Letters to the Editor for August 3, 2012

To the Editor;

As we all should be aware, School District 15’s Number 6 school has remained empty for several years.  The Board of Education has finally seen fit to put the school on the market.  The School Board should consider the needs of the community in its decision in the sale.

Here in The Five Towns lies a hidden gem – the Five Towns JCC.  Why is it hidden?  It is hidden because it occupies a little out-of-the-way house on Grove Avenue in Cedarhurst.  Due to space limitations in its present location, the JCC also conducts programs in more than 18 other spaces in and around The Five Towns.  It has not had the opportunity to create a “presence” in the community because it has not been successful in the acquisition of a new property that could accommodate all of its needs and the needs of the community.

Now, the perfect opportunity exists for the community to come together as one and urge the Board of Education to sell the Number 6 School to the JCC.  The JCC has put a bid in to purchase the school.  We need a place where the entire community can come together and join a cause to unite all of us.  A full-service JCC would provide one-point entry where all members of our community can receive social services programs, when needed, as well as educational and recreational programs and activities.

The Five Towns has a proud Jewish Community.  Isn’t it time we had a building for the Jewish Community Center of which we can be proud?

Cherie Feinberg

Lawrence

Pave Franklin Place

To the Editor,

Kudo’s and applause to Mr. Kopel for his hard work in arranging for the repaving and “hard-topping” of Broadway [in Woodmere]. It looks great! Please Mr. Kopel, could you use those same powers of persuasion to arrange for the paving of Franklin Place in Woodmere too. If you took a look at the condition of one of Woodmere’s main through streets, you will most certainly agree that repaving is sorely needed there too, especially where it meets West Broadway.

Toby Tobias
Woodmere

Editor’s Note – We spoke to Legislator Kopel and he informs us that responsibility for Franklin Place resides with the Town of Hempstead. He says his office has been speaking to TOH officials about this.

Critical of Lawrence School Board

To the Editor,

This past weekend in a publication similar to yours, there was an article about the problems Rockland County has when their school board is run by the Orthodox parents who do not have children that attend the public schools in the district that they oversee. The problems that the Lawrence public school system has had for many years are similar to the problems in Rockland County. The Lawrence school board has done everything possible to reduce the Lawrence district to be ranked only one step above the lowest school district in Nassau County.

The Lawrence board has done everything possible to bring down the educational system in Lawrence. The district has made cuts in every area to save at the expense of our children; whether it is cutting classes, employees, activities, teachers, and closing schools. I am sure many other programs and projects could be added to this letter by many other public schools parents.

Having brought three children through Lawrence public school system, I have only seen a constant deterioration in the quality of education my children have received. I also believe that the service the private school children have; which are funded by our district; are the main priority of the present school board. Their main theme is cut, cut, cut. Those that are in the medical field on the board know how to cut better than any other individuals because that is what they were trained to do.

I can only hope that the state will investigate the Rockland County school districts: and at the same time look into the Lawrence school district and the deterioration that I along with many other people have seen happen over the years.

Barry Ringelheim

Atlantic Beach

Facebook Comments:

Howard Barbanel’s  “Zeitgeist” column from last week entitled “The Mets Need an Exorcism” generated a fair amount of feedback online.

Staci Morgan comments on The Huffington Post that:

Well, I think you should be ashamed of yourself for being so fair weathered….It hurts all Mets fans to watch a team that over-performed finally come back down to earth…but I have listened to almost EVERY inning of every game in the past three weeks (and before…but I live in DC so I got to witness firsthand and then can’t stand Bob Carpenter so I have to listen to Howie [Rose] instead) and I am disgusted by Mets fans who are like “when does football season start?”…etc… I don’t envy the Yankees at all…they pay for everything they get…their fans don’t know what it’s like to LOVE a team even though it’s hard…it’s never been hard for them. I

Also on The Huffington Post, a blogger with the handle 3fingerbrown asserts that:

The Wilpons are running the Mets as a small-market team in the ultimate big-market city. It just doesn’t work. You can’t operate on the cheap in NY, no matter what your business — but especially if you’re in the same business as a leviathan like the Yankees. The Mets will be lousy for a long time unless the Wilpons sell. The franchise needs a huge infusion of cash the owners just don’t have.

The lack of talent is so acute that the Mets don’t have a viable long-term outfielder in the entire organization: Bay, Torres, Hairston are all just passing through, Valdespin and Duda are natural infielders playing out of position, and there’s no Harper or Marte in the minors waiting their turn. It’s shocking to think that a big-league franchise doesn’t have one outfielder who can be called a reasonably good everyday player for next year. Even the Pirates in the darkest days had McCutcheon to anchor their outfield.

As for the ballpark: It’s got some wonderful features, but I can’t warm up to it. Why does a team founded in 1962 build a park that replicates 1912 architecture? Their home should celebrate the mid-20th-century modernist design that was so much the part of the early ’60s. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a ballpark that evoked the city’s Mad Men-era heyday?

FirstGame72 had this to say:

The Mets problems run much deeper than just their overall payroll. Except for a brief time in the 1980′s under Frank Cashen, the Mets have never been able to asses talent either in their own minor league system or of players on other rosters (even Cashen beginning in 1990 did a complete reversal of fortune and made one roster blunder after another for several years straight).
Increasingly for many years, even before the collapse of the last four or five seasons, the Mets have been unable to sign big time players from other teams and have them perform at nearly the same level as they did with other teams (Mr. Bay is a recent example).
The Mets’ problems run so deep that it may actually take a real miracle for them to be able to dig themselves out of the hole they’ve sunk into.

Arnie Braunstein posting on The Standard’s website added:

You used my father’s expression describing the beginning stages of the Mets hitting. When they were so bad that you would see that several players could not hit anything, striking out too many times. Right on point with Bay. Nice guys will not only be enough you have to produce regularly that’s far from his career on the Mets so far. Duda was one of my favorite players besides Tejada. the underdog story. His playing is over expectations. We thought he was just average.

Duda at least striking out just too many times at least would get a hit one out of four or walk worst scenario. You’re right Bay should have been gone,  not Duda who had 12 home runs.. Tejada as I mentioned I forgot Reyes had ever been on the team unless for the speed he gave. Dodgers having been from Brooklyn I think is why my father brought up in Brooklyn came to being an Mets fan. Oh well, the Dodgers moving elsewhere and we have the Mets to deal with. Time to make more improvements and invest for the future not to get by as we have done the last several years. Less challenging if we will have ok year.