We the People: Issues of driving importance to residents

Who is working for pedestrian safety and gun regulation for our community? Not State Senator Martin Golden and Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis. Why won’t these politicians fight for us against speeding cars or gun violence?

The Daily News provided a full-page answer as to why Senator Golden did not support the speed camera bill. The Patrolman’s Benevolent Association ran an ad which stated a speed camera can’t replace 7,000 recruits for the NYPD. Huh? No one ever suggested that a speed camera should or could replace a police officer. The ad is a smoke screen designed to silence valid criticism.

The PBA should not decide whether the people get a chance to increase pedestrian safety in New York City. Speeding cars in Bay Ridge are killing pedestrians while speed cameras could be installed to deter speeders at very little cost to the taxpayer.

The technology for the cameras is reliable and has successfully deterred speeders in Europe for years. Bay Ridge would be safer with the installation of speed cameras on Fourth Avenue and parts of 65^th Street and 86^th Street.

Senator Golden may be distracted from speeding and gun issues by the disgraceful bribery scheme to have Republican county chairs place Malcolm Smith on the Republican Party ballot for mayor in November.

The local GOP is on the brink of civil war in the wake of the corruption scandal. Senator Golden fired off a letter to the federal prosecutor investigating it to demand the name of the confidential informant identified as “County Chairman #1.

The demand was interpreted as an attack on Brooklyn GOP Chair Craig Eaton. One Brooklyn leader, Gladys Pemberton, wrote party members that Golden is attempting to “oust Craig as the Chairman.” She warned, “He wants to control Kings County completely.”

Golden and Eaton disagreed on a candidate for mayor, with Golden backing former MTA Chair Joe (Raise the Fare) Lhota and Eaton backing billionaire John Catsimatidis.

I personally disagree with policies supported by GOP Chair Craig Eaton but he always appeared to be an honest person dedicated to working on behalf of the community and the party. Judgment should be reserved until the full story and the informant become known.

Pushed by the passion and persistence of the parents of the murdered children of Newtown, Congress is making some bipartisan progress toward improving federal gun regulation. Increased background checks will pass in Congress but legislators are unable to debate a magazine capacity limit or an assault rifle ban though we had a 10-year ban in the past.

We need federal background and mental health checks for gun purchasers without loopholes. Doesn’t it matter to Congress that 34 Americans are murdered with guns every day?

The NRA successfully thwarted any proposed federal gun regulation in the fourteen years between the Columbine and Newtown school massacres. Meanwhile, 160,000 Americans were killed with guns while Congress protected the rights of gun owners. What about the rights of the victims and their families?

In Brooklyn, the race for D.A. is heating up. Attorney Kenneth Thompson (Thompson Wigdor and Gilly), one challenger to incumbent Joe Hynes, defended his firm’s connections to disgraced politician Pedro Espada.

Scott Gilly, a name partner, left the firm after Judge William Pauley sanctioned the firm $15,000 for letting a client testify falsely at a deposition. Thompson admitted that mistakes were made but steps were taken so it “never happens again.”