The Issue: Whether violent mentally ill people can live independently without institutionalized supervision.
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Maybe Gov. Cuomo should talk to people taking care of family members with mental problems (“Here Come the Crazies,” Editorial, Jan. 1).
He would see how much effort and help from family and friends it requires to make sure that the sick people take medication as necessary, and how one has to watch their reaction, behavior and mood change.
It is nearly impossible for bipolar people to be completely independent.Eva DeBlasi
Woodhaven
Gary Buiso opened his article with: “The city streets are teeming with thousands of mentally ill homeless people capable of psychotic acts of random violence if left untreated” (“Beware: 11,000 Psychotics on Streets,” Dec. 30).
There are thousands more living with mental illness who are positively contributing and even flourishing within our society. It is incredibly naïve, at best, to fail to make this point in the article.
People should attack the current mental-health-care system for failing to provide adequate care, not the people who did not choose their illness yet continue to be stigmatized. Shine the light on the grossly substandard level of care, not the patients who want to be well but are all too often discarded onto the streets. Laura Byrne
Kew Gardens
With a history of mental-health issues, as well as being arrested after violent confrontations, why hadn’t Erika Menendez been placed in some type of mental-health facility so that she could be under supervision?
The mentally ill have their rights as human beings. What about the rest of us who may be targeted due to someone else’s mental instability?
Folks like Menendez, who pose a threat to society as well as to herself, need to be tucked away in a safe environment, so that they are unable to do any harm.
It’s a shame that preventive measures weren’t taken before an innocent man lost his life.
JoAnn Lee Frank
Clearwater, Fla.