Homeowners are caught between fines and vandals
Manhattan: What’s with New Yorkers’ obsession with dirty trash bags? We keep having people show up to our home, dump out our trash and steal the bags it’s in. Is there a trash bag shortage? Or is this the next viral TikTok challenge replacing ice buckets and Tide pods? This happens so often that we had to install security cameras to record it.
On Sept. 29, we came home at 11 p.m. to find trash on our doorstep, our trash bins uncovered and the bags the trash was in gone. Fearing Sanitation Department fines, we quickly cleaned up the mess and put it in a new set of bags. We then checked our security cameras to see what happened. As expected, at 10:07 p.m., a vagrant walked up to our four-unit brownstone, opened our trash bins, dumped out the trash and stole our trash bags. They didn’t even have the courtesy to put the lids back on the bins, which Sanitation can fine you for.
The NYPD says this activity isn’t criminal mischief. Trash is considered abandoned property, so the bag being stolen isn’t theft. It’s not littering because a police officer didn’t observe it, and apparently, dumping out trash on my doorstep isn’t vandalism. It’s not trespassing because landmark regulations prevent us from having a gate around our trash.
We love NYC. We want to fight rats and keep our streets clean as much as everyone else, but the current policies put the onus of that losing war entirely on us, the homeowners. Why are we being blamed by Sanitation’s homeowner-hostile policies for middle-of-the-night actions of random strangers? Ilan Rabinovitch
Optional holidays
Manhattan: This is not an original suggestion but a logical one. With students losing so much instruction during COVID, how about honoring the different cultures and religions by keeping the schools open and letting observant students have excused absences? Even if the days are used as review days, it will still be educational as well as respectable. Marilyn Levin
Fleecing workers
Manhattan: Another article in praise of congestion pricing (“Resilient transit = congestion pricing,” op-ed, Oct. 29), the second one this week. We get it, you love it. Apparently, no downsides — if you close your eyes to the hospitals on First Ave., which have no subway service. But what the hell, no one from the outer boroughs works there at night, right? And, oh yeah, our police, the worst-paid in the region, will be happy to contribute $75 a week to work in the zone. Maybe a better plan would be for Alvin Bragg to enforce the law against fare-beaters. It’s been successfully done before and would raise an estimated $750,000/year. But no, it’s better to tax non-criminals with congestion pricing. Paul Weissman
Albany must act
Brooklyn: Make no mistake, Donald Trump hates New York. He failed here as a businessman and was found guilty here of both business fraud and one in a long series of sexual assaults. He’s made it clear that if he became president, he would deny disaster aid to blue states and eliminate federal funding for transit, as he did when he canceled it for the essential Hudson River rail tunnel. Believe him. In a Trump presidency, the MTA, which most of us depend on, will collapse. Congestion pricing will be dead, along with any chance of alternate funding. Gov. Hochul must get up the courage to drop her illegal temporary pause of congestion pricing before it is genuinely too late. A Trump presidency would bring a world of hurt to New Yorkers. Mayor Adams doesn’t have the guts to admit that. We depend on Hochul to mitigate the potential damage. Joanne Boger
Strategic defense
Brooklyn: Trump is not a fascist? Angling for a pardon, Mr. Mayor? June Lowe
Zombie apocalypse
Manhattan: As Halloween and the all-important election are upon us, we are indeed witnessing something truly terrifying: Trump supporters! How so many of my fellow Americans can still support and cheer this vulgar, pathologically lying, hateful, traitorous sex offender is seriously beyond belief. As witnessed by that angry, racist, obscene display at MSG the other night, is this the best of America? Obviously, Trump has opened a Pandora’s box of deep-seated anger, prejudice and crudeness in mostly white males who now feel free to scream it out to the world and to history. How sad and bewildering. What happened to common decency, humanity, compassion, morality — oh, and little things like truth, dignity, science and intelligence? I read about one pro-Trump preacher who believes we are in danger from “technically sophisticated demon mermaids.” This is where we’re at. Crazy, scary times. Jeff H. Woods
Ladies’ man?
Staten Island: Vulnerable women need fear no longer. Donald Trump has vowed to become “the protector of women.” Just don’t go into any empty rooms with him. Ralph D’Esposito
Gender-aghast
Little Egg Harbor, N.J.: I sincerely hope that men and women are not voting for Trump because they are too insecure to vote for the better candidate, who just happens to be a woman. I especially can’t fathom why any woman could possibly vote for this vengeful, racist, unhinged, bully, fascist and narcissist Trump. There have been so many countries that have had female leaders — to mention a few, Margaret Thatcher, Corazon Aquino, Mary Robinson and Theresa May. As far as the economy, this is a complex issue that Trumpies do not understand nor care to. Kamala Harris offers us hope, but Trump just scares me. He has never been a good, honest person or businessman and doesn’t deserve to be president. Don’t believe his blatant lies, do your own honest fact-checking. Georgia Dolack
False food promises
Wappingers Falls, N.Y.: I remember many years ago, when Nelson Rockefeller was running for the office of governor of New York. He was campaigning in Manhattan in Little Italy. He was walking around telling people that if he is elected, he will put a salami on everyone’s table. Well, guess what? He took away that salami. In view of Kamala Harris’ claim that she worked at McDonald’s, perhaps she should tell voters that if she is elected president, she will put a Big Mac on everyone’s table. Sure, and I think she also has a bridge in Brooklyn she is trying to sell. Our country is in deep doo-doo. God help us. Stan Siekierski Sr.
Trust your gut
Bronx: Silly me. Thinking my wife has a softer side, I was pleasantly surprised and accepting of the fast food meal she gave me, which contained a burger with extra onions! I should’ve known better. Sandy Harris
Stain on a shared space
Aberdeen, N.J.: Growing up in Manhattan was one of the greatest advantages of my life. Being a 77-year-old woman, I have numerous memories of Madison Square Garden, one of New York’s gems. I remember going to the circus, indoor ice skating, concerts and hearing stories of all the sporting events my dad attended and watched on TV. We were fortunate to be able to hop on a train or bus and get to the “Garden,” as we called it. Now we will have a new memory, as the stench of hatred not seen since 1939 will always be associated with the Trump rally. The stench of hate, bigotry and cruelty. The owner states that they rent to anyone, no matter what their politics, and that is his right. However, it was obvious what a MAGA rally would be like. MAGA wants to bring us back to a different time. But 1939! Really? Elizabeth Taylor
Not there yet
Stratford, Conn.: OK, you Judgeaholics out there, stop comparing Aaron Judge to Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and even Reggie Jackson. Until he stops choking and performs like Ruth, Mantle and Reggie in the World Series, he’s just another choke artist who can’t do it in the big games. He needs to bat .800 the rest of the way before I will even start to compare him with the others. Earth to Yankees fans: chillax. Peter Sulzicki