Who punted on G.L.W.D.?
To The Editor:
Re “Too-tall tower shown in 5th Ave. design plan” (news article, Nov. 9):
Ada Louise Huxtable wrote memorably about “tin-can architecture in a tin-horn culture,” and indeed her words echo throughout the Village and the city.
No one of significance opposed the design for the Michael Kors God’s Love We Deliver building, a monstrous metallic handbag that is literally clad in some sort of tin, and casts a blinding glare. Yet, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is ready to pounce upon the work of Robert A.M. Stern, one of our most visually ennobling architects.
Stern’s stone-clad 40 Park Place, inspired by the classic One Wall St., is a joy to behold and a sensitive neighbor for the nearby Woolworth Building.
The world-renowned New York skyline of 1949 has devolved into a sordid collection of what look like air conditioners or storage boxes for office peons.
I think we ought to hold our horses before automatically attacking a quality addition to our skyline. The “grossly out of context scale” noted by Andrew Berman does not take into account the nearby 27-story Art Deco landmark One Fifth Ave. In fact, Stern’s design mirrors it, just as 40 Park Place actually enhances the Woolworth Building.
If Berman can design a better building than Stern, this is his opportunity. Get to work, Andrew!
Harry Pincus
Just can’t win vs. Chin
To The Editor:
Re “Chin in clear win over Marte this time; Johnson, Rivera victorious” (news article, Nov. 9):
Chin is returning for a third term because Aaron Foldenauer and Dashia Imperiale were spoilers in the primary election. In addition to the other horrors of Chin’s tenure, let’s not forget 135 Bowery, a beautiful 200-year-old building that our Landmarks Preservation Commission judged worthy of designation.
Among other untruths, Chin promised that the new building on that site would be a space where small Chinese businesses could operate. None have moved in, and the rents are sky high. There’s one start-up on an upper floor but the rest still appears to be vacant.
Looking at the history of interested parties in that property, it was owned by First American International Bank, which gave $5,190 to a Chin campaign.
Now she’s trying to destroy the Elizabeth St. Garden. This is so she can fulfill an old campaign promise to seniors of limited means for affordable housing. But she is only doing this on Elizabeth St. — far, far away from where she first intended to put that housing — because she was unable to make 100 percent of the housing affordable in the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area project on the Lower East Side.
Also, take a look at the “affordable housing” business on Elizabeth St.: Built into the deal is that those units go market rate pretty quickly — so the whole things is a bait-and-switch. That’s Chin at work.
Elliott Hurwitt
Not an AIDS hospice
To The Editor:
Re “Feud between E. Side housing projects is blamed for a murder” (news article, Nov. 9):
The Housing Works location at 743-749 E. Ninth St. is not an AIDS hospice, as the article states. It is instead a supportive-housing residence on the upper floors, with a community health center on the ground floor and second floor, offering primary care and behavioral health services to all Lower East Siders.
Andrew Coamey
Coamey is Housing Works senior vice president for housing, capital development, facilities and construction management
Bikeway obstacle course?
To The Editor:
Re “Path of most resistance? Bikeway blockers put in” (news article, Nov. 9):
Does New York have minimum width clearances for bike paths? I’m not sure if adding obstacles for cyclists to run into does them any favors.
Mark Nockleby
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