Readers sound off on union representation, rat relations and fare hikes

Manhattan: Re “A surgical intervention” (editorial, Nov. 26): You got this all wrong. Yes, two courts decided Administrative Code 12-126 was interpreted correctly by my organization, the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees. We earned and paid for the benefits we currently have and any changes should be negotiated by unions for their members, not for retirees they no longer represent. The court was clear with its interpretation of how retirees should be treated after years of committed service to this city.

We expressed more than only two concerns about Medicare Advantage. Many of our physicians would never accept it, and its prior authorizations will become barriers to care for older or disabled retirees. How about not being able to coordinate insurance for drug coverage? You suggested the city could use its “institutional weight to keep private providers in line.” Why haven’t they done this already? This is the New York taillight guarantee. No thanks.

We would like the city to develop a supplemental plan that uses the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation programs’ federal funding. It can consolidate union welfare funds, conduct eligibility reviews of the entire plan and put out a request for proposals for the supplemental plan and all other plans. You would be surprised by what you would find. Also, when those RFP responses come in, share them publicly. The city has positioned itself to be more transparent with its process, so why not be transparent with the retirees? No more deals in the dark and on the backs of the people who need real healthcare and not false promises. Marianne Pizzitola, president

Manhattan: I agree with Voicer Marie Richardson’s assessment of Mayor Adams and am also very disappointed in his performance. A mayor’s job shouldn’t be all about bluster, which he has in spades, but also about compassion. It’s something he’s obviously lacking, as we see with his positions: kill rats, ignore the carriage horse issue and mishandle the mentally ill. When a poll showed 71% of registered New York voters supported a ban on horse-drawn carriages, his office chose to ignore the collapse and death of Ryder the carriage horse. Elizabeth Forel

Manorville, L.I.: To Voicer Marie Richardson: It’s been mankind against rats since the dawn of civilization. The plus side to this, for people who love animals, is that humans have befriended many kinds of wild animals to help them against a plague of rats. They’ve allowed many kinds of mammals, birds and reptiles to live in villages to catch and kill rats. They have domesticated cats and bred dogs to kill rats. During the Middle Ages in Europe, people harassed and killed domestic cats, causing a huge increase in the population of rats and helping to cause the deaths of millions of people from the bubonic plague, which rats and their fleas transmit. If you have rats, you have to get rid of them, pronto — and rats breed much faster and more prolific than humans. Oh, but you are right about the garbage problem. Paul Melnik

Bronx: I recognize the need for speed cameras and support the basic idea of them. It seems the city has gone to great lengths recently to ambush drivers. New cameras are popping up in locations designed to catch motorists unaware and trigger a summons. They are now setting them up immediately after a highway exit ramp with little to no opportunity for drivers to decelerate in a normal and safe fashion. The city has also stretched the definition of “school zone” to its limits by setting up a speed camera across a major highway from a school. A student would have to scale a fence, navigate four lanes of highway, climb over two sets of guardrails, navigate four more lanes of traffic and climb another fence to get to the camera near Veterans Park in Throgs Neck. Every truck or car traveling to and from the Throgs Neck Bridge on I-695 would be violating a school zone. Bill Reddan

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Bronx: They should not raise the transit fares. They have to police the fare-beaters. It’s a disgrace how many people walk on without paying their fare. It’s a total disgrace. People just walk on buses without paying. This must be adjusted. Ralph Canzone

Brooklyn: Fare hikes for mass transit could be avoided if fares are paid. Select Bus Service is a disaster. Passengers get on the back and don’t pay. Riders get on and say they have no money. Turnstiles are jumped by some consistently. Where is the enforcement? Additionally, people are afraid to ride the subway due to the increase in attacks in the subway system. We want to feel safe going to our destination. Fare increases will turn us away. I guess I will be walking more and will finally learn to ride that two-wheeler. Harrolyn Murphy-Conway

Brooklyn: The MTA has a 5.5% fare hike on the table for 2023. They think this will help get back the $2 billion deficit they are facing. How about facing the facts of why you have the deficit? COVID hurt everyone. More people are working from home these days. There’s nothing you can do about that, but raising the fare will only keep them home. How about cleaning up the subways and working with the NYPD to get a much bigger police presence in the subways? If crime goes down, you will get people to ride the trains again. People are going out but they are taking Uber, and you can’t blame them. The subways are not safe and now they have an added incentive not to ride them thanks to a possible 5.5% fare hike. John De Angelo

Manhattan: It’s December! How did that happen? I’m on alert once more, concerned about the holidays and income tax prep is nipping at my heels. Then I ran across a possible solution: Paying attention to other people makes loneliness less harsh — yes, consciously tending to the needs of others. Reaching out in simple exchanges at the grocery store or at the library, saying, “Isn’t it a beautiful day?” or, “I loved that book,” can bring a friendly and healthy response. Interactions that acknowledge the reality of other human beings make us happier. James A. Fragale

Brooklyn: I really cannot understand the appeal of “The View.” It’s a female cast with hate-filled hosts. They are not educated about the Constitution. Well, maybe Sunny Hostin (who’s never sunny) knows a bit. She’s a law school grad — she tells us every chance she gets. Smart does not equal kind or humble. Joy Behar is keeping Trump alive. Whoopi makes mistakes every day and needs to apologize. As for the others, I’m not sure who they are. They should all kiss Barbara Walters’ ass. Without her, I would not bother writing this. Mariann Tepedino

Manhattan: Gov. Hochul’s cashless bail law and the proposed Clean Slate Law make sense to me, save for one glaring pitfall: Both give softer treatment to those charged with or convicted of (often pled down to) misdemeanors. Because many violent crimes get classified as misdemeanors under our wacky justice system, both Hochul’s law and the Clean Slate Law are far less palatable. In my view, violent criminals should be treated by society as the pariahs they are and not afforded any further special treatment than they are afforded in sentencing. Take the guy who got out recently under Hochul’s law after beating his wife because they classified it as a misdemeanor, then went home and murdered his wife. Both laws would be more palatable if they simply changed “misdemeanor” to “nonviolent misdemeanor.” A simplistic misdemeanor-versus-felony distinction just doesn’t cut it. Ken Blomster

Monroe, N.J.: As reported, desperate-for-power Kevin McCarthy negotiated with Republicans for their votes as he bargained to become speaker of the House of Representatives. Just think of what we are in for — more vindictiveness and a puppet regime. Katherine A. Moloney