See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
Brooklyn Daily
To the editor,
I read with great interest your article “Bridge’s blighted past” (May 10), regarding the Ocean Avenue Bridge in Sheepshead Bay.
Your writer makes reference to two railway lines that crossed Coney Island Creek to the Coney Island resort hotels of the 19th century. Those mentioned were the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railroad (1878), and the New York and Manhattan Beach Railroad (Austin Corbin of the LIRR, 1877).
However, what was not mentioned were the New York and Sea Beach Railroad (1879), the Brooklyn-Bath-and-Coney Island Railroad (West End Line, 1864), the Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad (1862), and finally the Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad (Culver Line, 1875).
The latter was the first of the mainline steam railways to reach the Brooklyn beaches on Coney Island. Andrew Culver was the promoter, hence the name of the line. His line originated where present-day Bishop Ford High School is located. He died in 1906 and is interred at Green-Wood Cemetery. The West End line incorporated steam dummy locomotives in 1867, after being a horse-car street railway line.
All of these railroads reached Coney Island well before the two roads referenced. The reference to “the Cadillacs of Coney crossings” should also have included these railroads. The history of the Brooklyn railway lines is complicated, and includes street railways, elevated railways and subway lines.
Kenneth S. Katta, Lt.Col, USAF
The writer is a member of the Long Island Sunrise Trail Division of the National Railroad Historical Society.
’Beleaguered’ Vito
To the editor,
It is gratifying to Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D–Williamsburg) that Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan did not find sufficient evidence at this time to call for a grand jury to indict him. Although tarnished by charges of sexual harassment, Lopez is still very fortunate.
I am reminded of former Sen. Bob Packwood (R–Ore), who in 1992 was accused of similar charges after being elected to his fifth term. The charges that he made gratuitous sexual advances to his lady staffers went back to his first campaign in 1968.
His opponents Wayne Morse and then-Rep. Les AuCoin never brought up the allegations. Instead, AuCoin asked the senator if he was going to vote for George Bush for re-election.
While I do not know all the details in both cases, these ladies may have wanted some patronage from Sen. Packwood that he was unable or unwilling to deliver. The same might be true of beleaguered Assemblyman Lopez.Elliot Abosh
Brighton Beach
‘Love’ Shav
To the editor,
Shavana Abruzzo (A Britisher’s View), I love the way you write so negatively, so elegantly, about Muslims, detailed and to the point. It’s intriguing information one doesn’t easily get elsewhere.
Keep those columns flowing — chock-full of interesting stuff. I always pass them on.Joan Applepie
Mill Basin
Blotter bloop
To the editor,
I find it totally disconcerting that the editor of the police blotter pages feels it appropriate to inject their attempt at humor at the subject of each criminal act noted.
Without a doubt, no victim of any of these crimes would look back on their experience with any feelings, except those of mental anguish, physical pain, and in some cases, violation.
Out of respect to the wronged party, there is no place even for the smallest jest in their description.Martin Boxer
Sheepshead Bay
Thanks, Vinny
To the editor,
At a time when we’re rapidly losing so many of the beautiful, classic houses that make Bay Ridge what it is, it was heartbreaking to lose the once-charming, unique house that stood at 237 79th St.
For two decades, my parents’ cries to the city to save this house fell on deaf ears, and letters to the owner never got a reply. In the meantime, the house encountered loiterers, break-ins, holes in the roof, collapsing floors, bulging exterior walls, raccoons, flooding, standing water, breeding mosquitoes, garbage, etc. Somehow, the city didn’t think these were pressing matters.
We’d like to thank Councilman Gentile (D–Bay Ridge) and his team for their assistance in getting the city to seriously address this issue, and for their attentiveness. They really came through.
We’ve learned during this ordeal that’s lasted almost a lifetime for some of us that it takes many calls and many follow-ups to achieve success.
We can finally breathe a sigh of relief that this hazardous, mosquito-infested eyesore is gone forever.Antigoni Gouras Manzi
Bay Ridge
No class
To the editor,
Will someone please tell me what a girl, six or seven months pregnant, was doing in a city classroom?
Years ago we used to have special schools for girls in trouble. Now, it’s anything goes. Obviously, this brat was there for anything but learning, as she stabbed a fellow student and the school dean.
I’ll bet that a charter school wouldn’t accept such a child. The public schools must accept anyone who walks in, and that’s their basic trouble.
I guess that the chancellor and other education big-wigs will mandate that all teachers will have to get training should a child go into labor in your classroom. I can just imagine what an observation by a principal would look like: When I entered your room today, it was very noisy. Children were running around and screaming, as a girl was on the floor and appeared to be in labor. You did nothing to lessen her pain and merely stood by after you called 911. Please arrange to report to my office for a post-observation conference, and be prepared to demonstrate the necessary skills when a woman goes into labor. Thank you.Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Do the muffle
To the editor,
Last year John Manzola was fired from the Marine Park Civic Association board for being “too vocal and outspoken” about the slow progress and the huge cost over-run of the Carmine Carro Center, then under construction in Marine Park. Somehow the cost jumped from $6 million to $16 million.
Recently, his wife Maria Manzola, and another member of the board Jim Kelly were also fired (“Civic War,” online May 15). All were terminated in violation of the group’s bylaws. The nominating committee used pretexts as reasons to fire them. They said Maria Manzola was sick in December and missed meetings. The real reason was that they were afraid she would talk with her husband about group business.
Aren’t all members entitled to know what the association is doing? It’s a civic group, not the C.I.A. They fired Jim Kelly because he is a friend of John Manzola. Where do these people get the authority to unilaterally fire anybody?
The reason for any civic group is to improve the neighborhood. Occasionally opinions will differ and everyone has a chance to be heard. That’s what we call democracy. Apparently, the nominating committee wants to stifle dissent. What they did was shameful, overbearing, and a violation of their rights to free speech and due process.
If they have so much as an ounce of character, they will ask the three to return and then resign. That’s the least they could do.David F. Podesta
Marine Park
Squander city
To the editor,
Did you see the “Don’t Let Tax, Water, Or Repair Charges Come Between You and Your Property” ad that appeared in your recent issue, and in other daily and weekly neighborhood newspapers?
Even worse was the 72-page supplement, which appeared in the New York Daily News. It listed — line by line — the name of every New Yorker who owes real estate tax, water sewer, emergency repair, or other property-related charges, and featured a “City of New York may sell a lien on your property” advertisement.
Is this the best way the city’s Departments of Finance, Environmental Protection, and 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 filing city and state tax returns? Surely the technology exists to place a lien on any tax refunds? They could also extend citizens the courtesy of a telephone call, or 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?Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
Rehab felons
To the editor,
The Board of Elections is not prepared for the primary in September and the general elections in November.
It doesn’t respond to requests for petition forms which would permit new candidates with new ideas to run for City Council.
In the 48th Council District, there are several candidates, but not one has spoken about their ideas regarding the criminal justice system or establishing community crisis intervention teams. Currently, mentally ill, and young people 16-19, are placed in solitary for 23 out of 24 hours a day.
Psychiatrists have made public officials aware of the damage done by such incarcerations.
At a recent board meeting, the Department of Corrections admitted that some people entering solitary will come out with a previously-undiagnosed mental illness. Moreover, 95 percent of all prisoners are eventually released and because they don’t receive adequate mental care, return to prison within a few years.
We introduced a petition before the Board of Corrections for minimum standards dealing with solitary confinement. We urge councilmembers and the mayor to encourage the board to finally face the damage that solitary confinement does to human beings, and to institute proper programs to aid in their recovery upon their release.
Allan Feinblum
Midwood