Think of LaGuardia, not Columbus, this election
Manhattan: As a proud Italian-American, I must oppose the viewpoint that Italian-Americans should not vote for Zohran Mamdani because he doesn’t view Christopher Columbus as a hero, and support Andrew Cuomo instead (“Columbus should be a hero for a mayor,” op-ed, Oct. 13). Columbus did not “discover” America. Native Americans were here. We know that their mass extermination began at that time. He was not the first one from Europe to come to America. Scandinavians came and settled beginning in the eighth century. To be critical of Columbus having an American holiday is not anti-Italian. It is supporting Native Americans who are affronted by it.
Mamdani’s campaign reminds me of our city’s greatest mayor and a true Italian-American hero, Fiorello LaGuardia. He campaigned and won his election calling for free college education that became CUNY, public housing creating NYCHA, building high schools, and the fair Civil Service system for city employees replacing corrupt cronyism. He began the city’s highway system and construction of many bridges and tunnels we now travel through. He built hundreds of playgrounds in areas that had no space for children or families. Mamdani’s vision for improving the lives of New Yorkers mirrors LaGuardia’s. The average Italian-Americans in this city would be better off if he became mayor.
When at Staten Island Community College, I voted for an Italian-American for student government because of his ethnicity, thinking I would be represented better. I learned that the person I voted for had the exact opposite politics and beliefs that I did. A person should get my vote for what they want to accomplish, not ethnicity. And maybe we need to change Columbus Day to LaGuardia Day! Ralph Palladino
Fat chance
Manhattan: If you are voting for Mamdani, you should think about his promise for free buses. I wonder how that can happen when the MTA is raising fares because it needs the money. Another comment or promise to get your votes. Mary Longobardi
Deft debater
Kew Gardens: After watching the mayoral debate, only one thing was evident when it was over: Mamdani survived and left unscathed. He has proven to be a verbal escape artist, ducking and weaving, and able to avoid the knockout punch. Neither his opponents nor the moderators were able to land a glove on him. He is slick, affable, articulate, and is able to smile through the worst things you can throw at him. And with a little training, he would be an agile pickpocket. He would bump into you on the street, apologize profusely, smile and then leave with your wallet. So, New Yorkers, you have been warned. The rest is up to you on Election Day. Phil Serpico
Opportunities abroad?
Briarwood: Mayor Adams’ “three dream job offers” — where oh where could they be? He recently went on a “business” trip to Albania. Gee, could that be the answer? Patricia Nuzzi
Solar should be safer
Brooklyn: NYC is pushing “green” initiatives, such as rooftop solar panels, to reduce carbon emissions for Local Law 97. However, are these safe? The recent tragic death of a senior due to a solar panel flying off a roof near 3000 Ocean Pkwy. should raise a warning. In 2023, when the garage collapsed at 57 Ann St. in Lower Manhattan, a citywide inspection of all parking structures led to several facilities being vacated due to unsafe conditions. In February 2024, after a fire in a high-rise building in Harlem, a citywide inspection of all self-closing doors was conducted. The entire façade inspection program (Local Law 11) that every building higher than six stories must go through every five years originated from a single incident in 1979, when a piece of terra cotta fell and killed a young Barnard student. The NYC Department of Buildings is pushing solar but is not ensuring safety. Igor Oberman, general manager, Trump Village West
We can’t afford that
Brooklyn: We’ve hit a record level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because we keep burning coal, oil and gas, causing climate havoc (“UN agency gives warning about rise in CO2 level,” Oct. 16). We may even have reached the tipping point when the natural carbon cycle is permanently disrupted — worse droughts, killing heat and flooding affecting wider regions. Insurance companies recognize this and have stopped offering flood insurance. People are stuck with the cost of rebuilding or relocating. Ten top-ranking NYC House members, including Reps. Jerry Nadler, Dan Goldman, Ritchie Torres and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, recognize the crisis and have publicly chastised Gov. Hochul for accepting the thrice-rejected Williams pipeline, a methane-leaking project that would hurt water quality, do untold environmental damage and further gas emissions. Hochul talks affordability. NYC can’t afford climate change, and neither can its residents. Hochul, do the right thing and reject the pipeline. Becky Plattus
Room for dancing
Kearny, N.J.: When President Trump met with architects to design the new White House ballroom, he kept insisting, “I want it larger, much larger!” After four weeks of constant pressure from Trump, they relented. They finally realized that Trump has big balls! Kevin Dale
Making the rich richer
Manhattan: Hey, fellow N.Y./N.J. taxpayers! Trump just devoted $20 billion to bail out his billionaire buddies who made a bad bet on the Argentine economy, but he said he cancelled the $16 billion legally committed to the Hudson River tunnel! These are our hard-earned tax dollars. This is supposed to be a democracy. Who favors billionaire buddies over commuters? Republicans have the power to stop Trump, but they are either wimps or agree with everything he’s doing at the bidding of the billionaires while hurting everyday working families. Lynn Caporale
Peace in pieces
Philadelphia: With only 23 Palestinians killed in Gaza as of Friday after Trump’s negotiated peace deal between Israel and Hamas, and 10,000 American troops poised and ready to land on the shores of Venezuela, and more innocent fishermen blasted into the hereafter by American warships in the Caribbean recently — including two murder victims of the Trump-ordered assault being citizens of the most peaceful country in the world, Trinidad and Tobago — not to mention heavily armed and masked ICE agents terrorizing neighborhoods in Democratic-run cities, it should be obvious to everyone that Trump is ramping up his efforts to win the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. I hope Benjamin Netanyahu, indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity, is the first to nominate worthy candidate Trump for the prize, which is long overdue. Diane Doberman
Fringe theology
Manhattan: Voicer Frank Sterle Jr. lauds the “moral courage” of anti-Zionist Jews. Take the group Neturei Karta, translated as “guardians of the gates” of Jerusalem. These zealots, whether they live in Jerusalem or Brooklyn, have the same morality as the terrorists in Gaza who committed the Oct. 7 atrocities and their fellow jihadists in Yemen, Syria and Iran. They are fringe agitators who oppose the Jewish state, but not because they give a hoot in hell for Palestinians. In their misguided messianic fervor, they believe that only the Jewish messiah has the authority from G-d to establish a third Jewish commonwealth to rule all of biblical Israel, including Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan and much of southern Lebanon. They have extremist values, including their idea that they’ll be rewarded from Heaven with ultimate rule over Jews, Arabs and others of differing faiths who inhabit their concept of the third Jewish commonwealth. Ephraim Savitt
Casualty acceptability
Manhattan: To Voicer Jim Carney: There is no moral equivalence between deaths due to a terrorist organization deliberately targeting civilians and the unfortunate unintended deaths of civilians in war. I wonder, does the number of Gazan deaths now include those people we just saw being horrifically executed in the streets by Hamas? Israel gives advance warnings when it is going to attack an area with a large civilian population, giving them an opportunity to leave before fighting starts. What other country does that? And just for comparison, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, we suffered 2,403 deaths (2,335 military personnel, 68 civilians), while it’s estimated that the U.S. retaliatory bombings of Japan resulted in more than 500,000 civilian deaths. Nobody criticized us for ruthlessly going after our attacker or told us how many deaths of Japanese, including innocent civilians caught in the crossfire, would be acceptable. Chana Schwartz
