MTA’s money pit
The MTA reports that it’s losing $690 million to farebeaters, so the agency wants to raise the fares (“MTA on track to up fares by Labor Day,” May 23).
OK, I get it: So why then do the bridge tolls have to go up again?
Also, the government continues to push for congestion pricing to subsidize the MTA. Why do motorists always have to bear the responsibility of bailing out this bloated city agency?
What about all of this money the city has to take care of the illegal immigrants? Those funds would be more than enough to cover the MTA’s new costs.
I did not vote for congestion pricing. I did not vote for open borders.
All of you out there who continue to vote Democrat: Be honest and look at what Democrats are doing to New York City and the entire United States.
Joe Kowalczyk, Riverdale
No grocery wine
As a Brooklyn shop owner and one of the state’s 3,500 small liquor-store owners, wine in grocery stores is a possible doomsday scenario (“Let NY Supermarkets Sell Wine,” Editorial, May 24).
The bill by Sen. Liz Krueger is wrongly being pushed as a lifeline for big, rich supermarkets in the wake of COVID, but most supermarkets seem to be thriving.
New York’s small spirit shops are mostly family-owned and employ on average 10 workers. If Stop & Shop, WalMart or Amazon’s Whole Foods get to sell liquor, it will be a job killer for us.
I have the utmost support for store owners across other industries, but when one seeks a complete takeover of another — backed by poorly conceived state legislation — it reminds me of Uber becoming the nail in the coffin for countless taxi medallion owners.
Let’s support small businesses, not legislate them away.
Michael Correra
Brooklyn
Skinny jean ditch
Gen Z is getting credit for putting skinny jeans on the environmentally sustainable trash heap of history (“Gen Z has canceled skinny jeans — here’s what’s replacing them,” May 23).
Frankly, I’m surprised it was due to a keen fashion sense and not the problematic use of “skinny.”
But let’s get one thing straight: Except for a few hipsters and ballerinos, men have embraced loose-fitting clothing since time immemorial.
Everyone from Julius Caesar to John Belushi can attest to the optimal breathability of a toga.
What do you think cavemen wore? It wasn’t tight. Let’s not pretend Gen Z is unusual.
It was the skinny jeansters who were society’s unfortunate anomaly.
Oliver Mosier
Brooklyn
Toxic trend
To Brooke Steinberg, author of “Waiting to Exhale” (May 24): “Chroming,” which teens are now replicating, most likely comes directly from “Mad Max: Fury Road,” where the bad guy’s acolytes sprayed their mouths with chrome spray paint just before their kamikaze-like act, so that they would be shiny and “chrome” before meeting their maker. This act was very prominent and repeated in the film.
My dad used to say: “Monkey see, monkey do” whenever idiots (like me, on occasion) did some stupid act just because they saw some other idiot doing it.
Today, with the internet (and more with TikTok), our very social and impressionable youth, looking to get “likes,” now have 24/7 access to such potentially destructive behavior.
We can let this run its course and attend more and more funerals for our youth, or we can be adults, show tough love and either ban youths from having access to this crap and/or hold those who make money from such suggestive and addictive “mind porn” legally liable.
Enough already.
Demetrius Kalamaras
Staten Island
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