Schumer, Dinowitz and others should retire

To the editor,

This is no joke, and certainly no trick. What do the following well-known people have in common?

Senator Chuck Schumer, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Andrew Cuomo, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Rep. George Latimer and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz.

Answer: They are all fossilized dinosaurs of the Democratic Party, standing in the way of our country taking our democracy back. Those who are in office should retire immediately, if not sooner. Those not in office should stay out of office. 

Senator Schumer is my age — about 70. Leave already. You’ve got little to no respect among rank-and-file Dems. Your behavior is an embarrassment to all New Yorkers. Your avoidance of the Democratic nominee, now mayor-elect Mamdani, as if he had the plague, is a national embarrassment.

And to take another example: For 32 years, Assemblyman Dinowitz has sat by and watched our housing crisis, locally in the Bronx and in NYC, grow exponentially, making sure no affordable housing projects the northwest Bronx needs desperately get built. God forbid.

Oh sure, when Amalgamated Houses were on the brink, Dinowitz “magically finds $10 million.” It begs the question: How about a fix to the problem, not a treatment for the symptoms, Assemblyman? How about a letter to this paper with realistic—or any—proposed solutions?

But... Assemblyman Dinowitz has the time to write letters to this paper waxing poetic about attending anti-Vietnam War protests in his salad days and comparing them — and himself — as an instigator of such demonstrations even now, on the most recent No Kings Day. As if he lifted a finger to help organize. 

Please don’t insult our intelligence, apologists. I can hear your vicious defending attacks as I sit and write this. And the underlying causes for my comment are no less true. You are as much part of the problem as Schumer and company. Who fool no one.

The only reluctant and backhanded endorsements our mayor-elect Mamdani received from this tired old, useless crew are two: Hakeem Jeffries getting on board toward the end of the campaign, and Kamala Harris saying, “Yeah, we should support the Democratic candidate for NYC mayor.”

And you wonder why Mamdani was elected. Why and how he electrified young people to vote in droves. It wasn’t lackadaisical self-entitlement of people in power, that’s for sure. Instead of embracing our new voters, you ignored them, and him.

Those previously mentioned should retire immediately. You won’t be missed.

Adam Stoler