Rent-stabilized shouldn’t destabilize landlords
Staten Island: As a small property owner of rent-stabilized apartments in NYC, I appreciate your editorial “Good politics in bad rent freeze” (May 2). The candidates running for mayor are out of touch with the real world. Having no rental increases or close to zero, as former Mayor Bill de Blasio implemented, is forcing their constituents to live in slums.
Average rent for free-market apartments in NYC is $3,397 per month. In 2024, it cost $2,296 for NYCHA to maintain an apartment, and NYCHA does not pay mortgage or real estate taxes. In NYC, the median income is $79,713 and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development states that occupants should not spend more than 30% of their salary on housing. This calculates to an affordable rent of $1,992 per month. Average rent for a rent-stabilized apartment is $1,477, way below the threshold set by the city. The Rent Guidelines Board stated that our expenses increased by 48.6% over the last 10 years. It approved a total of 11.75% increases. One of the candidates stated last year that we are double-dipping and the rental increases are historically high as 11% (“This NYS agency is allowing illegal rent hikes,” op-ed, July 10, 2024).
We are severely financially strapped. At 76, I am using my retirement money for the upkeep and will never be able to retire. Owners of rent-stabilized properties are the only group that politicians are attacking, wanting us to compensate for the welfare of tenants with income below the median. Why can’t tenant advocates and politicians work with owners on trying to get them proper assistance and get back to the original intentions of rent stabilization: providing affordable housing, maintaining it and making a reasonable profit? Vincent Ragosta
Head grifter
Union, N.J.: This is neither an endorsement nor a defense of Bob Menendez. He went wrong, got caught and will pay the price. That’s fine with me! This is an inquiry. What did Menendez do that President Trump hasn’t done while in government? We know from 2016 to 2020 that he is an agent of a foreign government (Russia)! And please don’t give me the “he didn’t take his presidential salary” nonsense. He took many, many more times that amount in return for favors to foreign governments, lobbyists and, more disturbingly, to himself and his family! His crimes are easily an equal match for Gold Bar Bob, so why aren’t they sharing an equal punishment? Lou Alt
Ill-spoken
Brooklyn: To Voicer Tom Scott: Stephen Smith is from Queens. He has a New York accent just like Trump and many native New Yorkers. Unlike Trump, Smith is educated and has a command of the English language. Third-graders read and talk better than Trump. Why did he obtain a court order to have his school records sealed? Trump doesn’t want the voting public to know how uneducated he is. Did you happen to watch Terry Moran’s 100-day White House interview with Trump on ABC? It was alternately scary, cringeworthy and wet-your-pants. Moran asked Trump, “What does the Declaration of Independence mean to you?” Typical Trump: He stumbled, gaffed and mumbled, answering, “Unity… love… respect… means a lot… and special” (one of Trump’s favorite low-IQ words). He couldn’t even recite the preamble of this consequential document. Who hangs signs or wears T-shirts with messages they don’t understand or comprehend? The president. Taplow Vincennes
Pro-ban
Ormond Beach, Fla.: As a retired military person, I was very pleased to see that the Supreme Court just ruled that Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will be allowed to ban trans people from the military. The radical left has become more and more like the characters in a Charles Dickens novel, crammed to the seams with grotesques, eccentrics, amiable idiots and moral monstrosities. These freaks and insipid oddballs have become central to the progressive movement and most responsible for its demise. Indeed, they have become a ramshackle, disheveled party and have given a new meaning to spontaneous combustion. Charles Michael Sitero
Fantasizer
Beechhurst: Trump’s twisted tongue-in-cheek suggestion that the cardinal conclave in the Vatican should have contemplated electing him as the next Holy Father brings to mind Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous wish about Cesare Borgia (a worldly, power-hungry Italian prince and illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI) ascending to the papacy. The White House’s AI-generated image of Trump as the new pope, as well as its AI-generated image of him as a buffed-up, red-lightsaber-wielding “Star Wars” hero, are tawdry homages to The Donald’s solipsistic will to power. Not surprisingly, 45/47 vainly aspires to be chiseled in stone on Mount Rushmore — but he fittingly belongs on Mount Narcissus. James Hyland
Singular focus
Bronx: Trump’s ego has no limits. He now believes that our nation’s motto, “E Pluribus Unum,” refers to him. A press secretary explained that this Latin phrase means “out of many, one.” Trump immediately took this as a perfect self-description. Out of the vast (and diverse) multitudes in this country, he is Number 1 — the Chosen One. In the process, he has turned the United States into a lugubrious union. Fred Smith
Inconsequential numbers
Bronx: To Voicer Diane Doberman: Leave it to a querulous, woke loser to whine about the statistical margin of victory in the last presidential election in response to a letter about a cancer-stricken child being used as a political pawn. To quote Mark Twain, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” It’s no wonder you lost. Charles T. Compton
Work for us
Brooklyn: Dear Rep. Nicole Malliotakis: If not you, who? There is nothing wrong with being liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican — as long as you are concerned with everyone, not just yourself and one segment among your nation, state, town or city. Trump is a real estate developer (the segment that is the biggest source of campaign contributions at the local level, as you clearly know). Elon Musk is interested in benefiting his own multiple interests. It’s evident that both of them are running this country for narcissistic reasons. So, who are you concerned with, everyone or one segment and one person? The future of the nation or the future of wealthy people? I suggest that it’s time for you to work to get the Musk-MAGA segment under control. If you and your colleagues don’t work on doing this, who will? If you and they won’t, then seriously consider leaving office. Ed Jaworski
Unmet demand
Flushing: Humanitarian groups and European officials have condemned Israel for blocking food, fuel and medicine from entering Gaza. Israel has announced that the siege of Gaza will end the moment that Hamas wants it to end. That moment will occur when Hamas releases all the remaining hostages abducted on Oct. 7, 2023. Theodore Sheskin
Further reading
Brooklyn: To Voicer Richard Sherman: By way of rebuttal, you should study the words of David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, who said, “Politically speaking, we are the aggressors, and the Arabs are just defending their homeland.” I find it rather bizarre that you would quote Zuheir Mohsen, someone who Zionists went out of their way to assassinate in 1979. Significantly, you should also study the words of Jewish luminary Sigmund Freud, who, in the 1920s, indicated that the formation of Israel would be a terrible idea. That prophecy has proven to be spot-on prescient. So, Richard, study up! Nick Smith
An American dream
West Palm Beach, Fla.: According to Sean “Puffy” Combs’ charges — racketeering, insane freak-offs, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and any other dark sexual, immoral sin — there is no real, tangible evidence. For example, the charge of racketeering would suggest or depict a man full of pride and deception about who he had become — a monster. The truth is that through observance over the years, Combs was an ordinary man who became extraordinary. He finished high school and went to college, then pursued his passion and dream, which was to be rich. That idea is not evil. Combs pursued his endeavor through legal means, such as music, media, alcohol, fashion and technology. Being a Black man in today’s society, he should be applauded. Although some of these ventures are less conventional, they are still legitimate. Felicia Jefferson
