Readers sound off on building regulations, voting third parties and maggots

Older buildings definitely need a closer look

Staten Island: Re “Bx. bldg. collapse spurs pols’ push for tough regs” (Dec. 22): This is the beginning of the second phase of a disastrous system that has been created in NYC.

If free-market rental owners enjoy the pleasure of owning their properties, they can maintain and update them and receive a nice return for their investment. With the passage of the Tenant Protection Act in 2019 and the lengthy process of evicting non-paying tenants, owners of rent-stabilized properties are cheated and screwed. Since the Bill de Blasio administration, annual rent increases have been a lot less than the annual increase of expenses. Last year, expenses increased by 8.4% and rent for rent-stabilized apartments went up 3%. I just received the renewal of my insurance coverage and the premium is going up 19%. The parameters for improvements of rent-stabilized buildings or apartments are crazy. Owners can’t keep up. Also, local politicians have increased real estate taxes 31% in 10 years and have passed a huge number of local laws relating to older buildings, but with no compensation.

The free and rent-stabilized markets belong in separate universes, not within the same city. It’s great that lawmakers are getting involved, but they should look at all older buildings, not only those with the voucher program. The Daily News should review the present rent stabilization regulations and check on what is happening to the 1 million-plus rent-stabilized apartments in NYC. There are more than 40,000 empty rent-stabilized apartments. Don’t you want to find out why? Help the rent-stabilized industry in NYC before we reach phase three and four: property abandonment and inner-city slums. Vincent Ragosta

Big spenders

Bayonne: I have complete confidence that the MTA could spend the Pentagon’s budget and ask for more without improving service. William Bannon

Cut the fluff

Garwood, N.J.: To Voicer Susan Burgos: No, you are not the only one getting annoyed that Taylor Swift is becoming the Kansas City Chiefs’ mascot. Why do Hollywood people have to ham everything up? I have nothing against Swift, but I am watching football. She already gets a lot of publicity. She probably never watched a game in her life before dating a football player. I don’t watch the Super Bowl halftime show because of the bad bands. Like five years ago, Coldplay was the band. I was waiting for them to play “Viva La Vida.” Suddenly, Beyoncé comes marching onto the stage in uniform with 50 soldiers singing I don’t know what. I was upset that Coldplay stopped playing! Football is becoming unrecognizable. Joan Tully

Repeat offender

Sunnyside: When I read the article about the suspected pedophile in your Jan. 5 issue (“Convicted pedophile is facing new kid-sex rap“), I was struck by the last paragraph that said that he had been convicted of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy in 2018. Anyone who is convicted of crimes like that should automatically receive life imprisonment. John Francis Fox

Regrettable rebellion

Flushing: Please, young voters, do not hand Donald Trump another victory. By voting for a third party candidate or not voting at all, you could ensure he receives more Electoral College votes than President Biden. In my first presidential election, I voted for John Anderson because the incumbent, Jimmy Carter, was very unpopular and Ronald Reagan was repugnant. I regret that to this day. Carter was a decent, honorable man and Reagan was a delusional grandpa who thought everyone should pull themselves up by their bootstraps. If they had no boots, that wasn’t the government’s problem to fix. To this day, when I see an article about Carter, I am wracked with guilt. Cathi Venis

Legal error

Whitestone: I had to chuckle at Voicer David Kalin’s take on the 14th Amendment, Section 3, in which he stated that since Donald Trump has not been charged with insurrection, the whole point of disqualifying Trump from running for president is moot. Special Counsel Jack Smith has charged Trump with conspiring to defraud the government, conspiring to disenfranchise voters and two counts of corruptly obstructing a congressional proceeding. Those charges add up to an insurrection for anyone who has a brain and is not playing word games. By the way, has Kalin read the 14th Amendment, Section 3? The word “Confederate” is not there, so how can he say “it specifically addresses former Confederates”? Mr. Kalin, “context” plus “specifically” equals “oxymoron”! Michael J. Gorman

Seems off

Bayside: Voicer Steven Brito of Washingtonville, N.Y. relates a disgusting story that apparently has no basis in fact. Sad that this letter was published. Maggots are the larvae of various fly species, such as fruit flies, houseflies, cheese flies and blowflies. They are quite useful creatures in our world because they aid in the decomposition of matter and can be a valuable food source for various animals, such as birds. Maggots can eat just about any food you can eat as a human. They typically avoid dry foods, such as dry grain, but will consume anything that has sufficient moisture. Fresh fruits and vegetables are also safe from maggots since these do not have a scent that attracts flies, but there are exceptions to this rule where maggots may eat fresh plant matter. However, maggots are not known to eat candy. Timothy Collins

Inadvisable

Brooklyn: Leaving aside the existential threat of Vladimir Putin’s military to look at our own existential threats here, Mayor Adams should stick to his fancy cooking. His ingredients for keeping his city safe are hazardous to our health. He wants his undercover cops to wear body cams and NYPD insignia — as effective in catching gun-toters as a hunter stepping on every branch in a silent forest. I think our mayor is not serious about catching crooks. Kurt R. Linde

In hindsight

Staten Island: I truly hope that those who voted for Mayor Adams are really sorry, or should I say feel stupid? Keep voting for a party line and you will keep destroying my city. Just wondering if Curtis Sliwa would have been a better choice. Thomas Bell

Counterclaims

San Francisco: Glenn Sacks’ op-ed “Classroom criticism of Israel isn’t antisemitic” (Jan. 4) is shameless sophistry. He disingenuously conflates legitimate criticism of Israeli government policies with antisemitic blood libels denying Israel’s right to exist. For instance, anti-Zionists accuse Israeli Jews of “colonialism” to justify Hamas’ Oct. 7 pogrom and the genocidal goal of eradicating Israel “from the river to the sea.” It’s also bad history, as Jews are indigenous to Israel; Arabs conquered and colonized it 1,400 years ago. The “ethnic cleansing” libel is also false: Israel’s population of Arab citizens has grown from 150,000 in 1948 to 2 million today. By contrast, the Arab world, from Morocco to Iraq, has driven out 99% of its Jews, reducing their numbers from 856,000 in 1947 to just 7,500 today. The apartheid charge is likewise false — Israeli Arab citizens enjoy full rights, while the Palestinian Authority vows there will be no Jews in a Palestinian state. Stephen A. Silver

Blame Hamas

Atlanta: To Voicer Jagjit Singh: Hamas has threatened to strike Israelis with multiple Oct. 7 atrocities. Israel is working to ensure that Hamas can’t make good on those threats. Casualty reports from Hamas’ Ministry of Health are unreliable. They do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. They emphasize that most of the dead are women and children, knowing that most Westerners are unaware that Hamas runs summer camps where teenagers are given weapons training, or that Hamas has sent female suicide bombers with explosive belts strapped to their bodies under their modest clothing. Hamas has long been diverting humanitarian aid to its efforts to destroy Israel. While claiming an Israeli “blockade” prevented the development of the enclave’s economy, Hamas managed to construct an extensive network of terror tunnels. Hamas hides munitions in schools, mosques, and homes. Thus, Hamas is responsible for deaths on both sides of the fighting. Toby F. Block

Alternative theory

Little Egg Harbor, N.J.: These climate change activists need to get their heads out of the sand! Fossil fuels are not the main culprit and the proposed green energy program will cause higher prices and cost thousands of jobs. The amount of water vapor in the atmosphere has a much greater impact on climate change than fossil fuels. James J. D’Amico