42.6 F
New York
Friday, March 29, 2024

Letters to the Editor

Related Articles

-Advertisement-

Must read

Repeal & Replace, or Analyze & Improve?

Dear Editor:

Having watched and read endless debates about healthcare, I would like to take the liberty to bring up two points:

A. It seems fair and logical to make health insurance mandatory for everyone, including young people. This is for two reasons:

1. A young person can also get sick or, for example, suffer a car accident. By design, insurance is financial protection in case something bad happens. Without insurance, emergency room services are very expensive and must be paid by taxpayers.

2. When a healthy young person pays for insurance, they help their elderly parents and grandparents by preventing the need for insurance companies to overcharge elderly and sick people. Isn’t that a noble thing to do?

I hope young people are “aware” that eventually they will become elderly themselves.

B. Obamacare has been in effect since 2010. It has been tested through seven years of application, which has revealed its negative and positive (yes also positive) aspects.

In addition to the negative aspects of the proposed new healthcare plan, which are clear even before its inception, the proposed plan still has to pass the test of practical use.

So instead of repealing and replacing the existing plan, wouldn’t it be reasonable for congress to create a committee of experts (unbiased experts) to promptly analyze and suggest improvements to the health care plan presently in effect?

Sincerely

Arkady Mamaysky


Is Weinstein a Victim of Hypocrisy?

Dear Editor:

Before Hollywood could invent moving pictures, klieg lights, “talkies,” zooms lenses, director’s chairs, technicolor or the Oscar, they had to invent the casting couch first. This innovation proved so successful it quickly became the centerpiece in every producer’s office and a fixture at every studio. Legend has it there were twice as many casting couches as producers back in the day. Every nubile blond stepping out of a shower and onto a bus for Hollywood Blvd. knew the script by heart. Many understood it was the most important “audition” they would ever have in their career – if they were to have a career at all. And truth be told, many of the girls loved the part, and couldn’t get enough!

So why the big deal about Harvey Weinstein? Alas, poor Harvey was born too late to fit into the romantic mold of classic skirt chasers like Charlie Chaplin, Roberto Rossellini, Howard Hughes, D.W. Griffith and other pioneers of the settee. Let’s face it, Harvey had the misfortune of coming up in the 60s and 70s, the dawning of the Age of Aquarius and vengeful feminism. So instead of being revered with a wink and a nod, Harvey has fallen victim to that other great Hollywood creation: epic liberal hypocrisy.

Sincerely

Dan Friedman

NYC


New Bus Terminal at the Port Authority?

Dear Editor:

The bus has still not left the gate “Port Authority to Explore Rebuilding Bus Terminal” (Ilana Slyance — October 2). Only $3.5 billion is provided under the $32 billion 2017 – 2026 Port Authority Capital Plan toward construction of the new $10 billion 42nd Street PA Bus Terminal. Initiation of another planning study for $70 million is just the first down payment. How many more years will it take to complete this study, environmental review process, preliminary along with final design and engineering?

It is wishful thinking that the Port Authority can count on $6.5 billion in future federal funding to make up the difference. Don’t be surprised in waiting until the next Port Authority 2027 – 2036 Capital Plan before a complete $10 billion or more funding package is in place. This is necessary to support awarding construction contracts.

The Port Authority, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New Jersey Transit, NYC Department of Transportation and other transportation agencies are counting on the same US Department of Transportation Federal Transit or Federal Highway Administration to help provide billions toward the $29 billion Gateway Tunnel, $10 billion Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel and $6 billion Phase Two Second Avenue Subway among many others.

The Port Authority should learn from their mistakes. The World Trade Center PATH Station costs doubled from $2 billion to $4 billion. It took 15 years after 9/11 to complete this project. How long it will take for a new mid-town bus terminal? The estimated costs are already $10 billion (with no design and engineering for validation) and no real anticipated completion date.

The Port Authority reminds me of the character Wimpy who famously said “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” Tuesday may never come for commuters and taxpayers who use and are looking for a new 42nd Street Bus Terminal within their lifetime along with neighbors desiring a cleaner environment.

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.)


No Double Standard on Sexual Harassment

Dear Editor:

U.N. chief António Guterres should remove a U.N. official who was detained by police and handcuffed after he groped a woman in a Manhattan bar early last Sunday.

Sudanese diplomat Hassan Salih, who in May was elected vice-chair of the U.N. committee that oversees the work of 4,500 human rights NGOs, grabbed the 23-year-old victim’s buttocks and breast while dancing at Third Avenue’s Bar None around 2:25 a.m., reported the New York Post.

While police were interviewing the U.N. vice-chair and his victim, he tried to escape, so police handcuffed Salih and put him in a police cruiser, sources said. But Salih invoked diplomatic immunity, and was allowed to go free after police confirmed he worked at the United Nations.

“If a man accused of sexual assault should be allowed to continue overseeing hundreds of human rights groups that defend the rights of women, this will cast a shadow upon the reputation of the U.N. as a whole,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental human rights organization.

“It’s the fox guarding the chickens,” said Neuer.

Sincerely

“Outraged Citizen”

balance of natureDonate

Latest article

- Advertisement -