Drivers are already giving, MTA

Brooklyn: Carol Kellerman claims that motorists are not helping to financially support the MTA (“Shared sacrifice to save the subways,” Op-Ed, July 28). So, mass transit has reduced congestion? Drive every five days, from south Brooklyn to northern New Jersey: I see no reduction in congestion. Traffic crawls between the Goethals and Verrazano Bridges each morning and night. Observe large rail and ship loads of new vehicles, delivered to Port Elizabeth.

Her claim concerns those “negative consequences” we generate, the same ones generated by coal/oil fueled power plants providing electricity to run MTA trains. We pay livery vehicle surcharges and the MCTMT. Compared to Metro-North riders’ discounted weekly and monthly tickets (with unlimited rides) I don’t get unlimited rides across MTA bridges and tunnels. Forget my using mass transit. This means a 6 1/2 hour round trip, by MTA bus and subway, and NJ Transit, costing $13 more than the two bridges and turnpike tolls I currently pay.

No, we already contribute. And we’ve been contributing for decades to the NYS Dedicated Highway and Bridge Funds, via driver’s license and registration fees, fuel tax, and more. Now it’s robbed to repay past year’s borrowing and current operating expenses. We do our share! So stop trying to stick it to us! Kevin Hanley

Get ’em directions

Bronx: The other night I spoke to a New York City firefighter who drives a rig to many incidents around the Bronx. He told me that the city fire trucks are not equipped with GPS. Come on city government, buy a few cases of Garmin devices to put in each and every vehicle. This way firefighters do not have to use their cell phones and rely on Siri to get them to a fire location. Instead of bickering about who is going to take care of the repairs on the MTA, let’s get with the program and deal with some of the real issues at hand. This is just another typical city government problem.

Denise Summo

Risky streets

Brooklyn: Why are there no PSAs on how to park a car on this city’s streets? Cars are supposed to stop before the broad white line. People park their cars over the broad line, taking two spots. This happens all over this city, making it even harder to find a spot. Please, Mr. Mayor, a few PSAs on parking would do a world of good.

Gregg Gallo

Dog days

Manhattan: I’ve been riding the subways long enough to remember when people knew to “please let passengers off the train” before they bumrushed their way onto the train. Passengers stepped all the way in. Subway riders “stand clear of the closing doors please.” Unexplained delays were explained. Express meant fast, not slow. Single-person stairwells were one-way at a time, not two. Everyone knew that “unlawful touching” was unlawful. “Aggressive panhandling” wasn’t aggressive. Men always offered their seat to a woman, whether she was pregnant or not. Every car was air-conditioned in the summer and heated in the winter. Impromptu concerts didn’t break out and pole dancers only worked in strip clubs. No one ate or drank on the platform or subway. (That one’s for you, Mayor de Blasio). People threw their garbage in garbage cans, not on the tracks.

Ken Frydman

That’s not fair!

Hicksville, L.I.: It’s a crying shame! New York, one of the biggest cities and transit systems in the nation, is in shambles. Here it is in a nutshell: The MTA has inflated managers’ salaries, lined their pockets, pushed out old-timers like myself and hired Third World people to replace us, and thought it will work. Wrong. The riding public is paying the price every day. The MTA raises fares to continue giving nonessential managers dummy positions, raises for whom most have no college or people skills and very little experience in the transit system, maybe 10 to 12 years of experience and make six-figure salaries. Chris Panico

Show them some respect

Durban North, South Africa: As a disabled person, it is really disheartening knowing that we recently celebrated the 23rd anniversary of our new democracy and still not much has been done to narrow the gap between disabled people and nondisabled people. As there is still much stigma towards people living with disabilities. I’m not saying that we disabled people need special treatment, as this would be unrealistic and unjust. I just think that like anyone, irrespective of gender, race, religion and disability, we all want equal rights, treatment, respect and dignity. People shouldn’t judge disabled people on what they can and cannot do. Look at our personalities and individuality, then decide. If you have never met a disabled person before, don’t think about our differences but rather about what we have in common and you will see that we are not all that different from you, we are just simply differently abled.

Jonathan de Bruin

Bad news becomes worse

Brooklyn: Just when you think the Trump circus couldn’t possibly get worse, out comes Anthony Scaramucci. Fuhgeddaboudit!

Eileen McIntyre Hughes

Payback time

Schenectady, N.Y.: I hope all you Trump voters are happy with your new health plan and tax reform. This is priceless. Ron Goodman

Big bad Mooch

Brooklyn: Reading about the “vulgar tirades” of Anthony Scaramucci, one would think he was a member of Trump’s liberal opposition. Michael Massa

Frail Mike

Bronx: Mike Pence says that he is a born-again Christian. It’s time for Mr. Pence to protest against the profane language of White House adviser Scaramucci.

Bob Goldberg Bronx: Our country’s descent into camp continues. We go from a President whose vocabulary appears to be stuck in fourth grade, to a director of communications who communicates in four-letter words. And both of them seem extremely comfortable with scribbling their unfiltered rants on Twitter. This administration is not only antipathetic, it’s downright pathetic.

Maria Bonsanti

At last!

Gilroy, Calif.: After six months where the Republicans have had control of the House, Senate and presidency, they finally passed their first major piece of legislation. They passed a bill to sanction Russia for helping get Donald Trump elected. It will be interesting to see if Trump signs it. What a bizarre world we live in.

Marc Perkel

Worthless words

Manhattan: One thing every human being agrees on is that actions speak louder than words. So, if the GOP tells me every day that Big Government is corrupt and can’t be trusted, yet every day they also tell me that Big Government (police, military, the GOPrun government) is always right and should be blindly trusted, which of these opposing stories should I believe? Janice Amato

Court corruption

Staten Island: In our highest courts, the massive funding abusers and nonprofit- and government-funded cons have their leadership hire lawyers, and these legal teams are paid to cover up and protect the cons rather Andrew Savulich/New York Daily News) than end the corruption. These high-powered legal teams could not deny the documents, testimony, emails and internal reports as politics and the law used and needed to blame their admittedly guilty “political liaison” scapegoat. They then used the law (he is still on the payroll) to protect him rather than end the massive waste and the many economic development scams.

Thugs and criminals

North Bergen, N.J.: Alaska’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski bravely announced her opposition to the “skinny repeal” health bill. The Trump administration responded by threatening to reduce spending on federal programs in Alaska unless she voted in favor of the bill. Bribery and extortion are crimes. Whether or not the Trump administration follows through with its threat, the threat is on record as having been made and should be prosecuted.

Irving Gelb

Naughty Christie

Robert Stein Somerville: N.J.: If Chris Christie was really concerned about his children’s feelings, maybe he should have shut down the New Jersey government after his planned vacation. He has only himself to blame; how many fathers promised their children a weekend at the beach, who wanted to put their families first, only to have the governor throw a temper tantrum because he couldn’t get his way? Anita Roberts