Agencies’ waste
“A Wild, Wacky, Wa$teland” (July 3) is much worse than the story indicates.
Many federal employees consider the July 1-Sept. 30 fourth quarter of the federal fiscal year an “end-of-year clearance sale.”
Too many federal agency secretaries, administrators and supervisors pressure federal employees to approve recipient grants and spend any remaining current fiscal year appropriations down to the last dollar.
Management is always afraid that any unspent money carried over on the books into the next federal fiscal year might be subject to rescission by Congress.
There is little incentive to be frugal with available funding generated by citizens’ and businesses’ taxes. Government agencies and their respective programs have a life of their own — too many continue to grow yearly and go on forever.
Have you ever heard of a federal government agency or program that completed its mission and was terminated by Congress?
Larry Penner
Great Neck
Radicalized teens
No doubt “reefer” played some part in the tragedy that occurred on July 4 when 21-year-old Robert Crimo massacred seven people and wounded many others, shooting with an automatic weapon from a rooftop during a parade (“Did reefer drive the ‘killer’ to madness?” Miranda Devine July 7).
But when comparing the 1950s and ’60s and the influences that affected people then to today, you can see there are maybe more factors to consider as to why this kind of event occurs so frequently.
The thousands of Internet sites, all pretty much unregulated, combined with young people getting mobile phones from an early age and spending most of the day searching for something “cool” to watch, contribute to bizarre and deadly events because of what one can observe and learn from the Internet.
Those websites are available to me today, but because of the way I was raised and the influences on my life growing up, I have absolutely no interest in looking at any of these. I think that the job of raising a healthy well-adjusted child has never been tougher.
Harry Winkler
West Palm Beach, Fla.
Fantastic ferry
I’m writing in response to the July 7 article blasting Mayor de Blasio’s ferry program (“DeB hid sunk costs of ferry flop: report,” July 7).
I’ve been riding the ferry between Ferry Point Park/Soundview in The Bronx and lower Manhattan since the beginning of the pandemic. It’s been a lifesaver.
The ferry operator is professional and efficient. The passengers definitely are not “overwhelmingly wealthy” and many are from minority communities. There are essential workers and other commuters, families taking a scenic ride and tourists enjoying an excursion. The staff is professional and diverse. Passengers feel safe.
The ferry program should be applauded, not attacked. We should add even more safe, efficient and affordable methods of transportation in New York City.
Carl Anderson
The Bronx
Ice cream in Israel
Ben & Jerry parent Unilever has agreed to allow Ben & Jerry’s to be sold throughout Israel with no geographic restrictions (“An ‘ice’ solution,” June 30).
Although the decision was undoubtedly motivated in part by economic considerations, it was a good decision nonetheless and is a triumph of reality over hate.
Now if only Ben & Jerry’s can have the opportunity to come up with a new flavor promoting a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians, that would be sweet.
Mel Young
Brooklyn
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