‘Trampling on Term Limits’

I am not going to argue against the substance of Henry Stern’s op-ed piece [“Trampling on Term Limits,” June 14, 2005] regarding the City Council and term limits, that is a public discussion that should be had sooner, rather than later and earnest people can disagree. What I do find exceedingly offensive is his characterization of the job of City Council as being part time and some sort of day at the beach. Mr. Stern would have his readers believe that all of us have our feet up on the desk – at our law office, of course – and our toughest choice is whether to have Ketel One or Grey Goose for our martinis.

I am in my seventh year as council member, and during this time I have averaged 60-70 hour workweeks and have given my all to my community. All I have left to give is my blood, and there are more than a few folks who would take it if they could. I am sure I am not alone in this approach to my job. Mr. Stern’s dismissive, condescending broad-brush painting of all elected officials as lazy, overpaid, and unmotivated is laughable. Call out the bad ones for what they are, but don’t use superficial, tired, and inaccurate generalizations.

I challenge Mr. Stern or any other critic of my performance to try to keep up with my staff and I for a week. You pick the week. Bring your running shoes and pack an energy bar or two. I daresay Mr. Stern would realize Council life, as I live it, is much different than his cushy days at the Parks Department.

JAMES S. ODDO
Minority Leader
New York City Council
Manhattan

‘Moses’s Preference’

Jeremy Smerd’s castigation of Robert Moses as having a “preference for cars over people” is misplaced [“Lower East Side to Finally Open Up to the Water,” Real Estate, June 9, 2005]. Wasn’t it Moses who developed roads to transport people to Jones Beach and Orchard Beach, both of which he also developed for the enjoyment by people, and roads to Long Island? The same people who would castigate Moses for building the Cross Bronx Expressway never offer an alternative to that road, and would be crying today how all that traffic going across Fordham Road and up Boston Road to New England would be adversely affecting people in those neighborhoods today. Time has proved Robert Moses right.

JAMES FAY
Closter, N.J.

‘Regents Exams’

The New York Sun is wrong to equate utilizing an alternative to the requirement of passing five Regents exams for graduation in New York State with the lowering of standards [“Legislators Consider Bill To Alter Graduation Requirements,” Brian McGuire, New York, June 9, 2005].

Like the private schools in New York State that do not give Regents exams, the 28 (not 44, as the state’s Department of Education memo incorrectly cites) schools that use an alternative system set the highest goals for all their students; they emphasize multiple measures – not harmful high-stakes testing. These assessments are rigorous, requiring students to write college-level analytic and research papers, design and defend original science experiments, and pass tests. Students are required to demonstrate what they know and can do by defending their work before panels that include outside experts.

Eighty-nine percent of students in these schools go onto college, remain in college longer, and achieve a better than average GPA. It would be irresponsible for the Assembly, under pressure from Education Commissioner Richard Mills and the White House, to dismantle these successful schools because they do not fit the cookie-cutter high-stakes-test mold of education advocated by the Mills’ and Bush administrations.

ANN COOK
New York Performance Standards Consortium
Manhattan

‘Massad and the Refugees’

Re: “Massad and the Refugees,” Editorial, June 9, 2005. Joseph Massad’s Al-Ahram article is taken verbatim from an April 13 presentation he gave at Cooper Union in New York City, which I detailed for Campus-Watch in Front-Page Magazine on April 25, 2005.

Thank you for reminding the Columbia Trustees, once again, of their responsibilities.

ALYSSA A. LAPPEN
Brooklyn

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