Dear friends,
I spend a lot of time thinking about a sense of proportion. I work to distinguish between big problems and little ones and try to let little things go. In my interactions with people, I try not to escalate or overreact or take things personally when they really aren’t about me.
This has been a long learning curve; younger me was inclined to escalate and overreact. More mature me is inclined to see teachable moments and opportunities for grace.
One of the best things I read about new year’s resolutions was the suggestion to cut people some slack. People includes yourself.
Sadly, there is also such a thing as too much slack.
Twice in the month of December, the Biden Administration bypassed Congress to sell weapons to Israel.
Josh Paul, a former official in the State Department's arms control bureau who resigned in protest after the war started, said the second sale would enable Israel to continue operations that have led to Palestinian civilian deaths.
This week, Senator Bernie Sanders called on Congress to block additional funding to Israel because of the fact that
“Israel’s military response has been grossly disproportionate, immoral and in violation of international law.”
Selling weapons and giving aid to nations at war are two different things; the common denominator is our complicity in the destruction of Gaza and its people.
Today, Israel’s defense minister said that when the war ends,
“Palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel.”
I’m hoping this was either a bad translation or an unfortunate usage error by someone for whom English is a second or third language; ‘bodies in charge’ suggests puppets — or worse, corpses — rather than sovereignty. Maybe he meant legislative bodies.
It’s hard to hear the word bodies in the context of war and not think of the growing count of dead bodies.
In any case, as citizens of this nation, we have a duty to stop sponsoring the killings in Gaza. The challenge of proportion is not to allow distance to distort the gravity of human problems.
Tell the president and members of Congress that it’s time to stop providing Israel with weapons and military aid.
Among the zillions of emails requesting donations, I found an email last week from the folks at the Alliance for a Human-Scale City. The email describes Mayor Adams’s “City of Yes” policy proposals as
1500 pages of zoning and regulatory changes, some huge, some trivial. Fronting the “City of Yes” reforms are the usual bland public purpose goals that are now used to hide all sins. City Planning promises affordable housing for somebody, a reduction in carbon emissions somewhere else, and a meager break here and there for noble small businesses like bakeries and hair salons.
According to the Alliance for a Human-Scale City, the false premise underlying these so-called reforms is that the city has been preventing anything from being built.
Luckily, some folks have been undeterred by the sheer volume of the document, and have identified the insidious zoning changes that Mayor Adams is proposing.
allow small businesses that serve under 200 people the ability to have Cabaret and Dancing up to 4 in the morning in all commercial districts.
Combined with all of the other Economic/Business amendments this will allow dancing, drinking and even strip clubs to exist on residential blocks, inside apartments buildings and even in private homes.
Boyd points out that if your nearest neighbor is such a commercial establishment, you may suddenly find yourself subjected to excessive noise, more crime, and more traffic congestion.
NYS’s gaming commission is about to grant three casino licenses and proposals for locations include sites in Manhattan. State Senator Liz Krueger, the finance committee chair, opposes the casinos and notes that the estimates of new tax revenues and job creation are overstated.
“Does Manhattan Island need a casino for any reason whatsoever?” Krueger asked. “We’re short of land and desperate for affordable housing and open space, but we can go ahead and do those things without tying them to a casino because we have no purpose for a casino.”
There is research on the impact of casinos on crime, tax revenue, job creation, and society. Let’s start with the gamblers themselves; up to 2 percent of Americans are believed to be compulsive or problem gamblers.
Problem gambling may result in an array of personal and mental health problems, including lost wages, marital break-up, depression and increased risk of suicide. Gamblers tax their co-workers and employers by their decreased productivity. They may strain community services and turn to theft to pay gambling debts.
According to the research, casinos are more likely to support economic growth in less dense areas (i.e. not Manhattan). The evidence of increased tax revenue is limited.
Under the current proposal, casino operators would have to pay NYS a licensing fee of $500 million just to open. This gives you some idea of the profits to be made. It does not suggest that the people who live near a casino will see positive effects.
Most working people do not want to live near the first NYC casino. We do not want a small strip club on the floor of our apartment building or in the house next door.
Tell your city council member and the mayor what you think of City of Yes zoning proposals in New York City.
Last week, I wrote about the next round of public comment on the plan for congestion pricing. Somehow, I neglected to include the proposed fees, which may influence your comments.
Again, my recommendation is that the MTA should make the subways free for the first year of congestion pricing. It will bring back ridership and show good faith to people who need a nudge to get back on the subways. And instead of rerouting car traffic, it might actually get folks out of their cars.
Make a public comment on congestion pricing!
There are people on both ends of every policy decision. Our work is to get the policymakers to consider the human scale of their work. No one should have to live with noisy, polluting traffic congestion or near a casino or in a war zone.
with love,
L