Readers: The bridge toll needs to go
Legislation introduced by State
Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D–Bay
Ridge) and Assemblywoman Mathylde
Frontus (D–Coney Island)
would provide Brooklyn residents
using the city’s E-ZPass system who
drive across the bridge at least 10
times each month, the same reduced
toll price as Staten Island residents
(“Fair tolls: Local pols aim to reduce
Verrazzano toll for Brooklynites” by
Aidan Graham, online April 18).
Brooklynites using E-ZPass system
currently fork over $12.24 on each
trip to the island borough, whereas
Staten Island residents are charged a
discounted rate of $5.50.
Readers weighed in online:
Put a train line on it for crap sake.
Jim from Cobble
A more feasible option is to extend
NYC Ferry between Bay Ridge and
St. George Staten Island
MJ from Bay Ridge
How about we just get rid of the tolls
especially since the bonds that it was
paying for have been long paid off?
Tal Barzilai
from Pleasantville, NY
Whatever it takes to keep Michael
Grimm and his supporters on the
other side.
Timmy from Sunset Park
Local recently elected Democrats
introducing legislation that Republicans
like Golden, Maliotokis,
Grimm, Donovan all introduced and
or supported in the past that previously
and will go nowhere. If they
really want to get the job done, why
dont they appeal to their King Cuomo
( the second) who controls the MTA
and could lower the toll for Brooklynites
on a whim if he really wanted
too since he controls the MTA.
T from Bath Beach
The majority of people living in
Staten Island migrated from Brooklyn
neighborhoods. My own daughter
married and moved there 33 years
ago and I’ve been paying full price to
visit her and the grandkids all these
years. It was particularly costly
when the children were younger and
we would pick them up Friday night
and bring them back Sunday night.
This costly toll felt like extortion -
you have to pay to see them! Just like
the SI residents get a discount, so
should Brooklyn residents with immediate
family on the SI side. This
idea is long overdue.
Grace from Sheepshead Bay
Take a visit
To the Editor,
I wish that voicer Elaine Kirsch
and others would visit the area in
question near the Botanic Gardens,
where it is proposed to erect apartment
buildings (Sound off to the Editor,
“High-rises and traffi c the new
norm in Brooklyn,” April 12 issue).
Perhaps, they shouldn’t build very
high buildings, but nonetheless,
something should be built there. The
area in question is right across the
street from the former IS 320, where
I taught for 19 years. I also lived two
blocks from there on Lefferts Avenue
until the mid 1970s.
There was a spice factory occupying
the premises until the mid
1950s. It then closed, and for years on
end the lot has been vacant. If Bette
Davis were to see it, she would exclaim,
“it’s a dump,” because that is
what exactly it has become. Only the
Lord knows the toxic waste that has
been building up there. You cannot
imagine the eye-sore that this has
made the neighborhood going along
Franklin Avenue look like.
All these so-called environmentalists
worry about is that their precious
fl owers shall not receive adequate
sunlight.How about the people
who live in the area and are subject
to its dreadful appearance? How
about voicing concerns regarding the
health issues that have arisen due to
what is on the ground there?
Ed Greenspan
COURIER L 30 IFE, APRIL 26–MAY 2, 2019 PS
Sheepshead Bay
At cost of homes?
To the Editor,
I am reading the Bay News — how
it got to Marine Park I’ll never know
— and was enthralled by the story of
BQE restoration efforts (“A BQ-Plan:
Renowned architecture fi rm reveals
park proposal” by Kevin Duggan,
April 12 issue). We have been hearing
the doomsday proposals from
many sides even up to, and including,
the elimination of this much-needed
transportation roadway. Now a new
tri-level proposal has hit the streets
with all sorts of new parks and walkways
over and through this area of
the Brooklyn waterfront.
This area was, quite frankly, a
dump, until a little more than a dozen
years ago, when planners decided to
clear the blight and install new waterfront
parks and bikeways. Buildings
on the waterfront got a new lease
on life and most were restored with
new business moving in.
Looking at the bright and cheery
artist rendering from architects of
the Bjarke Ingels group brings a few
questions. Yes, in this plan there is
a newly restored Brooklyn Heights
Promenade, including a triple-decker
roadway hidden underneath away
from upper-crust Millennials’ eyes,
and beautiful parks with wonderful
high-rise apartments and businesses
line the Promenade.
But… where then, is the entire
historic Brooklyn Heights neighborhood?
Is this the future of the Heights,
with all historic brownstone buildings
razed for a faceless series of impersonal
apartments? Did architects
conveniently leave these restored
homes out of the rebuilding equation?
Will the communist infestation
from City Hall ignore the input from
these proud homeowners and push a
plan like his down their throats?
Stay tuned, kiddies; there is more
rancor and upset to come.
Robert W. Lobenstein
Sheepshead Bay
Language matters
To the Editor,
I wish more folks would become —
and remain — more serious about the
rhetoric being put before us via many
of the GOP party representatives.
In my opinion, language matters
when talking to voters who are stuck
on sound bytes.
Progressive Democrats need be
called as Democratic Humanists.
Same is true for the GOP fearmongering
of the word “socialist”:
Democrats should correct the GOP
and make it clear that it is about
meeting the needs and wants of the
people; aka altruism.
Instead of understanding, those
who disagree with progressive Democrats’
views suggest I go move to Venezuela
(see “tyranny” and “dictatorship,”
not socialism) and completely
ignore the “socialist” countries like
Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland,
where citizens have “stressfree”
healthcare and paid maternity
leave (just two examples).
Barry Brothers
Homecrest
Save the internet
To the Editor,
I am writing to you because I want
to protect our open internet. Two
years ago, the FCC, under Ajit Pai,
repealed the Net Neutrality protections
that make the internet an open
and free platform to connect and exchange
ideas. If we can’t restore these
protections, the internet as we know
it could change forever.
Earlier this month, Congress introduced
the Save the Internet Act,
which will restore the open internet
protections that were repealed by the
FCC in 2017. Despite having the support
of more than 80 percent of Americans,
many members of Congress
are siding with Big Telecom to vote
against this bill. I hope our representatives
in Congress vote in favor of
this bill. Otherwise, we’ll be forced
to hold them accountable at the ballot
box in 2020. Phillip Hope
Gowanus
Down the drain
To the Editor,
Drip, drip, drip, watch your tax dollars
go down the drain. Have you also
seen all the “Don’t Let Tax, Water, Or
Repair Charges Come Between You
and Your Property” full-page ads in
many daily and weekly neighborhood
newspapers? Even worse, was the 108-
page supplement which appeared in
the New York Daily News on April 17.
It lists, line by line, the name of every
New Yorker who owes real estate
tax water sewer, emergency repair, or
other property-related charges in “the
City of New York may sell a lien on
your property” advertisement. Is this
the best way the NYC Departments of
Finance, Environmental Protection,
along with Housing Preservation and
Development, can spend taxpayers
dollars?
Why can’t all three agencies compare
their respective lists of people
who owe money with those fi ling
city and state tax returns? Surely
the technology exists to place a lien
on any tax refunds? You could also
extend citizens the courtesy of a telephone
call, letter, or e-mail informing
them of their overdue obligations.
What’s next, will the city send out
Marshals going door-to-door serving
subpoenas?
When will NYC Comptroller
and 2021 Mayoral-wanna-be Scott
Stringer audit and put an end to this
waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayers’
dollars? Larry Penner
Great Neck
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