Lawmakers must deflate inflated utility bills
Albany: After reading The News’ editorial “Mamdani’s property tax challenge” (Nov. 16), I thought I had witnessed an epiphany. Your take on the disaster called New York City’s real property system was correct. It’s a system riddled with inequities, and goes year after year with no plan from City Hall or the state Capitol to fix it. As an op-ed in The News pointed out last May (“The conspiracy adding 25% to your Con Ed bill,” May 5), there is one pernicious and hidden aspect of this tax system that I have long believed is the worst of all. The city’s four-tiered system, which has resulted in Con Ed becoming the single biggest tax collector of the city’s biggest single tax, resulting in much bigger bills for every customer.
The mayor and City Council have nearly unbridled ability to collect revenue from utility customers. By placing a special levy on utility infrastructure (wires, pipes, transformers, etc.), the city takes roughly 17 cents on every customer’s bill. If NYC had the same system as Buffalo, bills would drop by close to 15%. Remember, Con Ed does not pay this tax — customers do. When I served on the Public Service Commission, I labeled this system in one word: usury.
What can be done? First, it should become the top priority for any official who has used the phrase “affordability” to take action. Second, the City Council and the new mayor could immediately lower the levy and provide relief to ratepayers. Third, the state Legislature should reform or rescind this system. It has the power. Use it.
And for all the current and soon-to-be elected officials who will soon howl when the PSC settles its current rate case with Con Ed: “Physician, heal thyself.” John Howard, former chair, New York State PSC
At our expense
Brooklyn: The AI boom is making some already obscenely rich people even richer while it is destroying our environment by powering itself with fossil fuels. There should be very strict provisions/laws that mandate that these centers be powered by wind and solar, but that is highly unlikely in a government controlled by Republicans who are staunch supporters of oil and gas production. Ed Temple
Prepare the safety nets
Bronx: Leading economists believe that AI will soon take over our economy. More people will be unemployed than employed, through no fault of their own. The government will have the responsibility of dealing with this new economy. Social programs will have to be enhanced. Programs like Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance and Social Security will need to be funded from the riches of AI companies and the superrich. Taxation from these sources will go back to those same companies and individuals through the buying of products that make those companies rich in the first place. A move toward democratic socialism helps capitalism, which can’t exist if most of the population has no money to fuel it. Gilbert M. Lane
No match
Forest Hills: Your op-ed (“NYC’s matching funds fueled Mamdani’s success,” Nov. 22) claims that “both Mamdani and Cuomo benefitted from super PAC spending,” yet fails to mention the utter disparity between monies spent on behalf of those two candidates. Cuomo benefitted from the donations of 26 billionaires, with a combined net worth of more than $717 billion, six times NYC’s yearly budget. Super PACs Fix the City and Defend NYC spent more than $56 million on malicious and misleading anti-Muslim ads, whereas the We the People and Working Families Party PACs spent $2.8 million on pro-Zohran Mamdani ads. Facts matter. Leni Houle
Couth & reconciliation
Howard Beach: The big loser from President Trump’s meeting with Mamdani was Rep. Elise Stefanik. Her attacks on Mamdani as a “jihadist” as she campaigns for governor were undermined by Trump’s support of him and saying that he wants to see him succeed. I guess she didn’t see this coming in the same way she didn’t expect Trump to withdraw her nomination to be UN ambassador. Does Stefanik not realize that loyalty to Trump is a one-way street? Barbara Berg
Rhetoric ratcheted down
Beechhurst: That odd-couple meeting between Trump and Mamdani went off without a hitch — and without a hint of any recrimination by those two heretofore bitter ideological foes. Apparently, 47’s recent retrieval of a portrait of FDR (Mamdani’s favorite president) served as the ice-breaking backdrop to their much-anticipated sitdown. For the good of NYC, they temporarily buried the hatchet and gave hope that they can genuinely work together to alleviate the affordability crisis affecting residents of the Big Apple. It was probably just a ceasefire that can’t possibly last. But for GOP gubernatorial hopeful Stefanik and for radical activist Linda Sarsour, it was undoubtedly a day of weeping and gnashing of teeth. James Hyland
Righteous rebuke
Delmar, N.Y.: Trump’s reaction to the congressmembers urging the military to ignore unlawful orders has been swift and unmistakably grave. He treated it not as political theater but as a line crossed, one that strikes at the foundation of civilian control over the armed forces. Any elected official who calls for military disobedience isn’t engaging in “opposition politics,” but rather actual insurrectionist activism. This event marks a decisive shift in Trump’s posture toward the Democrats, who have spent years fabricating a barrage of allegations, collusion, hoaxes and manufactured narratives. Trump is no longer playing defense. The call for the military to defy him was the moment when the accumulated weight of 10 years of political torment crystallized into a new resolve. His response now is to meet them in kind — lawfully and unapologetically. Not employing their methods of deception, but with exposure, investigation and prosecution. Mark Alesse
Consorting with enemies
Forked River, N.J.: Trump again spat in the faces of every 9/11 family with his red-carpet treatment of Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Trump appeared on “Fox & Friends” in 2016, telling America the Saudis were responsible for 9/11. In 2022, weeks before the 9/11 ceremony, Trump invited the Saudis to his Bedminster, N.J., golf course. The 9/11 families stood outside in protest and watched those who had a hand in their loved ones’ deaths drive past, smiling as they were welcomed by Trump. Last week, when the Saudi prince was asked by an ABC reporter about the murder he ordered of an American journalist, Trump exploded in fury. He’s going to sell F-35 fighter jets to his new friend. The last time a group of Saudis got their hands on our planes, they flew them into our buildings. Jim Hughes
Forced entry
Suffern, N.Y.: Trump will need to bum-rush St. Peter if he plans on getting past the Pearly Gates. Rick Sinclair
Smoother talker
Dartmouth, Mass.: Subsequent to most of Trump’s outrageous comments, executive orders or threats to political enemies, House Speaker Mike Johnson comes to the nearest microphone to support him and calmly explain or further expound on the issue in his soft, almost mellifluous voice. Johnson becomes the interpreter, employing false information and making every Trump misstep or failing the fault of Democrats. Most recent was Johnson’s long-winded attack on the previous administration before he announced his support for releasing the Epstein files. He has the poise so lacking in Trump, but shares the same propensity for distortion and utter dishonesty. The more Trump displays his compromised mental state and resorts to bombastic rhetoric, the greater the opportunity for Johnson to soften and rationalize his words. This accomplishes two objectives for Johnson: endearing him to Trump and providing the MAGA base the heir apparent with less baggage and a presidential demeanor that conforms to historical precedent. Betty Ussach
Judgmental judge
Sunnyside: I couldn’t believe the insensitive remarks that Queens Criminal Court Judge Jerry Iannece made about Charles Foehner, the 67-year-old gentleman who killed a mugger in self-defense who had demanded his money and menaced him with what Foehner mistakenly thought was a knife (“Man with illegal arsenal gets 4 yrs. in mugger slay,” Nov. 21). Doesn’t Iannece realize that Foehner was being threatened by a man who was much bigger than him, was decades younger than him and whose own family admitted was mentally disturbed? I can’t think of anyone who deserves a pardon more than Foehner, and I can’t think of any judge who needs to be removed from the bench more than Iannece. John Francis Fox
