CUNY’s standards have not fallen

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Manhattan: Thank you for acknowledging the “great work” of CUNY’s ASAP initiative, a comprehensive program that has helped dramatically raise community college graduation rates and is a national model now being replicated in seven states. (“The new college try,” editorial, Nov. 23). Under no circumstances, however, has CUNY “softened” standards. The fact is that our graduation and course requirements remain unchanged. Thanks to programs such as ASAP and CUNY Start, and the outstanding work of committed faculty, CUNY has seen three-year graduation rates at community colleges more than double and six-year graduation rates at senior colleges increase to almost 60%.

Indeed, every year since 2004-05 we have seen a new record number of degrees conferred to our students.

The nation’s soaring higher-education debt burden and its painfully low college graduation rates are at least in part the products of unsuccessful remediation policies. Data-driven alternatives to these failed, destructive practices should be encouraged, not disparaged. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez

CUNY chancellor

Disposable income

Copiague, L.I.: Re “Big bucks for fed monitor of NYCHA” (Nov. 27): So, NYCHA’s federal monitor is getting $12 million to fix things at the authority. Well, all I’ve got to say is just put it all in one of NYCHA’s broken down trash compactors now because we all know that dough will be squandered anyway. After working in NYCHA for more than 32 years, I’ve seen many federal and state grants come and go for new refrigerators, new boilers, new roofs, etc. A good portion of all those hundreds of millions of dollars were always spent on consultants who traveled the hallways of our offices surveying and telling us how NYCHA could do better, then walked away with suitcases of taxpayer dough leaving NYCHA with virtually no changes! A lot of this new $12 million will be spent on new boilers that will be replacing the new boilers that were installed with previous grant money from years past that were not maintained properly and therefore broke down. This is a vicious cycle that will never change unless there’s a mayor and NYCHA chair capable of managing correctly! Carl J. C.-Hafner

Who takes SNAP?

Brooklyn: Voicer Barbara Luisa Orlandi wrote about the “Get The Good Stuff ” program for people who are

part of the SNAP program. On paper, it sounds great, but the reality is this: You must sign up for the program at participating stores. So far there is one store in Jamaica, two in the Bronx and one coming to Brooklyn in early 2020. If you don’t live in the vicinity of these stores, the program is no good for you. For people to really get the benefit of this program it should be made available in more stores, in all of the boroughs.

Workhorse

Baldwin, L.I.: Mayor de Blasio signed legislation further reducing the time the carriage horses can work in hot and cold temperatures. If the mayor was so concerned about the welfare of animals, why didn’t he include the NYPD mounted horses in this legislation? Timothy Myles

1+1=2

Norma Joseph

Brooklyn: Re “City is matching SNAP dollars to fill bellies ” (Nov. 21): To ensure that SNAP recipients are taking full advantage of program like “Get the Good Stuff ” and Health Bucks, however, we need to systematically disseminate information to SNAP recipients and applicants. A New York City Council bill to require the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to do exactly that is currently laid over in committee “City is matching SNAP dollars to fill bellies” (Nov. 21). Educational initiatives to promote the use of SNAP benefits have proven effective among recipients. The city will likely observe greater success with “Get the Good Stuff ” if we mandate the dissemination of information.

Jonathan Elliott Dayan

Huzzah!

Staten Island: Your editorial “Long live Hong Kong” (Nov. 26) should be the title of a battle song, much like “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” You keenly declare, “Beijing must, must, must relent” to the democratic will of the Hong Kong people. Rarely has a populace been so in unison (pro-democracy candidates victorious in 17 out of 18 voting districts!). The great people of Hong Kong obviously fear having their democracy usurped by the Chinese Communist Party and the executive Pooh Bear Xi Jinping, which would be catastrophic, calamitous, cataclysmic to their minds, dooming the island to the exploitation of the Chinese Communist Party and subjecting the people to decades, maybe centuries, of Maoist thought reform. Lou Bardel

The tables turned

Brooklyn: It is very possible that next year the White House turkeys might be pardoning the repulsive moronic traitor who sits in the Oval Office. Ken Ackermann

High holiday hopes

Bayside: Too much violence, too much to endure. My wishes for all are nothing but pure. Never before has this been said, here’s wishing and hoping for good days ahead: Peace on Earth and good will toward men (and women too)! May the upcoming holidays and the new year bring forward the joy and peace we all yearn for and hope for. Happy holidays to all! Be hopeful and you will see that all good things are yet to be! Sarah Alboher

His own free will

Brooklyn: Back in the 1960s, those in power in Washington convinced us that South Vietnam was vital to our national interest and that of the free world. That really turned out well for the 50,000 young men who returned home in body bags and caskets. Now, 50 years later, we have a new group of theologians who just testified under

Conflicting narratives

AP

oath that Ukraine is vital to our national interest and that of the free world. The impeachment hearings and Ukraine are two cock-andbull stories perpetrated by mentally challenged individuals who have been swimming in the swamp for far too long. I know back in November of 2016 when I cast my vote for POTUS, nobody named Igor or Ivan walked up behind me and put a gun to my head and told me who to vote for.

Joseph Savino

Bronx: I am writing in response to Voicer Michael Kaplan’s letter regarding the DMV on Commerce Ave.: I also went to this location to renew my license a week ago and the whole process took 37 minutes. Everyone I encountered was very helpful and pleasant. Before they hand you a temporary license, you pay for it. The credit card swiper is right at their counter, you are not handed the license until you’ve paid for it. I am confused how his friend got their license and then had to wait an hour to pay for it. I was a walk-in, not an appointment. Start to finish my experience was terrific. Susie Guerriero