Decline of New York City: A Correspondence
Mealy apple
Chutzpah? Effrontery? Gall? Temerity? Melissa DeRosa’s article is all of these and more (“State budget bites Apple,” April 22).
Although she rightly condemns everyone from Gov. Hochul to Mayor Adams to the state Assembly, she conveniently omits condemnation of her old boss, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
From Cuomo signing the sanctuary-state law and the catastrophic no-bail and other criminal-justice reforms to his deadly policies on nursing-home patients, Cuomo should have been in jail years ago.
If DeRosa wants to point fingers for the causes of New York’s current “Third World Nation” status, she should look to Cuomo, or perhaps locate a mirror.
James McCaffrey, Yonkers
Ticking clock
The Senate has addressed a serious problem in passing a potential ban on TikTok (“Ban vote ticks off TikTok,” April 22).
The only short-sighted thinking here is that they didn’t include the rest of the social media web devoted to bullying, baiting and believing the unbelievable. Cat videos don’t balance the scales.
It is odd that something which has so much potential for positive use is misused by a small but vocal group that might be better if they left their dingy basements and headed out into the sun for a walk.
Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia
Vagrancy laws
On April 22, our Supreme Court was asked if homeless people can be ticketed or if ticketing is a “cruel and unusual” punishment under the Eighth Amendment (“No Right to Rough,” April 24).
In an article about the Oregon case, it was stated that “on any given night, more than 650,000 people in the United States are experiencing homelessness, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.”
Imagine how many could be helped if the billions of dollars spent by the government on combatting global warming or aid for migrants were used to house the homeless.
David F. Lipton, Toms River, NJ
Think of the kids
Contrary to Naomi Schaefer Riley’s belief, we take our responsibility to protect children very seriously (“How New York’s Child Services system is failing city kids,” April 21),.
Reports alleging child maltreatment go to the state; ACS staff respond to every report accepted, quickly conducting a safety assessment. And nearly 5,000 investigations last year involved parental substance misuse that may impact a child.
We continue to invest in our workforce; we’ve even increased the number of former NYPD detectives working as investigative consultants.
We also take racial disparity very seriously, getting families the help they need upfront. Last quarter, families engaging with supportive services grew 30%.
We reject the narrow notion that we cannot protect children and address racial disparity at the same time; children and families deserve both and our staff work hard every day toward those ends.
Jess Dannhauser, Commissioner of the NYC Administration for Children’s Services, Manhattan
The people’s radio
The fact that NPR is funded with taxpayer money is a disgrace (“Left counter punch,” April 25).
Its new CEO, Katherine Maher, is an arrogant elitist who truly believes that freedom of speech is something to be suppressed. NPR is nothing more than Democratic propaganda.
Robert DiNardo, Farmingdale
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