SOS Etiquette
What happens when you become trapped in your New York apartment?
When the doorknob came off in my hand, I couldn’t understand what had happened. It was as if I had been shaking a friend’s hand and had somehow pulled it completely out of its socket, like a scene from a horror film. After the initial shock, I felt incredibly stupid. I had known that the knob was loose; it had been loose for months, but I had put off doing anything about it. Read more
Mosque Debate: Tempest in a Teapot
Many facts overlooked by those opposed to Islamic Cultural Center
By Ian Alterman
Alan Chartock’s piece should be must-reading with respect to the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero (“First Amendment at Stake,” Aug.19). I would like to add some facts to the debate:
Most people opposed to the project say that it is “too close to Ground Zero.” Yet before and since 9/11, there has been an active mosque only four blocks from Ground Zero, and no one ever expressed any opposition to it. As well, the congregation of the imam behind the project outgrew its storefront mosque near Canal Street some time ago, and has been using a portion of the Park Place building ever since. Yet no one expressed any opposition to that either. Read more
Worth The Wait
Harvard and Princeton have a waiting list and now CUNY does as well
As the fall semester nears, The City University of New York is brimming with a record number of students—more than the University can accommodate.
For the past 10 years, CUNY’s baccalaureate programs have seen increasing enrollments even as more rigorous entrance requirements were instituted. Now the University’s community colleges are swamped by applicants who, like community college applicants nationwide, need only a high school diploma or GED for admission. Read more
Culture Shlock: At The Movies
Raise your hand if you are a person of a certain age and you have recently seen an absorbing, serious, or truly witty American-made movie, a film with a penetrating, insightful, thought-provoking narrative, whose plot and dialogue are not contrived to appeal to audiences 14 years old and above, as well as to avoid alienating consumers with IQs in the 90s or lower. Read more
Ways to a better Washington
Solutions for fixing a broken system
By Kirsten Gillibrand
As I travel the state and listen to New Yorkers, I’ve found that people have absolutely no faith that Congress is working to solve their problems. When they look to Washington, they see a lot of people who are more concerned about scoring political points than solving problems. Read more
New Amsterdam Is Not Amsterdam
Time to rethink our bike-centric approach to mass transit
This will not endear me to many of you reading this, and it will undoubtedly cause some trouble with a few friends, but I feel I need to say something about bikes.
Bicyclists, and the biker lobby, are the new self-proclaimed environmentally friendly solution to everything from air pollution to traffic congestion to I don’t know what else—the Gulf catastrophe? Read more
The Physician’s Side
Doctor’s response to columnist’s Medicare allegations
By Seymour Herschberg
Susan Braudy’s photo and prior columns suggest that she is not old enough to be enrolled in Medicare. I assume, therefore, that her first-person column “Fired By My Doctor” (June 10) is literary license and that her statements are based on journalistic research. However, she has not been fair. She gives only one perspective.
First, let me state that although I am a retired primary care physician, my entire career was as a salaried employee of a non-profit organization. Thus, I never had to worry about Medicare or insurer fees—or any fee for service—income. Read more
Creating Jobs, Greening Buildings
New bill would lessen energy dependence on hostile foreign regimes
As I meet people during my travels across the state, New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds have the same thing on their minds: jobs. With unemployment in New York City still in double digits, and an estimated 15 percent of our state’s construction workers out of work, it is clear that we must continue to help working families weather the economic storm. Read more
Let’s Support a Living Wage
Our economic recovery depends on government incentives for good jobs
By Melissa Mark-Viverito and Mike Fishman
With the shift in our city’s economy from manufacturing to service jobs, the percentage of low-wage workers has reached record, if not epidemic, levels. Nearly one-third of working New Yorkers are struggling to stretch their paychecks to cover high prices for rent and rising costs for groceries and transportation. In order to stem the tide of what threatens to undermine not just our economic recovery, but the future of our city, we need to invest in increasing the number of good jobs. Read more
Happy Mom’s Day
Pay homage to that nice lady who raised you by ditching an outdated label
By Daniel Meltzer
Forget about Baby Jane, what ever happened to Mother?
Who, under the age of 70, refers to his or her female parent as “mother” any more? Why, then, do we still call it “Mother’s Day” when they are now called “moms?” Read more
