Getting Our Butts Kicked: Speaker Ignores the Law
THE ISSUE: City Council Speaker Melissa MarkViverito’s comments about ignoring “loosie” laws.
l Thank you, Bob McManus, for your take on the Eric Garner case, selling loose cigarettes on the street and how Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito doesn’t consider this a crime (“Loosie Lawlessness,” Post Opinion, July 7).
Buying a pack of cigarettes isn’t cheap, because of the steep tax of $ 5.85 on each pack. When cigarettes are bootlegged and sold for $ 1 each, no one profits except the seller.
Smuggling cigarettes and guns into our city makes sense because it’s cheaper and easier to get from southern and neighboring states. However, this only exacerbates the problems.
If loose peddlers like Garner get off scotfree, where is our social order?
Where does it stop? Garner may have died from a chokehold, but he brought it on himself.
When will people stop “setting up” the police, who protect and serve us in dangerous situations, by filming only the “bad” part of what actually happened, then sending it to the media for everyone to look at and protest?
Wanda Patterson
Astoria
l Hey, Mark Viverito, there are a lot of laws I think are minor.
Should I just ignore them?
I think paying taxes is minor. I think stopping at red lights and stop signs is minor.
Do you see where this leads?
America is a nation of laws, not of men. Without the rule of law, we become chaotic and anarchistic.
Look at Ferguson or Baltimore. The whole lawless thing didn’t work out for them.
Stop pandering to the lowest common denominator, even if that is your voting base.
Charlie Honadel
Staten Island
l Once again, the smell of hatred has clouded the city’s air by this radical, anticop City Council, which has proposed the most outlandish measures to date.
It’s clear that this council will do anything to strip the power of the police and aid the criminals.
Of course, this City Council couldn’t care less. It’s proven time and time again that it’s against the police department.
What a joke this city has become.
Christopher Bisignano
Staten Island