The city must investigate a recent
rash of complaints alleging
that Bensonhurst business owners
lack permits for their storefronts’
signage, according to local
civic leaders, who said the uptick
in such allegations already cost
mom-and-pop shopkeepers thousands
of dollars in fines (“Policing
placards: Bensonhurst civic leaders
call for investigation into complaints
against small businesses’
signs,” by Julianne McShane, online
Dec. 28).
A probe of the reports filed with
the city’s 311 hotline is necessary
to ensure greedy agents are not
cashing in at the small-business
owners’ expense, according to the
district manager of Community
Board 11.
This year, the 311 hotline received
some 127 complaints about
signs and awnings belonging to
businesses within the board’s district,
which also includes Bath
Beach, Gravesend, and Mapleton
— a whopping 113 more than
it received about storefronts in
the same area last year, according
to a letter CB11 members fired
off on Dec. 19 to the Mayor’s Office
of Operations, which oversees the
hotline run by the Department of
Information Technology and Telecommunications.
Readers weighed in:
I’ve noticed a lot of bodegas here
in Bed-Stuy have been removing
their awnings, this is probably why.
Underneath those hideous awnings
is often the original signage from the
’40s and ’50s — plus, you now get to
see the beautiful architectural details
that have been hidden for decades.
Those awnings should all be
banned as they are ugly and cheapen
the neighborhood. Matt
from Stuyvesant Heights
Don’t kid yourself, it’s about revenue!
Fines of $6,000 according to the
NY Times. All because something
“might” fall down. The city sees no
evil in spray painted tags all over, but
no awnings — time to make the avenues
look like a refuge camp.
Signs that withstood superstorm
Sandy, and many a winter. GimmeGimmeGimme
— we want any
money you might have left after sales
tax, and outrageous property tax.
And why did these awnings come
about? To cover the riot shutters and
roll-down gates that these small businesses
had to install to save their
livelihoods. Rufus Leaking
from BH
Here are some revelations: 1) New
York City Buildings Department does
not asses the fines for violations, that
is done by the Council. 2) Buildings
Department does not impose “cloak
of anonymity” as the complaints
come from 311. They are most likely
from the community boards themselves
all over the city.
Take a look at Bensonhurst, now
predominately Chinese. City data
shows that in the last few years 311
complaints for this area have exploded.
Where do you suppose the
complaints are coming from? Check
the bigoted community boards
throughout this city. Joe Bloe
from Bensonhurst
“I have been breaking the law for
the past 15 years and now you come
around...” Yeah, what nerve of the
city to give you a fine. I did not realize
that the longer you break the law
the more entitled you become.
Frank from Flushing
Brooklyn Heights residents
will breathe in toxic chemicals for
years if the city moves forward with
a plan to turn the neighborhood’s
Promenade into a six-lane speedway
for gas-guzzling cars and
trucks during the looming reconstruction
of the Brooklyn–Queens
Expressway, experts warn (“Highway
to health problems: Locals
will breathe in toxic air for years
if city sends traffic along Promenade
to fix BQE, experts warn,” by
Julianne Cuba, online Dec. 26).
The historic Promenade, which
sits at the top of the 70-year-old
highway’s crumbling three-tiered
structure, currently acts as a barrier
that blocks the toxic pollutant
known as “fine particulate
matter,” or pm 2.5, emitted by the
153,000 cars and trucks on the expressway
daily, according to journalist
and public-health expert
Laurie Garrett.
Commenters shared their
thoughts:
Not only is it irresponsible in the
COURIER L 28 IFE, JAN. 4–10, 2019 M B G
short-term (next 10-plus years) to rebuild
this roadway in this manner,
it’s irresponsible in the long-term
(next 100-plus years) to replace it in
this spot period. Pollution, noise,
quality of life, waste of premier waterfront
real estate.
We need to tunnel from the ditch
south of Atlantic to the north side of
Brooklyn Heights. If there are things
in the way, we can move them — if
Boston did it so can we. We’d even
need to include direct tubes to the
Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges to
improve functionality over what we
have now. The result would leave us
with with a “cantilever riverwalk”
where shops and cafes could be added
overlooking NYC’s most astounding
area of waterfront and the Brooklyn
Bridge Park.
Time to think big is now, so we’re
not stuck with this mistake for our
life times and the life times of those
that will come after us. Tunneler
from Brooklyn
Is there a third alternative near
Brooklyn Bridge Park? What is
wrong with that? Why didn’t the city
fix the BQE cantilever before it built
Brooklyn Bridge Park?
Did any city officials and/or politicians
recommend at that time that
the BQE cantilever be replaced before
the park was created? What
were their names? Titles? Do they
still work for the city?
David Weinkrantz
from Downtown Brooklyn
Now the privileged, politically
connected, Brooklyn Heights residents
who are among the richest
people in the borough could be subject
to the same environmental hazards
routinely faced by their maids,
servants, landscapers, doormen,
and parking valets, and whose kids
breathe unhealthy levels of ozone
and diesel fumes in other parts of
Brooklyn (in neighborhoods statistically
scarcely covered by this newspaper).
There are scores of specific
chronic air and toxic waste pollution
hazards that denser swaths of the
population currently face in the borough
that this newspaper could address
in a top story.
But instead, it trumpets the
whines of the wealthy residents of
about 25 to 35 buildings (and who
most likely get around by Uber, taxis
and their own private vehicles when
they need to). Chomsky
from Greenwood
Commenters: It’s not about who
gets the worst of it or who’s turn is
it now, it’s about fixing a wrong and
making it right, permanently.
Covering the ditch south of Atlantic
and going underground from
there is the way to go. A tunnel can
be bored over the next couple of years
without ever starting entrances and
exits to it, virtually eliminating 75
percent of the disruption repairing
the cantilever would cause. And then
there’s all the other benefits I state
above.
The BQE is Brooklyn’s most important
artery and we deserve that it
be done right this time — tunnel it!
Tunneler from Brooklyn
To the Editor,
I read with interest your article
about the Christmas festivities at IS
281 in Brooklyn (“Classroom cheer:
IS 281 students and families celebrate
season,” by Julianne McShane,
online Dec. 10). I am sure they were
very nice, but don’t we have separation
of church and state with regard
to our schools? Such a celebration
should have included festivities for
Jewish, Muslim, and even atheist
students. No child should have been
excluded.
As a retired teacher who taught
in both Districts 17 and 21 for a total
of 33 years, I don’t understand how
the principal at 281 could have done
something like this. How did children
of other faiths feel while this
was occurring? Obviously, they felt
excluded. How about the parents of
the other children? Why didn’t they
state their displeasure at this? As
a parent or teacher in the school, I
would have made sure to be quite vocal
on this issue.
As a tax-payer, I resent the idea
that tax-payer money is used to promote
religious values in our schools.
This does not belong in the schools.
Such festivities should be occurring
in the homes.
During my professional career
as a pedagogue in the New York City
school system, I made sure never
to promote my religious values and
during the course of those years,
when a student asked me why my
room wasn’t decorated accordingly
at holiday time, I made sure to mention
the separation of church and
state idea.
To me, actions like this are perfect
examples of prosletyzing and have no
place in our schools. Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay