Horror stories don’t raise subway crime rates
Manhattan: Marc Molinaro’s op-ed (“Crime in the subway is real by any name,” July 25) is fear-mongering. He claims to like statistics, and he plays with percentages to show a “dangerous and growing surge” in violence.
What he omits is the number of rides MTA customers take in the subway, and it’s close to 4 million trips daily. Multiply that by a year. Be super conservative and estimate 700 million subway trips in a year. What Molinaro cites as the total violent crimes in the system for 2024 (1,177) would then involve an infinitesimal fraction — thousandths of a percent — of incidents occurring over hundreds of millions of subway trips and riders.
An individual crime victim feels the impact acutely, and that trauma must be recognized and addressed by bringing perpetrators to criminal and civil justice. There is the reality of crime, but how that reality is described and amplified affects our perception of relative safety. Everyone — law enforcement, MTA employees and riders — has a role in crime prevention.
But let’s get a correct perspective on the problem. I ride the subway almost every day. It is basically safe. Promoting that fact — and it is a fact — will indeed help our city and the MTA make public transit feel as safe as it actually is.
That, in turn, will likely improve actual safety. Richard Mark
State where you stand
Bronx: The mayor and police commissioner said they took 3,000 guns off the streets of NYC, but really, how many are still out there? Here is a question for the mayor, governor and police commissioner: Should we bring back stop-and-frisk in greater force? If the answer is yes, explain why, and if the answer is no, explain why so the people of NYC can understand just where all three of these people stand and why. Jimmy Durda
Right to arms
Corrales, N.M.: Four shot dead in NYC — four of more than 400 other Americans taking a bullet today (more than 100 fatal). Is there any state or federal legislative body with a GOP majority willing to pass safe gun legislation? Right to bear arms? How about a right to spare arms and all attached body parts? Michael Baron
Unrestrained firepower
Long Branch, N.J.: To President Trump, MAGA, the GOP and the NRA: We have another gun incident involving a mentally disturbed person and a semi-automatic weapon. What will it take for Congress to enact legislation that will keep weapons of any sort out of the hands of the mentally disturbed? Does a madman with a weapon have to shoot up a school where NRA officials send their kids? Or perhaps the next NRA convention? Trump will probably blame the latest shooting on Joe Biden or Barack Obama. Lenzy Kelley
Weak-willed
Smithtown, L.I.: Voicer Dennis Middlebrook’s letter was spot-on in analyzing how Trump would have behaved as a candidate for president versus FDR in 1944. Trump’s propensity for admiring dictators would have provided him many opportunities to excuse the brutal and unconscionable actions of Adolf Hitler and Hideki Tojo. Thank God we had leaders like FDR and Winston Churchill in charge of our war effort. If Trump had won that election, we’d very likely be living under dictatorial rule today. Even Trump’s mantra “America First” is a throwback to the same slogan used by Charles Lindbergh and his Hitler-loving cohorts before Pearl Harbor to keep us out of the war. Harriet Litvack
Inside info?
Bronx: Trump claims he has never been briefed regarding any information contained in Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal files. Yet, just the other day, while seated next to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a press conference in Scotland, Trump stated that former President Bill Clinton was a guest at Epstein’s infamously frolicsome Caribbean island 28 times. He also claimed knowledge of former Harvard University President Larry Summers having visited the island at least seven times. Now, how would he know about this without being told during a briefing? Or maybe he’s making this up and lying in an attempt to defame Clinton and Summers. Being who he is, he’s probably lying about both. Carlos B. Martinez
You were there
Brooklyn: Hey, Trumpy, what line were you standing on? The food line or the Epstein line? Stop lying, you were ready to grab kitties. Carmen Lugo
No thank you
Howard Beach: Trump seems to be miffed that no one thanked him for the $60 million the U.S. sent for food for the people in Gaza who are starving to death. What kind of person is unable to do the right thing without expecting anything in return? Someone like Trump. Barbara Berg
Food for sale
Margate, Fla.: Rather than credulously repeating the antisemitic mantra of the mainstream media, “starvation in Gaza,” Voicer Sheila Edwards should read the July 28 report “Starvation? Photos show Gaza market full of goods, locals shopping freely” from Israel National News and study its photographs: “Gazan photographer Majdi Fathi, who works for the TPS agency, toured the streets of Gaza City on Monday and documented the al-Sahaba Market… The documentation shows dozens of locals buying and walking through the fruit and vegetable market, where some of the produce is visibly from Israel. Customers are seen paying with Israeli currency, and Israeli canned goods are seen among the stalls.” Richard Sherman
United in charity
Bronx: To Voicer Lawrence Freedland: Kudos for your charitable contributions to the starving children of Gaza. I give to the same organizations. We have something in common and are not that different. May God bless you. Gilbert M. Lane
Stated affection
Staten Island: According to the president, Harvard, Columbia and other colleges and universities need to be controlled and censored by his administration because they allowed anti-Israel protests on their campuses and, according to Trump, “We love Israel.” On the other hand, when white Christian supremacists marched in Charlottesville, Va., chanting “Jews will not replace us,” the president proclaimed that they were “very fine people.” It would seem that the MAGA movement loves Israel but hates Jews. Ralph D’Esposito
Anachronistic aspiration
Brooklyn: To Voicer Jeffrey Nelson: Thank you, I got a good laugh about coal in the White House and bringing back asbestos and mercury. Just goes to show us that making America “great” again may not be so great. While we’re at it, let’s get rid of some of those vaccines that have helped stave off disease and serious illness. Robert Braunstein
Reckless abandon
Hoffman Estates, Ill.: Lee Zeldin and the EPA plan to rescind the 2009 declaration that planet-warming greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health. The declaration underpins the government’s legal authority to combat climate change. It is also a nauseating betrayal of our children and grandchildren. Jim Arneberg
Better intel?
Eastchester, N.Y.: To Voicer Meredith Merna: Let me get this straight. Based on your extensive research, ICE agents “terrorize communities, ripping parents from children and neighbors from neighborhoods — all without due process.” Your investigation also revealed that they are going after non-violent, hard-working residents. Maybe your research can help ICE more efficiently locate all the illegal residents. Have another cup of Kool-Aid! Russell Pinto
Already on the market
Crockett, Calif.: Re “Trump’s sweet Coke deal will worsen U.S. health” (op-ed, July 29): Pepsi-Cola has been offering all-sugar Pepsi — no fructose — for years. Nobody cares! Bob Ritchey
Vote when you can
Brooklyn: To Voicer Laurel Turnbull: While I don’t share your support for Andrew Cuomo, I think it’s a terrible shame that you were prevented from voting in the mayoral primary due to extreme heat. I encourage you and any Voicers, elderly or otherwise, with health/mobility issues that might prevent them from voting in person to request a mail-in ballot in advance of the general election. You don’t need to be an “absentee” or provide any specific reason to vote by mail. The voting guide you receive in the mail will provide instructions to request a mail-in ballot and the deadline for doing so. You will also have the option of early voting for several days. The weather might be good on at least one, and regardless, you’re unlikely to have to stand outside in line when voting early. Katherine Raymond
