Express bus and local service
Staten Island: The fares keep increasing and the service continues to go downhill. The express bus from Staten Island is supposed to run every 10 minutes during morning and evening rush hours. Yet we wait 20 to 30 minutes every morning and 30 to 40 minutes in the evening. The MTA has inspectors at morning checkpoints to see how often buses run, but instead of sitting in the car on a main thoroughfare (Hyland Blvd.), they should try Mill Road. In the evenings we wait at 35th St. and Fifth Ave. as everyone checks their apps for the bus. The app shows the bus two stops away, then it disappears off the grid even as buses roll by saying, “Next bus please.” A driver said that dispatchers tell them to skip stops and turn off the “next bus” sign at 23rd St.
Why can’t something been done about improving service? Why is the MTA constantly being given the okay to raise rates when it does nothing to improve buses or trains? Where is all this money going? It’s certainly not improving anything for the public. Val Adams
Under the bus
Brooklyn: What is going on with the buses? Why are drivers allowing open walkers, open carriages and shopping carts on board, let alone all kinds of luggage? I tried to get on the bus the other day, and there was an open walker and a shopping cart right in the way after I paid my fare. In the meantime, riders get on through the back door for free, since the drivers leave it wide open. Can’t the drivers at least speak up and tell people to use the front door? Instead, announcements tell us how to cough or sneeze. I take the B1 and the B8 daily, and it’s the worst part of my day. Michele A. McMahon
No slight there
Greenwood Lake, N.Y.: I would like to congratulate Voicer Lisa Favara on being the first one to yell racism in the upcoming presidential election, by accusing the Daily News of disparaging Ted Cruz due to his Hispanic surname. It’s people like her that keep racism alive and well.
Joe Fioramonti
Two-bit jokester
Bronx: I am a Latino who can smell racism when it rears its ugly face, and I do not think that the Daily News attacked Ted Cruz because he is Cuban. I think that he was singled out because The News felt — like the majority of Latinos — that Cruz is a joke as far as politics are concerned, and that he would be better off doing what he is best suited for, being the second-rate comedian in a club somewhere in the city outskirts. Joseph Gallego
Rice is cooking (the truth)
Staten Island: Are we to expect another promotion for National Security Advisor Susan Rice? When she was the U.S. representative to the United Nations, she went on all the Sunday talk shows shortly after the Benghazi disaster and said that the attack on our consulate was a result of a video. We all know now that that was not true. Then came the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner exchange. Shortly after the exchange, she stated that Bergdahl served “with honor and distinction.” He is now charged with desertion. I expect there is another big promotion coming. It truly proves that being a sycophant to the President has its rewards. Martin T. Reda
Obama’s Israel blind spot
Lansdowne, Pa.: Voicer Randi Portnoy is right, but why is anyone surprised? In 2008, many Jewish groups endorsed Obama — a 20-year member of a notoriously anti-Semitic congregation, where his family would still be had he not been elected President! Alan Dershowitz voted for Obama twice. Now, they are all sorry. Georgia Makiver
Persian puzzle
Levittown, L.I.: What is the reason for negotiating a nuclear weapon deal with Iran? How can we enable a country whose leader chants “Death to America” to have a weapon of mass destruction? Since when is such a deal left up to one public official without the consent of others? Why are we even sitting at the same table with our enemy? Where do we think a deal is going to take us in the future?
Paul Dezio
Immigration by the book
Brooklyn: Voicer Annie Cohen makes the influx of immigrants sound like the best thing since the invention of the light bulb and sliced bread. No one is objecting, per se, to immigrants flooding the country, but to the manner in which it is happening. If one more person says, “We are all the children of immigrants,” I may hit him or her with a rolled-up newspaper. When our ancestors came here, they had to be in perfect health and have a job waiting, a place to live and someone to vouch for them. They knocked themselves out to learn English. Now, none of this applies. If they are sick, have no job, no place to live, etc., it doesn’t matter. They get free medical care, a place to live and food stamps, things people who are born here — and worked hard and paid into the system — don’t get. They don’t have to learn English, because everyone caters to them. In my area, one shopping street is all Chinese, and another one has become very Russian. I feel like a stranger in my own country.
Rowena Lachant
Do nothing in chief
Fairfield, Conn.: The Daily News is confused as to why President Obama didn’t make Fortune magazine’s list of most influential leaders, while Taylor Swift did. There’s no such thing as “leading from behind,” as an Obama aide declared. That’s called following. And like it or not, in her industry, Swift certainly is a leader by taking on Spotify and protecting what she has produced. If Obama would take steps to protect the ideals that have made this country the power it is (or was), maybe next year he’ll make the list.
Michael Caserta
When police stop policing
Kew Gardens: Police Commissioner Bill Bratton predicts 1 million fewer contacts with the public in 2015 in an effort to improve community relations. Is he crazy? He’s getting his marching orders from the mayor, and the policy is to lay off minority persons. He calls them negative contacts. Is it negative to remove guns from the community and prevent a stray bullet from hitting a citizen? Then, he wants to essentially lay off marijuana enforcement as well. So much for the broken-windows theory that he espoused for most of his career. The public will pay the price. And suffering the most will be the people in minority neighborhoods. Learn how to duck, is my advice. Phil Serpico
Word police
Maspeth: In reply to Voicer Lisa Lagueras wanting to know when “disappear” changed to “go missing”: Right about the time a “problem” became an “issue.” On that note, I’m going out to buy the latest “problem” of my favorite magazine. Anthony Konopka
What’s the question?
Whitestone: After watching hundreds of press conferences, I have one simple request: Would it be possible for the person holding the press conference (or his or her aide) to repeat the questions being asked? For too long, I have had to endure a one-way communication that left me wondering what the hell the question was. This should be the standard practice out of respect for viewers or listeners. Anthony Scro
Disrespecting Egan
Brooklyn: I am ashamed to say I read the Daily News. The day after the sad, untimely death of Edward Cardinal Egan, I saw Kim Kardashian on page 3 the next day for dyeing her hair, and Egan on page 8. What a slap in the face to Catholic people. Shame on you, Daily News. Annette Minafo
Ditto
Brooklyn: Shame on The News for putting one of the biggest bimbos, Kim Kardashian, on page 3 and the passing of Edward Cardinal Egan on page 8. May he rest in peace. Mary Ferrigno
Private matters
Bronx: Tell me, Jeff Wilpon of the Mets: Do you think you’re a saint for firing a former team executive for having a baby out of wedlock? I’ll bet that you have a lot of skeletons in your closet that no one knows about. I wonder how many Mets players are committing adultery — and nobody gives a damn . Doris Festante
King and chairman
Bayside: Voicer Robert Barrett recently stated that Elvis Presley beats Frank Sinatra in every way. He is badly mistaken. The popularity of Elvis was overblown. And he was highly dependent on drugs and died at an early age by his own hand. Sinatra was the greatest singer and entertainer of all time. He truly was the “King.”
Sarah Alboher
Sports talk
Bronx: Why not have a page for sports fans and let us be Voicers on sports? Verbertine Nelson