Support communities, not landlords
Brooklyn: Claiming that the city’s overall economy will be hurt by the passage of much-needed rent law reform to eliminate Major Capital Improvement and Individual Apartment Improvement loopholes is fearmongering in its purest form (“Rent reforms will be too damn costly, New York landlords warn state lawmakers,” June 6).
Every dollar that stays in a tenant’s pocket is a dollar spent in the community — on food and other essential items — that strengthens the very fabric of our city.
Meanwhile, every dollar that goes to a landlord goes as follows: 40% profit to the landlord or property manager who most likely does not live in the city, and that includes payments to a bank that is most likely not from here either. And since Major Capital Improvements and Individual Apartment Improvements go on forever, that’s more dollars going straight to landlord profit.
So, do we line the pockets of these landlords who live outside of New York City? Or do we safeguard our city’s thriving communities and make sure that tenants have the stability they need to maintain employment, feed their families, and ultimately enrich our city?
It is pretty simple economics.
Forest Hills: My ride on a Second Ave. bus last week exposed me to an ever-worsening problem that appears to be happening everywhere: people talking so loudly on their cell phones that you can’t help but overhear their “private” conversations. One man sitting in the back was the first culprit when he started practically shouting into his phone to someone on the other end. When he finally finished, another man sitting behind me began doing exactly the same thing: talking loudly on his phone. I don’t understand why this is done today. Are people seriously becoming deaf, not knowing how loud and inappropriate they are, when they bellow into their phones? Or is everyone a less-than-secret exhibitionist, flaunting their status before a captive audience? I know that this behavior is just plain rude and unwelcome. For those who do this, and you know who you are, please stop now. No one needs to hear your conversation with your boyfriend on a city bus!
Vote for the 99%
Bayside: Everyone is throwing his or her hat in the ring to run for president. How about a baseball cap? How about a man or women who goes to work with boots and work pants on? And goes home with dirt on his or her hands? Who worries about making ends meet? And has his or her children in public schools? Who takes the bus or train to work? And his or her mother or father worked all their lives and are afraid to get sick? How about some who cares what will happen 20 years from now because he or she has grandchildren? Or someone who lives with people of all colors and religions? This person could make America great because he or she is living life like 99% of us. It just might work.
Liar, liar
Brooklyn: I believe that Gov. Cuomo never intended to legalize recreational weed. He only promised that because his opponent, Cynthia Nixon, promised she would do it if she won. Cuomo probably got spooked and made the same promise just to make sure he didn’t lose any votes from us, the pot heads. Mostly, all politicians make promises while they’re on the campaign trail but don’t always deliver. But, I feel that Cuomo’s promise was a blatant lie to stay in the governor’s mansion at all costs. He could have kept his promise to legalize weed but he probably has his eye on the White House down the road. He won’t win national office. I don’t listen to him when he speaks. He comes across as dishonest.
Puff, puff… pass!
Manhattan: I am so tired of hearing about legalizing marijuana. Have any of you lived in a building where the smell of pot fills the halls and permeates the elevators? What about the possible health dangers (that have not been investigated) to children inhaling the smoke as well as to adults with respiratory problems? I find it unbelievable that with all the regulations limiting cigarette smoke that anyone could approve of recreational marijuana.
American dream
Brooklyn: As I read Sunday’s paper, I found it so funny that the Chinese restaurant worker that came here 20 years ago thought America’s laws were “more just” (“Chinatown delivery worker still out $328K in wage theft scam; state powerless to act,” June 2). I am a mother of four children, all older now, but 10 years ago, when they were so young, I thought the legal system would help me. My abusive husband quit his $110,000-a-year job when I filed for divorce. He was ordered to pay me $125 a week, and he never paid a dime. I work two jobs and one of my daughters put off college to help and got a job. More than $70,000 is owed, there’s been no divorce and the judge in Brooklyn Supreme Court is okay with it. So Mr. Chen, don’t be so frustrated that you haven’t seen a penny. The American legal system fails to enforce payment to children in need as well.
You’re a grand old flag
Glen Oaks Village: On Memorial Day, I was saddened that on my block, mine was the only American flag flying and that there was only one on the next block. Friday, June 14, is Flag Day and I hope more people will be flying the American flag. The American flag was originally adopted by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777. Flag Day wasn’t officially recognized until it was proposed by Congress and signed into law by President Harry Truman in 1949. I urge everyone to fly the flag at their homes, apartments,
MICHAEL IP offices and businesses. By doing this, we honor all that this flag represents — freedom, equality and justice for all. We also are honoring all our men and women who are serving in the military and in civilian life, like police, firefighters who protect us from harm. Our American flag is the fabric of our country, and, by flying it, we are reminded that we can prevail against any adversity. So, please fly the American flag on June 14. God bless America.
Pacific theater
Milan, N.Y.: I have to wonder why we make such a big deal about the anniversary of the invasion of France, while ignoring the anniversaries of landings in Okinawa and Iwo Jima? And how about the landing in Leyte in October ’44, which led to the liberation of millions of Filipinos from a brutal Japanese occupation? Why is the freeing of white Europeans from tyranny somehow more significant than the freeing of Asians? Both my father and an uncle served under MacArthur in the Pacific, and my uncle was wounded on Okinawa.