Comments on: City Council Puts Off Townhouse Zoning

By: Henry Herskovitz

Henry Herskovitz — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:50:11 +0000

The rare encapsulated comment by author Askins actually confirms, rather than challenges, the point I was making. Imagine if a US Congressman, TV host or columnist said “Blacks were born only to serve us Whites; without that they have no place in the world”, challenged only by a lone admonishing voice by some white-supremacist organization in far away Greece. How long do you think they would hold onto their positions? Yet my examples show – and there are many more – that these comments are in fact mainstream Israeli discourse. These rabbis were not fired, they were not demoted, they were not even fined.

By: liberalnimby

liberalnimby — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 03:42:29 +0000

You nailed it, Walter. Unfortunately, the scenario of council kicking the can down the road in the face of small but vocal NIMBYs isn’t new. Funny how developments like this would contribute to our property taxes, help us hire police, and contribute to affordable housing, all without taxing the infrastructure. Sounds kind of like a council to-do list, no?

By: Walter Cramer

Walter Cramer — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 01:48:30 +0000

If there are 1,350+ units of housing in the 3 existing coop’s along Ellsworth, and the new development they’re objecting to would have 24 units … 24 / 1,350 = 0.0178 … that’s less than a 2% increase.

It sounds like the real issues are traffic along Ellsworth, safety in the neighborhood parks, etc. Perhaps objecting to a tiny new development in the area is the best way for local citizens to get the real issues addressed – but if so, there’s something very wrong with the system.

By: Mark Koroi

Mark Koroi — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 21:40:25 +0000

“……the views expressed by the men (Ovadia Yousef et al)could fairly be considered as as inconsistent with the mainstream.”

The 19th Knesset was sworn in on January 22, 2013.

Ovadia Yousef’s Shas party was elected to eleven Knesset seats in the last election compared with Labor party holding 15 seats. PM Netanyahu invited the Shas party into his governing coalition.

While I agree that Ovadia Yousef’s views are not mainstraem among Jewish-Americans, they enjoy a considerable following in Israel as do many other exremist groups.