To the editor,
I attended the Boardwalk rally against the Parks Department’s plan to pave over the wood boards with concrete (“Locals rally to keep boards in the Boardwalk,” online Jan. 21). In attendance were some notable public officials, including Borough President Eric Adams, Comptroller Scott Stringer, and Councilmen Chaim Deutsch (D–Sheepshead Bay) and Mark Treyger (D–Coney Island), who have been leading this fight since being elected last November.
Along with the expected speeches about trying to stop this plan I was made aware of the real reason this plan is being allowed to go forward. I heard from a reliable source that Assemblymen Steven Cymbrowitz (D–Sheepshead Bay), who said he would pull the plug on his funding because he was not aware that the money was being used for concrete, made a quid-pro-quo deal with his favored constituents and the Parks Department. He basically said he would continue to fund the Parks Department’s plan if they would remove the two-story-high bathrooms that the people of the Oceana Condominium complex detest.
So selling out the majority of residents against their wishes to keep a wooden Boardwalk to favor a small minority of residents for the silly and expensive favor of removing the new bathrooms is the way Assemblyman Cymbrowitz seems to operate. You make up your own mind. I already have.Nelson Levine
Coney Island
Terror alert
To the editor,
After the tragic terrorist attacks in France we must now immediately turn our attention to how we in the city are going to prevent similar attacks from occurring here.
The Paris attacks and the recent attack on NYPD police officers by a terrorist brandishing a hatchet in Queens shows clearly the devastation and carnage that just a handful of hateful people can inflict on innocents.
Our democratic values are to be [reserved and respected always, but these are extraordinary circumstances. The terrorists are lone Muslims, not affiliated with any respectable military organization that might observe military rules of engagement.
I am a veteran of World War II, and I never want to see the freedoms for which I and so many others fought disappear.
Those who are suspected of terrorism training abroad must be detained indefinitely until they are deemed no longer a threat. The terrorists’ goal is to destroy our freedoms. Thus it becomes our duty to ensure that our natural freedoms are protected. We must take undemocratic action in order to preserve our democratic freedoms. It is not a desired way, but it is the only way.
Francis D’Amico, Sr.
Bensonhurst
Speeder killed Kitty
To the editor,
Kitty came to us almost six years ago on a cold March night. Not alone, Kitty brought two friends. Looking around they were probably thinking, “Yeah, this place is the one we heard about, the place that takes care of animals.” So for six happy years Kitty claimed our porch as his new home. The two friends departed and a wonderful relationship developed between us and Kitty. This big, beautiful, orange creature did not want to live inside our cozy warm residence. The porch was good enough for him, staking his claim to comfy chairs, the steps, and a cat bed we left out for him. Kitty was happy and found a new love — our dog, a beautiful Bichon. All those stories about cats hating dogs went out the window and on many a summer’s day there would be Kitty and the dog sprawled side by side. Kitty’s life did not last far into the new year unfortunately. On the first morning of what should have been the start of 2015, his life was taken by some lowlife speeder coming down E. 66th street between Avenues U and T. Guilt is upon us because that beautiful innocent cat had a habit of following his loved ones.
Crossing the street on this block at times can be a matter of life and death. For 20-plus years I have been writing, calling, sending smoke signals and carrier pigeons, and doing everything possible to alert officials to the speeding problem on these blocks, but nothing gets done about it. I get answers like “Why don’t you move?” or “What do you want me to do?” If this uncaring savage would have been going the speed limit on a residential street — 25, not 60-to-70 mph — our Kitty would be here to share more of her love for years to come.
Believe me the $300 we will spend to have her cremated is hard to come by, but at least we will have her with us forever. So to the speeder in the black Lexus coming out of Mill Basin at around 8:30 am on New Year’s Day, it is disgusting that you have an uncaring attitude because how can you not have seen this cat crossing the street — even at 70 miles a hour? You drove over him like a pot hole and never even looked back, not caring about anything but yourself and your great rush to get wherever you were going.
Residents of Mill Basin and Bergen Beach have all seen the out-of-control driving that goes on here. This time it was our beloved cat. Next time it might be someone’s child. I think it’s time everyone got involved and tried to get something done before it’s too late, although I’m at a loss as to how to do that because the officials just do not care.Perry November
Mill Basin
Sickly news
To the editor,
Don’t get sick, especially if you live in New York because beginning on March 27 it will be illegal in the Empire State for your doctor to write a prescription for you, and equally illegal for your pharmacist to fill it. All prescriptions will have to be submitted to your pharmacy by computer from that date on. So, what’s wrong with that?
Approximately 700,000 prescriptions are written by New York’s 77,332 licensed physicians and filled by its 5,398 licensed pharmacies, every day. Worried about a computer crash? Hackers getting your personal information? Fuhgeddaboudit! It’s all required to be encrypted. What could possibly go wrong? By the way, how do you spell “Sony Entertainment” and “Obamacare roll-out?”
It’s for your own good. The I-Stop Bill will “enhance safety and quality of the prescribing process” and prevent abuse and errors that all those dumb doctors and pharmacists just can’t, or won’t, control.
“Hippocrates, it’s about your papyruses. Too hard to read. Too many mistakes. Too much myrrh. The emperor thinks that maybe you should start writing on stone.”
“Pythagoras, why do you always think in three’s?”
Ronald Reagan once said the 10 most dangerous words in the English language were: “We’re from the government and we’re here to help you?” If you like your prescription, you can get your prescription, just maybe not right away.
Stephen Finger, M.D.
Mill Basin
Guilty Grimm
To the editor,
Former congressman Michael Grimm had no business to seek re-election as he knew he was guilty (“Grimm ending: Tax-cheating congressman to step down,” online Dec. 30, 2014). As a result, he should be made to pay for the special election. Then taxpayers wouldn’t have to foot the bill. By the way, what happened to the other 19 counts of the indictment? Did they just disappear since he pleaded guilty to one other accusation?
Under the law Gov. Cuomo doesn’t even have to call for a special election and the seat could remain vacant for two years. Hopefully, that will not occur. When the governor does call for a special election there will be no primaries. Instead, the county leaders from both parties will then shove a candidate down our throats. Since the majority of the district is on Staten Island, the county leaders from that borough will have the greater say. As we are aware, parts of south Brooklyn are also in this district. Don’t you think this is democracy at its worst?
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Phony Sony
To the editor,
President Bush called North Korea evil more than a dozen years ago, and he was right. Who would ever think a little fat guy with a lousy haircut would make a mammoth corporation like Sony buckle under to his threats? That crazy little fat guy must be laughing his fat arse off. I for one wouldn’t ever buy another Sony product. I wonder if his pal Dennis Rodman congratulated him for stumping on our first amendment rights and winning?
Peter G. Orsi
Marine Park
Divided politics
To the editor,
I am upset that South Brooklyn’s representation for Congressional District 11 is decided by voters on Staten Island. Staten Island has the bulk of the voters in the district and the say in who a representative is, and it’s unfair to those of us who do not live there. Each congressional district has approximately 700,000 residents living in it, but Staten Island has only an approximate 472,000 residents and it would take decades for it to reach 700,000 residents on its own. In fact, based on the size of the island it is probably impossible for this to happen.
Even still, Staten Island is the decider and our elected officials cower to it. They have gerrymandered this district despite calls from many on the Brooklyn side for the island to be divided to give fairer representation to residents of South Brooklyn. We are at the mercy of Staten Island voters where the majority will not vote for a non-Staten Island resident to represent them (and us) in Congress. Even though Democrats on Staten Island are in the majority, many of those Democrats will and do vote Republican in elections, especially for Congress. The reason is that either their unions had them registered that way, that they are Reagan Democrats who never bothered to change their party affiliation, or they will not vote for a Democratic candidate that has a zip code that starts with 112, believing that those who don’t live on the island don’t understand their needs, even though we all have the same needs and wants.
We weren’t only defeated by Staten Island politicians in the last election, but also by some Brooklyn and national Democratic politicians who don’t listen to us. Had Staten Island Democrats and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee put up a candidate who thought he could just ride over the bridge without any care to issues and get elected because of Michael Grimm’s indictment, there probably would have been a different outcome last November.
I attended two debates in Brooklyn that were set up in the summer by the groups that check out those dates with both candidates who agreed to the time and the dates, yet the Democratic candidate did not show up at either of these debates because he was at fundraisers. Granted, fundraising is an important part of every election, but it does not bode well with voters when you agree to debate dates and then don’t show up because you’re attending a fundraiser. More than $5 million were spent by the committee, Recchia and a Democratic political action committee in this race and they would have had a better outcome throwing that money off the bridge.
Unless and until drawing district lines are taken out of the hands of our politicians and put into the hands of a non-partisan group for all local elections, we’re stuck with being part of this district. I’ve heard of sitting politicians having their lines drawn to include or exclude certain groups who will or won’t vote for them, and this is unfair to all of us. This happens throughout the nation where politicians pick their voters instead of the voters picking their politicians.
Rosalie Caliendo
Gravesend
Heal Gotham
To the editor,
As a mayoral candidate Bill DeBlasio didn’t hide his intentions for changes in the NYPD if he won the election. As mayor he is keeping his promises for those reforms. I don’t believe that he is as anti-police as he is made out to be, after all look at his pick for police commissioner — Bill Bratton, a seasoned commissioner whose reputation preceded him for bringing the crime rate down under the Giuliani administration more than 20 years ago.
He is pro-cop and anti-crime, and advocates the “broken windows” policies now under fire maybe because they are being abused by a few officers.
New York is too great a city to be torn apart because of a possible misunderstanding of words by both the police unions and the mayor. It’s time for a new beginning, it’s time to heal, and it’s time for people like Al Sharpton not be given the platform he has been getting. We will heal, and all New Yorkers will be better off for it.
Chita Vilard
Flatbush
• • •
To the editor,
I was all for stop-and-frisk and the broken-windows theory because the crime rate in the city is so low I figured it has been working. Now it looks like stop-and-frisk might not have been as productive as first thought and was probably being abused by some officers.
Two occurrences come to mind that I know of. One concerned a man in his mid-50s drinking a can of beer in front of his house that he owns. He was given a ticket by a cop driving by in a patrol car for an open container and appeared in court two or three times before having to pay a $10 fine. Then a 19-year-old college student got a ticket for having her book bag on the seat next to her on an empty train car — no warning, just a ticket. Great police work if this is what’s meant by broken window policing. Give me a break!
Lenny Painter
Flatbush
Cell hell
To the editor,
Public school teachers have enough to put up with disruptions as is, now we’re allowing cell phones in school. Recalcitrant, defiant students will never surrender their phones to teachers. In fact, they will look to provoke the teacher and then have one of their classmates snap a picture of a teacher attempting to take a phone away by making it appear that the teacher was assaulting the student.
Students will use such phones to text other students in and out of the classroom. Whether it’s the police or teachers, we have a problem of a clear refusal by people to accept authority. These new rules are coming from a mayor and chancellor who are trying to end suspensions for unruly students to begin with. Instead of attempting to enforce discipline in our schools, those in charge are making an already bad situation even worse.
It is also shocking that the unions agree with lifting the ban. Perhaps, if they were made to teach classes they would see what teachers have to put up with during a course of the school day.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Love n’ carriage
To the editor,
I’m hardly ever in Manhattan, but I was there to see a play and I couldn’t believe the enormous crowds in our most beautiful city. I was told by my wife I looked like Jethro Bodine from the Beverly Hillbillies, amazed at the sights in the big city. I guess I did. I had a very quick conversation with a pedicab driver who was stopped for the crowds crossing the street. He was young and looked exhausted, and he was sweating even though it was cold outside. I asked him “How’s it going?” He said in broken English, “I wish I was a horse, they get treated better.” Before he could say anymore the two overweight loudmouths in the back, who probably had had a few drinks, yelled, “Giddy-up, motherf…..” while tossing pieces of pretzel at the driver’s back, and he rode away.
The only thing I could think about the rest of the night was that Mayor Bill DeBlasio is so hell-bent on getting carriage horses off the streets for reasons that have nothing to do with the safety or mistreatment of the horses because it is proven these majestic animals are well taken care of. They are probably better off than the pedicab drivers because the carriage driver is not only a buffer between the horse and obnoxious riders, but also because he or she loves that horse the way you and I love our pets — they are part of the family.
Mayor DeBlasio wake up and leave the horses alone. Crack down on some of the idiots who ride pedicabs, and give the pedicab drivers the same attention and concern you have been giving to the horses. The carriage horses add to the city’s beauty. I’ll remember that night forever, including the young man who would rather be a horse.
Peter G. Orsi
Marine Park
Black-n-white
To the editor,
A brouhaha was reported recently in the media against Target stores. It seems as though they put out an advertisement showing a white Annie! If I remember right, Annie in the comics was white, along with Daddy Warbucks. In the first good Annie movie the title characters, like the comics, were white. The new movie “Annie” is made with a black cast as another feel-good attempt, bowing to the black community. I hope they enjoy it, as my family will not pay good money to see it. But wait, as they say on the infomercials, there is more. David Letterman got into a bit of hot water when he made fun of the new James Bond movie. After decades of Ian Fleming’s 007 hero being white, the new movie is based on a black 007. Go figure, I guess it is artistic license at the extreme.
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Freedom blighters
To the editor,
From now on Hollywood should run new movie scripts by all rogue nations and terrorists before wasting millions of dollars on movies they won’t be able to show because one of them doesn’t want it shown.
This should also apply to book writers and publishers, and other artists and teachers. This isn’t the first time I’ve been ashamed of my country since Obama became president, but it is the first time I ever felt so angry because we are losing a constitutional right — freedom of expression — that our men and woman in uniform fought and died for.Cronin Miller
Midwood
Kim Gone-un
To the editor,
I think the response to North Korea’s cyber attack on Sony was a little harsh by the U.S. — if in fact we were behind their nine-hour internet interruption. Kim Jong-un must have been jumping mad when he couldn’t watch his daily cartoons or episodes of “The Three Stooges” that he watches everyday because he likes to watch Moe dropping young Kim Jong-un on his head over and over, and also believes Moe is his real grandfather. I don’t think they’ll try anything again.Nufigity Sanzone
Coney Island
• • •
To the editor,
It is a crying shame to see that Sony entertainment knuckled under to the demands of terrorist scum. Their cowardice has again empowered low-lifes to threaten our people and land, and possibly carry out another 9-11 attack. Each time Americans cower under threats we sink faster and faster into a shivering, sniveling, third-world power.
I say that the people of America, its leaders, military, and corporations come to terms of how great this country really is, grow a big pair, then stand up and launch a large scale 9-11 attack of our own. It’s time to silence and ignore the spineless, politically correct jellyfish that control our once-proud government, and put our full answer to terrorism where our military is.
The world is being taken over by threats from North Korean slime, Taliban cretins, and other religious and governmental dictatorships. The longer we and the remaining democracies let things slide, the more terrible the inevitable war between them and us will become.
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Cop-n-community
To the editor,
What really bothers me when I hear my neighbors in Brighton Beach and Coney Island complain about the lack of adequate police protection: Gee, the only time there are more police presence is during the summer, and mostly in Coney Island.
So the bottom line is other precincts lose officers because they are on detail elsewhere. Under Mayor Bloomberg he decided to cut the starting pay for police rookies, so why would anyone think of becoming a police officer
Where are the auxiliary cops that once were a presence in Brighton Beach? What happened to the uniformed officers I’d see on a daily basis walking up and down Brighton Beach Avenue? I’m aware that the 60th Precinct has undercover cops, but seeing uniformed cops would be a greater deterrent to any potential crime.
I’ve have been going to the community council meetings month after month, and the constant concerns from the resident about shootings seems similar to Chicago. To quote Councilman Mark Treyger (D-Coney Island), the police force needs to keep pace with the city’s population growth,
Many years ago Chicago had high-rise projects where crime was rampant. People did not know who their neighbors were, and shootings became a way of life. What the smart politicians finally did was to take down the projects and replace them with small townhouses. Then people began taking pride in their neighborhood and got to know their neighbors. Jerry Sattler
Brighton Beach
When, oh, when?
To the editor,
When are black leaders going to speak up and condemn black-on-black crime, instead of blaming cops? When are Muslim leaders going to condemn the senseless murders of innocent people by the radical Muslims? When will parents take responsibility for their young children? When will fathers raise their children with their wives, instead of just making a baby and walking away? When will the exaggerated claims of racism and the war on woman finally end? When will teachers stop getting the blame for failing students who don’t do their homework or even show up for school? When will the borders be secured? When will politicians stop lying to us? When will the streets in my area pave the streets that have been torn up for months?Maureen Parker
Sheepshead Bay
Toll-light robbery
To the editor,
The article on the toll of the Verrazano Bridge was more telling than you know (“Bridging the gap: MTA wants to raise Verrazano tolls to balance budget,” Nov. 20). So there are 180,000 vehicles crossing the bridge daily with a daily revenue of $936,000, according to a transit spokesman. If you take half of the 180,000 and they pay $10 for EZ-Pass and have the other 90,000 vehicles ride free, that would still bring in a revenue of $1,800,000. Realistically, where is all the money collected in tolls really going?Joe Donato
Park Slope
Problem students
To the editor,
It has often been said that teachers and the police know the city best. Both have been under the gun by either the Bloomberg or DeBlasio administrations. What’s the liberal answer for unsatisfactory schools? More teacher training. What’s the liberal answer to alleged abuses by police? More police training.
Let’s stop the nonsense and put the blame squarely where it deserves to be put. Our schools are failing because of the students who get away with everything and as a result feel that they can continue their disruptive ways as adults. Hence they meet confrontations with the police and soon learn that with the police you don’t play.
Let’s examine the school records of all those accused of crimes, and who did not follow police instructions not to resist.. We would find unsatisfactory behavioral records in schools. As students, they caused such mayhem that the teacher probably got blamed for not being able to “control” them and therefore received unsatisfactory ratings. Let’s end this cycle of stupidity and concentrate on the students who are disruptive in school. When nothing is done, they will invariably become emboldened criminals as adults, fully eager to challenge authority. There is a complete lack of respect for authority figures. That’s when our problems begin.Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
War heroes
To the editor,
When I read that soldier Brent Grommet’s German shepherd was taken from him when they returned from war, it made me very sad and as mad as hell. This young soldier and his dog, Matty, were together from the beginning at basic training to deployment in Afghanistan. Both were injured by a roadside bomb.
Specialist Grommet suffered traumatic brain injury, hearing loss, chronic pain, and post-traumatic stress disorder. This soldier who fought for his country, sustained serious injuries, and was almost killed only wants his partner and best friend back with him. This is not only a very small price to ask for, but it is also the law. Robby’s Law passed in 1990 and was signed by Bill Clinton.
This hero was told by higher-ups not to speak to the media about Matty the dog or he would wind up in Leavenworth. Talk about loyalty. These two want to be together again and deserve to be. Didn’t the government already do enough to disrespect and harm our veterans with the Veterans Administration scandal? I’m not holding my breath for the return of the dog to his best friend, after we saw the way the U.S. Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi was held in a Mexican prison for more than 200 days, but I sure will be praying that Specialist Grommet and Matty are reunited. I would hate to think some bigwig took the dog home to his family and won’t give it back or worse. This is the very least we could do for one of our hero’s who was willing to put his life on the line for us.
I think those monsters being held in Gitmo are being treated better than we treat our own veterans. Our president authorized the release of five monsters for the return of one army deserter. Mr. President can’t you authorize the release of one dog for a hero?Rosie Boxer
Rockaway, N.Y.
Credit gas-bags
To the editor,
I went to a gas station expecting to use my VISA card to fill up my tank. Imagine my horror when I was told that by my using VISA to pay for the gasoline, the price would be 13 cents more per gallon! Yes, $3.45 cash per gallon versus $3.57 VISA per gallon. Outrageous.
I always knew VISA to be 10 cents more per gallon, but now it’s 13 cents more per gallon if one uses a credit card. Aaarrrgh.A. Smith
Mill Basin
Edu-vacation
To the editor,
I saw in the paper that so many children were absent more than 10 percent of the time during the last school year. This doesn’t take into account the students who are marked present and then proceed to cut classes and cause mayhem during the day.
My favorite was when parents would come to school and inform me and other teachers that they were going on vacation for 10 days to two weeks and demand that we give them the work in advance so that their child wouldn’t fall behind. This is absolutely ridiculous. If the child was not there when the work was being taught, the best the teacher could do was to give them pages to read and questions to answer from the texts. The supervisory staff should have stepped up to the plate to remind the parent that school was in session and that these vacation days were totally illegal. This was never done because principals fear parents.
Years ago if a child was absent excessively, the child was not promoted. This would never occur today, as supervisors look to get rid of children who are chronic discipline problems and whose absences are a relief both for them and the teacher.Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Dems the breaks
To the editor,
Yes, it’s super important to be informed and to have opinions but a constant, repetitive drone of negativity, cynicism, anger, and fear accomplishes nothing. It’s far too easy to be critical of others. It’s much more difficult to devise something positive and or good, or to invest the time and effort necessary to become actively involved in local or larger issues and programs in place, or to spend some time trying to offer up something positive: an idea, a movement, or even something already in place that might spark change for the better.
C’mon, two wrongs do not make a right. Just because the other (red) side does it does not mean “we” should too. “We” lost the 2014 midterm elections because the right messages weren’t getting put out and what was being said did not engage the voters enough to get them to actually vote. Maybe it’s time to try other tactics?Barry Brothers
Homecrest
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.
MTAaaargh!
To the editor,
There was a time long ago when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s etiquette campaign to bring back good manners — “It’s A Subway Car, Not A Dining Car” and “Stop the Spread Please Its a Space Issue” — was not necessary. In the 1960s it was common to find both penny gum and soda machines dispensing products at subway stations. Clean and safe bathrooms were readily available. It was a time when people respected authority and law.
Previous generations of riders did not litter subway stations and buses leaving behind gum, candy wrappers, paper cups, bottles, and newspapers. No one would openly eat pizza, chicken or other messy foods while riding a bus or subway. Everyone paid their way and there was no fare evasion.
Today riders have to deal with conductors who close the doors while crossing the platform attempting to transfer from a local to the express train. Try looking for the proper way to depose of your old newspaper as more trash cans are removed from more stations. Riders have to deal with aggressive panhandlers, people eating as if at home or in a restaurant, those hogging two seats, yawning, coughing or sneezing without covering and the release of flatulence. Women are periodically accosted by gropers while perverts engage in other unhealthy sexual activities.Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
Helping hand
To the editor,
I remember when you could get a Kit Kat chocolate bar for 50 cents. In my Brooklyn neighborhood there are places you can get one for a dollar, but a few nights ago, with a certain hunger in my stomach I walked past a certain drug store and when I handed the clerk my Kit Kat bar I was reminded that the last time I was in there I was surprised that it cost $1.51. It seemed outrageously high, but like I said I was hungry, so I said to the clerk, “It’s $1.51, isn’t it?” She smiled while scanning it and said, “Yes.”
I said, “If I had travelled through time from 30 years ago and was told $1.51, I would be stunned.” She smiled and took my two dollar bills and handed me 49 cents in change. I walked outside the store and thoroughly enjoyed the eating experience of the four long, thin pieces of chocolate that make up the bar. So to the point and so sweet. Now, somewhat less hungry I made my way up the avenue. looking forward to my arrival home to have a full dinner. Maybe because I still had a growling in my stomach I stopped in my tracks when I saw a bedraggled-looking man who seemed to be homeless leaning against a building with a sign in front of him with a cup out. I reached into my pocket and thought if I didn’t have any change I didn’t want to give him a whole dollar. Then I remembered the 49 cents change from the outrageously overpriced Kit Kat bar. I dug deeper into my pocket and even though I could feel no change I knew it was in there and I kept digging until I found that one quarter that was in there. When I located it I pulled it out and walked over to the man and before I even dropped the quarter into his cup he looked at me with appreciative eyes and said, “Thank you so much.”
I heard the coin hit the other coins in the cup and I wished him well. He smiled and then I noticed what his sign said: “Thank you for any kindness.” So to the point and so sweet. I resumed my walk home and about a minute later it hit me — the Kit Kat bar had not been outrageously overpriced. It had been the right price, for it enabled me to have that quarter change to give to that man. It reminded me that whatever hunger I have in my stomach there are people much hungrier, and when we can, it’s good for us to lend a helping hand.
Alan Magill
Midwood
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
TV ‘drivel’
To the editor,
It was sad to see that the only “free,” 24-hour, over-the-air news station, CBS-TV digital channel 2.2 has ended. In its place is another mindless series of old TV shows from the 1950s and 1960s.
Since the inception of digital television almost a decade ago many stations have added many sub-channels, which are nothing more than bastions for old movies, vintage television series that no one watched even when they were new, and other “fluff” to fill in the hours.
CBS-TV gave viewers not wanting to be shackled to cable or satellite TV a much-needed flow of news, information, traffic and weather reports. Now due to greed, yes greed, it is gone. It seems as though they will make much more from advertising revenues ending the news and replacing it with garbage.
I guess that the 80 some odd channels of Spanish language sitcoms, Chinese docudramas, Indian comedies, and the usual network drivel will push me, and thousands of other New Yorkers, back to the radio and Internet for news from now on.
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
