Aren’t you tired of these insincere apologies from politicos caught with their pants down? Spitzer looked about as remorseful as Bill Clinton did in the Oval Office broom closet. And, why are the wives always so faithfully by their sides? If I were Mrs. Spitzer, I would have told him to call “Kristen” to be his podium sidekick - he probably could have gotten the two minutes with her for about $1,500 bucks.
Michael Chimenti
Bayside
Political wives make me sick
I am so sick of watching the wives of sleazy, cheating politicians stand by their men at press conferences while their errant spouse apologizes to the public in front of the camera. Do these women have no self-respect?
The only way they should attend their husband’s press conference is to take the mike and make this statement: “I have taken the house, the bank account, the cars, the kids and the dog. All this bozo has left is the suit on his back and the drawers on his butt and when I am completely done with him, he may not even have that. He’s all yours - oh yes, and by the way - he’s lousy in the sack.”
Eliot Spitzer’s wife looked shell shocked at his press conference, Jim (I am a gay American) McGreevey’s wife looked like she was on Prozac, and Hillary, well - she’s taking it out of Bill’s hide in her presidential run, but she defended Slick Willy, bimbo after bimbo. Just once, I would like to see one of these women heave to and kick some ass on camera - now that would be worth a vote!
Ann Rychlenski
Ozone Park
Queens College dorms draw ire
Regarding recent news about plans for college dormitories for Queens College students, CUNY students in Long Island City, and the 450-bed dorm for St. John’s students, the only difference between them is off-campus locations for St. John’s and CUNY and the on-campus location of the Queens College housing.
Each of them is to be privately developed and leased back to the institution. All of them will be built by private developers and reportedly all three are to be funded through tax-exempt bonds issued by the New York State Dormitory Authority.
So then why does Councilmember James Gennaro support the Jamaica Estates community while turning his back on Kew Gardens Hills? A dorm at Queens College certainly would not serve this community - quite the contrary.
Everything he has said, standing with the Jamaica Estates community regarding the St. John’s dorm, he could say for QC dorms. St. John’s is leasing the Jamaica Estates dorm, which is being built “as of right” by a private developer just as Queens College proposes to turn over land on its campus to a private developer to build “as of right.”
It is time for Gennaro to support his Kew Gardens Hills constituents and stop telling them they need to get used to the idea of dorms because there is nothing to be done. Gennaro could stand up with his seven Assembly colleagues and publicly state the obvious - Queens College is not in the housing business - it is in the business of educating the sons and daughters of New York City families.
David Kulick, President of Flushing on the Hill Civic Association
Mary Maggio Fischer, President of Georgetown Mews Co-op
Patricia Dolan, President of Kew Gardens Hills Civic Association
Dennis Mulligan, President of Mainstay 1 Co-op
Murray Katz, President of Mainstay 2 Co-op
A matter of living
Hillary likes to use the fact that she lived in the White House for 8 years as a qualification for president. Well, so do the cooks and the gardeners and the maids – are they qualified to be president too?
Michael Chimenti,
Bayside
Stimulus Package
Recent news from Washington concerning the “stimulus package” missed the fact that it is really just a three card Monte shuffle taking your tax dollars from one pocket and just redepositing them in the other, less a service charge far greater than any credit card company.
We must learn from our past mistakes and attempt to reduce both borrowing and long-term debt instead of allowing them to grow year after year. The combined city, state and federal debt adds up to over nine trillion dollars making government the biggest debtor in town!
Government at all levels needs to return to the old fashioned pay-as-you-go financial management along with means testing for all assistance programs. Perhaps it is time to shred Uncle Sam’s, Albany’s and City Hall’s credit cards. In the end, this is the only way to introduce fiscal responsibility and reduce debt.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
End mayoral control of schools
I am writing to voice my serious concerns with mayoral control and the present NYC school governance system.
I feel the six-year experiment with mayoral control of the NYC Department of Education has not achieved improved student performance. Mayoral control has eliminated the public election of community oversight bodies (school boards) which violates the basic human rights of our communities and parents to participate in their children’s education.
I call for the elimination of the NYPD presence in the schools, which I feel creates a prison-like atmosphere.
I feel that we should put educators back into Tweed Courthouse and not corporate “media spin doctors” who misinform the citizenry about the problems in our schools.
Mayoral control has ignored the basic human rights of our children and had a major negative impact on an entire generation of our students’ elementary school experience; all of which has been driven by high stakes testing and constant test preparation.
David M. Quintana
Ozone Park
Letters To The Editor
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