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Gov Cuomo’s Speech Lacked Specific Details

Dear Editor:

When it comes to transportation, “Governor Cuomo’s State of the State” was missing specific details. When will Governor Cuomo and the State Legislature come up with $7.3 of the $8.3 billion promised to meet the shortfall the 2015 – 2019 MTA Five Year Capital Plan, $3 billion to pay back federal loan for Tapanzee Bridge, Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 ($5 billion); Metro North West Bronx Penn Station Access ($200 million), Staten Island North Shore Bus Rapid Transit ($600 million); Staten Island West Shore Bus Rapid Transit ($1.4 billion); restoration of LIRR service on the old Queens Rockaway LIRR branch at $1 billion; Triboro X Subway Express (new subway line connecting the Bronx, Queens & Brooklyn for $2 billion); Main Street Flushing Intermodal Bus Terminal ($100 million); reopening the Woodhaven Blvd Atlantic Branch LIRR Station ($40 million); Queens Woodhaven Blvd. Bus Rapid Transit ($400 million) and Western Queens Montauk Branch Light Rail (between Glendale and Long Island City on the old Montauk LIRR branch – $100 million) just to name a few.

Cuomo must also find $6 billion for his commitment to support the NJ to NY Gateway Tunnel project and the balance of his promised $100 billion state wide transportation infrastructure program..

Cuomo reminds me of the character Wimpy who famously said “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” Tuesday will never come for commuters and taxpayers. Sadly, when the bills become due, taxpayers will be stuck with Cuomo’s tab. Why would the next Governor want to pay for any of Cuomo’s bills?

Sincerely,

Larry Penner

(Larry Penner is a transportation historian and advocate who previously worked 31 years for the US Deparatment of Transportation Federal Transit Administration Region 2 NY Office)

Upset at Trump Victory

Dear Editor:

I, like all of you, am attempting to fend off despair. But, having always been a glass-half-empty person and having long been a student of the depth and breadth of human ignorance and stupidity, I am not unduly shocked, except at the polls’ failure to accurately gauge the Beast’s final percentage. (Hillary’s they got spot-on.)

One could view this as going all the way back to the JFK assassination, which gave us LBJ and Vietnam (if one assumes that JFK would have withdrawn). That led to all the political and cultural upheaval of the Sixties, which permanently scared the shit out of Mr. and Mrs. America. It also gave us Tricky Dick and the rise of the New Right, which ultimately culminated in Fox and the Tea Party.

I vividly recall reading the opinion of Tricky, who was a crazy creep but no dope, that the American people are basically children who are easily swayed by emotion. I also remember reading about the 1890s British Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, and his fellow aristocrats who likewise fervently believed that voting should be restricted to themselves, as the masses were too ignorant and emotional to elect governments. I also recall being taken aback when my boss in my college library, a postwar Lithuanian immigrant, remarked that America was too immature to be a world power.

So Americans and all people have always been ignorant, stupid and racist. What’s different and truly terrifying now and going forward is that, with the decline of mainstream mass media that provided a modicum of reality-based discourse and the rise of cable TV, the internet and social media, people live in a self-referential, closed universe of ricocheting insanity and ignorance. This can only be expected to worsen in the short term. (See the link below to an article which more fully outlines what Facebook hath wrought.)

And let me give a special rebuke to all those idiotic, narcissistic, lazy millennials who wouldn’t condescend to vote for someone who doesn’t make them feel all warm and fuzzy. Good work, kids! You’re the ones who will be living with the consequences for the rest of your lives. Unglue your moronic faces from your phones and read some history books for a change.

Where does that leave us, friends? As Marty says, we can contribute to good causes, keep ourselves healthy and most of all stay tight with our best peeps.

http://nymag.com/selectall/2016/11/donald-trump-won-because-of-facebook.html

Sincerely

Miss Margo Channing

Saying Goodbye to 2016

Dear Editor:

The year 2016 was a doozy. It was a roller coaster ride on steroids.  It appeared as if everything that could go wrong either did go wrong or, was going to go wrong in the very next hour.  As a committed Conservative, it looked as if my (our) worst fears were going to happen, 100% guaranteed.  

I was all about appealing to the Creator for an act of Divine Intervention – something along the lines of the fog that dropped from the Heavens onto General George Washington and his rag-tag army that was suffering from fatigue, hunger and the most bitter winter conditions imaginable that, against all the odds, was attempting to cross the ice-choked Delaware river to conduct a surprise raid on the enemy Hessian troops hired by England’s King George III to destroy the American Revolutionaries.

As the history was written, the raid was a singular success and it initiated the turn of events that had the Americans eventually win the battle for its freedom from the tyranny of its European oppressor.  And, the dense fog that shrouded Washington’s army and permitted it to reach its destination without being discovered, will stand out in my mind at least, as one the most spectacular examples of a miracle of exquisite timing in all the history of man.  

I had the gall, well-intentioned as it was but, some kind of gall nevertheless, to actually wish for a re-visitation of that kind of Divine Intervention that would put our beloved United States of America back on the track again.  I was praying for a dense fog, heavy with a debilitating pesticide, to descend over Obama, Hillary and the careless, clueless, something-for-nothing crowd of Socialist nitwits that were dragging our nation down the drain.  Did a miracle just occur that was actually the handiwork of the Creator?  I kinda, sorta think it did.

My New Year’s Wishes for 2017?  A year of giving thanks for the Miracle of November 8, 2016.  And, I am committed to working hard to support the good people who will be bringing the good stuff that is coming our way.  My heart is full to overflowing with gratitude.  Could it be said that I am a believer?  You bet.

Sincerely

Mort Kuff

Invite Democrats to Join Trump Administration

Dear Editor:

Our nation is divided. Donald Trump received slightly fewer popular votes than Hillary Clinton. Seventy percent of American Jews voted against Mr. Trump (despite his endorsement by the Jewish Voice). President-Elect Trump can begin the process of unifying our divided nation by inviting several distinguished Democrats with experience in government and business to join his new administration. By reaching out to centrist Democrats, he will demonstrate a willingness to listen to different points of view as he formulates his policies.

Ted Sheskin

Flushing

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