Let the people speak, commish

Brooklyn: In the past few weeks, two of Bill de Blasio’s commissioners have chastised taxpayers in Voice of the People. First, Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg dismissed the valid concerns former Commissioner for the Aging Herb Stupp raised in a Daily News Op-Ed about the effect of street restructuring on city residents. Stupp’s points have been brought up repeatedly to Trottenberg, her predecessor Janette Sadik-Khan and their minions, only to be dismissed.

The second diatribe was from Meenakshi Shrinivasan of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, responding to an Op-Ed by Eric Uhlfelder. To attend an LPC hearing is to witness a fawn-fest of architects slathering praise on each other and the new talent submitting plans. The commission dismisses the concerns of longtime residents and ignores the very real effects of new construction next to hundredyear-old buildings. The commission certifies designs for mini-mansions with no historical basis in landmarked neighborhoods, thereby driving up the costs of properties in the surrounding area.

Instead of contacting the two men who wrote Op-Eds in the Daily News, these two women decided to scold us all and ask how dare we question the great Oz. It’s time to resign before you do any further damage to the city and its citizens. Marie McCormick

Trigger warning

Bronx: Despite endless debates that will almost certainly lead nowhere, the fastest way to resolve the matter of gun control would be to allow everyone who wants a gun, including semiautomatics, to have one. The only requirement would be that all old-style firearms currently in use must be replaced with newly designed ones that, instead of shooting bullets forward, will propel bullets backward, severely injuring whomever pulled the trigger and, in the case of semiautomatic weapons, killing them. Thank you. I shall now look for my Nobel Prize to arrive in the mail in three to six weeks.

Jonathan Kleid

Too many guns

Brooklyn: We hear violent movies and video games being blamed for gun killings. But one day, we will look around at other nations and see that there are violent movies and games in Britain, France, Japan, Australia, etc., but other advanced nations do not have the same high rate of gun killings as the U.S.A. Britain has 65 million people and 50 annual gun killings. The USA has 322 million people and 11,000 annual gun killings. One day we’ll realize: We have almost five times as many people and over 200 times the gun killings! And that doesn’t count 20,000 annual gun suicides. That one day is now.

Robert P. Del Rosso

The devil comes armed

Brooklyn: To Voicer Sidney Baumgarten: Alas, the NRA seems opposed to any attempt at gun control legislation. They’ve filed suit against Florida’s recent gun legislation. They’ve espoused “some” restrictions on bump stocks, as used by the Las Vegas shooter, yet I’ve heard or read nothing further in that regard, even on their own website. As to high-capacity magazines: Really? Has that Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, depicting deer with rifles, gunning down humans, actually come true? Are AR-15s needed for hunting? I watch “North Woods Law” on Animal Planet. It seems most hunting permits only allow one deer or bear per season, per hunter. Why then a need for an assault rifle? And why should the NRA not be demonized? It’s like those TV commercials, where a devil sits on one shoulder, an angel on the other, to help the human decide some serious matter. It appears the devil is winning in this case. Kevin Hanley

Speak up, please

Manhattan: Re “MTA’s hard sell” (March 13): Can you ask new chief customer officer Sarah Meyer what the issue was Monday with the MetroCard machines throughout the whole system? They were taking no credit cards. I haven’t gotten an answer from Gov. Cuomo or Mayor de Blasio yet, there was nothing on the MTA website stating that there was a problem, nor any television coverage on the outage.

Christine Blasucci

Coney Island crawl

Brooklyn: I have about had it with the buses in Coney Island. Not only are they slow, crowded and/or nonexistent at times, there are plenty of people getting free rides by sneaking in back doors. These people have no pride. They casually go in the back door when passengers are discharged or someone opens the back door. It is pathetic. How much money has been lost while this continues to happen? Why isn’t there someone monitoring these buses and arresting everyone who goes in the back door? That would put an end to this practice. Attention, please, B36 and B74 passengers: I am speaking about you. Both the MTA and the public are at fault for this. Someone needs to act responsibly. When the fares go up again, the backdoor sneaks hopefully will not be complaining.

Steve Yanowsky

TV guide

Massapequa Park, L.I.: Donald Trump seems to be running the White House as if it were “The Apprentice.” Once a week, he seems to say “You’re fired.” His ratings are through the roof. Still, I hope this show is not renewed.

Paul Como

Send Joe and Jane to Congress

Kings Park, L.I.: The President of the United States makes $400,000 a year in salary. A President also gets $100,000 for travel expenses, $50,000 in an annual expense account and $19,000 for entertainment purposes. That’s $569,000 per year. When candidates spend tens of millions of dollars to get a job that pays half a million dollars (less for congressional and Senate seats), it’s no wonder corruption runs rampant. There should be a set amount of money from a publicly funded pool that a candidate can spend on their particular campaign and that’s it! No accepting money from special interests. Everybody has an equal playing field. Short of that, we should elect regular Joes and Janes to public office. Someone who would be more than happy to make $569,000 a year and wouldn’t be susceptible to special interests.

Michael Ruggiero

Bill of particulars

Brooklyn: Mayor de Blasio has exacerbated inequality (see record homelessness and NYCHA debacles), while he keeps his own property tax low; paid a man more than a woman (Richard Carranza will be paid 47% more than Carmen Fariña), wants to hire his own family despite the obvious conflict (his wife), and has been very easily bribed (Campaign for One New York and too many shady campaign donors to count). It’s time that New Yorkers realize that he’s just another ethically challenged politician. Joe Ferra

Clouded parenting

Brooklyn: Voicer Anthony N. Carlisano is a moron and an unfit parent. The lesson he is teaching his children is that if you can’t handle the stress of raising children — get high! Obviously, his previous smoking damaged his already immature brain. Why not antidepressant or anti-anxiety medication? Why not a therapist, biofeedback or parenting classes? P.S.: Where’s their mother?

Mary Ann Pantano

Fruit of climate change

Brookline, Mass.: Re “How climate change might eliminate strawberries” (March 7): Carbon MARCUS SANTOS/DAILY NEWS emissions cause global warming, which causes climatic changes that may destroy our strawberry farming, and force all food industries to adapt. Whenever I read about climate change causing food disruptions, I ask my scientist husband if it’s worrisome. He typically says: Climate change presents many threats, but the most serious, irreversible, most expensive, potentially catastrophic threat is rising seas. Strawberries are delightful treats, but the main course is sea rise. Judy Weiss

Gland to know

Sutter, Calif.: Sorry to hear about Wendy Williams’ thyroid problem (“Wendy Williams is the latest celebrity with Graves’ disease,” Feb. 21). I was in a thyroid storm that almost killed me. I was down to 92 pounds and lost my hair, my teeth and my mind. I ended up with pretibial myxedema and now have very ugly legs. This was 15 years ago. At the time the disease was active, I was active — overly active — working three jobs, never sleeping, until one day at work I was transferring a client to her wheelchair and my body was ready to explode. My heart was going so fast. I ended up in hospital for 10 days and haven’t been the same since. I still choke on food due to the goiter. My self-esteem has gone, and to this day I still have problems. If I could turn back time I would have seen a doctor sooner. This is a disease you don’t ignore no matter how much energy it gives you. And the same with being hypothyroidal — just as dangerous. Leigh Halls