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Brooklyn Daily
To the editor,
A panel okayed co-locations at John Dewey High School and Joseph B. Cavallaro Junior High School (“Local school leaders claim city plan based on bad numbers,” online Nov. 4).
Education has its own agenda as to how schools are going to be run. We are seeing how the existence of charter schools, and their own visions of education are diluting how public schools are servicing our students.
As educators and community advocates, it is our responsibility to reach out to our local government officials and tell them that we want more community learning schools in our district. Community schools are neighborhood public schools that address the needs of students in a holistic way — not just their academic achievement, but their overall health and well-being.
Community schools, using the school as a hub, integrate services, coordinate with partners, and use existing government funding to meet students’ academic, enrichment, social, and health needs — removing barriers to learning and helping students succeed. It is totally impossible to compete with co-locations in our schools, but we can support our students with outside services that help foster growth in many ways.
Let’s give our schools options that they can live with. The community learning school initiative is the way to go.Scott Krivitsky
The writer is a teacher at PS 188 in Coney Island.
Sing it
To the editor,
Thanks for calling attention to Regina Opera Company’s three productions of “The Marriage of Figaro” taking place this month (“The many marriages of Figaro,” Nov. 1).
I’m sure that all of the groups will increase their audience numbers because of the interesting article about the performances.
I would like to point out that there is an error in your information that Regina Opera seats its customers on folding chairs. Please go to our website (www.reginaopera.org), scroll down on our home page, and you can see our theater. We have 600 cushioned, fixed seats.
We thank you for your interest in the Brooklyn opera scene. Fran Garber
The writer is an opera producer at the Regina Opera Company.
Flu shot — not!
To the editor,
As one who has been a long-time sceptic of the flu shot, I am dismayed that Channel 12 — the Brooklyn news station — advises parents to inoculate babies as young as six months old.
These infants are extremely susceptible to many problems their parents and physicians may not know about at this early stage of development, including a severe reaction to albumen (egg whites), which parents and doctors may not consider analyzing. There is also an ingredient in peanuts that is present in the flu shot that may result in anaphylactic shock.
College student Libby Zion, the daughter of late syndicated columnist Sidney Zion, died from an unrelated condition in 1984, after she was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms, because the interns and residents were not properly supervised.
The flu is a virus and can metamorphosize into millions of different types of strains, which would not occur with a bacterium.
I think it is wrong to force healthcare workers to have a flu shot or face dismissal, but they should be required to wear a face mask for their own protection, and to safeguard their patients.Elliot Abosh
Brighton Beach
‘Phobic’ mayor
To the editor,
I believe that Mayor Bloomberg has a phobia about African Americans and Hispanics. That’s why he is so gung-ho about keeping NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy.
I also believe that he is using his buddy and political comrade Commissioner Ray Kelly, and the police department, to uphold his unconstitutional and racist agenda. But what he refuses to get through his thick head is that guns and other weapons don’t grow in Harlem. They come from a much bigger source — the U.S. government.
If Bloomberg thinks it is bad in this city, I suggest he try living somewhere else, like South Los Angeles. That will really give him something to think about.
His track record as mayor is nothing less than deplorable. I think he’s a homophobe, socially and racially.
Name withheld upon request
Brooklyn
Three-card Andy
To the editor,
In ancient Rome, government attempted to curry favor with the masses by offering free bread and circuses. Today we have Emperor Cuomo and other politicians proudly offering subway riders of the Brooklyn R line and Rockaway A line (between the Rockaways and Howard Beach) free rides last month. This was to honor those who continue to suffer from the impact of Hurricane Sandy one year later.
A curious intelligent newspaper reporter asked Gov. Cuomo who would pay for the free services. Cuomo shrugged his shoulders and would not answer the question, but smiled, as if to say, “What, me worry?”
Someone has to make up for the lost revenue. Riders are also taxpayers and know that at the end of the day they will end up paying the tab.
Government gives free stuff with one hand, and picks your pocket via taxes and user fees with the other. Albany is more efficient than organized crime, and better than any three-card Monty street hustler.Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
Mayor-elect Bill DeBlasio’s landslide victory was historic (“DeBlast-Off! DeBlasio wins huge at the polls,” online Nov. 6). The former public advocate and Park Slope councilman became the first city Democrat to hold the office in 20 years — and the tallest in living memory, at 6-foot-5. His margin of 49 percentage points was a record for a non-incumbent candidate. And his win was the cleanest sweep since Edward Koch won a third term in 1985.
DeBlasio’s triumph moved Republican rival Joe Lhota to tears, and invoked a torrent of mail from our cyber commentariat.
Let’s not forget the most important thing that happened. Charles Hynes is out! That walking sack of tumors on the fabric of this city has finally been removed.Jim from Cobble Hill
Please Mayor Bill, please grow your beard back. Show off your hipster roots!bkmanhatposeur from brokelyn
Lhota had no chance against DeBlasio, and that was known for the past month, so the winner was obvious. I am really tired of everyone calling DeBlasio a communist just because he believes in helping the hard working. Since when is that being a communist? Some of those ideas goes back to when populism first started around the turn of the century, and this predates communism by decades. Even if DeBlasio did spend time in places like Nicaragua, Cuba, or even the now-defunct Soviet Union, that was more than 30 years ago, and I highly doubt he is that same person he was then. If it’s all about not wanting politicians with shady histories, then there are a lot of them that shouldn’t be allowed to run for political office.
Tal Barzilai from Pleasantville, N.Y.
Hurray for Bolshevik Bill!
dot from daaasshhhh
This empty suit is in way over his head. Would not want to be in his shoes.Homey from Crooklyn
Socialism has been so successful everywhere else it has been tried, so why not here?JJL from Kensington
Anyone whose first-listed issue is “income inequality” is a communist by any other name. He spits in the face of every immigrant who ever came here and made something of himself. He can start by taking the salary of a first-year, grade-school teacher.Or from Yellow Hook
DeBlasio isn’t proposing anything close to the top marginal tax rates of Ronald Reagan, who as I recall wasn’t exactly a socialist.Guy from N.Y.C.
Late Diocese of Brooklyn Bishop Francis Mugavero died in 1991, but according to the Board of Elections he remains an active voter, despite the Church’s efforts to get his registration cancelled (“Late Catholic leader Francis Mugavero lives on in poll books,” online Nov. 12).
Readers discussed the issue online.
So you can be an active voter if you’re shown to be dead, but not if the post office can’t deliver your mail? What a terrible response. What a terrible policy.
Mike from Williamsburg
If they lose your registration, just go to Clinton Hill and vote as Bishop Mugavero.
Ed from Bay Ridge
I sent in an absentee ballot to 345 Adams Street, and it was returned by the post office as undeliverable.
Ken from Williamsburg
The postal service in Brooklyn is a sad sad organization. How the head of this region’ still has his or her post is baffling.
ty from pps
So if voters can elect a dead politican, then dead voters should be allowed to vote! Let every vote count baby!
o3 from bk
Of course, this is just the opinion of one man, but I believe that once a human has passed away, he or she should be considered “void of opinion.” Animals and cats are another story all together, but this does not apply here, in any case.
John Wasserman from Prospect Heights