Letters to the Editor
Election chaos
To The Editor:
At 10:30 a.m. on Election Day,
I headed to the Lesbian and Gay
Center, on W. 13th St., to vote.
The line was halfway down the
block in the rain. You could go
inside to fi ll out the paper ballot,
but had to come back out to wait
to feed it into the scanner.
There were only four scanners,
far fewer than needed, and one
hour and 20 minutes later when I
fi nally got to them, they were all
broken. Poll workers claimed wet
ballots were causing them to jam.
The Center could have looped
the line past the front desk, so
more people could wait inside, but
instead made us wait in the rain
longer than necessary. I had to put
my ballot in a slot marked “Emergency,”
with dubious assurances
that my vote would be counted
later.
I felt like I was in a state that
actively suppresses the vote. At
least one person who had fi lled
out a ballot took a look at the line
and announced, “I’m not voting!”
Many passersby looked, hesitated,
and kept walking.
This outrage must be fi xed before
2020! If we cannot have a
vote-by-mail system like Colorado,
Oregon and Washington, at least
we need enough working scanners
at every polling place in New
York.
Virginia M. Donnelly
It’s the rent, stupid
To The Editor:
Re “REBNY chief: Biz bill
would kill city’s economy” (The
Villager, talking point, by John
Banks, Nov. 8):
Mr. Banks should try one simple
thing to broaden his understanding
of the city he lives in (or maybe
he doesn’t live in).
Spend a few days going from
store to store, talking to the owners
in their shops about what most
threatens their livelihoods. And
sure, there’ll be complaints about
taxes, fi nes, building code violations,
excessive regulations, competition
from e-commerce, etc.,
etc.
But I’d bet a thousand dollars
to a doughnut that what he’d hear
most with eyes raised in frustration
is “The rent! The rent! The
goddamn rent!”
Bennett Kremen
Not fooling anyone
To The Editor:
Re “REBNY chief: Biz bill
would kill city’s economy” (The
Villager, talking point, by John
Banks, Nov. 8):
Everything is to blame for longestablished
businesses closing except
the greedy landlord demanding
exorbitant rent increases. Is
that what you’re selling the public,
Mr. Banks?
The public knows why their
favorite mom-and-pop shop was
forced to close, and it was not because
they got a ticket. You want
the public to believe every proposal
created by REBNY is better
than a law giving business owners
rights when their leases expire.
The public is not fooled and demands
a real solution to stop the
closings now.
Does the Real Estate Board of
New York really think New Yorkers
don’t notice the growing number
of empty stores — empty sometimes
for years — where thriving
businesses once were?
Spin this crisis anyway you
want, the public wants their business
saved. Stop the distractions
of “This is not a silver bullet” nonsense
and let democracy work for
a change at City Hall.
Steve Barrison
Barrison is executive vice president
and spokesperson, Small Business
Congress of New York City
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