Nisky taxes are too high
It is unconscionable to expect residents of the Niskayuna School District to pay an increased tax, which is above the cap, let alone more than twice the cap.
Niskayuna school taxes are already very high, and burdensome to many residents, especially those on fixed incomes. It is imperative that, whatever needs to be done, in order to keep any increase below the cap, has to be done. It’s time to tighten the proverbial belt, as has been necessary for so many, of late.
Patricia Renna
Glenville
Restore the nation by following Constitution
The violations of the U.S. Constitution by the federal government are many due to the present crisis. These unconstitutional actions set a dangerous precedent giving the federal government the ability to do whatever it wants without limits.
The printing of trillions of dollars to support failing business has nearly ended capitalism as we know it.
The closing or the forced lockdown of both large and small businesses has led to massive unemployment, where the business owners are forced to be beggars in hopes of funding to keep American workers working.
If our representatives follow the U.S. Constitution’s restrictions, capitalism will succeed, mass unemployment will turn to nearly full employment, and the most vulnerable will be protected from those that may infect them.
The solution to the COVID-19 pandemic? Fear Not. The fear of catching this virus has caused most Americans to change their lives willingly and give up their constitutional liberties granted by the Constitution.
There is a better way. A strong economy and the protection of individual rights through the Constitution.
William D. Wilday
Schenectady
The writer is chairman of the Constitution Party of New York.
Reade case deserves independent review
The Democratic National Committee is missing an opportunity to change the cultural paradigm around allegations of sexual assault, instead acting like the Republicans have towards the allegations against Trump and Kavanaugh.
Democrats let the media investigate, allowing character assassination to determine the veracity of Tara Reade’s allegations against presidential candidate Joe Biden. This leaves in place the very structures that allow the powerful to continually get away with sexual assault because of their race, socioeconomic status, and social prestige.
Democrats point to media stories about Reade stealing from a charity as proof that she is lying. Even people who cheat charities can be sexually assaulted. They point to investigations done by media outlets to indicate Biden’s innocence. He may be, but the media is not running Joe Biden, the DNC is, or presumably will be.
Any organization that claims to support victims of sexual assault, whether it’s the DNC, RNC or a community glee club, would take responsibility and have an autonomous investigation of Reade’s allegation to try to determine if a crime had been committed. It tells the victim “we take you seriously.”
It tells the accused that an accusation is not proof, and you deserve to have the facts established.
Linda LeTendre
Natalya Lakhtakia
Saratoga Springs
Libraries need to find some way to reopen
I agree with the other letters written about opening up the libraries. We need to get back to our ability to take out books from our libraries. Curbside service could be done very efficiently, and we could return the books through the outside return outlets.
We need to come up with new ways to work and this could be one way to help us open up our libraries. Please join me and others in encouraging our libraries to think up new ways to open.
Karen Klotz
Saratoga Springs
Cuomo must address unemployment issue
As a scientist, it’s nice to hear the governor use COVID-19 data in his daily updates. I wish he would include unemployment numbers. I don’t know one person who has lost their job(s) that isn’t having problems getting unemployment.
Phones are busy, calls are dropped, messages not returned, and personal data is sent to the wrong person. The governor says, “Don’t worry, you will get paid.”
That’s hard for people to hear if they haven’t had a paycheck for 6-plus weeks. Cuomo should be posting the number of open cases daily. If he doesn’t know the number, maybe Siena College can do a poll.
Chris Nafis
Vischer Ferry
Get ready to accept our harsh new reality
I believe we have not been made aware of all the possible outcomes of the present situation.
Consider the following possibilities:
Science may be no more successful in developing a vaccine than it has been at coming up with one for the common cold virus.
We hear the officials repeatedly saying the solution is testing, testing, testing. However there seems to be a lot of doubt about whether the current tests for antigens and antibodies are accurate.
Even if testing procedures are refined, it is not clear that positive antigen tests imply either immunity nor rule out the possibility of the subject to continue infecting others.
At present, the virus seems to target predominantly older people. Many viruses have displayed an amazing ability to mutate, and it is entirely conceivable that such a mutation could endanger other, younger groups of people.
Doubtless, the present shutdown is slowing the spread of the virus, but clearly there is a very limited time for which the economy can be put on hold, and we are clearly rapidly approaching the end of that time.
We have not seen any predictions yet of how rapidly the disease might spread if we open up the economy and move to just observing social distancing and hygiene precautions.
So, it may well be that with appropriate precautions we can come to a situation where “only” say an extra 100,000 deaths occur annually, and like influenza, highway and gunshot death totals we come to accept this distressing new reality.
Michael Bishop
Scotia
Categories: Letters to the Editor, Opinion
