Traffic circle
needs attention
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A BTR UGUST 9-15, 2019 13
letters & comments
BTR
statements
New building
ruins parkland
Dear editor,
Brust Park is a pre-Columbian
forest in Riverdale. In the
summer, the park’s temperature
is about 15 degrees cooler
than on the street. Standing
next to its pristine Brust
Brook is to go back to a time
less spoiled.
Yet there’s a builder that
thinks it needs 29 air conditioned
units to warm it up?
How about some traffi c? And
the city is OK with this plan.
Part of the forest will be permanently
shaded. The lot he’s
planning build on will destroy
the park. The water that
now runs off the lot’s bedrock
-feeding the brook, will now be
polluted by run-off from the
building. On this steep rocky
half-acre lot, he’s squeezing a
14-car paid parking lot. This
will turn the ancient forest
into a just a bunch of trees,
interrupt the birds’ fl ight patterns,
as well as create a traffi
c nightmare on tiny Dash
Place.
The Coalition to Save Brust
Park went out and got 1,000
signatures to block the building
and instead turn it into
parkland. Everybody wanted
to sign the petition.
So why is this construction
happening?
Apparently, real estate
is where the money is. And
money buys power. The fact
that real estate prices keep rising
shows that it’s the seller,
not the buyer that writes the
laws and controls the market.
We have to do better. The
1,000 that signed to petition
to save Brust Park are in the
vast majority. It’s unacceptable
that they don’t count.
James Wacker
Unequal parking
enforcement
Dear editor,
I was driving down East
Tremont on a fi ne Tuesday
morning and counted three
parking enforcement agents
trolling from Bruckner Boulevard
to Waterbury Avenue
(a distance of 3/4 mile). Yet every
Monday morning I drive
down the service road and
see not one parking ticket on
the illegally parked tractor
trailers blocking my view of
the park the entire weekend.
So while the city has no issue
‘nickel and diming’ tax payers
for expired meters and overdue
inspections, the commercial
trucks seem to escape the
same treatment. It just does
not make sense.
Ed Gruber
Democratic
principles?
Dear editor,
The second round of Democratic
Party Presidential primary
debates between 20 offi -
cially announced candidates
should give both Jewish and
non Jewish voters concern
about the future of our great
nation. Too many candidates
on stage over two nights supported
the continued expansion
of government-run insurance,
health care for illegal
immigrants, open borders,
free college tuition, forgiveness
of student debt, reparations
for slavery, increasing
income redistribution and a
guaranteed monthly income
payments. Support for a mandatory
Green New Deal would
result in the elimination of
millions of jobs. It could easily
cost tens of trillions to pay for
all of the above which Washington
would have to borrow
thus increasing our national
debt.
They refuse to criticize fellow
Democrats who equate
holding facilities for illegal immigrants
with the Holocaust.
Six million of my Jewish ancestors
did not voluntarily attempt
to enter into Nazi concentration
camps. They did
not offer to dress in rags, be
slowly starved to death, perform
voluntary slave labor
and be gassed to death in crematoriums.
Mainstream moderate
Democrats from decades ago
such as senators Daniel Patrick
Moynihan, Scoop Jackson,
Sam Nunn and Joseph
Lieberman would not recognize
their own party today.
Larry Penner
Curbing the
gun culture
Dear editor,
How many mass shootings
must occur before the gun culture
of our country is curbed
by effective legislation? The
Second Amendment reads,
“A well regulated Militia, being
necessary to the security
of a free State, the right of the
people to keep and bear Arms,
shall not be infringed.”
How this wording can be
twisted to mean that individual
citizens who are not part
of the military have the right
to possess weapons designed
for the battlefi eld is baffl ing.
Two mass shooting events occurred
this week and in a July
31 report CBS News gave the
following sobering statistic:
After 212 calendar days there
have been 248 mass shootings
in our country. Why does this
gory situation remain unchecked?
Pasqual Pelosi
Thanks for
supporting cops
(The following letter was sent
to Rev. Senator Ruben Diaz)
Dear Reverend Diaz,
I am writing to thank you
for supporting our police.
When I saw the videos of our offi
cers being doused with water
and hit with objects and then
walk away with their heads
bowed, it was the scariest thing
I have ever seen happen in this
city. Those offi cers were so
afraid of the anti-police polices
in this city that they retreated
instead of arresting the thugs
that dared to assault them.
Now, every person in this city
is in danger because if offi cers
are afraid to protect themselves
they will be afraid to protect us
Dear editor,
Is there anything can be
done about the Allerton/Mosholu
traffi c circle at Theodore
Kazirimoff Boulevard?
This is a very dangerous
turn, made even worse by the
fact that most of the turn and
merge road markings have
faded away.
I’ve written to the NYC Department
of Tranportation
but nothing has been done.
And, there are many times
when this circle is used for illegal
parking. There are times
when up to 50 cars are parked
there (some even extending
into the driving lanes), ignoring
the No Standing signs
These signs replaced No Parking
signs some years back, but
to no avail.
Stan Gary
Letters to the editor are welcome from all readers.
They should be addressed care of this newspaper
to Laura Guerriero, Publisher, the Bronx Times
Reporter, 3604 E. Tremont Ave., Bronx, NY 10465,
or e-mail to bronxtimes@cnglocal.com. All letters,
including those submitted via e-mail, MUST
be signed and with a verifi able address and telephone
number included. Note that the address and
telephone number will NOT be published and the
name will be published or withheld upon request.
No unsigned letters can be accepted for publication.
The editor reserves the right to edit all submissions.
as well.
I read your op ed in the
Bronx Times Reporter which
is what prompted this letter. To
my knowledge, you are the fi rst
local elected to acknowledge
that this city does, in fact, have
an anti-cop climate. Your gutsy
proclamation makes you an
outstanding leader is the eyes
of many.
I can only hope that other
electeds and community leaders
will follow your lead because
we cannot solve a problem
unless we admit we have
one. So, I thank you for your
much needed words of support
for our NYPD.
Mary Jane Musano
President, Waterbury
LaSalle Community
Association
As Stated uncovers our
elected offi cials concerns
about the El Paso, TX mass
shooting, police offi cer Daniel
Panteleo’s future with the
NYPD and Grub Hub’s plan
to return unfairly-charged
vendor fees.
A statement from Assemblyman
Michael Blake on
the El Paso mass shooting.....
“I am heartbroken upon hearing
the news coming from El
Paso, where a domestic terrorist
murdered at least 19
people and injured 40 others.
I applaud the acts of heroism
from the fi rst responders and
Good Samaritans who prevented
further loss of life.
“Republicans in Congress
must take action. We must
take steps to reduce these indiscriminate
acts of violence
and introduce additional legislative
measures to ensure
they do not happen in the future.”
Assemblyman Michael
A. Blake makes a recommendation
on police offi cer Daniel
Panteleo’s future..... “I call
on Commissioner O’Neill to
fi re all parties involved with
(Eric) Garner’s death and
the subsequent cover-up, including
police offi cers Justin
D’Amico, Mark Ramos
and Craig Furlani, Sergeant
Kizzy Adonis and Lieutenant
Christopher Bannon. I
standby the Garner family
on their call for New York
Police Commissioner James
O’Neill to do his job and fi re
Pantaleo, without pension or
benefi ts.”
Statement from Councilman
Mark Gjonaj, Chair
COUNCILMAN MARK GJONAJ
of the Small Business Committee,
regarding Grubhub’s
announcement to extend the
‘look back’ period on phone
order charges..... “While I
appreciate GrubHub’s commitment
to keep an open dialogue
about the committee’s
concerns, the recently
announced policy change to
extend the ‘look back’ period
on phone order charges from
two months to four months is
insuffi cient.
“There is no doubt that
many restaurants on Grub-
Hub’s platform have paid
these erroneous charges for
years. Since these charges
should not have been collected
in the fi rst place, I encourage
the company to extend
the refund period to the
beginning of each contract.”
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