Where are our leaders?
To The Editor:
There once was a time when the Village had caring, honest politicians, like Ted Weiss, who worked in cooperation with amazing citizens who worked hard to protect and improve the community — like Jane Jacobs, Verna Small, Ruth Wittenberg, Bill Bowser and Jim Shaw.
The Village team defeated Zeckendorf when he wanted to bulldoze the historic houses; they set up a landmark district; they defeated the Lower Manhattan Expressway, which would have divided the city; they stopped Westway’s $4 billion interstate highway in the Hudson River that would have killed off a nationally important aquatic habitat.
Where has the spirit of the Village gone? We are overcome by greed, by politicians who don’t even care enough to save our only hospital and who work only for their own power and advantage. We are betrayed at every turn by those who are chosen to protect our community. Our beautiful neighborhood is being trashed by greedhead real estate schemes. Our lovely river is being hidden behind ugly development projects. Where are the heroes we once had?
We need leaders with courage and honesty, not the go-alongs who are letting our Village decline.
Bunny Gabel
More ‘efficiency,’ less care
To The Editor:
Re “Prognosis for Beth Israel: New E. 13th St. mini-hospital” (news article, May 26):
This is a real estate deal, plain and simple. Doing the right thing was always off the table. There are radical changes in patient services that are occurring that will reduce the need for much of the hospital labor force.
For example, in a 10-day period, I spent two three-day admissions at Mount Sinai Beth Israel; the first time, they brought a big, heavy scale on steel wheels to each bed, removing the patient for weighing; on the second visit, the attendant simply plugged a device into the bed that weighed the whole bed, patient, bedding and all.
Richard Kopperdahl
Perils of new ‘golden age’
To The Editor:
Re “Prognosis for Beth Israel: New E. 13th St. mini-hospital” (news article, May 26):
There’s a new disease afflicting all the great cities of the world: Midas-itis. At first, the inhabitants laugh hysterically all the way to the bank. But eventually they all sicken and die as everything turns to gold. Are the hospital emergency rooms ready for this plague?
Minerva Durham
Don’t believe hospital spin
To The Editor:
Re “Politicians demand ‘clarity’ on whether Beth Israel is closing” (news article, May 19):
The mayor won’t, unfortunately, stop this. He promised he wouldn’t allow more hospital closings. But while I think he ran for office with high hopes, I think his “pragmatic,” money-minded side is coming through too much now.
I don’t believe the hospital’s spin. I don’t. I’ve heard this before. “Too many beds”? Come on, now! I realize the hospital seems to be struggling, but I wish healthcare wasn’t based on money. Far too often it is. Medicare and Medicaid are being cut, aren’t they? They shouldn’t be, but they are. That’s unfair to all of us. That hurts the hospital.
But I can’t believe the wild, phantasmagorical promises we’re getting from the hospital administration. They’re trying to seal their concept, just like a new brand of coffee. We’re supposed to be very impressed. We’re supposed to feel we’ll all be better off.
Hey, if a hospital downsizes, who benefits? Our population is expanding, isn’t it?
Carol Yost
Beth Israel North went quietly
To The Editor:
Re “Politicians demand ‘clarity’ on whether Beth Israel is closing” (news article, May 19):
Do you know that Beth Israel North closed in 2004 in the face of only scant protest and media coverage? I wrote a column about it and I also got The New York Times City section to cover it — I was quoted in the article.
Beth Israel North was located on East End Ave. across from Gracie Mansion. Once called Doctors Hospital, it had a wonderful emergency room, which saved my life in 2000 when I had bilateral pneumonia. It was just a great hospital that doctors still talk about missing. But I wonder if the mayor knows about it and that it was replaced by ultra-luxury condos. I’ve been told that many of its tenants rarely live there.
You will agree losing these places of healing is disastrous.
Bette Dewing
St. Vincent’s saved so many
To The Editor:
Re “AIDS Memorial supporters are the community, too” (talking point, by Keith Fox, May 26):
St. Vincent’s Hospital and the Sisters of Charity provided healthcare to millions of New Yorkers for more than 160 years. For most of this period, patients relied on charity to fight disease and disability, often during a time when medical science didn’t provide the know-how to treat dreadful disease and disability. We’re talking about influenza (the 1918-19 epidemic), polio, TB. The list goes on and on.
Without St. Vincent’s many would have died and/or suffered from disability. Not to mention infants and mothers who would have died without proper care. Whole families could have been wiped out.
Let us not forget the “clouds of witnesses” overseeing relief to the sufferers. As horrible as AIDS was, we shouldn’t allow the years of help and compassion of 160 years of St. Vincent’s now to be buried under the splendor of a billionaires’ playground. Let’s not forget our values.
Gemma Fastiggi
Put hospital in memorial
To The Editor:
Re “AIDS Memorial supporters are the community, too” (talking point, by Keith Fox, May 26):
Leaving St. Vincent’s Hospital out of the memorial is despicable. Without St. Vincent’s nurses and doctors, there would be no memorial.
Eileen Dunn RN
Dunn was president of the nurses union at St. Vincent’s Hospital
Stairway to heaven
To The Editor:
Re “Trees tower in P.B. vote” (news article, May 26):
It’s great to see the DeWitt Clinton staircase funded. This will completely change the nature of that side of the park, as close to connecting it to the Hudson River Park as you can make it. These visual and accessibility cues matter. More to the point, I know it is something dear to Phyllis Waisman, an epic participatory-budgeting volunteer and facilitator.
Great job by all of you, and a special thank you to Ms. Waisman, a genuine doer, who makes everyone else’s projects happen, with grace and civility.
Patrick Shields
More shady developer deals?
To The Editor:
Re “No way! C.B. 2 pans Jane tower plans” (news article, May 26):
Neighbors worry how something so bizarre could be built on beautiful, landmarked Jane St. We also worry that, helped along by staff at the Landmarks Preservation Commission and maybe the mayor, developers are encouraged to break with the standards of landmarking.
Is there a bribe here? Certainly sounds like a possibility based on the pay-to-play schemes that de Blasio is being investigated for.
A rightly cynical public is always wary about what deals are being made in the background. And guess what? Who is the lobbyist working for this inappropriate residence at 85 Jane St.? James Capalino, the ever-present wolf at the door.
Elaine Young
C.B. 2 kicks the can, again
To The Editor:
Re “No way! C.B. 2 pans Jane tower plans” (news article, May 26):
Thanks for nothing, Community Board 2. You passed a unanimous resolution against 85 Jane St. because of its “monolithic glow-in-the-dark presence on a quiet Village street.” But when the Washington Place Block Association, the Greenwich Village Block Associations and others came to you with the same objection to the reflecting steel beams proposed for the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire building, all we got was a worthless town hall meeting that accomplished nothing and resulted in the royal brush-off from you.
We had asked for a hearing before your Landmarks Committee, just like Jane St. residents got; we asked for a board resolution, just like Jane St. residents got. We needed you to tell the the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission that this ugly, noncontextualized “art” installation is “a stark, self-referenced intrusion on the… streetscape… .” We got nothing.
Noreen Shipman
B.O.E. training is to blame
To The Editor:
Re “B.O.E. blames poll workers for chaotic primary” (news article, May 26):
I am angry but not surprised that the Board of Elections says the problem with the primary on April 19 was that there were not enough savvy poll workers. I have for 10 years repeatedly advocated two measures that would increase the number of available poll workers:
First, allow half-day shifts. Currently, poll workers must work from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. — an 18-hour shift. This is not true anywhere else in the nation. New York State allows half-day shifts, but the B.O.E. has not even answered my repeated request for split shifts. Recruitment would be a lot easier if a person could work from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m., or 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. — but the Board of Elections has refused.
Next, improve the training. Currently, poll workers must sit through a four-to-six-hour “training,” which is often confusing and demeaning, in part, because trainers are not vetted for competence but for politics. The classes are composed of a mix of new and repeat poll workers, so neither group is well-served. Then, the students must pass a multiple-choice test that is very poorly written — and many fail.
I have repeatedly suggested ways to improve the skill of the trainers, the validity of the test, the relevance of the curriculum, and quality control for the poll workers. As a college professor of psychology, I am appalled at many aspects of the training — but the B.O.E. has never responded to my suggestions.
These two changes — in hours and in training — are just a start. I know a dozen more aspects of the voting process that need reform. As a Democratic district leader, I have recruited many poll workers, telling them, “If you want to help your country, you can sign up for Afghanistan or for New York City primary day.” Some accept the challenge, and then tell me they will never do it again.
The poll workers who show up, year after year, are heroic, working despite the B.O.E. The next primary is June 28 — will the B.O.E. improve by then?
Keen Berger
Berger is Democratic district leader, 66th Assembly District, Part A
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