It’s about saving workers’ lives

Manhattan: Once again, opponents of the Scaffold Safety Law in New York State are looking to sacrifice worker safety in order to protect the insurance industry. This time it’s a group called Common Good (“Group seeking to repeal N.Y. Scaffold Law that hikes insurance costs for rail tunnel plan under Hudson River,” Oct. 17), which is trying to undermine a law that has been the bedrock of construction safety in this state for generations.

Insurance companies, through front groups, are fighting to weaken the Scaffold Safety Law while opposing the Construction Insurance Transparency Act, legislation that would require them to open their books and provide real data to back up their claims. But the Daily News didn’t even mention this. In fact, the paper didn’t even try to balance the article with any opposing opinion on the issue.

The fact is, insurance costs were high in New York for all construction work categories regardless of the Scaffold Safety Law — including road construction and paving, where the law does not apply.

Special interests opposing the Scaffold Safety Law continue to play loose with the facts, but as we have seen all too clearly, we need to maintain construction safety standards across the state. The lives of too many workers depend on it. Gary La Barbera

President Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York

Smearing a hero

Allentown, Pa.: Your “John Kelly’s mistake” editorial (Oct. 21) is a disgrace. Suggesting he owes Rep. Frederica Wilson an apology is so outlandish it borders on offensive. You are using Kelly’s misspoken words to cover up the real issue, Wilson interjecting herself in this sacred process and then boasting about it! Wilson should listen to Gold Star widow Natasha De Alencar’s audio of her conversation with President Trump. Not only is Wilson an empty barrel, she is also a despicable human being.

Joseph Marrongelle

Kelly’s true colors

Edison, N.J.: I definitely am not a fan of President Trump. But I think his recent call to the widow of one of the four fallen soldiers in Niger was taken out of context. Trump should never speak without a script written by a professional. He just doesn’t have the compassion or common sense to choose the right words. What concerns me more is Chief of Staff John Kelly. I was so relieved when he was chosen. But now it looks like he has sold his soul and has joined the double-talking cast of characters. We are doomed.

Carole Canace

Be a big man

Manhattan: I am the niece of a dead Navy man, Napoleon J. Cabana. My grandmother was a Gold Star mother; the government named a destroyer escort after my uncle, who died in the Philippines shortly after Dec. 7, 1941. So I guess all this entitles me to a question, which I want to direct to Gen. Kelly: Why don’t you pick up the phone and call Rep. Wilson and apologize in front of America on the 6 o’clock news and admit you lied during the press conference the other day? Jeannie Reed

Unnecessary roughness

Flushing: Lost in the whole NFL controversy is that at the time of Trump’s initial criticism of the league, he said it was failing because of penalties issued for “beautiful tackles,” i.e., that the game is not violent enough for his liking. My question, has Trump been checked for degenerative brain disease? Leo Marinello

Wrapping the flag in himself

Camp Hill, Ala.: NFL ownership doesn’t have the authority to unilaterally change policies. Changes must be forged by mutual agreement, ownership and the NFL Players Association. It’s comparable to the collective bargaining agreements between the NYPD and New York City. President Trump disdains an American bulwark, unionism. And his stubborn refusal to condemn police killing men of color and not being held accountable is striking and shameful. Trump remains an inglorious incongruity: Awestruck by the flag, which purports to represent all people, but avoiding to advocate and advance social justice for all people. Marc D. Greenwood

What patriotism means

Brooklyn: Elevating the symbol above the principles it represents is disrespectful. It’s the Pentagon paying the NFL for “patriotic” events intended for recruiting purposes while violating the U.S. flag code during those paid events. It’s demanding a single forced show of patriotism, which is anything but patriotic. Anyone can stand for the anthem, just like the 20,000 American Nazis did in Madison Square Garden on Feb. 20, 1939. Mona Smith

Tricks and treats

Sandy Hook, Conn.: Is this writer insane (“A breakdown of the worst Halloween candy,” Oct. 22)? Baby Ruth and Butterfinger are great. Twizzlers are great! Even candy corn is good. Necco wafers are the worst, or Dum Dums. Do your research. Happy Halloween. Martha Manion

A lesson in fairness

Richmond Hill: “Brand new mothers, forced back to class” (Op-Ed, Oct. 22) was well-written. My students said the same. It hit home when I realized that the teenage parents I was teaching had better access to housing, child care and purchasing food such as formula and organic options through Medicaid than I could afford after 10 years with a master’s degree. Lisa Carter

Let her rest in peace

Allegany, N.Y.: While the suicide of Cathriona White is beyond tragic, do we have to read about her previous STDs (“Carrey attack,” Oct. 21)? It saddens me that we are giving any attention to the sexual health of a woman who apparently was so despondent that she ended her life.

Molly Higgins

Don’t have a cow, man

Schodack, N.Y.: Thanks for publishing “If you rooted for the Prospect Park bull, reconsider that burger order” (Op-Ed, Oct. 18). I’ve been a vegetarian for 20-plus years, and started when I was only 13 because I couldn’t separate the thought of what happens behind the scenes that we are all too separated and hidden from in our modern culture. That bacon is trendy makes me crazy. The more it’s out there, the more people will think of it as a socially acceptable mainstream thing to choose other food, and to associate a burger with a cow’s life, and pulled pork with a pig’s life. Leanne Fabozzi

Green with envy

Brooklyn: If Gov. Cuomo wants to bolster his environmental record, here’s a sure-fire way to do it: Get New York off fossil fuels (“Cuomo reaches out to Green Party as he shores up liberal credentials,” Oct. 23, 2017). Five years ago, Superstorm Sandy was a tragic lesson in the threat of climate change. Today, New York faces an onslaught of pipelines and power plants that transport and burn fracked oil and gas. Cuomo can be a true climate leader by stopping these projects. Eric Weltman

Car wars

Huntington, L.I.: While reading about Mayor de Blasio’s new parking restrictions, meant to ease traffic congestion in the city, I really had to chuckle. Are our politicians and bureaucrats blind or are they completely incompetent? In either case, there is one cause for the increase in traffic citywide that anyone who lives or works in New York City can see by simply standing and watching traffic: private car services. They take up commercial-only parking waiting for their fares to arrive, causing delivery trucks that can’t find parking to double-park. They drive aimlessly round and round if there are no legal places for them to wait. The increase in these private cabs has been dramatic. Why wouldn’t the city put restrictions on the amount of these cars in Manhattan?

John Foley

Peddling fake solutions

Manhattan: Mayor de Blasio’s crackdown on motorized bicycles is a disingenuous smokescreen and does not address the real problem. People feel unsafe crossing the street because of bicyclists going through traffic lights; going the wrong way on a one-way street and bike lane, and riding on the sidewalk. Standard bikes are the real problem. The mayor needs to get out more.

Elizabeth Forel

For old eyes only

Brooklyn: I agree with Dr. Sean Lucan that “it’s time to clean up the New York City transit system” (“Stop alcohol ads on buses and subways,” Op-Ed, Oct. 23). And while we’re doing that, how about getting rid of the ads for that purported museum of cohabitation? David Kerner

Write someone in

AP Manhattan: Whoever is running against Cy Vance for Manhattan DA has my vote. Edla Cusick