Staten Islanders deserve to pay their fair fare<\/p>\n
Staten Island: For decades, the MTA followed a straightforward practice: keeping the express bus fare at double the cost of a local bus or subway ride. If the local fare was $1.50, the express bus was $3. At $2.25 locally, the express was $4.50. Staten Islanders, who lack subway access but rely on express service into Manhattan, paid more, but not disproportionately so.<\/p>\n
That balance has been broken. The MTA is proposing $3 for a local fare and $7.25 for express buses. This isn\u2019t just another fare hike. It\u2019s the widest gap in the system\u2019s history, and it unfairly targets Staten Islanders, whose only land connection to the rest of the city is the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. While other parts of the city discuss free bus service, no one is talking about relief for the 40,000 Islanders who depend on express buses. For us, there\u2019s no alternative. Staten Island is a transit desert.<\/p>\n
The impact on students is especially severe. Families already make sacrifices so their children can attend specialized schools outside the borough. Today, CUNY students and young people traveling to high schools like Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech and LaGuardia, or private schools, must pay full price on express buses and fast ferries. The same holds true for working families. Staten Islanders who commute daily already shoulder some of the highest transportation costs in the city. Many spend thousands of dollars a year just to get to work. Yet, the MTA continues to celebrate \u201cfare capping\u201d on subways and discounts on commuter rail, with no comparable relief for our borough. That is not equity. Restoring fairness is not complicated. The MTA should return to its long-standing practice of tying express bus fares to the local fare. Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks<\/p>\n
Stuck in the zone<\/p>\n
Brooklyn: Congestion pricing is a scam approved by your incompetent governor. While trying to find a parking spot, I mistakenly ended up in the congestion pricing zone! I am sure that happens daily to many. There is still tons of traffic and no end in sight! Maria Ciarametaro<\/p>\n
Unresponsive<\/p>\n
Brooklyn: Councilwoman Inna Vernikov should be impeached and removed from office because she is no help to her community, and her employees are unprofessional. Twice I called her office and left messages, and no one got back to me. Plus, when people see her, she runs away as if she\u2019s paranoid or stoned. Victor Malyar<\/p>\n
Redistricting math<\/p>\n
Briarwood: I do not object to race not being an issue in determining federal voting districts, but I do object to party membership not being part of the redistricting process. For example, if a state has five representations, and 40% of its registered voters are affiliated with Party A, then redistricting should draw lines such that at least two of the districts are dominated by Party A\u2019s voters. Anything less than two districts would mean that Party A is underrepresented in Congress, and that is wrong. In other words, redistricting should reflect the party affiliation of the state\u2019s registered voters. Mary Elizabeth Ellis<\/p>\n
Ridiculous reasoning<\/p>\n
Montebello, N.Y.: Re \u201cIn NYC, Zohran Mamdani makes politics fun again<\/a>\u201d (Sept. 18): This is why we\u2019re supposed to accept socialist rule over our cities and maybe someday our entire nation? Because the perpetrators of this potential tyranny make politics fun? I remember when the simpleton Ronald Reagan virtually became an emperor from 1981-1989. I remember the unclean things that attached themselves to his godhead, such as corrupt televangelists. In describing her interest in Mamdani\u2019s candidacy, S.E. Cupp echoes the typical Reagan voter who knew that his policies were stupid but couldn\u2019t help themselves as they pulled the lever for him. Wallington M. Simpson<\/p>\n Unequal exchange<\/p>\n Middle Village: It\u2019s interesting to see the different perspectives of the lopsided Israeli-hostage-to-Hamas-prisoner exchange. As Voicer Chana Schwartz pointed out, the inequality is absurd. The ratio is generally 100 prisoners for every hostage. Meanwhile, Mamdani blasted Israel and the U.S. for the war and the \u201cgenocide\u201d (\u201cYeah, deal is great, but\u2026<\/a> ,\u201d Oct. 14). He noted that the exchange releases 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, glossing over that they were locked up for a reason: guilty of killing or trying to kill Jews. One example is Yahya Sinwar, who was jailed for abducting and killing Israeli soldiers and killing other Palestinians. After his exchange in 2011, he went on to be one of the key planners of the Oct. 7 attack. It\u2019s important to understand that all of the hostages were kidnapped by Hamas, which is against the Geneva Convention\u2019s rules of war. What\u2019s truly amazing is how the UN and the world don\u2019t get it. Lee Rottenberg<\/p>\n Scornful screwface<\/p>\n