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Brooklyn Daily
To the editor,
I applaud Borough President Adams for terminating the Thursday night Seaside Summer Concert series in Coney Island.
When Marty Markowitz was borough president, people used to wait for hours upon hours on line in scorching temperatures to buy a $5 seat.
Looking back, I wonder why Markowitz didn’t let them enter the staging area at W. 19th Street throughout the day, as all other outdoor venues permit, in order to place their own chairs, blankets, and temporary umbrellas for a pleasant picnic or a relaxing day in the outdoors. Did he think he was running a Jones Beach-type concert venue?
There were fights on the line and people almost passing out from standing for hours to enter the cordoned-off city block and see some 25-year-old act. Was it really worth it?
Lest we forget, the 1,000 reserved seats were for the 50 or so sponsors and the hordes of politicians who brought their relatives and friends, and their relatives and friends, and their relatives and friends, just before the entertainment began.
The concert administrators were flawed from the beginning for abusing Brooklynites.Steven M. Lipson, M.D.
Bergen Beach
Max tax
To the editor,
If we give developers the green light to overbuild and benefit from huge tax credits, we may get a few dozen units of affordable housing, according to how I hear Mayor DeBlasio’s plan to create affordable housing.
It would be far more prudent to preserve existing communities, like Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. Like old-school New York neighborhoods, they contain populations that are ethnically and financially diverse.
One reason that neighborhoods with affordable housing are being creamed is the disparate tax structure based on an antiquated system brought on by red-lining in the 1970s. The result is today we have a real estate tax structure detached from real property values, thus putting the major tax burden on those neighborhoods not in that protected tax area.
This red-lining scheme was hatched by the New York Real Estate community, so beware when the same board shouts and blames the preservation of neighborhoods as the reason that housing costs are rising. Why? Because it restricts their ability to develop and make money.
Preserving our existing housing stock is one of the most cost-effective and easiest ways to preserve affordable housing. Getting the real estate tax system to reflect real property values would go a long way to keeping our neighbors in our neighborhoods. Victoria Hofmo
Bay Ridge
Bull DeBlasio
To the editor,
I must say Mayor DeBlasio has chutzpah — after just six months on the job he is taking a 10-day vacation.
He and his family really earned it. After all it is hard work trying to get 4 year olds to sign up for pre-k, chasing horses out of Central Park, and just running around talking about what he thinks is progressive.
DeBlasio is all talk with no clear plan. He is mayor of a city with more than eight million people, so why does he act like this is a board game for adults or an ad-lib fun time? Most people get a vacation after one year on the job. Why does he think he is better than the rest of us?
We are paying for his vacation, he may pay his personal expenses, but we pay his salary. He will also get a tax write-off because he will claim he was conducting business. We are also paying for all the people he is taking with him. He said they will pay for their personal expenses when they aren’t working, but who is paying their airfares and hotel bills?Sharron Kathie
Brooklyn
Teacher tenure
To the editor,
I sympathize with fed-up students, in regard to ending tenure for teachers, but removing teachers considered incompetent and inept is treating the symptoms of the disease, not the causes. The greater evil is that principals have certain teachers instruct students in subjects that they never majored or minored in.
All too frequently the teacher is at the mercy of the principal in elevating or lowering a student’s grade. If the teacher cooperates, the principal will reward that instructor with a sabbatical. If not, the teacher is subjected to a life of misery, including being embarrassed in front of students.
Former Sen. Al D’Amato was right when he called for five-year contracts for city principals. The fish stinks from the head down.Elliott Abosh
Brighton Beach
‘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
Sign of times
To the editor,
There goes another part of Brooklyn history. The removal of the iconic Kentile Floors at Ninth Street and Second Avenue was a tough blow (“Gap-toothed Kentile! Sign coming down today, lighting up tonight,” online June 20).
It was a big part of my life. I saw it everyday traveling to and from the city on the F train. Most days, I would just look through it, as if knowing that it would be there forever.
The Kentile Floors factory made deadly asbestors tiles for nearly 100 years, but its sign was a soothing relief in a changing urban lanscape. Funny the things you miss. V. Dall
Midwood
Public transit
To the editor,
This year marks the 50th anniversary of federal support for public transportation. The success of public transportation can be traced back to one of the late President Lyndon Johnson’s greatest accomplishments which continues benefitting many Americans today.
On July 10, 1964 he signed the “Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964” into law. Subsequently this has resulted in the investment over time of several hundred billion dollars into public transportation. Millions of Americans, including many residing in Brooklyn today, utilize various public transportation alternatives on a daily basis. They include local and express bus, ferry, jitney, light rail, subway, and commuter rail services. All of these systems use less fuel and move far more people than conventional single occupancy vehicles. Most of these systems are funded with your tax dollars, thanks to President Johnson.
Depending upon where you live, consider the public transportation alternative. Try riding a local or express bus, commuter van, ferry, light rail, commuter rail or subway. Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.