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Brooklyn Daily
To the editor,
Shavana Abruzzo’s extraordinary intellectual assessment of how Memorial Day should be saluted was the best case ever put forth in defense of our military men and women, who have made sacrifices for our country. (“Everyday should be Memorial Day,” A Britisher’s View, May 23)
My parents were married on Memorial Day in 1955. They met each other at a Jewish dance and shared a slice of apple pie. Although, they are no longer around, I could visualize myself handing her editorial to them to read. Their spirits would have soared.
During my early childhood years one of my uncles, who had fought in World War II and survived a bullet wound, made a Memorial Day a gathering in his family backyard that was dotted with pear and apple trees, and a beautiful cherry tree that stood by a side window.
Quite a few of my family members have taken part in the military, either in World War I or World War II. My father physically couldn’t go into combat, but he contributed to the war effort. A deceased friend of his often complained about the inadequate care he received from the Veterans’ Administration hospital.
It’s difficult at times for me and perhaps many others to be patriotic to America when the criminals are allowed to roam free. Amy Kaye
Sheepshead Bay
Brava and bravo!
To the editor,
Brava, Shavana Abruzzo! Thank you for the beautiful, heartfelt tribute to our fallen military (“Every day should be Memorial Day,” A Britisher’s View, May 23). Every year you deliver for them.
Also, please tell Matthew Perlman that I love the first paragraph of his front-page story on Bishop Ford (“Out of time! Faith eroding among Bishop Ford activists,” online May 20). I love that song and it’s a very clever lead in! Thank you.Diane Hunt
Bay Ridge
Elder abusers
To the editor,
It is a very sad that only one elected official in the city — a councilman from Park Slope — cares what happens to seniors in an assisted living home. Where is Mayor DeBlasio? This is the man who was arrested protesting the closing of Long Island College Hospital. Why hasn’t he said one word about what is happening to seniors in his own neighborhood?
I know that they are not 4 year olds going to pre-k or horses he wants to chase out of Central Park or an election year for him.
Then we come to Public Advocate Letitia James, who is too busy with her lawsuit against charter schools that she does not have time for seniors. Why Borough President Adams hasn’t tired to help in anyway I can’t begin to guess. Maybe he just doesn’t care. The same goes for our state senator and assemblyman. They haven’t said one word to try and help these people. They must remember that one day they will be seniors, too. Do they want to be pushed into a coma and not heard from?
Elected to office means you do your best for all people. I know that this is not an election year, but they must remember that some seniors represent several generations of voters who will remember that some people did not care enough to try and help our elder community.Sharron Staton
Windsor Terrace
Bugging out
To the editor,
I think that killing those crickets for energy bars in pretty rotten (“Crickets, please! Williamsburg guys make protein bars from bugs,” online May 1).
Their “singing” is very pleasant to listen to on summer evenings. Traditionally, crickets bring good luck. If the entrepreneurs behind this business are determined to continue manufacturing “bug” bars, how about they massacre roaches instead of crickets?Sarah Vogel
Sea Gate
RIP, Jerry
To the editor,
Jerry Vale, a wonderful singer and a wonderful man, has passed away. He was as good friend of mine. He sang for Columbia Records and I worked there doing promotion. We went to many Yankee games together, and I visited him and his wife Rita when they lived in New Jersey.
Jerry Vale, born Gennaro Valino, was what Jews call a “mensch.” Listen to his recordings of “You Don’t Know Me,” “Mama,” “Al-Di-La,” and “Two Purple Shadows” and you’ll hear a beautiful voice. Great guy! Rest In Peace, Jerry.John Jay Sonners
Coney Island
Beachy keen
To the editor,
The Parks Department opened 14 miles of beaches on Memorial Day until Labor Day. The Atlantic Ocean’s water temperature currently is a bone-chilling 57 degrees Fahrenheit. The cold shock of the ocean’s water can cause a massive increase in blood pressure and cardiac strain, plus hypothermia. Those with a history of heart problems should avoid entering very cold water which causes the heart to stop.
It is unwise to open our city beaches on Memorial Day when the ocean is unsafe, or at the least very uncomfortable to swim in, and only a few hardy souls daring to venture in. It is also stupid to close the beaches on Labor Day when the ocean’s temperatures are in the upper 60s or low 70s and the beaches are packed with people enjoying the fine September and early October weather.
A longer beach season would be a boon to the local economy. All the businesses would stay crowded. Chow hounds would continue to delight in Brighton Beach’s exotic Russian restaurants. Free run of the beach would encourage New Yorkers to get healthier, build up an appetite, work out playing volleyball, wrestle in the sand, jog by the sparkling ocean, and swim in the deep blue waters.
Our quotient of happiness will not decrease if the people have their playground. It is dollars and sense to keep our beaches open longer because the city is a hot-spot destination.Justine Swartz
Brooklyn Heights
Where’s the ramp?
To the editor,
Last summer someone decided to replace the ramp leading up to the Boardwalk on Brighton Second Street. The ramp served a purpose for the handicapped with a walker or wheelchair, or a parent with a stroller.
After Hurricane Sandy destroyed a two-story apartment house on West End Ave across the street from the Manhattan Beach temple, the property stayed vacant until a developer brought it and decided to build a condo. Since last year the area between Brightwater Avenue on Brighton Second Street is fenced off. Not only that, there’s a large hole near the fenced-in playground.
Now go take a look at the condo being build on West End Avenue, it’s almost finished. As we go into the second summer there still is no ramp on Brighton Second Street. Why take down something that serves a valuable purpose? How in the world do you start a project and just walk away leaving a big hole in the ground?
I find this unacceptable. Are we the residents of Brighton Beach second-class citizens?Jerry Sattler
Brighton Beach
Art-smart
To the editor,
I applaud how PS 192 was able to re-create a stage rendition of the classic film “The Wizard of Oz” with their third-grade students (“Grammar school has an Oz-fest,” May 30).
It’s wonderful how the teachers worked together and integrated the visual arts and dance components into their literacy lesson.
As an educator and community education advocate in Coney Island, I know that the arts have a profound ability to enrich the lives of our students. The arts, in combination with reading, writing, speaking, and listening, can open doors for high levels of analysis, and challenge students to explore themselves and their surroundings. The arts convey what it means to be human, challenge the intellect, and provide rich experiences in analysis, exploration, reflection, observation, imagination, experimentation, and communication.
Let’s talk about collaborating with other schools and neighboring districts. Remember, it’s all about sharing and learning about best practices for empowering students. When you are an educator, you are on a winning team. Our students are counting on us for their future. We have to win for them.Scott Krivitsky
The writer is a teacher at PS 188 in Coney Island.
Map flap
To the editor,
This is to point out a fundamental error in the caption to the two maps illustrating the article, “Park it at the park! Prospect Park getting new lot, pedestrian path” (online May 12).
The caption says that the new Lefrak Center is in the center of each map, both the “before” and the “after” views. This is not true; what is shown in the center of each map is the Concert Grove. In the “before” picture a bit of the old skating rink can be seen at the far upper right edge. In the “after” picture, that area shows a bit of the new Esplanade and restored Music Island. The Lefrak Center is located where the old parking lot used to be, considerably to the left of the maps.Margaret Hagen
The writer is a Prospect Park volunteer.
Americans first
To the editor,
I would like to know who our state officials are loyal to? Are they helping Americans or foreign immigrants?
I was born and raised in America, and I am just able to make ends meet. I applied for state aid and was rejected due to income requirements. On the other hand, as soon as an immigrant comes to America, they immediately apply for welfare and state aid, and get it. They do not pay taxes and put nothing back into the economy. Most of them do not even speak any English.
Case in point: I went to a supermarket to buy some groceries and a Russian immigrant was in front of me. She paid with a benefits’ card. The cashier even had to show her how to use it. As I watched her pull out her card I saw credit cards and $20 bills in her wallet. If you are receiving state aid, how could you have a credit card when you need a bank account to get one? What makes me more angry is that when I left the store, I saw her loading the groceries into a luxury car.
Why isn’t the state investigating these people more thoroughly? Guess the state cares more about the immigrants than the struggling Americans who really need the aid.Robert from Brighton Beach
Illegals’ solution
To the editor,
People who come here illegally should not be permitted to vote. However I believe it is necessary to relax our standards. Illegal immigrants and undocumented civilians should serve an apprenticeship of five years where they can care for the disabled and infirm. My father, Hyman Abosh, was the victim of a hit-and-run accident in 1993, and was an invalid for the last two years of his life.
This would be a constructive slash to our Medicare and Medicaid budgets. If there were no complaints about their work, they could become naturalized citizens because they will have earned their place in American society. President Bill Clinton said, “Give something to get something,” while President Lyndon Johnson said, “Fair exchange is no robbery.”
I believe this would be a blessed relief to the disabled and invalid, who would not lose their life savings to our health care system, and it would be more humane and efficient.Elliott Abosh
Brighton Beach
Traffic woes
To the editor,
One of the most pressing issues facing Brooklyn is the ever-increasing traffic congestion in residential neighborhoods, exacerbated by parking on streets and double-parked delivery trucks. The building of multi-family dwellings on formerly single-family lots, and rising affluence among Brooklyn residents who have several cars per family, is making it exceedingly difficult to move about. Many elderly Brooklynites rarely use their vehicles for fear that they will be forced to park blocks away from their homes.
As we have seen with the Second Avenue subway construction — in progress since the Great Depression and still incomplete for assorted reasons — construction of new subterranean lines will not benefit New Yorkers in the short term.
Three viable alternatives: additional elevated trains, increased city-owned park-and-rides where drivers can park and then utilize public transportation, and more Select Bus Service routes with dedicated lanes allowing for speedy rides. Elevated trains might be a noisy eyesore, but hey this is New York!
Frank D’Amico, Sr.
Bay Ridge
Class war
To the editor,
Sixty years after Brown v. Board of Education, our first black president is sending his own children to private school while he blocks every attempt to use vouchers to give poor kids an equally good education — all the while going on about how income inequality will lead to opportunity inequality.
What a fine sense of humor our hope-and-change president has. Everybody get the joke? Anybody laughing?
He can call the next voucher bill the “Go To School With Malia and Sasha Act.” Might be a little tougher to veto that one.
Dr. Stephen Finger
Mill Basin
Martial smarts
To the editor,
The passage of a bill sponsored by upstate State Senator Joe Griffo (R-Rome, N.Y.) to legalize mixed martial arts is great news. It will be interesting to see if Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver will allow a vote on a companion bill in his chamber. Mixed martial arts is a rapidly growing sport already legal in other states. It rivals both wrestling and boxing in fans and attendance for pay-per-view events. Why should we miss out on the jobs, economic growth, and new tax revenues?
If Gov. Cuomo, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Senate Leader Dean Skelos, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and members of the State Legislature cannot work out their differences on the issues of the day, send them to the Octagon! Ditto for Mayor DeBlasio, Comptroller Scott Stringer, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, and councilmembers. They can settle their disagreements on the mat! These would be sporting events voters would pay top dollar to see!Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
‘They won’
To the editor,
Much of the political scuttlebutt of the day is about winning or maligning “others” — rarely, if ever, is it about presenting intelligent ideas and solutions that actually pertain to the wants and needs of the citizenry, whom politicians office are sworn to serve.
I watched the ceremony for the 9-11 memorial museum’s opening with tears in my heart and eyes, and I thought to myself that “they” won. The unabashed and undeniable loss of freedoms and privacy in the U.S. since 9-11 speaks to the fears that the terrorists hoped to instill in the spirit of the country, and so, they indeed won.
One example is the mere existence and intense growth of the likes of the National Security Agency tells me that “they” won. The winners also include many one-percenters of the controlling class, along with their larger-than-life corporate partners. There are many positive and wonderful examples of their work in giving back to society, but the evil-doers are gaining traction and over-the-top influence within our federal and state governments, and it is downright scary.
Another example is the debate between the Federal Communications Commission and the government known as net neutrality — another significant attempt to control by corralling and snooping upon everyone via the internet.
Technological advances in the form of computer and mobile devices that rely on a handful of global communication entities does not honor, let alone protect, our privacy. Instead, they herd all that we are, and do, and share via these devices and service providers into neatly stored meta-data streams in perfectly cooled data centers around the country and globe.
The differences between the “outsider” terrorists as defined by the perpetrators of the 9-11 horrors, and the now largely expanded homegrown terrorists have faded. Please, everyone, vote. Vote in every election, and vote with your head and heart for I do believe that if we follow our heart and spirit that we will vote for humanity and fairness for all.
Yes, I was tearfully moved watching the museum dedication, but the tears were for the immense loss of life, the destruction, and for the sad changes to our way of life. “They” won.Barry Brothers
Homecrest
Simple pleasures
To the editor,
This morning, with the threat of rain looming, I took my umbrella with me, or so I thought. I took a car service to work and when I got to my office I saw that although I was holding my briefcase, I couldn’t say the same about my umbrella.
I had a sinking feeling that I had left that rain protector in the car or at home. At lunchtime I needed to go back home and it was no surprise at all that the missing umbrella was nowhere to be found. Adding insult to injury, when I called car service a few minutes later I had to take an old umbrella from the closet that I had avoided conscientiously for years for many reasons. I walked out of my building and saw the same driver from four hours ago.
Hoping against hope, I asked him if he had found my umbrella. He picked up my umbrella, next to him on the floor, and handed it to me. “Is this yours?” he asked, not realizing he was intruding on the sweetness of my reunion. Sometimes it’s the smallest things that can mean so much. Alan Magill
Midwood