Readers sound off on covered bike lanes, NYC Corrections and more mass shootings

Bronx: Protected bike lanes recently installed underneath the elevated train tracks of White Plains Road in the Bronx are killing businesses. More than 100 parking spots have been eliminated and people who want to shop here now have nowhere to park. It is also difficult for goods to be delivered to manufacturers and businesses on this business corridor. Even businesses with parking lots are suffering, as their prospective customers have to come out directly onto the main traffic lane, which is obscured by the elevated columns.

My brother was hospitalized after being hit by a bike as a child, and I was mowed down recently at City Island by a bike in a bike lane on the sidewalk, so I am particularly aware of how crazy this is. The city did not give adequate notice to the community, which is now angry and frustrated. People here do not use these bike lanes and never needed them. It seems that they were installed for people other than those who live and work here.

I guess businesses on White Plains Road, most of them minority-owned, can close and the tax base shrink as long as we satisfy the bike fetish of “progressives,” a large percentage of whom come to NYC from elsewhere, and many of whom seem to have taken jobs in the Department of Transportation. I like our mayor but I don’t think he thought this one through. Protected bike lanes do not work under elevated tracks, particularly those with lots of businesses and residents. Mary O’Riordan

Pearl River, N.Y.: Why is it so hard for this inept mayor to speak the truth? The New York Times article is not saying that the mayor doesn’t carry a picture of the police officer killed in 1987, they are saying it’s not the original one. Whether he lost the original and downloaded a picture from Google is what they are questioning. Mr. Mayor, we all lose things. Just admit you lost it and requested another one, but instead you lie and now there is no way out but to keep lying. Robert Brennan

West New York, N.J.: How can anyone think that having a hot dog eating contest where a human being consumes 62 of them is normal? That’s not even considering the health consequences. People clapping at this event is just plain wrong. Ken Ludmer

Hauppauge, L.I.: Dear Mr. Mayor: Why is it acceptable for the Macy’s fireworks display to spew far more of a carbon footprint into the air on a single night than all the wood-burning and coal-burning pizza stoves in all of NYC during the summer? Cut the hypocrisy, sit down at the poker table and show your hand. Both are NYC staples and can coexist forever. Come up with an acceptable solution for at least one thing in your short-term administration. Steve Babyak

Brooklyn: This is a message for NYC Department of Correction Commissioner Louis Molina and Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association President Benny Bosco: As a survivor of the hell on earth that is Rikers Island, I can say with absolute certainty that when it comes to the deaths/murders of detainees in DOC custody: The calls are coming from inside the house, meaning your staff and officers. Absurd policies or lack thereof are the catalysts in more than 20 recent DOC deaths, including the overdoses. Especially since it is always your officers who traffic in the fentanyl-saturated narcotics to the detainees. It’s always the officers. Time to step down, guys. You have more than enough blood on your hands. Eileen M. Maher

Brooklyn: To Voicer J. Napoleone: Yes, horse racing should be banned. Twelve horses died at the Kentucky Derby this May alone, and four at Belmont, along with many others. Racing is an abusive and exploitative sport. Speciesism runs rampant in the world of so-called sports. It needs to stop. If humans need amusement and betting venues, then may I suggest you take the place of the horses, the dogs, etc. If you want to exploit and abuse, do it with your own kind! Susan Cassano

Philadelphia: Carriage Horse Freedom’s electric horseless carriage, named Caroline, made its debut on July 4 at the Independence Day parade in Philadelphia. The first official passenger was Councilman Mark Squilla, who was waving and calling out throughout the ride: “Philadelphia’s first electric carriage!”, “Coming in 2024, or sooner!” and “Free the horses!” The parade crowd was very welcoming and enthusiastic about this viable alternative to horse carriages. The carriage was named in honor of the Women’s Animal Center’s founder, Caroline Earle White, an animal advocate. Carriage Horse Freedom will continue to push for a legislative ban on horse-drawn carriages in Philadelphia. Janet White

Brooklyn: As of July 2, we have had 338 mass shootings in the U.S. There have been more since Baltimore and Philadelphia. At what point do the people in charge say enough is enough? Right here in N.Y., we had seven shootings across the city in one night. Our police commissioner, who was praised by everyone, resigned just 18 months into the job. If she was so good, we need to ask why she left. Maybe it’s because the people above her didn’t let her do her job. If the people in charge can’t do the job, these shootings will keep happening every day. In fact, they are pretty much an everyday way of life across the country. It’s sad that we have leaders at every level who can’t lead, and the good ones leave because of it. John De Angelo

Brooklyn: I am anxious to see where the Daily News will cover the brewing drama of the battle of the new millennium: the technocrat billionaire from South Africa and his fellow Ivy League challenger, Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg. Will you report it on the financial page or on the sports page? Perhaps a juicy court case. Tuned in. Steven Rosenzweig

Branchburg, N.J.: Another long-time subscriber to your paper expressing displeasure with the shrunken size of the Saturday TV crossword puzzle. Everything about the paper has become smaller in recent years. No matter how many complaints there are, nothing will change. There is an option. On the Bonus Puzzle page, there is a TV-themed crossword whose size is still big enough to write in the answers (of course, the clues are very small). Frank DiBrango

Manhattan: To Voicer Kevin John Carroll: That’s not quite what I said. My statement was: “However, in the early 1800s those immigrants started calling themselves (Scots-Irish, not white Americans) crackers as a badge of honor and a term of endearment,” thus taking the sting out of an insult. It’s not a version I came up with, it was what I read in a publication that explained the beginnings of the term in the U.S. The term being used to demean only a specific section of the white population started way before Black people used it as an insult for all whites. Vanessa Enger

Flushing: To Voicer Joe Schwarz: Comparing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intrusion into the Palestinian homeland to Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine war is like comparing apples to oranges. Ukrainians did not attack Russian civilians prior to Russia’s invasion with rockets, bombs, knives, guns and cars, killing innocent men, women and children. Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, is supposed to control terrorist activity. Not only does he not do this, he encourages it by paying a pension to terrorists or their families (if they die during the commission) for killing Israeli civilians. What do you expect Israel to do? Allow its citizens to be slaughtered without lifting a finger? What country in the world would do that? If you are attacked and do not defend yourself, the aggression will only increase. C. Weissman

Oceanside, L.I.: In the medium of mass brainwashing, the Chinese Wang Xi was dressed in European clothing. In Russia, they march with the Nazi goose step. In England, the ruling-class king has more medals than battles engaged. “The Little Prince” identified this. Noah J. Polak