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Brooklyn Daily
To the editor,
I think it’s wonderful that Tom Allon, who participated in November’s mayoral campaign, is so impressed with Mayor DeBlasio’s “one-city” approach to his hiring and implementation process (“Mayor should take the money — and teach,” Mayoral Spin Cycle, Jan. 31).
As an educator and community education advocate in Coney Island, I couldn’t agree with him more. Having Schools Chancellor Farina, and Senior Deputy Chancellor Dorita Gibson — who are on Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s education team — is the recipe for success in our schools.
When we speak about recipe for success in education, let’s not forget about empowering our students with the resources and life skills to be successful in the 21st century workforce. Also, we have to focus on the strengths and not the weaknesses of our students. Next, we must engage our parents, community leaders, newly elected officials, business alliances, and chambers of commerce on our team approach to education. Then, we have to create a Career Technical Education zone in many of our school districts. Differentiation, of the tools of instruction, will cater to the various learning styles of our children.
Finally, we have to bring back community school districts and hire a community education liaison to support the one-city approach to education. There are many school programs, which are affiliated with the Office of School Programs and Partnerships, that need to trickle down to our various community school districts.
The new road to education is here to stay for everyone to enjoy and be part of. That’s what a one-city approach is all about. Thank you Mayor DeBlasio for having the vision and determination to see what is needed in our wonderful city. I’m so proud to be an educator.
Scott Krivitsky
The writer is a teacher at PS 188 in Coney Island.
Shav & illegals
To the editor,
Shavana Abruzzo, I enjoyed reading your column this week, as usual (“New councilman’s ‘illegals’ gig,” A Britisher’s View, Jan. 31).
Anything that has to do with illegal immigration ticks me off. Makes me scream. Automatic citizenship to babies born here to illegals is a big problem. You touched on that in your column.
Illegal immigrants are not health-checked as they cross the border, and this serious matter is too often overlooked. They enter our country with diseases, including tuberculosis, hepatitis, Chagas disease, and leprosy, and pass the germs onto others. I pity the person who is standing or sitting near such a person in a bus or theater, as the disease-carrying person coughs!
It’s not only illegals who come here to have babies. A few years ago I read an article about Asians who, when they first become pregnant and know when their baby is due, will book a flight to U.S. at about the time the baby is due, so the baby is born here and is an automatic citizen — and all hospital costs are absorbed by taxpayers. Then comes Section 8, food stamps for the baby, and other taxpayer-funded benefits. Makes me scream.
Jill Brown
Mill Basin
‘Grimm’ Mike
To the editor,
Your recent stories concerning the behavior of Rep. Michael Grimm disturbed me (“Tracing the congressman’s temper,” online Jan. 29).
Apologies aside, the congressman’s repeated, hostile outbursts and violent threats towards constituents, members of the press, and others, amply demonstrate that he is temperamentally unsuited for public office.
His constituents deserve better than an out-of-control thug. I hope he doesn’t threaten to “cut me in half” for saying so.
Name withheld at request.
No-fuss bus
To the editor,
The new bus service is great (“Special Bus Service a disservice to B44 riders,” Sound Off to the Editor, Jan. 31).
I work as a teacher in the afternoons in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Williamsburg, and travel from Marine Park. I was skeptical at first, but the change of route to Rogers Avenue, the bus lane, and the fewer stops, have shaved my commute from 55 minutes to as low as 30 minutes.
I feel for the rider who wrote in, but I think the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has got it right this time. Also, if you want to see full stretch buses, just check them out during the school dismissal hours and the evening rush hours on other parts of the route, not just in your neighborhood.
In general, wouldn’t it be better to look at the whole picture before judging?
U. Delb
Marine Park
Chapter ‘n verse
To the editor,
Quit yer moanin’, Sarah Vogel (“Inconvenient chapter,” Sound off to the Editor, Jan. 31). You sound like a true kvetch.
When one lives in a big, crowded city, there are bound to be inconveniences: long lines in supermarkets, movies, theaters, waiting for buses or access-a-ride, waiting in your doctor’s or dentist’s office, or for your hairdresser or manicurist to call you because it’s long past your appointment.
Take a deep breath and thank God you have the vision to enjoy reading and writing. There are millions of folks less fortunate than you are — those who are blind, crippled, or unable to even pick up a book to read!
You are a mighty lucky person, Sarah. Count your blessings. Joan Applepie
Mill Basin
Library closure
To the editor,
On behalf of many people in Brighton Beach, I protest the closing of Brighton Library on Mondays. We and our children need it to be open as many days as possible.
We need the books, the papers, and the computers. For many of us, this is the only way to improve our English, so we can be a part of American society.
When we asked the librarian about the closure, she said it was due to budget cuts and no money. But, please, we need this library open. God Bless America.
Steve Folkov
Brighton Beach
Stellar service
To the editor,
As a person from Brooklyn, I do worry about our community, and the positive and negative things here do matter to me.
Last summer, my husband was going overseas and we went to John F. Kennedy Airport, thinking that’s where he had to catch his plane. About an hour before the flight was due to take off, we found out that his plane was flying from Newark Airport in New Jersey! We were really pressed for time, and changing tickets would have cost us almost as much as buying a new one. So, we were lost, and did not know what to do.
I called Seaside Car Service on Coney Island Avenue and Brighton 10th Street, hoping that they could help us out of this difficult situation. They immediately sent a car that quickly took us to Newark Airport, where my husband caught his plane on time. Unfortunately, we did not think to ask the driver’s name. We called the same company for another emergency situation, recently. That driver — Yevsey Korytny — gave us not only a fast drive, but a shoulder to cry on.
Most of the time, people complain and get upset about the services they receive, but we would like to say, “Thank you” to our Brooklyn workers for providing us with great service.Raisa Chernina
Brighton Beach
Snow days
To the editor,
The decision to open city schools, following the Jan. 21 snowstorm was ridiculous. Ironically, the mayor closed schools following the Jan. 2 storm, which was almost as bad.
If anyone thinks that serious education would go on today, you are only fooling yourself. With both teacher and student attendance down, those who came to school were quickly herded by grade either to the cafeteria, auditorium or gym. Then students were divided up and assigned to teachers. In other words, many teachers wound up having children they’re unfamiliar with, and discipline suffered as a result. It must have been a wonderful day for children to roam the hallways and commit other acts of mayhem.
Once and for all, we must adopt the method used by schools in upstate New York. They include the idea of snow-days in their calendar.
Each year, five days are added to the school calendar. If any of them are not used, the school year ends that many days earlier. The state mandates a 180 day year, and we go over that every year.Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Nyet brewski
To the editor,
A message for the Russians — root beer is soda, not beer.Stuart Cohen
Coney Island
SUV holed up
To the editor,
The other day, after baby-sitting my two little grandsons in Long Island, I headed home on the Belt Parkway and was greeted with traffic at a standstill.
As I crawled up to the flashing police emergency lights, I saw one of those super-luxurious, European SUVs blocking two lanes. You know the one that is shown on TV climbing mountains, traversing the rain forest, fording rivers, and bounding down the steps of a piazza.
Well, it seems as though they never tested their vehicles in Gotham, especially on the pothole-ridden belt, as the front right wheel was torn off, causing the delay.Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
GOP lameducks
To the editor,
Councilmember Vincent Ignizio (R–S.I.) will be elected as the new City Council Minority leader, beating Queens’ last Republican Councilmember Eric Ulrich.
This result is based on the fact that two of the three last Republican councilmembers are from Staten Island, while Eric Ulrich has no one to vote for him. This is the political equivalent of a eunuch in a whore house.
City Democrats have gerrymandered City Council district lines for more than 50 years. At one point, after the boroughwide councilmember-at-large positions were abolished in 1982, there was only one Republican councilmember left — Susan Molinari of Staten Island.
During the 1990s, the GOP elected Charles Millard and Andrew Eristoff in Manhattan, Martin Golden in Brooklyn, along with Mike Abel, Tom Ognibene, and Alfonse Stabile in Queens, and Fred Cerillo of Staten Island. This resulted in their caucus growing to a record seven members.
Flash forward to the 2013 general election results. Councilman Vincent Ignizio will be accompanied by fellow Staten Island-Brooklyn Councilmember Steven Matteo, and Eric Ulrich from Queens, for a total of three GOP councilmembers. As minority leader, Ignazio will have a larger office than some other councilmembers. The other 48 Democratic councilmembers will meet behind closed doors to elect a council speaker. As a newly elected councilmember in 2001, Democrat David Weprin said, “The Office of City Council Speaker is too important to allow the handful of Republican councilmembers any say in the selection process.” It will be the same in 2013. The Democratic Council’s 48-member caucus will determine the next council speaker. Whoever becomes council speaker will give the three last remaining Republican councilmembers whatever crumbs fall off the table. Each will receive a lulu for chairing a council committee and some token amount of pork-barrel, member-item spending, after the Democratic councilmembers first finish rewarding themselves.
To the victor belong the spoils of office. Without a Republican mayor to work with, Ignizio, Matteo, and Urlich will be next to useless.Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.