Let’s rethink our infrastructure

MThe Daily News is “right on the money” in urging the newly designated U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to rethink the “vastly overblown Hudson River tunnel repair project” (“Pete, Marcia and NYC,” editorial, Dec. 17). Coming from the financial world, Buttigieg should use his cost-benefit skills to ease the burden on hard-pressed taxpayers in New York and New Jersey and examine the merits of less costly options that would actually produce better results.

Also, routing the new tunnels by way of Hoboken and using existing rail lines and bridges instead of duplicating the existing Amtrak line across the Meadowlands not only saves a pile of money but allows the complete reuse of the Hoboken Waterfront rail yard for the development of affordable housing and new, more equitable economic development. This would be a great opportunity for Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, designated to run the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to showcase an environmentally sensible development in the core of an older city.

A double win for the new Biden administration.

George Haikalis, president, Institute for Rational Urban Mobility

Special thanks to the three wonderful young men in a BMW with New Jersey plates who parked in front of the house next door and jokingly asked us (two 70-something Brooklynites) if we could use any help as we were shoveling the snow in front of our house on Thursday. They took our shovels, quickly cleared the ice mountain created by snowplows and refused to take anything for doing it. When they finished, they walked across the street where a car with Pennsylvania plates was stuck — evidently someone they knew — and what must have brought them to Midwood. They got that car started and then both cars drove away.

Yes, Donald Trump’s attitude toward COVID-19 has been cavalier at times! However, point-scoring and Trump denigrating — so gleefully delivered cries of the assorted Trump-haters — pushes a narrative: “America under Trump has had more coronavirus deaths than any other country in the world!” Relative to population, America (with a population of some 340 million people) has had far fewer coronavirus deaths relative to population than many advanced-society European countries like Spain and Italy. Also, it’s America’s individual states that have the most responsibility for border protection, health regulations, social distancing, coronavirus contact tracing, etc.

With President-elect Biden preparing to take office, it is hard not to see the radical left pushing their agenda. The bill now being pushed forward is the elimination of up to $50,000 of student debt. First, where will this money come from, the taxpayers? Second, any school that has an endowment larger than a lot of small countries should be forced to absorb some of this burden. Third, student loan agencies that have been allowed to set interest rates must also be held accountable and also absorb some of this debt. I find it hard to believe that most Americans back this radical agenda. If you cannot afford to go to college, the military offers job training in many avenues, plus pay and possible employment and pension.

So the recent Department of Investigation report that says the police heightened tensions and did not have a clearly defined strategy is a complete joke. You can stand there, get spit at, called disgusting names about your family and have rocks and bottles thrown at you. So the officers are supposed to say, “Excuse me, can I talk to you and we come to a solution?” This was a riot, plain and simple, and until NYC realizes it and takes a stand against the people who destroy the city, more people will move away and never come back.

The price goes up while the features diminish. Not an intelligent way to run a newspaper. Are the owners not concerned about profit? Does anyone remember a fascinating page, The Inquiring Photographer, or the TV magazine “Vue,” plus five pages of quality comics? We enjoyed more and paid less. Do the owners, indeed, care nothing about profit? I don’t comprehend any of this. I won’t even try. I only know: Shape up, Daily News, or I will ship out.