Long Beach letters

Boodman’s signs should come down

To the Editor:
I hope Rich Boodman changes his mind and takes his signs down (“City to resident: take your signs down,” Dec. 10-16). While I laud Rich for his neighborhood activism and thank him for the good work he has done in getting stop signs installed at Lincoln Boulevard and East Olive Street, politicizing this issue serves no good
purpose.

It is offensive to suggest that Republicans care less about the safety and welfare of residents than him or the rest of us. Any further discussion of stop signs will require specific data about specific corners, and must allow for differences of opinion regarding how to best address accident-prone locations. I believe that anything to slow down traffic on the boulevards would be valuable. But I do recognize that, not being a traffic engineer, I don't grasp all the factors involved in the total traffic flow strategy.
Twenty-five years ago, Lincoln Boulevard, from Park Avenue to Broadway, had only one stop sign located in the southbound lane. Now we have a few stop signs on each side of the street. This was necessitated by increased traffic resulting from a new apartment building and the overall increased desirability of Long Beach as a summer destination. It had nothing to do with party politics.
I continue to support my neighbor's civic involvement to address traffic safety concerns, but this is not a case to make into a First Amendment issue. Rich saw a man riding a bike man get killed in front of his house. His extraordinary commitment to the cause of preventing another tragedy must be redirected to challenging specific decisions based on strong data and sound rationale.
Neal Monteko
Long Beach

D’Amato’s right on P.C.

To the Editor:
I usually disagree with all of Sen. Al D’Amato’s columns, but I am in accord with “It’s time to put a stop to political correctness” (Nov. 19-25). Nidal Hasan should be hanged. We must protect the people who protect us. I also think we should reinstitute the draft. I wonder what Al thinks about that.
Also, when is our government — anyone in our government — going to apologize for allowing the World Trade Center to be destroyed? This is the biggest tragedy of my lifetime, and our government was inept.
David Katof
Long Beach

D’Amato’s wrong on N.Y. trials for terrorists

To the Editor:
I don’t agree with Al D’Amato that trying Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in federal court is a bad idea (“The president and attorney general are dead wrong,” Nov. 26-Dec. 2). We are a nation of laws. Abiding by our legal system reinforces the principles of justice and freedom that our nation was built on.
It’s true that trying the terrorists in military court would be a way to prevent them from benefiting from the protections afforded criminals by our criminal justice system. Nonetheless, we need to trust that system and allow it to demonstrate to the world that our country isn’t just a nation of empty words and misguided actions. We have principles that must be adhered to in this situation.
I was most disappointed by Al’s dredging up anti-left-wing rhetoric to make his case. Calling the president “irresponsible,” describing his approach as one of “appeasement” and calling him a leftist is merely appealing to emotion and fear rather than logic and reason.
When our nation is recovering from eight years of failed Republican foreign policies, irrational gut decisions and disingenuous dealings with Congress and the people, we need to recognize that a new path must be taken. We have to be willing to try another way. We need to be a beacon of liberty to the world. We need to be a nation of openness, free speech, honesty and discipline.
We can’t continue to follow approaches that the Republican Party applied under President Bush.
It’s time for a change, and Al should try to be part of it instead of joining the negativity of the anti-Obama constituency.
Richard Weiss
Valley Stream