No one has to be reminded of the horrible winter or the callous neglect by the Bloomberg administration during the first, and worst, of the storms. But in addition to the discomfort and inconvenience suffered by all – and severe hardship by some -- millions of dollars have been spent on snow removal as well as the loss of millions more in fines due to the suspension of parking rules. So who’s going to pay?

To sum up the rants usually associated with this column; ignorance and greed has contributed to establishing the United States as a corporate empire as quality of life sinks lower and lower, and the Bloomberg tyranny has been the scourge of lower and middle class New Yorkers, making the city unaffordable and chasing many away. That said, the rest of this space will be dedicated to a subject more immediately useful.

Previously mentioned in this column was an upcoming Supreme Court decision that would allow corporate interests unlimited spending on political campaigns.

Rendering invalid laws passed through the years to reform campaign spending, the nightmare has now become reality.

Every person, every institution, every society has its rules and protocols; written and unwritten. Adherence without enforcement indicates integrity, whether by individual or institution. In our society today however, this appears to be an endangered concept.

Community boards: Weakened, intimidated…now eliminated?

Rumors have been swirling around the proposed charter revisions, especially pertaining to community boards, with some going as far as to see them eliminated completely.

The community boards were originally established to allow local residents to have input into what happens within their neighborhoods. Appointed by the Borough President and serving at his will, however, the boards are little more than advisory committees and the members easily intimidated or pushed off the board entirely if they conflict with the powers above. This has been evidenced more than once, the greatest example being the firing of nine members if Community Board 6, including the Chair, over the Atlantic Yards project.

Already crippled by massive cuts in their budgets, Mayor Bloomberg has slashed the board budgets by a further 4 percent this year and 8 percent next. It is suspected that he will push to eliminate the boards entirely when the charter is revised. Will he also push to have himself declared Mayor for Life?

The anticipation is overpowering as the subway pulls into the terminal at Stillwell. As you come out of the station, the sights, sounds and scents of Coney Island take you to another world; a world of excitement, a world of adventure, a world that overwhelms the senses…all at a price that virtually everyone can afford. This was Coney Island’s legendary past; the Coney Island that became an international brand name. This is the Coney Island that will be no more.

The announcement that the city has purchased seven acres from Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities, leaving him most of both sides of Stillwell Avenue south of Surf Avenue, compounds the disaster for Coney Island. The mayor and the developer have been haggling over their plans for several years now, ever since Mayor Bloomberg announced his rezoning plan, opening the door for major developers to dive in like vultures to eat up the remains. Their visions aren’t very far apart though and both signal the end of the iconic amusement area. The mayor wants to create a Times Square South with expensive year round entertainment while Sitt leans more toward hotels or condominiums and shopping malls…if he doesn’t simply flip it to another developer, which he is known to do. Both would keep a small token outdoor amusement area simply to maintain brand recognition.

Answering the phone the other day, I was greeted by a voice shrieking, “I was just mugged by Bloomberg!” Finally calming down, my friend explained how, driving west on Avenue O, following the stream of traffic with all lights green, the light on Coney Island Avenue turned red with his car sticking out slightly into East 12 Street.  A traffic agent approached, placed the reader on his registration sticker and then said to him, “You’re getting a summons for blocking the grid.”

The Bloomberg campaign blitz was overwhelming. Well before the traditional campaign season airwaves and mailboxes were flooded extolling the mayor’s virtues, dirty tricks were used to try to drive frontrunner Anthony Weiner out of the race, and although the deceitful games were exposed, he quit anyway rather than go up against the Bloomberg money machine. Throughout the campaign we heard little but how wonderful Bloomberg was and how he will continue his virtuous calling ever more vigorously. Even on Election Day we had to dodge the giant rolling billboards blaring loudly in every part of the city. Thompson’s campaign, what there was of it, was relegated to a whisper; recipe for a Bloomberg landslide.

Recently, the bat mitzvah of a cousin took me to suburban New Jersey. Originally from Brooklyn, the extended family had spread far and wide, arriving for the event from all over the country and abroad. Most gratifying was seeing the elderly cousins who had moved from New Jersey to Kentucky to be near their son and stretch their retirement income. Their reunion with my mother, with whom they grew up, was heartwarming and the best part of the day was hearing these surviving members of “the greatest generation” talk about their lives, growing to adulthood through the Great Depression and World War II.

Tears welled up in their eyes as they reminisced, recounting the good times and the struggles; their immigrant parents; family members and neighbors working together, caring for each other; relatives taken early by disease, their orphaned children provided for amidst the hardships of life in those difficult times. Many children were also taken before modern medicine reduced these once deadly scourges to near irrelevance. And there were those who went to war and never came home. It wasn’t an easy time to live but what was portrayed by these elderly giants wasn’t so much the hardship and struggle as the warmth, the closeness, the sharing and working with and for each other; values greatly diminished through succeeding generations.

The health industry’s efforts to confuse the public and discard real health care reform.

“Your money or your life!” the thief demanded. Jack Benny, the comedian who made a career of extreme frugality, after a long pause replied, “I’m thinking!” invoking peels of laughter.

The absurdity of placing money over life! But this seems to be the thinking of many Americans today. Money and other issues are placed on a level equal to or above the physical well being; even the lives; of themselves and their families. Countless millions spent by the insurance companies and others in the health industry have served to confuse the issue to such an extent that people would actually choose money over life. These huge corporations would water down or eliminate any real health reform that would cut into their immense profits.

This is the only country in the industrialized world that does not provide health coverage for its citizens. Whatever the faults in other systems; and no doubt, there are many; they are still getting more bang for the buck; spending less and getting more. The emphasis in other countries is on health care as opposed to the health industry.