To the editor,
I just read Rowena Lachant’s letter,
“Crime of Sense,” (Letters to the Editor,
Bay News, Nov. 30). Ms. Lachant
is a woman after my own heart. I
cringe whenever I see a shopper, man
or women, leave a wallet, credit card,
or handbag on a store counter. Sometimes,
I even yell at them!
I get equally upset whenever I see
a woman pushing a shopping cart, either
in a store or on the street, with
her handbag lying unprotected in the
cart just waiting for someone to grab
it. I myself always hold onto my handbag
for dear life. My bag is never out
of my sight!
I don’t drive, but I fail to understand
why drivers or passengers
would leave anything valuable on a
car seat, whether the car is locked
or unlocked. I don’t know how many
parents have left children in their
cars while they rushed into a store,
only to return and find both the car
and the children gone.
As for modern technology, I hang
up immediately whenever I receive a
suspicious call and never open suspicious
e-mails. It is tragic to live in a
world where we are all surrounded
by scams and scammers. I used to
think that living in a world of telephones,
automated-teller machines,
computers, and automobiles was supposed
to make our lives easier and
better. However, I have learned that,
if we are not extremely careful when
using all the modern conveniences
that are supposed to improve our
lives, dishonest thieves and scammers
can make our lives a living horror.
Care and caution are essential in
today’s world if we want to safely enjoy
the benefits of modern life and not
fall into its pitfalls. Elaine Kirsch
Gravesend
To the editor,
With each post-Election Day letter
I read in the Courier, it brings me to
tears with laughter seeing how much
correspondence is against the wasteful
form of government we are selfsaddled
with. It is almost as though
these writers are “gasp” … closet Republicans!
Of course, city government, under
the Democrats, has made up positions
to cover with cronies or family
members, such as the mayor’s wife.
The public advocate, along with dozens
of seemingly useless high-paying
city positions, is sucking the taxpayers’
till dry.
I promise not to write complaining
about the boodle being paid though, I
ask each and everyone complaining
to look in the mirror and ask, whom
did I vote for? The stark reality is
that many blindly filled in the boxes,
strictly along their own party line,
before really looking into the real
agendas of these candidates. Doing
so, now whom did you really screw?
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
To the editor,
What is going to be done with the
school officials who squandered all
that money? While teachers have to
go around scrounging for class materials
and depend upon the poorly
funded Teachers Choice Money, these
so-called education officials, most of
whom never stepped foot into a classroom,
were living high on the hog
spending money at fancy hotels while
attending so-called conferences.
These officials, including our recently
retired chancellor, must be
made to pay back the money. After
all, Ms. Farina was collecting her
pension while serving as chancellor.
Farina, who met our esteemed
mayor when she was superintendent
of School District 15 and he was a parent
on the community board, should
have known what was going on.
We have no money to lower class
sizes. Others will say that there is no
funding for the 600-school concept
for unruly children, but we allowed
this to go on. Is it any wonder that our
schools are in the current mess that
they’re in? In addition, this is a perfect
example of why the mayor should
not be in control of the schools. Where
did he do his school budgeting, at his
Brooklyn gym? Ed Greenspan
Sheesphead Bay
To the editor,
Election Day has come and gone,
and reminds me of “The Outer Limits”
1960s television show. With the
end of ’round-the-clock commercials
by politicians, political parties,
unions, and pay-for-play special interest
groups, we now return control
of your television back to you until
the next election cycle.
COURIER L 30 IFE, DEC. 7–13, 2018 M B G
Now if only Gov. Cuomo would
do the same. When will he direct
the Empire State Development Corporation
to stop running its wasteful
“public service” advertisements?
After eight years in office, Cuomo
has had this quasi-independent state
agency spend several hundred million
in taxpayer dollars to pay for
these “feel-good” commercials. They
were clearly designed to assist him
in greasing the wheels of another
term in office and raise his profile
in preparation for a Presidential run
in the Democratic Party’s 2020 Primary.
These commercials periodically
run in heavy rotation on many
stations several times per hour, day
and night.
Diogenes is still waiting for State
Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Actimg
Attorney General Barbara Underwood,
State Sen. Majority Leader
Andrea Stewart Cousins, State Assembly
Speaker Carl Heastie, or a
brave member of the Legislature to
challenge Emperor Cuomo to end
this waste, fraud, and abuse of public
monies. Larry Penner
Great Neck
Prospect Park joggers can leave
their water bottles at home during
winter runs now that meadow
stewards installed the first of
several freeze-resistant drinking
fountains in the green space
(“Slurps up! Frost-resistant drinking
fountains arrive in Brooklyn’s
Backyard,” by Colin Mixson, online
Nov. 27).
Workers with the Prospect Park
Alliance — which maintains the
lawn in conjunction with the city
— on Nov. 22 set up the first sipping
spot outside Vanderbilt Playground
along the roughly threemile
West Drive running loop, and
installed three more frost-repelling
fountains near the park’s Garfield
Place entrance and Ball Fields 6
and 7 in the subsequent days.
Councilman Brad Lander
praised the debut of Prospect
Park’s all-year water fountains,
which he said couldn’t come soon
enough after locals in his district
allocated $175,000 to fund them via
the pol’s 2016 participatory-budgeting
process.
Readers were divided on the
fountains’ price and necessity:
I am amazed that Councilman
Brad Lander thinks that giving the
Prospect Park Alliance $175,000 for
“frost-resistant” drinking fountains
for runners in Prospect Park is a
good and necessary use of his $1.5M
participatory budget.
Aren’t there more pressing social
needs for Lander’s participating budget
than heated drinking fountains
for runners in Prospect Park?
How about upgrading technology
for local schools, or funding to
renovate the kitchen of a senior center
that hosts free meals for seniors?
Nor do I see how “frost-resistant”
fountains could be a priority need for
not only the park, where there are always
ongoing maintenance requirements
that need attention, or in the
Park Slope community.
Instead, I might suggest that if the
park has a need for these fountains,
then the Alliance board should appeal
to its members to fund this project.
The neighborhood has more urgent
problems that require funding.
Carol Brooks
from Carroll Gardens
I’m amazed that Carol Brooks
doesn’t understand participatory budgeting
but babbles on and on and on.
There were proposals. The community
voted. The drinking fountains
won enough votes to get part of
the funding. Done. Tyler from pps
Each of us could argue that the
organizations responsible for these
sites — schools, senior centers, and
parks — should be ensuring necessities
(and running water is a necessity
for the health of park users) are provided
for. But the lack of resources
is what participatory budgeting is
about. Vote! And tell all your friends!
Or don’t complain later.
Janet from Park Slope
Thank you to the locals that voted
to ensure I’ll have a place to get water
as I ride through your neighborhood.
Cheers! Bike from NYC
Complete waste of money.
Old Tie Brooklyn from Slope
I agree with Old Tie. Four fountains
at $42,750 each, for a total cost
of $175,000, is an outrageous and ridiculous
expenditure for water fountains
for thirsty runners in Prospect
Park during the winter months.
Park Slopers lived up to their reputation
and voted for this extravagant
expenditure during the participatory
process, and can’t understand
why this Carroll Gardener would
question the cost. Carol Brooks
from Carroll Gardens