See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
Brooklyn Daily
To the editor,
To my elected governmental representatives, whether I voted for you or not:
What’s going on? Seriously, how can you think to show your face on television, attend any public event, make a public statement or speech, or do anything other than sitting in a room with the other members of Congress and the administration in order to solve the so-called financial cliff crisis?
This summer, into the fall, we all knew it was political posturing that was keeping you from actually doing your job to find a way to fund the government and keep it solvent. But we’ve passed election day; you were all re-elected, as were your “opponents” in the government.
There’s no political gain to be had by swooping in at the last minute to say, “See how bad the other guys were? But we were good; we fixed it.”
It has stopped being amusing, it has stopped being merely annoying. Now you’re up to damaging my life and business (and, I imagine, nearly every other one of the 300 million citizens out here who are looking at our government with increasing disdain and scorn).
I’m trying to expand my business, open a new division, and I’m seeking financing to do so. Everyone I’ve spoken with recently has been uncomfortable about investing in anything right now, when they’re unsure what is going to be in the next month or two, due to your political nonsense.
You all talked about jobs creation during the past campaign season. Well, guess what? Government doesn’t create jobs. Government, if it’s operating properly, gets out of the way so that people like me can create jobs. As soon as I get my funding, I’ll be hiring seven people to get the new business running, and I expect that, once we’re in business and moving, we’ll be hiring another 20 or 30 people.
Those are the jobs you were talking about this autumn. Those are the jobs that will help the economy improve. And those are the jobs that can not be created until you sit down with your fellow representatives and fix the mess you created.
I get it. Each of you wants what is best for the country, and you’re making sure I know it’s not your fault; it’s the other guys’.
Honestly, I couldn’t care less whose fault it is, nor who swoops in with the last-minute solution. I want it solved, now. And if you can’t do it today, ask yourself what’s going to change that will enable you to solve it at the end of December? If it’s just more political posturing, you really need to think about resigning and getting the hell out of the way.
Ian Randal Strock
Midwood
Shav’s ‘wrong’
To the editor,
Once again columnist Shavana Abruzzo has it wrong (“Bam’s got a herd of voters,” A Britisher’s View, Nov. 15).
She says President Obama’s first term was “a bomb.” It was a big success.
He saved the automobile industry and thousands of jobs. His stimulus raised seven million people out of poverty. It also helped many companies.
ObamaCare has helped millions of people get health insurance, and in 2014, millions more will have it. Contrary to Republican lies, it did not take money from Medicare, it took it from providers, much of it from United Healthcare.
Obama also got Osama bin Laden — our worst enemy.
Shavana blames the lack of security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Obama, but the host country is responsible for security.
Jerome Frank
Coney Island
Sandy’s aftermath
To the editor,
The disaster that was Hurricane Sandy calls for drastic thinking.
With thousands suddenly homeless and winter fast approaching, this calls for FEMA and the city to create a modular home assembly line.
This solves two problems.
It quickly provides well-built, safe, warm homes for our storm-ravaged homeless, and it also brings jobs to the city.
Another idea is to use the steel shipping containers that line the docks by the thousands. They can be quickly turned into temporary living quarters that are strong and resilient.
The technology is there — we just have to think outside the box.
We cannot settle for how we used to accomplish construction jobs. We must see to it that our storm-ravaged neighbors are housed in safe and warm quarters.
I believe Floyd Bennett air field would be a good location because it’s close to Queens and Brooklyn. You could also use it to set up a trailer, shipping container house community that could be secured by a fence and a neighborhood security patrol.
There is a Q35 bus stop there, so people could get to work, school, or do their shopping. We could also set up a shuttle bus system to make living at this temporary community more user-friendly.
M. Taeler
Marine Park
Ungolden Marty
To the editor,
What is the matter with the people in Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and any other area that state Sen. Marty Golden (R-Bay Ridge) covers?
He is doing nothing to clean up these regions.
The only thing he is doing is getting his name in the papers every week.
Graffiti and vandalism are out of control in Bay Ridge. I just noticed the trash cans were knocked over at the corners of 90th and 91st streets.
Where are the cops? Nowhere to be seen.
A few months ago I showed Senator Golden a few spots with graffiti, consisting of pink paint and black markings, and he told me to wash it off.
What kind of answer is that from a state senator? Why is he re-elected time and again?
Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-Bay Ridge) and Rep. Michael Grimm (R-Bay Ridge) are no better.
Richard Martin
Bay Ridge
Road hogs
To the editor,
I would like to thank your paper for taking the time to do an article about the speeding on East 66th street and Avenue T (“Motorists are treating E. 66th Street as Indy 500, residents say,” online Nov. 15).
Unfortunately nothing will be done. It seems that Councilman Lew Fidler (D–Marine Park), for some reason that I can’t explain, will do nothing to improve the quality of life on the block.
He says that a speed bump will result in cars flying in the air. I have never heard of such an incident anywhere. East 63rd street has one — can anyone recall a vehicle flying through the air?
The fact is speeding on this block is at an out-of-control situation. We get the same old morons who use this block as their personal Nascar race track.
If they know that a bump is here, they will either slow down, avoid the block all together, or maybe get a job instead of driving around wasting gas and polluting the air.
I know for a fact that with a speed bump they put up signs that say “speed bump.” It’s not like a landmine that you don’t know it’s there until it’s too late.
I worked as an Emergency Medical Technician for more than 30 years. I will never forget an accident where a women who was hit so hard that her leg was touching her head. In an another, a pedestrian was hit so hard that pieces of him were stuck to a storefront window two blocks away. If our elected officials can’t do whatever is possible to protect the citizens of this city, then maybe it’s time to step down.
Speed bumps need to be installed in more locations where there are red-light cameras. Mill Basin and Bergen Beach are turning into speed Meccas. There need to be more laws in place to prevent these kinds of illegal acts.
Stopping for a red light, and then proceeding through it, is a daily thing around here. Lawmakers should legislate penalties that include forfeit of licenses, impounding of vehicles, and higher fines. Elected officials help the community in many ways, but they need to do more so that we aren’t peeling body parts off storefront windows.
Perry November
Bergen Beach
Reach reporter Shavana Abruzzo at sabruzzo@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2529.