By Anita ValentiAnother brilliant scheme to squeeze every last nickel out of the honest taxpayers. Not one sign to warn the public. You dropped your quarter in the meter like you always do.
You return to your car after 25 minutes and are stunned to find a ticket on your windshield. You weren’t alone. The meter agents were there in full force ticketing the unaware public of the change in time for your quarters.
Overnight, the meters were miraculously changed from a quarter for 30 minutes to a quarter for 20 minutes. Now it costs 75 cents per hour instead of 50 cents per hour. No announcements in the newspaper, radio or TV.
Why aren’t the same aggressive Hitler tactics used to go after those who conveniently forget to pay their fair share of federal, state, city taxes, real estate, water taxes, parking tickets. Slumlords who receive violations for dangerous necessary repairs to their buildings. The city (HUD) comes in and makes the repairs with our tax dollars.
The slap in the face to the honest taxpayers is the fact that too many get away with not paying for the violations but are also guilty of not even paying the thousands and thousands of dollars to HUD for the repairs they were responsible for. After the slap in the face, the next blow to our knees is when these same slumlords are approved to build yet more buildings.
When there is a budget crisis, why aren’t they going after those who have cunningly learned how to hide their money and cheat the system.
It is easier to go after and sock it to the honest, taxpaying, middle income by increasing our taxes or creating new ideas to raise the money. If the federal, state and city continue to indiscriminately crush the middle income, there won’t be a middle income left.
We have already lost thousands and thousands to states whose taxes are a lot less. The tea parties across the country on April 15 are a serious signal that the taxpayers are fed up with runaway spending and no over sight as to how our taxes are being squandered.
Another serious problem we are addressing is the disgusting graffiti desecrating our community. A PBTCA board member has taken unbelievable pictures from the Pelham Bay subway station of the disgraceful second level graffiti on so many of our buildings.
The PBTCA wants to thank Dana and John from Senator Klein’s office for the cleaning of the ugly, kindergarten, scribbling, mishmash colors on the building on Pilgrim Avenue between Buhre and Westchester avenues. These frustrated, no talent, delinquents have too much time on their hands. If their only goals are to deface wonderful communities, they have no future.
Better use of their time would be to study and emulate the great artists of the world and bring honor and not shame to their families.
Join your local civic association and unite to reverse the horrendous lack of parking by calling DOT, 311, our elected officials and insist that we must have angle parking on Buhre, Crosby, Pilgrim, St. Theresa and Westchester avenues now!! Yesterday would have been better but the plans must be drawn immediately so angle parking will become a reality very soon. I heard that Freedom Tower will be completed in “2037.” Why? That’s “why” we must be unrelenting when it comes to angle parking, over development, graffiti, and other serious issues we will overcome and we will overcome them.
