To the editor,
Nov. 15 was the first snow storm
of this season and already it has crippled
this city. It’s just amazing that
a city like ours cannot handle it. My
sister lives in Ohio, where I visit frequently,
and they really get snow,
though somehow they are prepared
so much better for the consequences
of a storm.
Our city gets two to three inches
and we totally fall apart. What’s the
problem?
People are stranded in their cars
for four hours on highways, on a
30-minute trip. Traffic is backed up
for miles, people are stranded, it’s
just outrageous.
I can understand if snowfall was
not anticipated, but when weather geniuses
are predicting it, should not
the city be able to get a grip on it?
Come on, New York, we haven’t
even gotten to the belly of winter!
This is my gripe of today, I think
they have to rethink their strategy.
Thank you for the opportunity
to vent my frustration. I enjoy your
newspaper each week and know you
take a great interest in what your
neighborhood people have to say.
Mary Glicksman
Bath Beach
To the editor,
I heard, with much fanfare I might
add, that Amazon is coming to New
York City and settling in a relatively
industrial area in Long Island City. I
also see protesters by the hundreds,
angry that building this massive
complex will cause too many changes
in neighborhoods nearby. One thing
that cannot be denied is the constant
change and building here in the city.
True, adjustments will have to be
made having transportation systems
bolstered to handle the workforce,
and concessions will have to be made
by neighborhoods concerning housing
for the influx.
The only disturbing fact is that
all the negotiating, tax breaks, and
building placement plans, were done
in extreme secrecy. Only the “governmayor,”
Cuomo and DeBlasio, were
involved. No one from the neighborhoods,
no one from businesses, or
transportation representatives, was
allowed input. So much for “transparency.”
New York City is slowly achieving
the appearance of the science-fiction
“metropolis.” Monster building complexes
reach for the stars, obscuring
the original city skyline. The hoards
of workers schlep in and out of their
daily grind in a lockstep drone,
looking like scenes right out of that
movie. And what can be done? I guess
nothing, since the powers that be are
in total charge of your lives. And you
put them there!
Other than fleeing the city for
greener pastures, you should don
your drab workers uniform and get
in line with the masses.
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
...
To the editor,
Seriously, Gov. Cuomo and Mayor
DeBlasio: $1.5 billion in incentives to
a trillion-dollar company for 25,000
jobs; when housing, infrastructure,
mass transit, and roads are in horrendous
shape, and getting worse?
This is a perfect example of how
elected representatives no longer represent
the real needs and wants of all
the people they were sworn to represent.
Instead, they represent big business
and real estate wants and needs
without concern for the effects upon
the people, and where and how they
live.
I’ll never forget the 2016 announcement
from the New York State Public
Service Commission that it was allowing
National Grid to pass off, to
its customers, the many million-dollar
cost of the Superfund cleanup it
inherited when it bought Keyspan,
which bought Brooklyn Union Gas.
Not one state or city “representative”
responded to inquires about this
abomination of our trust.
Barry Brothers
Homecrest
To the editor,
My idea is to offer shoppers a
fabric shopping bag for a certain
amount of accumulated sales slips
from individual stores — say, offer a
fabric shopping bag for $300 worth of
shopping sales slips from individual
stores. It would save plastic and advertise
each store, for the logo printing
on each fabric bag would give
publicity to, and throw the spotlight
on, certain stores.
What a wonderful incentive to
stop using plastic bags! All winners
COURIER L 38 IFE, NOV. 23–29, 2018 M B G
and no losers. Agree? Joan Applepie
Marine Park
To the editor,
I am at a loss to know what to do
with certain thoughts and feelings
following the mid-term elections.
I am relieved that my wife and I,
as well as tens of millions of other
Americans, will not have to fear our
Social Security Retirement Benefits
being cut by 25 percent by the Republican
Senate and House. With the
Democrats taking over the House, we
will no longer have to be scared for
the next two years. The Democrats
will block any Republican attempt to
cut our benefits. The same holds true
for those who rely on Medicare, Medicaid,
Food Stamps, College Student
Loans, and Unemployment Insurance
Benefits.
But I am angry, bitter, resentful,
and disappointed with many of my
fellow Democrats who I thought cared
about people like me who have low-incomes.
These affluent Democrats are
members of the upper-middle-class
and the upper-class, although they
don’t see themselves as wealthy and
well-off.
I am angry at how they scolded
me, admonished me, and tried to
shame me and bully me for the past
two years because I did not care
much about the “identity-politics”
and “cultural-war” issues that they
constantly bashed Donald Trump
over. I focused on the bread-and-butter
and kitchen-table issues of everyday
survival. I focused on protecting
the safety-net programs like Social
Security.
These financially well-off “liberal
progressive” Democrats
thought that I should have been more
concerned with the plight of illegal
immigrants, for example. I don’t
understand how they could have
been so insensitive to my plight and
the plight of millions of us seniors
who have to live on Social Security
checks of $1,200 per month.
A good friend who does not earn
as much as they do has provided me
with the answer — they can wellafford
to care primarily about the
“identity-politics” and “culturalwar”
issues and to focus on constantly
bashing Trump over them.
People like my wife and I can’t afford
that luxury. We don’t have their high
yearly incomes. They don’t need Social
Security. They never will. It will
not affect them if their Social Security
checks get cut by 25 percent.
Yet, I am still surprised and disappointed
that these self-proclaimed
“humanists” are so insensitive. I expected
more empathy and compassion
from them.
For the next two years, I will still
focus on the bread-and-butter issues
that the poor, the near-poor, the
lower-middle-class, and the middleclass
struggle with that these affluent
Democrats do not.
Stewart B. Epstein
Rochester, NY
To the Editor:
With the loss of Republican state
Sen. Marty Golden and Congressmember
Dan Donovan, GOP State
Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis
becomes the last Republican public
official in Kings County.
The last Republican Brooklyn
Borough President who also ran on
the Fusion Party line was Lewis H.
Pounds, who served from 1913–17. The
last GOP District Attorney may have
been from the same time period.
Based upon the recent election
results and State Board of Elections
registration figures as of Nov. 1,
2018, Brooklyn continues to be a permanent
Democratic Party bastion.
There are 1,025,058 Democrats versus
123,059 Republicans along with
4,204 Conservatives, 4,880 Working
Families, 28,382 Independence, 3,077
Green, 848 Women’s Equity, 107 Reform,
538 Other, and 251,965 unaffiliated
active registered voters. The
numbers make Republicans irrelevant
in virtually all contests for public
office.
Kings County Republicans haven’t
offered Democrats serious competition
for public office on the city, state,
or federal level in years with the exception
of Bay Ridge.
Despite overwhelming Democratic
Party enrollment in Kings
County, creative gerrymandering by
the GOP-controlled State Senate in
1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010 continued
to preserve the Bay Ridge-based
seat previously represented by Republican
State Senators Bill Conklin,
Chris Mega, Bob DiCarlo, and
formerly Martin Golden.
In Kings County, running as a
Democrat or winning any Democratic
Party primary is a sure bet to
winning any general election. Remnants
of the Brooklyn GOP can now
fit in one of those old-fashioned street
corner telephone booths which disappeared
decades ago. Larry Penner
Great Neck