounds and leanings negate the needs and beliefs of far too many citizens. The whole concept and usage of the “G” word in itself offends many citizens.

Their concept of “liberty” and “freedom” is limited, and far from inclusive of everyone. They use their fundamental religious and constitutional rhetoric to disguise their disdain for the poor and needy, for people who are not like them.

I was just informed that after bashing the Affordable Care Act relentlessly, that he was “forced” to see medical insurance via Imagine this bigoted nincompoop is not re-elected in Texas? Can hardly imagine that after seeing the reception and responses Cruz got from the born again audience at Liberty University. The cheering they offered up each time Cruz mentioned things like lessening accessing to food stamps or health care for the poor, or putting up electrified fences around the country’s borders, or mentions the guns issues around the Second Amendment. Imagine how aghast I was at this creep using the “imagine” image of John Lennon as the theme for his announcement.

What I can imagine is this jerk disappearing into the vile woodwork of his inner demons, getting himself and his minions to secede from the republic to turn back their clocks to any century they want, leaving me and my ilk far, far away and free from their hell. I’m quite sure that other can easily continue this “rant” by pointing out many examples of the great hypocrisy that exists between the rhetoric they spew and the decisions they try to enact on behalf of the citizens they represent while in Washington, D.C. Come all future elections, city, state and federal, if the preponderance of voters choose to stay home again, instead of voting with a clear and thoughtful mind and heart, they’ll get exactly what they deserve, and I’ll have to move somewhere, far away.

Barry Brothers

Homecrest