Our Readers Respond...

“I’m With Paul”



Dear Editor:


I’m voting for Paul J. Feiner for Town Supervisor of Greenburgh. I don’t know of a more dedicated local champion, a tireless fighter for everything that’s good in suburban/urban life. Paul J. Feiner has been Town Supervisor of Greenburgh, New York - a two-year, elected position - since 1991. He ran twice for Congress and lost - Greenburgh and America’s loss.

I’ve always voted for Paul Feiner, but got to know him really well last year. Verizon was offering fiber optic service in Greenburgh, and needed Town Council approval to offer television service through the fiber optics. Unsurprisingly, Cablevision, which had a monopoly on cable service in this area, opposed Verizon’s request.

Feiner, with a mostly balky Town Council baying at his every point, stood up and courageously argued for
freedom of choice in television providers in Greenburgh. This might not seem like such a controversial point, but if you’ve ever been to a local Town Council meeting you’ll know that everyone on the council has an opinion, and it’s usually not in favor of getting things done.

I was in favor of giving Greenburgh residents a real option in television, I wrote a few editorials arguing for
that, but it was Paul Feiner’s determination that got this to happen.

And he has been that way on every important local issue. Do you like being woken up all too early on weekend
mornings by someone blowing leaves or mowing the lawn at decibel levels that could split your eardrums? Feiner
doesn’t like that, either, and he’s doing what he can to keep the noise down. He stays on top of utilities like Con Ed to make repairs today, not tomorrow, after storms. He’s advocating wi-fi for a major street in Hartsdale - he wants it for the whole town, every inch of it, and the Hartsdale street would be the start. Paul J. Feiner is on the right side of every issue, be it nature or high-tech, communication to the world-at-large from your laptop or just dozing on your porch on a Saturday morning.

So I’m happily voting for Paul J. Feiner for another term of Town Supervisor. I saw him in front of the A&P
last week. And I told him, hey, I not only hope you win, but give that run for Congress another shot some day.


Paul Levinson, PhD
Professor and Chair
Department of Communication and Media Studies
Fordham University
White Plains


Reader Responds to “Give Us The Real Deal”



Dear Editor:


Obviously you’re part of the Barry Bonds asterisk brigade that would love to see Mr. Bonds brought down in shame. Here is something to ponder before you write your next anti-Bonds editorial. IF Mr. Bonds should be astersized, wouldn’t it be reasonable to place an asterisk next to Babe Ruth’s name because he did not bat against GREAT Negro pitchers like Satchel Page! Mr. Page,one of the great major league pitchers was barred from the majors until the last 8 years of his career.

In fact not only Babe Ruth should have an asterisk next to his name, many other players would not be in the Hall of Shame..(oops I mean Hall of Fame) If Negro players were not barred from the Majors. Furthermore, batters like the GREAT Josh Gibson who hit as many as 962 dingers would have over-shadowed Babe Ruth’s 714 home runs. Finally, I’ve notice the media(print/broadcast) rolled out the Great Henry Aaron when Mr. Bonds was seriously approaching a new home run record. Prior, Mr. Aaron home run feats were never promoted nationally, e.g., national advertisements ,etc…And WHY Mr. Henry Aaron was not made Baseball Commissioner? The Commissioners position is obviously a symbolic position which is supported by many level
of support assistants. You or I could be the MLB commissioner with that level of support, don’t you think!!

This whole thing about Mr. Bonds is about who should be heroes in America and what they should look like!
Would love to hear your response,

Mario Reid, New York

Editor’s Response


Dear Mr Reid:


To some extent you are preaching to the choir as regards the Negro Leagues. Having grown up in the South Bronx, in fact the 41st Precinct, were it not for a great Black New York City Police Officer, Jim McCord, from that precinct, who took a liking to me, I would never have known the privilege of playing Pony League baseball at 14 and 15 years of age, under Coach Al Richards, who had enjoyed a great career in the Negro Leagues.

Officer McCord, or Cordie as he was so affectionately known by his neighbors in Pelham Parkway, could afford, as a New York City Police Officer, to live in middle-income public housing on Mace Avenue in the Bronx. My dad, a laundry driver at the time, wasn’t earning quite enough to qualify our family to live there.

Because of Jim McCord and Al Richards, I had the pleasure of playing baseball in cleats, on grass, as a member of the Red Wings. But, for them, I would’ve been limited to pick-up softball games in the concrete schoolyards of my neighborhood. Having said that, let me assure you that you are correct when you say, “This whole thing about Mr. Bonds is about who should be heros in America,” but you are very mistaken when you finish the sentence with, “and what they should look like.”

My objection to Barry Bonds is the same objection I lodged against Mark McGwire. The use of performance-enhancing drugs by any athlete produces a counterfeit specimen, and achievements by such athletes are clearly separate and distinct from those who were not contaminated.

In short, it’s not about the color of a man’s skin but, rather, what’s coursing through his veins.


In Our Opinion...


David Endorses Goliath

We can only wonder what Lieutenant Governor David Paterson was thinking about last week, other than obedience to Democratic Party Boss Larry Schwartz when he endorsed Ernie Davis for a fourth term as Mayor of Mount Vernon. We know that he knows little or nothing about what is really going on there, because he described that neglected, struggling, violence-scarred city as “the very model of urban development.” We
wonder, indeed, that Mr. Paterson could, in good faith, commend a mayor who in twelve years in office has shown a clear contempt for the public well-being, preferring instead to tend to his own comfort and prosperity, and that of his cronies and political connections.


We would prefer to give David Paterson the benefit of the doubt, and assume that he really doesn’t know the true Ernie Davis. The David Paterson who has always been concerned about police interaction with inner-city civilians would not have endorsed Davis had he known that for years he looked the other way as his police department routinely gathered false confessions from innocent citizens, mostly people of color, in the so-called Conference Room in the basement of Police Headquarters, totally violating their Civil Rights. Selwyn Days is doing consecutive 25-Year to Life sentences for a “Double Homicide” that was really a Murder/Suicide. And, Kareem Bryan is doing 43 years in state prison for Rape and Burglary actually committed by another perpetrator who Mount Vernon Police let slip through their fingers.

Mayor Davis was urged, on his own radio show, nearly a year and a half ago, to put an end to such unlawful practices, but did nothing! It took the independent action of newly appointed Police Commissioner David Chong, informed of the horrific and unlawful police practice by The Guardian, to investigate, and put an end to it, thus protecting the Constitutional, and Miranda Rights of all Mount Vernon citizens, and all who may come in contact with police.

If Mr. Paterson really knew Mayor Davis and his regime he could not ignore the fact that Davis has repeatedly let down the hard-working families of Mount Vernon, driving many back to the Bronx and other surrounding communities, where schools are safer, and taxes are lower. We ask, “Would Mr. Paterson raise his children in Mount Vernon, and send them to Mount Vernon Public Schools?” He would want safer, more achieving schools, and a community with more employment and recreational opportunities for his kids; a community with more hope for the future than one can expect from Ernie Davis’ performance over the past twelve years. Mount Vernon’s parents and children have the right to those same expectations.

We recently interviewed several Mount Vernon High School students. They told a tale of fear in the hallways, fear of weapons and drugs that somehow make it through side doors. They spoke of fear on school buses, and about their parents’ agonizing about whether to move, or send them to private schools, while still paying sky-high property taxes. They spoke about the Hip-Hop Museum that never was, and the total lack of safe recreation in
their city. Many said that they knew someone who’s been a victim of violence, stabbing, or gunplay. Most go directly home, and lock their doors.

Some students we spoke with wondered why there are so many boarded-up stores and littered lots throughout their city, compared with other cities and towns they visit in Westchester. Their observations certainly do not square with David Paterson’s “urban model” statement. But they live in Mount Vernon.

If Mr. Paterson believes that he owes his greatest loyalty to Andy Spano, Larry Schwartz, Reggie LaFayette, and those like them who could care less about the City of Mount Vernon, and those families struggling to exist within its troubled and neglected confines, he is sadly mistaken. By his loyalty to such compatriots he betrays the very people who look up to him, and to whom he owes the greatest allegiance, and solemn duty to be more forthcoming and honest.