Letters to the Editor for May 8

Strock’s anti-Obama columns follow his racist pattern

Re Carl Strock’s May 1 column, “New Obama: Pique, poise or honesty”: The article was well written, and I’m not a supporter of Mr. Obama, but it struck me as one of those “Strockian” racially biased columns which appear from time to time in the Daily Gazette.

I don’t see racial bias in everyone and everything. I have a tolerant bend, and I’m not overreacting. Mr. Strock should have more respect for the blacks of this country and the world. Over the years, he has repeatedly played the race card.

Having lived in the United States for 47 years and black, I’m better qualified than Mr. Strock to provide opinions on how blacks feel about their country, daily happenings and their white fellow citizens. I can honestly advance the following: No, Mr. Strock, not all blacks in America jumped for joy when O.J. Simpson was acquitted. You were wrong to suggest that. No, Mr. Strock, I don’t believe black southern churchgoers torched their own churches to attract white liberal sympathy — it was mean of you to write that [Nov. 3, 1998]. No, Mr. Strock, just because a white female UAlbany student claimed to have been assaulted by a young black student did not warrant your going on a rampage against young Albany black males even before the truth came out. (It was found that she had been hit by her white father. You did not even have the decency to apologize for your attack and the racial ill-feelings you created.)

You are not black, but you seem to know a lot about how blacks should act, talk and feel. You speak of the black race as if we were aliens, a different human race. You berate self-flagellating white liberal do-gooders; you vilify black rage, etc. It’s clear to me that you seldom have taken the time to converse with the blacks I see and converse with.

A majority of us are not blind followers of racist, hollering, foaming-at-the-mouth black preachers, attacking Jim Crow, slavery, lynchings, inequality in schools, jobs, housing, etc.

We are both old, Mr. Strock, and we have made a shambles of this beautiful world. The young of the land seems to have a different view of things, of people — they want to build a better world, God forbid — a colorless world. They have taken Mr. Obama to their heart because he offers a different vision of how we should look at each other.

Why don’t you open your heart and give the future a chance? Please let go of the black/white nonsense, which has been hanging around our wrinkled necks for so many years. Try to become more tolerant, less color conscious. Who knows, you might end up liking yourself and your black fellow human beings.

Roger Malebranche

Broadalbin

Alternative to library closure must be found

As a former member of the board of the Mohawk Library Association, I was chagrined to read your story about plans to close the Schenectady central library during renovations.

That trustees would plan an $8 million project without making provisions for the library’s patrons represents a shocking dereliction of responsibility. And Esther Swanker’s “let-them-eat-cake” comments about having us all go to the branch libraries (as important as those neighborhood institutions are) betray an extraordinary lack of understanding.

My family walks to the central library and, what with books, DVDs, CDs and periodicals, we check out more than 500 items per year. To think that the branches can fill this function for hundreds and hundreds of patrons like us is simply silly.

I would strongly urge the county Legislature to become forcefully involved in looking anew at the library’s plans.

Frank Donegan

Schenectady

Library’s wheels will fall off if hub closes

The recent shocking news that the Schenectady County Central Library will be closed for 18 months is yet another example of undemocratic, non-representational thinking by the county Legislature and library board.

At a time when downtown development is being encouraged, the public is being told it can’t use its No. 1 free resource downtown. Over 50 percent of the circulation is generated by the downtown library; of that, fully 11 percent will be totally disenfranchised as it will no longer be able to walk to the facility. It’s impossible to measure exactly how much of the hard work to improve service and expand programming will be irretrievably lost, but there is no doubt that this will be the case. It’s now too late, as things stand, to poll users to find out if alternate use proposals are viable options.

Patrons are being told that the branch libraries will pick up the slack. The notion is as ludicrous as it is uninformed. The newer, larger, more modern branches are only available by car, while the bulk of the more accessible satellite system — the older, smaller branches already stressed to capacity — can’t handle a doubling or tripling of services, no matter how many extra hours they are open.

The downtown library is called the main, central library for a reason; it’s the hub of the wheel; remove the hub and the spokes fall off. If some practical way can’t be found to leave the central library open for public use, the decision makers should reconsider the project to serve the public rather than taking bids on the project as it stands now.

Alan Catlin

Schenectady

State gas tax cut plan: Seward’s folly

Kudos for the Gazette’s April 20 editorial, “McCain gas tax cut fuelish,” on cutting gas taxes. Why does local Sen. James Seward want even more money out of our pockets for the big oil companies? There’s no doubt the oil giants would just raise the price of gas to take away any savings for motorists.

Even conservatives pan this idea. The Cato Institute calls lowering gas taxes “a holiday from reality. What would happen, more likely than not, gas taxes would be cut but pump prices wouldn’t go down; service stations would just continue charging what they are charging.”

There are legislative proposals to provide true energy savings to New Yorkers, such as expanded net electricity metering and increased lighting efficiency. Unfortunately, Seward and his Republican colleagues kill them behind closed doors.

It’s no surprise that Seward favors big oil over his constituents. His tenure as Senate Energy Committee chairman brought huge cost increases for electricity and other energy. He has one of the worst records in the Legislature on environmental and energy issues that are critical to the future of New York.

Seward’s plan is pure political pandering. We need leadership, not silly games that damage upstate’s already weak economy and cost us even more when we fill up.

Andrew Mason

Jefferson