The real killers are clear
To The Editor:
Re “Bar owner gravely hurt after being hit on bicycle” (news article, June 30):
We are saddened at the death of Ray Deter, a much beloved presence in the East Village for years, hit by a Jaguar on Canal St.
And on hearing of the death of the sister-in-law of Alan Dershowitz, hit by a postal truck in Midtown.
Cars and trucks kill people! Cars and trucks kill people! I will say it again, cars and trucks kill people!
Bicycles do not kill people, except only very rarely!
Until drivers are charged with vehicular homicide or some appropriate charge relevant to the death of a human being, and until the laws already in place regarding delivery bicyclists are enforced in proportion to their rate of offense compared to that of other bicyclists, there will continue to be pedestrians complaining about bicyclists.
And there will continue to be bicyclists thumbing their nose at a population that allows such close proximity between flesh and blood, and high-speed, deadly, polluting, metal dinosaurs.
Jon Keller
Case of ACE is troubling
To The Editor:
Re “Alas, how sweep it was” (letter, by Henry Buhl, June 30):
So it has come to pass. The wealthiest nation on earth cannot afford to take care if its own people. This while we provide huge sums of tax welfare to the wealthiest among us and continue to supply the military industrial complex with the largest share of our national wealth. Priorities anyone?
The passing of ACE (Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless) is a sad sign of these times. I know several homeless people that were helped by this outstanding program. Some even came back to be fully participating citizens with homes and families.
Mr. Buhl has worked wonders with the ACE program and the fact that it cannot be afforded anymore speaks volumes about where our society is headed. I am not in favor of a BID in Soho but I am in favor of the Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless, and I am a fan of Mr. Buhl for that reason. I sincerely hope that they find the funding to keep going, for all our sakes.
Lawrence White
To The Editor:
Yes — I do! Celebrate, but remember, they made legal what was illegally illegal! Read and remember the U.N. Universal
Declaration on Human Rights…and remember the law of separation of church and state…and remember your love has always been true love…and remember to commune with so many of us who have passed away. Can you feel the standing ovation affirming what we always knew — that our love does change the world.
Gail Wilcox
To The Editor:
Re “Group pushes to rezone Soho” (news article, June 9):
The stated purpose of the meeting was an open forum to listen to the community regarding the possibility of implementing changes to the artist’s certification program and the zoning. However, a petition, which masqueraded as a sign-in sheet, demanded that the government and its agencies rezone Soho. The issue of artist certification is a smokescreen for changing our zoning and opening Soho and Noho up for further large-scale retail and development. This is supported by proponents of the proposed Soho Business Improvement District and opposed by Community Board 2 and many Soho residents and businesses. There are other solutions. For example, it was suggested by one community architect and resident that the issues of artist certification and illegal ground-floor use could be solved by grandfathering current illegal spaces, allowing owners and proprietors to legally sell and renovate their spaces. However, it is the current zoning that allows Soho to retain the qualities of the historic district by preventing Broadway-style retail from being permitted on every block in the neighborhood. The quality of life on many of our streets would be permanently changed as new tourist- and entertainment-oriented uses spread, uncontrolled, throughout the district. Changing the zoning is the real agenda of the powerful real estate interests that are looking to take control of the Soho community.
Susan Fortgang
To The Editor:
Re “E-books and online orders beating pulp out of an indie store” (news article, June 23):
Alas, for the past three years, all the books I’ve bought have been on the Kindle. Even worse, I often go into St. Mark’s Bookshop to look at “brick and mortar books” before I buy them online. I feel bad about my part in the decline of independent booksellers, but going in and buying an occasional book from them will not stop the e-book evolution.
Richard Kopperdahl
To The Editor:
Re “E-books and online orders beating pulp out of an indie store” (news article, June 23):
Everyone who reads this article should take him or herself to the shop and buy a book, any book. Or you can buy my book “Going To Patchogue,” which they have carried — and carried in hardcover almost 20 years ago. If this shop goes there is nothing else, unless you want to patronize the gangsters who run the N.Y.U. Bookstore.
Thomas McGonigle
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, 515 Canal St., ground floor, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. The Villager does not publish anonymous letters.Finally, gay marriage
Don’t buy the BID hype
Article Kindled some guilt
Buying books will help
