Rita's Spur to Action

This city seems to come up with one more stupid idea after another. The very latest is to get rid of the parking in NYC.

Per parking spot, the city would lose a total of around $25,000 per year from the elimination of the spot – multiply that by, let’s say, 1,200 parking spots, and that’s a total of almost $30 million lost per year. This is only a rough estimate.

Since people cannot afford to live in the city anymore, workmen and service-workers have to drive into the city to bring their equipment to repair your toilet or sink (to say nothing of painters, carpenters, electricians, etc.) If the city eliminates parking, what will they do?

The problem is also how the cars are parked. Right now there is parallel parking in the bus lane. Everything possible is wrong with this plan. Before Mr. Bloomberg gave those spaces away, there was public parking. By making it impossible to come into Manhattan and park, the problem is being exacerbated.

Buses should be less than half the size that they are, and they should run down the center lane – the way the trolleys used to go. If they are small and stay in the center lane, they would not block traffic to the extent that they do. The city should implement more pedestrian islands in the middle of streets for people to get on and off buses, which would leave the curbs free so traffic can move more freely and people can go to stores and get in and out of taxis.

The first thing that the city needs to do is to create nose-in curb parking on one side of the street only instead of parallel parking, which is ridiculous. Certain streets should be designated as nose-in parking streets, and certain streets should be designated as cross-town streets with no parking. Heavily trafficked cross-town streets should not have public parking. Perhaps on every other street, one side of the street should have nose-in parking. If the angle of the parking is acute enough, it takes up barely more space than parallel parking, but creates double the number of spaces. The city could actually make more money by having nose-in parking.

Of course it is also obvious that any new building should be forced to dedicate a certain number of floors to public garage space in return for the right to build. This would be an additional price to the contractors who now are the only winners in the building of these tall, empty skyscrapers, which are a blight on the city.

Handled properly, the city could make more money from parking while still serving the public.

For several years on 53rd Street and Park Avenue, the entire block has been trashed. A perfectly beautiful apartment building was torn down, presumably to be replaced by something. However, the years have passed and it has been replaced by nothing.

It is incomprehensible that the city does not at least turn this empty eyesore on Park Avenue into a park space. That’s not so expensive to do and the reward is tremendous for the city and for the people living in the neighborhood.

The city government should make it a requirement of any building contractor who creates vacant space to fill that space with gardens or a park if they are not immediately building a new building. Instead of creating more eyesores for the city, they would be creating more green and garden space.

A recent trip to Astoria proves what seems to have been clear for a long time. If you walk the streets of Manhattan, most of the shops are closed; if you walk the streets of Astoria, most of the stores are open. It is quite clear that Manhattan has moved to Astoria.

Manhattan has become too expensive – nobody who works here can afford to live here anymore. People are moving to Astoria and the jobs have also moved to Astoria – so have little stores and restaurants.

It is obvious that the rent in Manhattan is simply too high: small businesses can no longer afford to be here. Central Manhattan is fast becoming an area of empty shops and low service.

Almost any service call today brings people in from outside of Manhattan to perform the required service. It would seem that the simple answer to this problem is to reduce the rents.

Why in the world do rents continue to be so high in Manhattan even though the properties are empty? It makes more sense to rent a place at a lower price and raise the rent over a period of years rather than leave the space empty.

However, if they are going to be empty, why not turn them over to artists and offer free studio space to artists? That would be much better than having the property empty.

Everything possible should be done to keep young people, artists and essential workers in Manhattan.

Amazingly enough, in all but two states – Vermont and Maine – a person who has been convicted of a felony cannot vote. This means that in most states of the Union Trump cannot vote, but he can run for the Presidency.

Is that not insane? It makes no sense at all. It is just as stupid as the Supreme Court decision that grants immunity to any President for official acts committed while in office.

Instead of nobody being above the law, suddenly the President of the country is free to commit whatever crimes he wants. This would enable Trump with impunity, were he President, to totally control the state, the government, and the nation. The President is now above the law.

If Kamala Harris becomes President of the United States, and hopefully she will, one of the first issues she will have to deal with is the border.

The probability is that the border should be closed and illegal immigrants should not be afforded housing, food, and health care while veterans and normal citizens are living on the streets.

This country has never had a proper border policy, and it seems that it is really time to come up with one. How many immigrants do we need a year? We do need immigration. We need farm workers. We need people to work on the roads, bridges, etc. around the country.

Only people who are willing and able to work should be allowed entry into the country and they should be deployed where they are needed, not all sent to live in hotels in New York City with no obligation.

First step, we need to decide how many people we will allow in annually. The second is to establish English Training Centers. The third is to deploy where needed.

Immigration should be defined by what kind of workers we need including doctors and skilled people of all kinds. The point is that the border is a primary issue needing to be dealt with.

The American form of government has made it possible for people to acquire wealth. It is a system of government that has allowed social and economic mobility more than any other country in the world. A larger part of American wealth is based on commerce. America has allowed major companies to acquire a great deal of wealth while often cheating the public.

We are all consumers. We all go to the grocery store. We all buy packages of food. It must be evident to everybody that opens a fresh tin or a package of raisins, potato chips, or anything else, that they are only getting half of what they paid for. The companies are pretending to give people bargains by advertising bigger packages but in reality the goods inside only fill up half of the package.

This is what America has become.

When you look at the American profile today it is no longer the tall, thin American it once was – a huge percentage of the public is overweight. Parents are buying food by the price of food, and unhealthy foods are more affordable than the healthy ones. It is understandable that people buy food that is inexpensive, but the cheap food people are eating is filled with sugar and other deceptive chemicals. It is clear that the commercial side of our society often bilks the public.

Today, political labels don’t matter.

Whether a Democrat or Republican, a liberal or a conservative, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you must cast your vote and get your friends to cast their votes for Kamala Harris.

Whether she turns out to be a great president, a good president, or just a president of our country, she will save our democracy and respect the values that have made America a free and great country.

It is perfectly clear that if Trump were to be elected, he would destroy the democracy and create a dictatorship.

This is not an issue of party, this is clearly an issue of saving the democratic form of government under which America has flourished for 248 years.

Hit the streets and fight!

Everybody who wants to save this country, anyone who is interested in living in a democracy, anyone who cares about America and how it is viewed by the world, has to support Biden at this time.

It doesn’t really matter that Biden is not a good speaker, which he has never been. He is not a circus barker like Trump. But look at his record, he has reduced inflation, the cost of medication, he has built back bridges and infrastructure, saved families from starvation, he raised the wage level in the country, reduced unemployment to the lowest its ever been, and he came up with a plan that both Democrats and Republicans agreed on for Boarder Control. First Trump and his republican cohorts agreed on it then they destroyed it .

Just realize that Roosevelt was a pretty great president, but he couldn’t walk an inch without being carried. Of course being 81 is not that same as being 50 or 60, but we don’t have a 50 or 60 year old at the moment who could beat Trump.

If Trump is elected it will be the same as living in Nazi Germany under Hitler. Hitler was also elected by the people. America went to war for World War 2 to prevent Hitlers destruction of Europe and America. Now we have a Hitler within, ready to take over the nation, with a huge following of people who do not understand that they would be giving up their democracy if Trump became President.

Once, Biden is President, at least it will be possible to disagree with his policies or whatever he wants to do. If Trump becomes President there will be no room for disagreement.

Don’t forget that Trump himself has told us how great he thinks Putin is. Also, he thinks the Mein Kampf is one of the greatest books ever written. He would destroy NATO, isolate the United States, destroy the bonds and contracts that have kept the country safe for 52 years without a war.

Aside from all of that, don’t forget he is a man who has been convicted of 34 felonies, has committed treason against the United States. Sure it would be better if we had a young vital candidate for the Democratic party, but we don’t. We have a man who has been successful in government for 45 years or more. He may stutter, and may not have the stamina of a 45 year old, but that doesn’t mean he can’t successfully run the country.

This seems an in opportune moment to switch horses. Roll up your sleeves, get on your telephone, and get out to vote in favor of Biden.

The day that Trump became President of the United States of America was day that he destroyed the Supreme Court as we have known it. He had the benefit of already having Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, two totally unqualified people to inhabit the Supreme Court, let alone to have lifetime job security. He was able to cynically appoint, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett three more equally unqualified justices to sit on the Supreme Court knowing that one day he would probably be a defendant before them.

This group of “would be wisemen” chose to destroy Roe v. Wade depriving women of their rights, but they were able to go on by totally degrading our democracy by exonerating Trump and all future Presidents of crimes while committed in office. Thus, paving the way for the total destruction of democracy

If this country is to be saved at all , if it is not to fall into the hands of Trump and his sycophants, Biden must take hold of the power that was afforded to him yesterday by the Supreme Court and run with it to victory. Biden has to find the voice to attack Trump loud and clear as a liar, a man who has committed treason against the United States, a man who has stolen from the government both in and out of office, a man so despicable in character that he will destroy not only the United States but NATO and all the treaties that have kept this country free of war since World War 2.

We went to war in World War 2, to fight Hitler. Hitler promised to make Germany “great again.” He did. He made it the pariah of the world. He made it the enemy of the world, and we the United States of America went to war to keep him from destroying England and the United States.

Those people who are supporting Trump today simply cannot understand that they, like the German nation before them, are voting for an autocrat, and a dictator. This is not a question of Republican or Democrat. People across the aisle can discuss, argue, and fight and have a difference in opinion. If Trump is elected there will be no room for discussion. Trump and Putin will rule the world, and America as we have know it will be a dream of the past.

The world gone dead.

In 1920, H.L. Mencken wrote “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and a complete narcissistic moron.”

What more could be said. Last night’s debate was a heartbreaking disaster for the Democratic Party.