As roadways change, drivers get the short end
Flushing: Back in the day, we would ride our bicycles against traffic so cars, buses and trucks could see us. We’d stop at lights. We would walk our bicycles across the street. We were taught to obey all traffic rules and pay attention to all vehicles.
Riding with traffic is a horrible idea. The bicyclist, whether in a bike lane or not, is in the blind spot of vehicles, especially those making right turns. Drivers are always held responsible, but there is no way to see a cyclist from the cab of a truck or even a sedan if they are in your blind spot. Since many cyclists, e-bikes, scooters and mopeds do not obey traffic rules, it’s time to put the blame where it belongs. It’s time to give tickets to riders who break rules, including riding while on a cell phone.
We might as well include pedestrians in this also. I am shocked at how many people assume drivers can see them at night as they dart from between cars to cross the street while on their cell phone, not paying one bit of attention. You can make the speed limit 2 miles per hour and they’d still get hit.
It takes everyone on the road to do their part! Time to heed the lyrics of the song: “Don’t cross the street in the middle of the block. Teach your eyes to look out. Teach your ears to hear. Walk up to the corner where the coast is clear. And wait, and wait, until you see the light turn green.” Susan Scharf
Overgrown undergrowth
Bronx: Maintenance is sorely needed on Shore Road between Pelham Parkway in the Bronx and the Pelham border. The underbrush in most places has covered the white lines on the sides of the road and the vines are already covering a good part of the electric cables above the road, making it dangerous to drive at night, especially where there is little light. We need to have the underbrush mowed before an accident happens. Rose Mary Lancaster
Clear the path
Manhattan: I was happy to read that the city may finally deal with vendors who have all but taken over the pedestrian walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan. While I understand that licensed vendors are able to sell their wares legally, that right has never given them the right to block sidewalks and roadways. The area they have set up is clearly marked on various maps as a “pedestrian walkway” and should never be blocked. Complaints to the city’s 311 system have essentially done nothing. Thanks for following this issue. John Ost
No can do
Brooklyn: I agree with Voicer Erich Wagner: More frequent garbage pickup is a better solution. Years ago, I used to use garbage cans, and three things generally happen: 1) Immediately, the lids are lost. 2) After the cans are emptied into the truck, they are returned to someone else’s house, even if you put your address on them. Sometimes, they are stolen. 3) If your cans are returned to the front of your house and you are not there to immediately retrieve them, passersby will drop half-eaten food and dog poop in them. You are left with loose garbage, flies and bugs. Plastic bags are tied up, picked up and gone. Andrea Allen
Not our fight
Darien, Conn.: The spoiling of the broth in the Middle East just gets worse when even countries so many miles away are needlessly involved. Leaders of Israel and the leaders of their occupied territories ought to finally meet at long last during a now-necessary ceasefire. They alone are the ones who have to meet, no one else. Others sticking their pro-war noses in there will only end in a further disaster. This madness and insanity with so many countries pushing for all-out war must stop right now before it’s too late. It’s not their business, but it’s going on, with the bloodthirsty weapons makers getting wealthier. Dan Singer
Conflict’s spread
Rockaway Point: How dare Israelis and Palestinians bring the trouble in their countries to the streets of the United States. You put our police officers and emergency services in harm’s way. Your families fled said places. If you are outraged, then go back and help fight for freedom. Shame on all of you. Actions are mightier than words. Regina Mangan
Trending that way
Brooklyn: Re “Fear the muzzle” (editorial, Oct. 14): I found your penultimate sentence quite ironic: “… do we really want to live in a society where a young person can be broadly blacklisted for one hair-trigger political perspective…” Isn’t that what we are doing with cancel culture? People are blacklisted, bullied and vilified for opinions, photos or other things they did as young people. Whether left, right or center, everyone is entitled to their opinion and to make mistakes. Susan Caprio
Pro-Israel
Spotswood, N.J.: You can say all you want about him, but Donald Trump did more for Israel than any other president. His daughter and grandkids are Jewish. To suggest he is antisemitic is completely ignorant of the facts. Tom Scott
Mass murder
Jacksonville, Fla.: So, the Palestinian population that has been forced to live isolated within its narrow borders in Gaza, with the mighty Israel harboring its large, dark cloud over the territory for decades, is now facing its ultimate and final fate. Oh yeah, sure, Israel has the “right to defend itself,” (which I, at this point, have heard ad nauseam), but does not have the right to commit genocide! Let’s face it, folks, Israel never liked the Gaza population that borders its country and finally has an excuse to extinguish it! Carl Hafner
Revolutionary violence
Astoria: To Voicer Carlos B. Martinez: Where did you get the idea that Nelson Mandela used non-violence to seize power in South Africa? His ANC party used urban terrorism against civilian targets, the same tactics Hamas uses, to perniciously instill fear into and degrade the will of the population. This included the Church Street bombing, which occurred on a Friday in rush-hour Pretoria, killing 19 and wounding 217. Mandela was able to send coded messages out of prison via his wife, Winnie, to sanction this. Don’t take my word for it — he wrote about it in his biography “Long Walk to Freedom.” Bradley Morris
Rightward court
Pasadena, Calif.: The membership of the Supreme Court has almost entirely turned over since John G. Roberts Jr. became chief justice. Today, the court reflects with considerable precision the stark political divides in our country (six conservative Republicans, three liberal Democrats). “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” claims Roberts. Wrong — we definitely have Trump judges! Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett have joined with Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito in a dramatic lurch to the far-right. Roberts is accompanying his reactionary court into deeper corruption and away from legitimate rule. We, the people, must demand reform. Congress is already considering the For the People Act, a landmark bill that would restore and expand voting rights, stop the flow of big money in politics, advance fair redistricting measures and more. This represents a positive first step in efforts to return power to the people! Richard A. French
Get to governing
Brooklyn: Like many other Americans, I’m concerned about the infighting between the members of the Republican Party, especially as we move toward the Nov. 17 deadline for a government shutdown. I have a suggestion on behalf of hardworking Americans who will be left without a paycheck if this is allowed to go on with no resolution. Forget trying to impeach President Biden. Forget all those attempts at rolling back voting rights. Hell, forget legislation on banning books and drag queens reading to children. Stop paying all of the members of the House of Representatives in the event of a shutdown. Make them feel the pain of the citizens who elected them to be their voices and to govern, not to play out their childish, petty grudges. Cassandra Stubbs-Burton
Voice of the People
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