The New 15 MPH Speed Trap Is A Shakedown
Dear Editor:
The City’s recent expansion of 15 mph school zones has officially crossed the line from public safety to a transparent municipal shakedown. By widening these zones to cover nearly 75% of our streets and keeping the cameras active 24/7, the Department of Transportation and the politicians in City Hall have turned commutes into a permanent revenue stream.
No one disputes the need to protect children during school hours. However, enforcing a 15-mph crawl—roughly the speed of a focused jogger—on major corridors at midnight or on a Sunday morning is a masterclass in bureaucratic overreach. We have seen a relentless push from the Mayor and Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, alongside lobbying groups like Transportation Alternatives, to treat every square inch of the city as a high-risk school zone, regardless of the time or day.
The “24/7” nature of these cameras is the smoking gun. If this were truly about “Vision Zero” and protecting students, the cameras would be synced to school schedules. Instead, they are programmed to catch a hardworking New Yorker going 26 mph on a deserted street in the dead of night.
Thankfully, some common sense is finally emerging from the City Council. Council Members like Joann Ariola and Robert Holden have been vocal in pushing back, rightly pointing out that these “crawling zones” do more to frustrate residents than to prevent accidents. They recognize what the administration refuses to admit: New York is the city that never sleeps, but at 15 mph, it’s the city that never moves.
We need to call this what it is: A predatory tax on anyone who still needs to drive to make a living. It’s time for the city to focus on real safety—like moped lawlessness and violent recidivist criminals—rather than penalizing residents for the “crime” of keeping pace with a bicycle.
Sincerely,
Shimon Stein
Support Council Member Vickie Paladino
Dear Editor:
Council Member Vickie Paladino has long been a strong friend of our community. She has been very vocal in speaking out against the anti-Israel and anti-American voices we often see today. Now, the City Council is going after her for exercising her First Amendment right to free speech.
She has always stood with the Jewish community, and now it is our turn to stand with her. I ask that everyone living in NYC please email the following three council members daily to show your support:
Sandra Ung: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Linda Lee: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Julie Menin: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Please feel free to use the letter below:
“Dear Members of the City Council Ethics Committee and Speaker Menin:
Council Member Vickie Paladino has been a strong and outspoken representative for her constituents, and many New Yorkers respect her willingness to speak honestly on important issues.
Sanctioning a council member for expressing her political views raises serious concerns about our free speech protections. The First Amendment exists to protect open debate, even when opinions are controversial.
As New Yorkers and Americans, we urge the Committee to reconsider this action and uphold the constitutional principles of free expression and fairness.”
You can also scan the QR code to access the email addresses and the letter to send.
Thank you,
Tzippy Feldman
Qr
Just Do It
Dear Editor:
Here I am, hunkered down in the wake of the snowstorm of the century. Have no fear! I’ve baked two dozen Kineret chocolate chip cookies, and I have Costco muffins (albeit smaller than the normal mega size). No tuna fish for me! With coffee and cake, I can outlast any storm the European or American models can throw at us. Besides, I don’t trust anything from Europe. I’m slowly emerging from my winter hibernation. However, I’ve found it difficult to write anything bordering on amusing in light of the Iranian war. I’m going to rely on P.M. Netanyahu’s words that this should be over in a matter of weeks. Either that or I’m going to have to do a real deep cleaning for Pesach and depend on my sons to host me for Yom Tov. I’m also going to have to figure out what to do with several boxes of cereal that I was giving out for Shalach Manos. Cheerios are not part of my cookie and coffee breakfast.
So the question remains: What can you do to rid yourself of the blues? Obviously, learning Torah and davening are the best solutions. That’s followed by spring shopping (not cleaning). Hopefully, you haven’t put on winter pounds. Even so, I guarantee you that some sandals (your corns will thank you) and long cotton dresses will work better on your mood than a B-12 shot. Don’t worry about your credit card bill; just do it!
Debbie Horowitz
The Antisemitism Tax: How October 7 Changed the Cost of Jewish Education in Our Community
Dear Editor:
Walk up to almost any yeshiva or Jewish day school in the Greater New York City area today and you will notice something that wasn’t there just a few years ago: a security guard at the front entrance, reinforced doors, and cameras covering every angle of the building. For most of our families, it has become part of the landscape, as routine as carpool and afternoon pickup. But the cost of that security is anything but routine.
A new report from Teach Coalition finds that the average Jewish day school now spends more than $400,000 annually on security, more than double what schools spent before October 7, 2023. Security costs are now growing at six times the rate of all other school expenses, and 78% of Jewish day school students are either paying a dedicated security fee or absorbing those costs through higher tuition.
Our community has a name for it now: an antisemitism tax.
“For too long, Jewish families have been forced to pay an antisemitism tax, spending over $1,000 per child each year just to keep their kids safe,” said Sydney Altfield, CEO of Teach Coalition.
For principals like Rabbi Binyamini Krauss of SAR Academy in Riverdale, the financial pressure is impossible to ignore.
“We’ve had countless conversations with parents who want to make sure their children are safe,” Krauss said. “The challenge is that nonpublic schools already have high costs, and many families struggle to continue paying tuition, which is rising in part because of the growing security situation.”
The good news is that Albany is listening.
This week, the New York State Senate and Assembly both released One-House budget proposals carrying over Governor Hochul’s $90 million investment in nonpublic school security, a record level of state support that would directly benefit schools throughout the Five Towns and across New York.
For Teach NYS, which has spent more than a decade advocating for funding for New York’s yeshivas and Jewish day schools, this is both a meaningful win and a call to keep pushing.
This week, Teach NYS advocates—including parents, students, school administrators, and community leaders from across New York—traveled to Albany to make sure that support holds through the final budget negotiations.
With antisemitism continuing to rise and no sign of security costs leveling off, the message our community’s advocates brought to Albany this week is one every Five Towns family understands: our children deserve to learn in safety, and that responsibility cannot rest on our shoulders alone.
Danny Goldberg
President Trump Has Prevented Another Holocaust
Dear Editor:
President Trump has prevented another Holocaust by first obliterating the Iranian main nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan during Operation Midnight Hammer from June 22 to July 4, 2025, and presently in Operation Epic Fury. The Ayatollahs mean what they say and say what they mean. Like Nazi Germany, they want to take over the world. They are an evil empire bent on destruction. When they chant “Death to America,” they mean just that. They had been developing intercontinental ballistic missiles with the express aim of attaching a nuclear warhead to attack America.
Special Envoy Steven Witkoff, talking to Sean Hannity, said that the Iranians boasted they could make 11 nuclear bombs in very short order since they controlled 460 kg of 60% enriched uranium. Given their actions over the past 47 years, the Iranians were not building nuclear weapons simply to stockpile them; they fully planned to use them. They have been the chief state sponsor of terrorism since 1979. They also believe in martyrdom. In the Iran-Iraq War from 1980 to 1988, they lost between 200,000 and 600,000 people. They had calculated that if they struck Israel and America with nuclear weapons, they could absorb a loss of millions without batting an eyelash.
Until America hardened its electrical grid, they had planned a nuclear explosion in the stratosphere which would cause an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) to wipe out all of America’s electricity. This would kill millions. Getting rid of the Iranian enriched uranium is essential to prevent such a thing. One of the main goals of Operation Epic Fury is to remove all enriched uranium from Iran. Most is believed to be stored in tunnels connecting Isfahan and Natanz.
President Trump has dealt a devastating blow to Iran’s missile program and continues to pound away every day at their launchers and underground sites. Iran has prepared for war for 47 years. It is a large country, twice the size of Texas, with 90 million people. Like their proxy Hamas in Gaza, 600,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guard combatants are embedded in the civilian population. Like Hamas, they control the population by brute force which, unlike Gaza, is 32% Muslim and 66% irreligious.
Iran is ripe for regime change. The Khomeini regime suppressed multiple uprisings through the use of barbaric tactics. In 2022, when Mahsa Amini was murdered by Iranian police, hundreds were killed when they protested. In 2026, over 30,000 were massacred by Iranian armed forces. More damage has to be inflicted on the Iranian leadership before regime change can take place. In the meantime, President Trump has prevented a Holocaust in both America and Israel. One day, the world will give him the credit he deserves.
Jonathan Burkan and Joseph Frager, MD