Alas, how sweep it was
To The Editor:
Since 1992, ACE (Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless) has been keeping our neighborhoods clean. Our crews — dressed proudly in their bright-red uniforms — have become a ubiquitous part of Soho. We regret to announce, then, that as of July 1, we will no longer sweep Broadway between Houston and Canal Sts.
The private support ACE receives among Broadway business and property owners has dropped. As a nonprofit organization, we have an obligation to our clients to maximize the return of our efforts. We can no longer send our crews out to sweep busy Broadway sidewalks at a significant financial loss.
As you know, ACE helps homeless men and women reclaim their lives even as we maintain the beauty of our communities. To simulate real-world job experience, we provide our participants with a stipend for sweeping the sidewalks of New York. We also offer vocational support, educational classes and individual counseling. This approach helps them understand what to expect once they obtain independent employment, while we equip them with the skills necessary to maintain that employment in the long term.
Over the years, we have helped thousands of men and women end their cycles of homelessness and dependency. We also have removed tons of trash from our city’s sidewalks. To do so, ACE relies on the contributions of New Yorkers to support our sidewalk cleaning operations; pay our clients their weekly stipends for their hard work; and fund the social service component of our program that is vital to our participants’ long-term success.
We of course remain committed to maintaining the cleanliness of our community. Efforts are underway to establish a Soho Business District. If successful, ACE will be among the bidders for the BID’s sanitation contract. We hope to remain a part of the Soho Broadway neighborhood.
We thank our donors for their generosity, and hope they will continue to support our mission of empowering homeless men and women, so that even more homeless New Yorkers might take advantage of the opportunity we provide and rebuild their lives.
Henry Buhl
Buhl is founder, ACE
Performers are part of park
To The Editor:
Re “Park performers sound off on new rule enforcement” (news article, June 2):
I just read your article on Washington Square Park performers that draw a noisy crowd of more than 20 people getting fined $250. It’s just stupid and it is obvious that the people that wrote the law have no sense of the park’s history.
Let’s all just take all the interesting and real things that are part of the fabric of the real New York and ban them.
Bill Schwighammer
Some food for thought
To The Editor:
Re “Seniors are hooked on their cook” (news article, June 23):
Many years ago, when GOLES worked with the Sirovich Senior Center, when Floyd Feldman was alive and I was there too, the center had a wonderful, creative cook.
Now, as a senior, I have tried Sirovich’s food. No comment, except the long-gone cook was fabulous. Now she’s gone.
I hope Greenwich House gets to keep their cook.
Susan Leelike
Happy at changes in the hood
To The Editor:
Re “Maloney tells seniors that Dems will preserve Medicare” (news article, June 16):
I love and like this newspaper for the Lower East Side, where I grew up as a little kid. Boy has it changed for the better.
Victor Chelpaty
My book sales are down, too!
To The Editor:
Re “E-books and online orders beating pulp out of an indie store” (news article, June 23):
That’s why my book “100 Whores: Memories of a John” isn’t selling at the St. Mark’s Bookshop. It’s about the whores who used to throng the area around 14th to 12th Sts. on Third Ave. just a few blocks from the bookshop.
Mykola “Mick” Dementiuk
Rent law is all politics
To The Editor:
Re “Fixing the rent law” (editorial, June 23):
Millions of New Yorkers survive just fine paying market rates. Why do the tenants living in 1 million rent-stabilized apartments think they are so special that they get to pay less than everyone else? Why are millionaires allowed to keep stabilized apartments? Why is anyone allowed to keep a rent of $127 a month?
This system is such nonsense. This is about politics — it’s not about common sense or good housing policy.
I have a negative net worth — tens of thousands of student debt. Yet my millionaire neighbor pays one-third what I pay in rent. It’s unfair. She should pay market rate just like I do.
DeSean Richards
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