Op-Ed Letters to the Editor
Hispanic Heritage Month
more important than ever
BY CHARLES SCHUMER
In New York, we draw
strength from our incredible
diversity. It’s what
we’re made from — we are
the home to the Statue of Liberty,
the home of Ellis Island,
and home to more immigrants
than just about any other state.
A huge and signifi cant part of
that diversity is New York’s
Latino population.
You can see it in the proud
legacy of Latinos that have
called our state home—from
Tito Puente, to Sonya Sotomayor,
to the millions of
families across generations.
You can see it in our bodegas,
taste it in our food, and hear
it ringing from our churches.
It’s enshrined in our murals,
preserved in our libraries, and
courses through our music.
It is with all this in in mind
that I wish communities across
the United States a happy start
to Hispanic Heritage Month.
Through war and peace,
joy and sorrow, and in times
of both wealth and profound
poverty—Latino Americans
have played a central part of
our nation’s story. They give
life to our national creed that
out of many, we are one.
This year and all years, we
celebrate that truth, while at
the same time recognizing
the many ways we could more
closely stitch together the fabric
of the American tapestry.
For America cannot celebrate
the richness of its Latino heritage
without also recognizing
the challenges Latinos face in
today’s political landscape.
There are more Hispanic
Americans living in the US
than ever before, in every corner
of the country. But today,
we have an administration that
has gone out of its way to exclude
and intimidate Latinos
in America.
Now more than ever, we
need to resist the voices of intolerance
and push for policies
that expand opportunity for
every city and every zip code
in America.
That means we need to make
sure that we lower the costs of
healthcare and prescription
drugs. It means that we need
to raise wages and close the
pay gap for Latino families
who are working harder but
still falling behind. It means we
need to strengthen our democracy
and make sure our census
counts everyone. It means we
need to provide DACA and
TPS holders with a permanent
legislative solution that
includes a path to citizenship.
And it means that we need to
invest in our children’s future:
from protecting our environment
to instituting meaningful
gun safety measures.
Behind this diverse list of
priorities is a common set of
values: family, hard work, and
strength in the face of struggle.
These are the values that have
made our country the envy
of the world. It is also at the
heart of what this month is all
about.
So to everyone celebrating
Hispanic Heritage month, I
wish you all my best. It is an
honor to talk with you, to fi ght
for you, and celebrate a part
of our national identity that is
truly unlike any other.
Charles Schumer is a U.S.
Senator and the Senate Democratic
Leader.
BUSWAY’S POTENTIAL
RIPPLE EFFECT
I appreciate the concern
of The Villager editorial
writers in their proposal
to keep bus-only traffic
on 14th Street during the
day (Sept. 26). It is a fair
opinion.
However, the editorial
does not address the impact
of car traffic on the
side streets.
As someone who lives
near 12th Street and University
Place, my concern
is about the car traffic
that will be forced onto
12th Street. When the
street was reconfigured
with a bike lane, a buffer
lane, a traffic lane, and
a parking lane a while
ago, traffic increased
dramatically. It will only
get worse with a bus only
14th Street.
On 12th Street, between
University Place
and Broadway, the buffer
lane is parked up with
non-marked police cars,
courtesy of the “PAL
Headquarters” building
at 34 1/2 East 12th
St. (The building, once
a beautiful school, now
desperately in need of
facade work, has been
covered with scaffolding
for many years, without
any work being done. But
that’s another story.)
To add to the misery, it
seems to me that the ambulance
traffic, complete
with deafening sirens,
has increased. I think this
is due to the Mount Sinai
Hospital on 7th Avenue.
Twelfth Street is now the
go-to crosstown route for
the ambulances to get to
1st Avenue and the uptown
hospitals! And boy,
when those ambulances
get stuck on my corner in
traffic, you don’t want to
be here.
Susan Schenker
KEEPING PRIORITIES
STRAIGHT
For decades, the destination
has been “West
Village – Abingdon
Square.” The Select Bus
Service destination now
is “West Side.”
Is NYCTA telling us
they’ve already made the
decision for the M14A to
terminate at Tenth Avenue?
Lower East Side
destinations haven’t
changed.
We’ve made our needs
known. Politicians should
fight to maintain service
below 14th Street.
Mike Conway
SAVING ANIMALS AT
CHECKOUT LINE
As a bit of an animal
lover, I have been scouring
the Internet for some
special occasion celebrating
animals. I came
across an international
observance called a “day
for animals,” but it wasn’t
quite what I expected.
I was shocked to learn
that nearly 99 percent of
all domesticated animals
are bred and raised for
food. That, unlike our
cats and dogs, they get
no compassion or respect
from the meat and dairy
industries.
Male baby chicks are
suffocated in plastic garbage
bags or ground up
alive because they lay
no eggs. Groups of laying
hens are packed into
small wire cages that tear
out their feathers. Breeding
sows spend their entire
lives pregnant in
metal cages.
Dairy cows are artificially
impregnated each
year, and their babies are
snatched from them at
birth, so people can drink
their milk.
Like many others, I
always thought of cows,
pigs, and chickens as simply
“food on the hoof.”
Now, I realize that each
dollar I spend on meat
and dairy products at the
checkout counter subsidizes
animal atrocities. I
will be replacing animal
products in my diet with
the new healthful, cruelty
free plant-based meats
and dairy items offered
by my supermarket.
Nelson Yancy
SAVE SMALL
BUSINESSES NOW
Thank you, Kirsten Theodos
of TakeBackNYC,
for your editorial of Sept.
12. Stop stalling, indeed.
Speaker Corey Johnson
needs to bring the Small
Business Jobs Survival
Act to a vote, as he promised
when he ran for office.
The Small Business
Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA)
does “go far enough”
(as Speaker Johnson now
claims it does not) to
scare the real estate bigwigs
into not wanting it
to pass. I fear that Johnson’s
tune has changed
to that of all politicians
seeking to appear true to
their constituents while
in fact satisfying their
donors’ demands.
The SBJSA has been
changed seven times already.
I’m sure it’s a much
less powerful bill than it
was and does not need
more diluting.
The recently introduced
“Storefront Tracker”
bill reminds me of 20
years of Congressional
Republicans urging study
of climate control rather
than legislation. We don’t
need data to see that
storefronts are empty.
Entire blocks that were
once full of restaurants
and small stores are vacant.
We all see what is
happening and we all
know why; meanwhile,
politicians dither and
postpone, the rich get
richer, and the world
burns.
District 3 voters, please
let Speaker Johnson know
that you want the SBJSA
voted on and passed. We
need action that will keep
our city from becoming a
ghost town.
Sonya Sobieski
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