Readers sound off on rat prevention, empty retail shelves and shoplifters

Forked River, N.J.: When most of us with common sense heard about the plans the mayor of New York City came up with to deal with rats, New Yorkers all did a collective facepalm. While the mayor is solving NYC’s problems from his seat at the World Cup or in the sunshine of Greece, anyone who lives or works in New York already knows that garbage is the problem. Unless you deal with the garbage problem, there will always be rats and roaches no matter how many suitcases of cash you give the new “rat czar.”

For decades, I did electrical work in the apartments of the wealthiest people as well as in some of the poorest neighborhoods of New York City. They all had one thing in common and that was the garbage in the basements of those buildings attracted rats and roaches. Paying some guy a six-figure sum to poison birds, squirrels, dogs and cats while trying to poison the rats is like watching a Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoon.

Instead of poison, using a chemical that will sterilize the rats will cut their numbers greatly and in a safe manner. Voicer T.C. Henry suggests we encourage can and bottle collectors to kill rats, which is another bad idea. There have been many brutal attacks on New Yorkers as well as their dogs by homeless people with violent mental issues. The last thing we should be doing is encouraging them to engage in even more violence. Jim Hughes

Brooklyn: With all due respect to Voicer and Manhattan Postmaster Wanda Diaz and most postal workers, after a recent episode, I lost what little faith I had in the USPS for the upcoming holiday season. Three friends sent me birthday cards a few weeks ago, which I was alerted to and confirmed via “informed delivery” on the USPS website. However, two of the three pieces never arrived and were returned to my sender friends, indicating there was no such addressee at the apartment building where I’ve lived for more than 40 years. The only valid excuse, from my perspective, for the botched deliveries is that a postal worker didn’t sufficiently do his or her job. Let’s hope when holiday cards are mailed to my neighbors and me, the same carelessness does not occur. Neil S. Friedman

Bronx: I agree with Voicer Roberta Horowitz, who visited the Bed, Bath & Beyond store in Manhattan. I went to the store in Yonkers. Since I haven’t been there in quite some time and since I’m not an online shopper, I decided to go to pick up a few holiday gifts. And was I surprised! There were a lot of empty shelves. There were not many people shopping, especially for this time of year, and I saw very few sales people walking around. All the items I used to buy there were gone! Bed, Bath & Beyond used to be one of my favorite stores. I used to save a lot with their coupons and now I’m really sad. It looked like that store may be going the way of so many other retail stores. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed and sad remembering how it used to be filled to the rafters with merchandise. Roberta Seidner

Brooklyn: It is certainly disgraceful that a group of teenagers attacked a woman as part of a gang initiation (”Teen choked woman in gang ritual: police,” Dec. 9). They do not deserve any sympathy or mercy and must be punished both for their crime and as a lesson to others. By joining a gang, you are putting your freedom at risk. This message must be hammered home. However, there must be a serious effort to prevent vulnerable youth from falling under the spell of gangs. They must be provided with positive alternatives. Alan Podhaizer

Edgewater, N.J.: Great to read about Metro-North breaking ground to bring rail service to four new stations serving 500,000 in the transit-starved east Bronx. I suppose some funding for this project is available under the bipartisan infrastructure law but it appears as if half of the state’s Republican House delegation voted against it — including the guy from Long Island who just ran for governor (as did some members of the state’s progressive delegation — from the Bronx!). Maybe Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is right when she says the politicians are more focused on denying the opposition a victory than they are on improving Americans’ lives, and that the people who lose are everyday Americans. Jay K. Egelberg

The Daily News Flash

Weekdays

Catch up on the day’s top five stories every weekday afternoon.

Bronx: The corporations that adhere to late economist Milton Friedman’s doctrine, which states that the only responsibility of a corporation is to the stockholders, do not even have their regular employees’ wellbeing at heart, much less private contractors. I wish the media would report the billionaires, foreign and domestic, who own stock in these companies so everyone knows why these corporations act the way they do towards the people that bring in the money so the stockholders are happy. Virgilio Carballo

Middle Village: We now hear that Walmart may close stores due to shoplifting. Remember one thing: What the shoplifters steal is nothing compared to what the workers steal, which is minuscule compared to what the owners steal. John Puglisi

Henderson, Nev.: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle exposing all the secrets of the royal family is tantamount to Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and then being paid 30 pieces of silver for his efforts. Unbelievable! David Tulanian

Brooklyn: To Voicer Harvey Kaplan: Paul Whelan has citizenship in the U.S., Britain, Ireland and Canada. Bruce Mercadante

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.: Now that Brittney Griner is home, President Biden is searching for Russian agents he can swap for Paul Whelan, the unjustly detained Marine vet still locked up in Russia. Biden’s solution is contained in a memorable Daily News photo from 2016. In the photo, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and Jill Stein are pictured dining with Vladimir Putin. She was the Green Party presidential nominee whose voters gave Donald Trump his margin of victory in 2016. Flynn was Trump’s advisor who lied to the FBI to protect his relationship with foreign powers, and he’s still under investigation for the Jan. 6 coup attempt. A two-for-one swap. A win-win for the U.S.A.! Gordon Boyd

Ozone Park: I don’t understand all the hating on Brittney Griner and President Biden. The release of any American from unjust incarceration should be greeted with great relief and joy. While the swap was not perfect, the Whelan family, unlike the right-wing MAGA Republicans, has shown great class in welcoming the release of Brittney. Should we stop praying for Whelan’s release because he was court-martialed and issued a bad conduct discharge? I don’t think so. He is an American unjustly incarcerated and we will be joyful when he is released. John Landers

Bayonne: To Voicer Pete Scott: If you don’t see that we have an open Southern border, you must be living on another planet. Since President Biden took office, there have been about 5 million illegal migrants who crossed our border, not counting the ones who came in the night and got away. Who do you think Biden is shipping in the middle of the night all over the country? Did you not see on television the pictures of planes provided by private contractors landing in Westchester County in the nighttime so no one would see? Because the Border Patrol had 2,766,582 enforcement actions does not mean they were sent back to their home countries. Some were released into the U.S. The Border Patrol is trying and wanting to do the job they are paid to do, but Biden has them giving out cell phones and plane tickets and bus rides all over the U.S. Mike Armstrong