Readers weigh in on de Blasio, breast cancer, the Presbyterian Church and much more
Jackson Heights: Mayor de Blasio, thank you for the small increase in rent this year. Whatever motives you had, struggling tenants like me thank you. Mayor Bloomberg never gave us a break. Tina Ulloa
Bronx: Some suggestions for the mayor: 1. Rename New York City to New de Blasio City. 2. Require all citizens to wear bubble wrap. 3. Drain all rivers and ponds, where someone could drown, and fill them with concrete. Post pictures of rivers and ponds for all to enjoy. 4. Ban all cars. 5. Imprison people trying to better themselves. 6. Outlaw wealth and go back to bartering. 7. Ban all guns, eating utensils, sharp objects, blunt objects, hard objects, wooden objects, plastic objects and any parts of the body that can be used as weapons. 8. Ban success, period. Just a thought. Douglas J. Matos
Get those guns
Floral Park, L.I.: You know, Mayor de Blasio, instead of concentrating on getting rid of carriage horses and deciding which parades to march in, how about using that energy to stop all the illegal guns that young people use to kill one another? It’s an epidemic! Do you have the guts to do this? Bring back stop-andfrisk. Patsy Maggiulli
Pre-K not on the CV
Massapequa Park, L.I.: Twenty years down the line, no employer is going to ask, “What preschool did you attend?” or, “Did you attend all-day kindergarten?” But they will ask, “Did you earn a high-school diploma?” Mayor de Blasio should spend more time and money trying to keep kids in school longer rather than trying to get them in younger.
Raymond P. Moran
Bill’s bill
Middle Village: I just received my quarterly property tax bill for $1,213 on a home the Department of Finance values at $513,000 — a payment up $110 from last quarter. So can someone please tell me how Mayor de Blasio is only paying $725.88 this quarter on a home valued at $1.4 million? This is the man who ran a campaign on taxing the rich!
Ken Maiforth
Reel talk on World Cup
Fresh Meadows: I strongly suggest that the World Cup match between U.S.A. and Belgium be held on a different day, any day but Tuesday. Why? Doesn’t anyone remember the movie title “If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium”? Tuesday is obviously Belgium’s day! Charles Umotor
On the bandwagon
Stamford, Conn.: The Daily News’ coverage of the World Cup has been exceptional, but come on — your June 27 edition made it look like the USA was victorious against Germany when it wasn’t (“Now let’s get this!”). And all these fans and newspapers suddenly coming out of the woodwork to support a soccer team? You barely cover the sport through the year; I think bocce gets more coverage!
Nelson Jimenez Pittsburgh: Future historians will be baffled at how our culture could consider itself to be civilized even as it allowed its children to risk brain injuries for the sake of certain sports.
Joseph Carducci
Ill-fitting suit
Brains on sports
Copiague, L.I.: Speaker John Boehner and his House Republican cronies refuse to do their jobs and act on anything the President puts forward. Then they decide to use taxpayer time and money and stir up a fraudulent lawsuit against him to divert attention from them sitting on their collective asses. We, the American citizens, should sue them.
Carl J. Cruz-Hafner
Generosity spurned
Fairfield, Conn.: No good deed goes unpunished. While Chen Guangbiao should have been clearer about the terms of his promised $300 per homeless person, he did give that money to the mission that organized the Central Park luncheon for them. How many homeless people would have shown up if they were told the money was going straight to the mission? I bet very few. How would many of these homeless people be able to buy alcohol or pills if they hadn’t gotten the cash? To jeer someone who is being generous with his funds just shows the greed of the homeless people who attended.
Sal Busciolano
Misleading prognosis
East Brunswick, N.J.: As a 12-year breast-cancer survivor and current patient, I would like to shed some light on Joan Lunden’s condition (“Lunden’s battling cancer,” June 25). Like Lunden, I was diagnosed early and had surgery, chemo and radiation. For three years, I was in remission, and then the cancer spread to my liver and bones. I have been living with stage-4 breast cancer for eight years. The article’s description of Lunden’s prognosis is far too simplistic. Cancer is tricky and you can never put your guard down and say, “OK, I am cured.” There is no cure. However, you can be proactive and diligent about your treatment. Elizabeth Cappel
Word games
Brooklyn: The Presbyterian Church and every one of its members should remember the prescient words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., spoken in March 1968: “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. It’s anti-Semitism.” Richard Sherman
No squawking
Maspeth: We are taken aback by your June 25 article “Feathered friends.” The funding we receive from Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley is discretionary funding, which is set aside for use by every City Council member. We are a highly regarded parrot rescue, in operation since 2005, part of the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals and a New Hope Partner with NYC Animal Care & Control. We ask reporter Jennifer Fermino: What are you doing, as a citizen and concerned human being, to stem the tide of unwanted and abandoned parrots? How about the profusion of abandoned cats and dogs? By the way, pork is never given to parrots. Perhaps a piece of plain boiled chicken now and then.
Gayle and Barry Schwartz
Soaring legacy
Scarsdale, N.Y.: Re “Flies like an Eagle” (June 24): Brenton James, an outstanding Eagle Academy student, has made the right choice in selecting the University Pennsylvania out of the 21 colleges that accepted him. Surely, the best is yet to come. The bar has already been set by the legacy of such notable Penn alumni as W.E.B. Du Bois, John Legend and James DePriest. Welcome to the Halls of Ivy, James!
Phyllis C. Murray
The standard of beauty
Manhattan: To Voicer Terri Gilbert, who stated I should find something socially significant to write about: Likely, Terri, you are an angry white woman whose ego is badly bruised because you’ve been propped up on a false sense of pride and superiority. I came along and pulled those milk crates from under the rickety horse you and other white wom- en sit on, puffed up with false pride that comes from glorification by the white media of white women. White women have been in the spotlight hundreds of years. It is about time that black queens come out of the dungeon and sit on their thrones. Katherine Cole
Give the get
West Hempstead, L.I.: I just lost my wonderful dad, who was raised in the Jewish Orthodox fashion. My dad always taught us that to be a good Jew was to be a good person — period! So, to Yoel Weiss, who refuses to grant a divorce to his wife (“Let go of me,” June 24): Be a good Jewish man, not in words but in actions. Do the right thing, as Jewish law teaches us to do, and grant Rivky Stein her get! Helene Gibbon
Trashing the guy at the top
New City, N.Y.: To Voicer Barb Russo: Are you really that naïve? Every President in memory has been vilified by the press, deservedly or otherwise. Remember Bush? Clinton? Even Washington was mercilessly lampooned. Read your history, sweetheart.
Scott Jones
Pay to play
Freeport, L.I.: All you Voicers whining about Eva Moskowitz’s $475,000 pay are probably the same boneheads who have no problem paying outrageous amounts of money to walk into a stadium and watch grown men making millions doing completely insignificant jobs like throwing balls around. Mark Green