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Letters to The Editor, Week of Feb. 11, 2016

Letters to The Editor, Week of Jan. 3, 2018

Go, Bernie, go!

To The Editor:

Re “Berning for Sanders” (news article, Feb. 4):

I heard about the march and couldn’t make it. Thank you very much, Villager, for publishing great photos from that day. I’ve been in healthcare more than 40 years, and have known Bernie for decades. He has been very well informed and always working on real, practical actions. He knows the current system is still rigged by the drug and insurance companies. He’s not for starting all over, he’s for building on what we really know can work.
Bernie has been unequivocal and active on every vote for equality for women that was put before him.

Caring to do what is right for decades is not radical, it’s wonderful. He’s not just for idealistic young folks, he’s for us gray-haired folk still in the trenches.
Thank you, Bernie. Go!

Anthony Donovan

 

Sarah Palin’s opportunism

To The Editor:

It was the 1950s and ’60s and I was being raised in a family of “spare the rod, spoil the child” Southern Baptist types. I have often said that the only sage words of wisdom my father imparted to me was when he raised his right hand over his left shoulder, and said, “Shut up, boy!” If I did not shut up, he would backhand me across the room.

So when I hear Sarah Palin say her son is suffering from PTSD, I see a mother defending her child, as well as a woman who could very well be a victim of domestic violence herself. And as a kindred spirit, my heart goes out to her.

However, another side of me sees an opportunist who claims to have high family values, yet tried to introduce unwed teen pregnancy to the White House; and is now defending domestic violence, and is using it as an excuse to attack the president over a war that she and her ilk started and couldn’t finish.

Jerry The Peddler

 

The costs of child abuse

To The Editor:

As a survivor of child abuse from birth by parents, family and nonfamily, including nuns and priests, I want to thank you for publishing these articles about Adam Purple, child abuse and incest.

The Centers for Disease Control published a report in 2008, stating that, for the year, child abuse cost U.S. taxpayers $128 billion.
Child abuse affects everybody.

John Thompson

 

‘Light show’? No thanks!

To The Editor:

Re “Neighbors demand input on Triangle Fire memorial, fearing its negative impact” (news article, Jan. 28):

Community opposition to the ugly “light show” installation planned for the Triangle Fire building is growing, as evidenced by the number of people who spoke out against it at a recent Community Board 2 meeting.

Neighbors and block associations were never informed, much less consulted, on this; we first learned of it in The Villager. Where is N.Y.U. on this?  It’s their building. Did they see this design and approve it?

The tacky aluminum panels will be flashing into the home, office and classroom windows of their own faculty and administrators. Where is the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation on this? They are the respected arbiter of contextual design and placement for historic buildings.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire building is an honored monument in our neighborhood and in our city. Its enduring significance should not be cheapened by this misguided signage.

Noreen Shipman
Shipman is a member, Washington Place Block Association

 

Good garden memories

To The Editor:

Re “City readies to request developers’ proposals for Elizabeth St. Garden” (news article, Jan. 28):

I think it was disingenuous to repeat the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s mantra of the past three years that the site has been used “as an outdoor storage space.”

What Allan Reiver did was lease a derelict lot from the city — and, with his own funds, fulfilled his vision of a beautiful sculpture garden. Yes, the gates were “padlocked” for lack of security. But I and many others could appreciate just taking in the beauty of the garden as we passed by. We accepted the fact that it wasn’t “open to the public” — because everyone thought the site was owned by the gallery next door.

I also know from personal experience that people were allowed to be in the garden — even then — if they asked at the gallery. Years before I took over my apartment, one of my tenants had arranged with the gallery for the garden to be a meeting place for mothers and their babies in strollers. And, after moving into my apartment in 2007, my husband and I spent many lovely hours reading under the garden’s magnificent tree.

The most disturbing thing in all of this was that it was not made known to the public that the site was city owned until after it was earmarked for development! I wonder, could this have been intentional?

Renee Green

 

Astor Place chaos continues

To The Editor:

I just had to navigate once again the mess in Astor Place. It’s been going on for four years. And it’s gotten worse. There are piles of garbage, in addition to immobile earthmoving machinery, construction stuff, mounds of dirt and giant wooden barriers moving around constantly.

This is corruption — in plain sight. Where are the mayor or Councilmember Rosie Mendez? Business as usual?

For several days now, there’s been no movement. It’s a frozen mess. We deserve better.

Thomas Walker

 

Don’t horse around on ban

To The Editor:

Re “Whoa, Nellie! Many Questions About Carriage Bill” (news article, Jan. 28):

The mayor’s compromise carriage bill, Intro 573-A, offers the horses little welfare improvement, threatens pedicab operators’ livelihoods, and situates a private business in our public Central Park, to be subsidized by an estimated $25 million of our public taxes.  This bill threatens the city with lawsuits from the pedicabs’ union, park advocates and others.

Of the 98 documented carriage accidents (50 since 2009) — collisions, spooking incidents, horse collapses, 23 horse deaths, 70 human injuries — the majority occurred in Central Park and its immediate vicinity. Therefore, restricting the horses to Central Park won’t ensure public or equine safety. Accidents will continue, compromising our city’s safety.

The bill fails to remedy welfare abuses, including incapacitating hoof and leg injuries from 60 hours per week of pounding the pavement, with stalls still much smaller than recommended. Worst of all, there’s no turnout to pasture, necessary for the physical and mental welfare of working horses. Without daily turnout, carriage horses cannot express natural movements or social behaviors, a serious welfare violation. Without turnout, we treat them like cars: Drive them and park them in stalls. Period.

Only a complete ban will end this disgrace to our city. With the focus on this issue, now is the time to reintroduce the complete ban, the only humane way to clean up this mess.  The ban had about an equal number of councilmembers in support and opposition; many undecided councilmembers were still waiting for more information (never forthcoming) from the Mayor’s Office, in order to decide.

C. White

 

Citibank ATM shortage

To The Editor:

I’m surprised and dismayed that Citibank closed all the ATM’s within close walking distance of my home in Westbeth. In December, Citibank closed the ATM at W. 16th St. and Eighth Ave. In January, they closed the one in Sheridan Square. Now the nearest one is at Sixth Ave. off W. Eighth St. That is not close when you live on West St. across from the Hudson River.

I contacted City Councilmember Corey Johnson, and his office has been very responsive, getting back to me twice, indicating they are looking into this.
I suggested to the councilmember’s office that Citibank consider one of the many empty storefronts on Hudson St.

Citibank customers in the West Village need to be able to get cash easily, without paying an added fee.

For many reasons, it would be a big hassle for me to switch banks and I’m definitely not into online banking. But if this is how Citibank treats loyal customers in an affluent neighborhood — filled with other banks — I may have no choice but to take my business elsewhere. I hope this can be resolved.

I’d much rather have Citibank near my building than Citi Bikes.

Kate Walter

E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to news@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 1 Metrotech North, 10th floor, Brooklyn, NY, NY 11201. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. Anonymous letters will not be published.