How is a non-cop the right choice for top cop?
Manhattan: As a New York City resident and non-politician, I disagree with the mayor’s selection of Jessica Tisch to head the New York Police Department.
In spite of the mayor’s effusive and grandiose touting of this appointee’s resume, a stint as a deputy NYPD commissioner and tenure as commissioner of the Department of Sanitation, as well as being an astute manager, do not in my view translate as qualifications to lead a paramilitary force of more than 30,000 police officers.
It would seem that out of a top tier of police deputies, many with 15 and 20 or more years’ experience with expansive knowledge of policing, including the latest technology and anti-terror techniques, someone from this group could be selected to lead the department. These police backgrounds include experience with street patrol as well as the grim-and-grime realities of policing.
This is not to say that Tisch is not well-meaning, but if I were a veteran police officer, I would not be inspired or want to follow her into any out-of-control situation requiring police interaction.
As a citizen of this city, I understand that there is always a place in any large organization for data collecting, management skills and forward-thinking ideas. Such individuals can be valuable assets as staff members of the department. But by this appointment, both the police and New Yorkers are ill-served. B. Wallace Cheatham
Mayor material
Greenburgh, N.Y.: In recent weeks, the Daily News has published stories about the upcoming race for mayor. I would like to urge NYC residents to encourage Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to run. She is the kind of mayor NYC needs. The Harvard-educated official has impressed many people during her years as commissioner of three important city agencies. She highlighted her ability to address quality-of-life issues by waging war against rats and taking steps to make streets cleaner during her tenure as Sanitation commissioner. She is currently being praised for her efforts to get rid of bad apples within the police force. She worked on technology issues as commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. Her goal is to get the job done and she is showing that she won’t tolerate corruption. NYC deserves the best. I think Tisch is what the city needs. Paul Feiner
Homeless and harmless
Manhattan: Re “A better mental illness approach” (editorial, Jan. 5): You write, “Recent underground horrors remind us of the need for action. There was the arson homicide of a woman at the Coney Island station, and the caught-on-camera shove onto the platform of a man in Chelsea.” But the suspects in each of these incidents were neither homeless nor had a history of mental illness, so neither would have qualified for involuntary treatment. Making the subways safer for everyone is a worthy goal, but the involuntary commitment of “folks sprawled on benches” who are deemed mentally ill but who haven’t done anything wrong is not the right way. James Baldwin
Self-induced
Staten Island: It is hard to watch what is going on with the fires in California. My wife and I are sick seeing it. How could there be no water to fight the fires? They are next to the biggest ocean on the planet. But they have a mayor who went on vacation knowing what was coming — this after cutting the fire department’s budget. They have a governor who rejected plans to ensure a much-needed supply of water because he felt the wellbeing of some fish was a higher priority. They have a fire chief who felt that DEI hiring was more important than the safety of the people who live there. While I do not wish anything bad for these poor residents, they voted for these people. They are the only ones who can make sure this doesn’t happen again. When you vote for incompetent people, you get incompetence. Tony Anastasio
Make it rain
Plainview, L.I.: How come our scientists didn’t think about artificially inducing the rain needed for the California wildfires? Shooting silver oxide into the atmosphere through a process called cloud seeding, which essentially provides particles of water droplets to condense around and form precipitation. This can be done by airplane or ground-based devices that disperse the substance into existing clouds. This possibly could have helped. Frank Mauceri
Leaders in the field
Manhattan: There is a way for Los Angeles to avoid ever running out of water again. There is a country that has an even drier climate than L.A. that used to always be short of water and whose fields were deliberately set on fire by its enemies. That country developed technology for extracting fresh water from the ocean and now produces so much water that it fills a freshwater lake and exports water and agricultural produce. All Los Angeles has to do is pay it to set up desalination plants. That country is Israel. Gamaliel Isaac
Hard copy
New Brunswick, N.J.: Kudos to J.T. Barbarese for the homage to print (“The simple joy of reading newspapers,” op-ed, Jan. 10). While I transitioned to tablet for the Daily News due to many factors — unreliable delivery, weather, mobility, to mention a few — I miss holding a newspaper in my hands. My dentist tried to convince me to read on Kindle. I told him that sometimes I do. But there’s nothing like the feel of a hardcover book or the inkiness of a newspaper. You’re correct, J.T.: writing style and integrity have been exchanged for expediency. By the time you get the paper, it’s yesterday’s news. T.M. Cembor
Cheating the system
East Meadow, L.I.: Re the Social Security Fairness Act: What is unfair is paying Social Security benefits to workers who didn’t contribute to the Social Security system. They worked in jobs, in municipalities, that don’t participate in the program. Why should they benefit from something they didn’t, or minimally, contribute to? Greg Hecht
Ex-prez fluctuation
Manhattan: Before Jimmy Carter died, we had five ex-presidents alive at once (Carter, Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama and Trump). It’s four now and will go back to five in a few days, when Biden joins the list and Trump leaves the list. I noticed that, like Carter, Harry Truman also died between Christmas and New Year’s Eve (Dec. 26, 1972), and also died as a presidential term was ending and another was about to start. Not a change of presidents, though, as Richard Nixon had been elected to a second term in a landslide victory over George McGovern. Lyndon Johnson survived Truman by less than four weeks, leaving us without a living ex-president until Nixon resigned in August 1974. Charles Adrian O’Connor
Fool incoming
Manhattan: Long ago, a popular song opened with “Fools rush in where wise men used to tread.” It came to mind as I watched the funeral for Jimmy Carter, a wise man, and watched Donald Trump not place his hand over his heart when the casket was at his row. Even Melania did that. A fool — a disdainful man — named Trump is rushing in. I am not alone in feeling fearful for our country. Frankie Turchiano
He’s one of us
Tamarac, Fla.: For those Democrats whose mission was to destroy Trump throughout the years to the present, get over it! He is not your enemy. He never was and never will be. Trump is going to be your next president and will proudly represent you and the country you live in! His wife Melania is going to be the next first lady of your country and will perform her duties with pride and dignity. So, Trump-haters, how about acting like good grown-ups by mustering a little pride and dignity of your own. Accept your 47th president as the American you are, not as the enemy you chose to be. Roberta Chaleff
Capital confusion
Ashburn, Va.: Everyone wonders why Trump wants Greenland so badly. The answer is simple: He thinks the capital of Greenland is named “Nookie.” Not to worry, though. When he finds out the capital is actually named Nuuk, he’ll immediately forget the whole thing. Mike Barrett