There’s no parking spot in NYC worth your life
Manhattan: I just read about the elderly gentleman who was killed for trying to hold a parking spot (“Gentle soul shoved to his death,” May 13). This is a new trend in NYC.
I live on the Upper West Side, where bike lanes and restaurant sheds take up a great deal of what should have been available parking for businesses’ customers. Twice when I wanted to park my vehicle, someone told me they were holding the spot for someone else who was arriving shortly. Twice, I got out of my car and told the individuals they had a choice. I won’t say what that choice was, but I wasn’t smiling when I said it. I backed my car right into the spot and told the individuals each time that what they were doing was dangerous. And it was. This has to stop before more people get shot, stabbed or punched. No one has a right to stand in a parking spot and tell a driver that they can’t park because they’re holding it for someone else.
Another thing happening is apartment buildings placing cones in legitimate parking spots so that delivery people don’t have to look for a spot. This happened to me on 81st St. off Broadway. The doorman even came out to tell me that he would have my car towed if I removed the cones. I removed them anyway, parked my car and called 311 to report the building management for this illegal behavior. People are behaving in a manner that is dangerous and will cause bodily harm to themselves. Don’t do it. It’s not worth your life. Marilyn D. Rodriguez
Landowner rights
Huntington, L.I.: I had to laugh when reading Anita W. Laremont’s op-ed (“Albany is interfering with NYC’s co-op market,” May 14). She states that the proposed bill would be found unconstitutional under the Takings Clause of the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because it limits a landowner’s ability to use their own property while simultaneously minimizing the return a landowner might receive. The same clause renders rent control and rent stabilization laws unconstitutional. The Takings Clause states: “Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” The reason for my amusement is that I found it shocking to read a pro-landlord op-ed in the socialist Daily News. Tom Saracco
Shilling for drilling
Warsaw, N.Y.: I am a constituent of state Sen. George Borrello, who penned “Don’t raise the N.Y. HEAT Act: We have to be honest about energy costs” (op-ed, May 12). For those Daily News readers who don’t know this western New York Republican senator: Please ignore his misguided, fact-less rant against the NY HEAT Act. From opposing clean wind energy to rooting for polluting oil and fracked gas, we in his district are quite used to his shilling for the oil and gas industry that contributes handsomely to his campaign coffers. In his piece, he simply denies the cost savings for consumers from the act that have been established by multiple detailed studies and have been acknowledged by NYC utilities like Con Edison and National Grid. Instead, he claims with zero evidence that the costs of the gas infrastructure and the savings from reforming the public service law are inflated. Don’t believe a word of it. Lynn Saxton
Hung out to dry
Yonkers: New York’s governor is totally neglecting nursing home residents by underfunding these facilities. It is a disgrace that our elderly people are not able to be cared for because of government waste. Money should be used to fund facilities that care for the elderly and the veterans, not outsiders looking for a free meal ticket and housing. Gov. Hochul, take care of our own people first! Karl Reinecke
Euro vision
Allentown, Pa.: I’m a Navy vet, a former second-class bosun’s mate. I’m not usually into politics, but it’s like President Biden and the Democrats are trying to make the country more like Europe, where there is no middle class, only a small minority of the rich and everybody else is poor and dependent on them. That’s why a lot of people are lining up behind Donald Trump. Joseph Russo
Corrupted leadership
Jamaica: It’s truly sad that Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate can’t do the jobs that their constituents sent them to do because they are in New York giving the Orange Guy (Trump) support. The Orange Guy is a liar who assaults women, cheats people out of their money, got rid of Roe v. Wade, never keeps his promises (infrastructure) and does not like minorities nor gays, and this is who they care about. Republicans have lost all their morals and common sense. Just saying! Remember, vote for what you and your family need. Trump is only for himself and so are the Republicans. God bless America! Charlene Black
Internal rot
Blairstown, N.J.: Was it Nikita Khrushchev who once said, “We will take America without firing a shot”? Do you think we have enough pro-Putin members in our U.S. Capitol? The likes of Marjorie T. Greene, Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan and more. And it’s amazing how many members of the American Legion and VFW support the orange fungus. If you were wounded, maimed or a POW, you are most assuredly called a loser by the Trumpkin. And for those killed in action, Trumpty will likely urinate on your grave. Ron Cristi
Single subject
West Vancouver, British Columbia: Re “Columbia grad rips diploma in protest” (May 14): The correct word is “her” diploma — she is one person. Anyone reading this is looking around for the second or third person involved. Proper grammar is important, and words have consequences. Please stop destroying the English language. Paul Silverstone
Familiar strategy
Bronx: To Voicer Bob Ory: The purpose of the campus protests are to get the universities to divest their investments in Israel and companies that support Israel, same as was done to end apartheid in South Africa. By the way, Israel wholeheartedly supported the apartheid government in South Africa. W. Twirley
Enhanced history
Woods Cross, Utah: Sen. Lindsey Graham recently said, “We were faced with destruction as a nation after Pearl Harbor.” The threat to the wheatfields of Kansas and the harbor of Charleston, S.C., was apparently so bad that we were forced to flatten Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Historians of World War II say America went abroad to come to the rescue of democracy in Europe and Asia, not because armies and navies were bearing down on our homeland. And many say we could have kept our nukes in our pants. Hamas soldiers crossed the border on the morning of Oct. 7, killed and grabbed up civilians, then ran back home before lunchtime. Suggesting this was somehow like Hitler occupying France in 1940 or Emperor Hirohito knocking off the Philippines in 1942 is crazy talk. Mr. Graham, you are teaching the same kind of fabricated history that Israel’s Netanyahu is teaching young people in Tel Aviv to justify his budding dictatorship there. Kimball Shinkoskey
Wholly mad
Manhattan: The 16th-century French philosopher Blaise Pascal said, “We are so necessarily mad that not to be mad must be considered a form of madness.” Thank you for covering this truth so well in your pages. Joel Griffiths
Day ahead
Brooklyn: In Tuesday’s edition, it seems those responsible for posting the evening TV schedule got ahead of themselves. Checking the schedule, I soon realized I was looking at Wednesday’s lineup. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Neil S. Friedman
Prophetic programming
Tuckahoe, N.Y.: How come Jesus is not on free TV? Look at the junk that is on. Channel 9 is all game shows and talk shows. Maybe people would be nicer to one another. Maybe people would learn something. Jesus is supposed to come back. Maybe it would be sooner. God is the boss, people are not. C. D’Onofrio
