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Co-op City Times / December 30, 2023
The Co-op City Times welcomes issue-oriented letters to the editor to be considered for publication. All letters, in prose, not poetry, must be addressed to the editor, not to third parties. All letters must be signed by the writers and include their addresses and phone numbers, which will be kept confidential, so that the editor can verify the authenticity of the authors. Anonymous or unsigned letters will not be accepted for publication. Letters cannot exceed 350 words. Ideally, they should be typed. All letters must be in the Co-op City Times office in Room 21, Bartow Community Center, by 3 p.m. every Monday to be considered for publication in that week’s edition. Views and opinions expressed in letters are solely the writer’s and not necessarily shared by the Co-op City Times or Riverbay Corp.
– • Letters to the Editor • –
Embracing the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa To the Editor: I attended the Pre-Kwanzaa Celebration presented by the Coalition of African-American Churches & Community Organizations of Co-op City and enjoyed it very much. Kwanzaa begins on December 26th and ends on January 1st. It consists of seven principles called the Nguzo Saba, one for each day of the week, and where a candle is lit for each day. Here is the Nguzo Saba/Seven Principles of Kwanzaa: December 26th: Umoja (Unity). To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race. December 27th: KUJICHAGULIA (Self-determination). To define ourselves, name ourselves and speak for ourselves instead of being defined, named, created for, and spoken for by others. December 28th: UJIMA (Collective Work and Responsibility). To build and maintain our community together and make our sisters and brothers problems our problems and to solve them together. December 29th: UJAMAA (Cooperative Economics). To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together. December 30th: NIA (Purpose). To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness. December 31st: KUUMBA (Creativity). To do always as much as we can, in the way that we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it. January 1st: IMANI (Faith). To believe with all our heart in our struggle, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our people. Please include these principles as part of your life journey. —Ellen Boone
Whatsoever Things Are Just In 2024 To the Editor: First and foremost, thanks to the Riverbay Corporation staff for ensuring that our property remains safe during the year 2023. Thank you for taking care of our maintenance needs to the best of your abilities. We deserve it all. A special thanks to our Section 5 Board of Directors representative, Mary Pearson, for her unyielding advocacy and reappointment to the Riverbay Board of Directors. Please join me in increasing our advocacy in 2024 and getting rid of quiet fear. Never again will I chance my vote, that was gifted by blood, sweat and tears by democracy-loving Americans, to be thrown out. Let’s remember, fellow cooperators, that we have local and state elected officials to assist us as requested. It may be that our Governor may have to intervene to ensure that a new voting system is put in place for the 2024 Riverbay Board election. As a long time employee in the homeless system in New York City, we need to be concerned about Co-op City not remaining affordable. It is frightening what the powerful real estate industry is doing and should make you good and mad. If you think eyes are not on the affordability and gentrification of Co-op City’s demographics, think again. If you think million dollar “change orders” is not devastating our budget, think again. My wish for 2024 is that we value our home, Co-op City, and decrease bad practices, especially Building Associations, so that we can collectively remain an affordable place to live. In my opinion, with Metro-North coming, eyes are watching how to displace many of us via ongoing excessive maintenance increases. “Being defeated in often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.” —Evelyn M. Turner
Terror Organizations To the Editor: A letter written in last week’s Co-op Times discussed Hamas. One item that is seldom mentioned is the power that Hamas maintains over the UNRWA aid organization in Gaza. (The United Nations Relief & Works Agency.) A recent report in The New York Post stated: “A man identified as a Palestinian living in Gaza told the Israeli Defense Forces...that Hamas has direct control over the UN groups coordinating” the delivery of supplies in that area. He stated, “Hamas has their hands on UNRWA administration workers and manages UNRWA. From the day (Hamas) rose to power they took control of everything,” The Gaza resident also stated that Hamas made sure any humanitarian supplies were distributed to their own (Hamas) members first, before being allocated to civilian non-combatants. There are allegations that Hamas has operatives stationed inside this United Nations so-called “humanitarian” organization. Even the letter writer in last week’s Co-op Times described Hamas as an organization that “terrorized the Israeli people by launching terrorist attacks, killing scores in buses (and) shopping centers” There is frequently a link between Arab terrorist organizations and communist spymasters. The Hill (8/10/2022) reported that the second in command of the terrorist group Al Queda, Ayman al Zawahiri, was a trained Soviet agent of their FSB/KGB (the Soviet secret police.) The source of that information was Alexander Litvinenko, one of the most knowledgeable assets to ever defect to the United States from the Soviet Union. Because Litvinenko knew too much about Soviet spy operations, the Russians arranged for his murder in London. A radioactive substance was used to poison him, leading to a slow, agonizing death, probably also arranged as a warning to any other possible defectors. Bin Laden, perhaps the best-known recent terrorist, was reportedly a product of Egypt’s ‘Muslim Brotherhood.’ From other readings, I gather the Muslim Brotherhood posed as Muslim but was actually a Marxist organization. We should reinstate the U.S. House and Senate Internal Security Committees, as well as investigative committees on the state level. It is particularly important to investigate where these terror organizations get their funds from. ––David Hammer
Co-op City Times Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. (718) 320-3300, ext. 3375 cctimes@riverbaycorp.com
Rozaan Boone Editor-in-Chief
Jennifer Piovanetti Operations Manager
Ralph Henriquez Production Manager
John Crow New Media Producer The Co-op City Times welcomes issue-oriented letters to the editor to be considered for publication. All letters, in prose, not poetry, must be addressed to the editor, not to third parties. All letters must be signed by the writer and include their address and phone number, which will be kept confidential, so that the editor can verify the authenticity of the author. Writers will be limited to one letter per topic. Anonymous or unsigned letters will not be accepted for publication. Letters cannot exceed 350 words. Ideally, they should be typed. All letters must be submitted to the Co-op City Times by 3 p.m. Monday to be considered for publication in that week’s edition. Email cctimes@ riverbaycorp.com or mail to 2049 Bartow Ave., Room 21, Bronx, NY 10475. Views and opinions expressed in letters and Directors’ Viewpoint are solely the writer’s, and not necessarily shared by the Co-op City Times or Riverbay Corp. Advertisements and classified advertisements in the Co-op City Times do not necessarily reflect an endorsement from Riverbay Corp. of goods and services, but present greater options to cooperators of products and services available. The Riverbay Corporation does not assume any responsibility nor is it a party to any contract or agreement between the cooperator and the vendor. All matter published herein is copyrighted by the Co-op City Times. Permission for reprints of advertising or editorial contents produced by the Co-op City Times must be obtained in writing from Riverbay Corporation, 2049 Bartow Ave., Bronx, New York 10475.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR We welcome letters to the editor, only from Co-op City shareholders, at cctimes@riverbaycorp.com. Letters should address issues of interest to the Co-op City community. Comments should be fact-based and responsible. Letters should not personally attack others and must be written in a respectful manner. Only signed letters will be considered for publication. The Co-op City Times does not publish anonymous material. Submissions must include the writer’s address and phone number – which will be kept confidential – so authenticity and residency of the writer can be verified. Thank you for your cooperation.
