Play it again, Jenny
To The Editor:
Jenny Klion’s memories in her poignant farewell, “Today I am not a Villager” (notebook, Aug. 4), reflect the lives of many who still reside here.
I believe the Woody Allen comment she attempted to recall was: “If it wasn’t for Carnegie Hill and Jane Street in the Village, New York would be Houston, Texas.”
Arthur Stoliar
To The Editor:
Re “Just across the Hudson, a model for the Village’s healthcare future” (news article, July 21):
When Michael Dowling, C.E.O. of North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, said at a recent Community Board 2 St. Vincent’s Omnibus Committee meeting, chaired by Brad Hoylman, that 10 percent of patients brought to Dowling’s proposed Comprehensive Care Center in the former St. Vincent’s O’Toole building would not be treated there, I was deeply saddened. Dowling explained that these individuals, in fact, are those in the greatest health crisis: heart attacks, aneurysms, etc. He said these kinds of cases would be “stabilized” and then transported to a hospital equipped to handle such an emergency health crisis. Your article said that people like myself were saying the North Shore-L.I.J. Comprehensive Care Center would be “killing” people. Not true. What can cause a person to die or have serious, lifelong problems, if they live, is the time it takes for intervention in their health crisis. I’m not sure how “stabilizing” a stroke helps remove a blood clot, but I do know that it’s a fact that the amount of time it takes for an intervention will determine the quality of life of the stricken individual. It is simple: Time matters in a serious health crisis.
That is why I continue to press for a real 200-bed hospital on the O’Toole site with a full-service emergency room. This can be done by adding two or three setback floors to the existing building. This will not compromise O’Toole’s landmark status. Utilizing the existing underground operating rooms that St. Vincent’s had, as well as the attached parking garage, will make a hospital with a smaller number of beds possible. I can’t live with the thought of people dying because of the time it takes to get them to a real emergency room.
That is what you left out of the article and what most politicians avoid addressing.
It is time for all of us to put aside egos, political agendas and ambitions and focus on quality healthcare and lifesaving facilities on the West Side. It is time for the Rudin family and North Shore-L.I.J. to step up and actually serve the community in which they want to build luxury condos and this Comprehensive Care Center. Jim Fouratt
To The Editor:
Re “E.R. and hospital still needed at St. Vincent’s site” (talking point, by Alan Gerson, Aug. 4):
It is unconscionable that our community has been deprived of a critically needed hospital. Many thanks, Alan Gerson. Your continued commitment to our “quality of life” is much appreciated and supported. His friends and neighbors wish Herman Gerson a speedy recovery. Connie Masullo
To The Editor:
Re “Controversial cookie baker gone — or just on vacation?” (news article, July 28):
I went to Lafayette Bakery on Bleecker St. until they moved to, I think, Sixth Ave.
In a time when smoking was acceptable, there was a sign in the store asking customers not to smoke because it changed the flavor of the (fresh, real) whipped cream, an ingredient in many of their pastries. They also sold Charlotte Russe — a small piece of pound cake topped with whipped cream and a cherry, wrapped in a thin cardboard tube — a delight I have not seen in bakeries for at least 30 years. I don’t know much about the pastry now made at Lafayette Bakery. I do know it was as historic as Sutter’s, another fantastic Greenwich Ave. bakery.
Susan Leelike
To The Editor:
Re “Exposing the dirty facts behind the Soho BID plan,” talking point, by Peter Davies, July 28):
Well written, Pete Davies.
I’d like to add that the city collects additional money from Soho every morning by parking a police cruiser at Broadway and ticketing any driver driving in the right lane from Houston St. through Canal St. This makes Broadway, solely in Soho, a one-lane street, causing major congestion. So, one might say, Soho is already being used by the city to raise money! The idea of the BID is a farce.
Ronnie Wolf
To The Editor:
Re “Soho BID battle rages on as B’way sweeping stops” (news article, Aug. 4):
While business improvement districts do provide for consistent and effective trash cleanup, I can guarantee that the target group benefiting from this service is not the residents, who are just incidental, but the commuters and tourists. It’s not a RID (Resident Improvement District) after all, but a BID. A BID will not control the hordes and throngs of tourists and shoppers, but rather increase their numbers exponentially. That is the clearly stated mission of BIDs. Ultimately, it will be nearly impossible for residents to navigate the sidewalk, go out at night for a stroll or get in and out of their local subways. BIDs tend to further erode residents’ rights on the “commons” that we all must share.
I have an idea: You want ACE to clean the Broadway sidewalks? Have Councilmember Chin form a RID instead of a BID! Collect the tax (which would be much lower in this case) and make this new organization’s mission statement beholden to residents’ interests instead of commercial interests. Fill the board with residents instead of corporations. Davide Gentile
To The Editor:
Re “ ‘Cactus’ field sprouts on Astor Pl.” (news brief, Aug. 4):
This plastic crap will no doubt end up strangling birds and wildlife — like deadly six-pack rings, only worse — and joining a vast sea of nonbiodegradable waste and pollution.
Jim’s mosaics, Yes! This garbage, No!
P.S. They’re ugly.
Dottie Wilson
To The Editor:
Re “Koch rebuts Peddler” (Scoopy’s Notebook, July 21):
Scoopy quotes former Mayor Ed Koch, who in response to Jerry Wade, a.k.a. Jerry The Peddler, makes reference to the purported claims of “conspiracy theorists” that former President George W. Bush had a hand in the tragic events of 9/11. Now, as the former host (for some five years) of the 9/11 Info and Resource Series at St. Mark’s Church, I can most assuredly state that no one I know would claim that Dubya did it, so I am not sure where Ed is getting his information. Nonetheless, the former president’s public opposition to an investigation of the crimes of 9/11, and his persistent lobbying to have what came to be known as the 9/11 Commission woefully underfunded (as affirmed repeatedly by its co-chairpersons) seem to indicate his reluctance to get to the bottom of what really occurred that day. This past May, a poll by the independent Siena Research Institute revealed significant levels of doubt regarding the truth about what happened, with 48 percent in favor of the Manhattan district attorney or New York City Council opening a new investigation. The Siena poll highlights a pervasive feeling among vast segments of the public who comprise the 9/11 Truth Movement, that a new (real) investigation of the events of 9/11 is necessary. Why, just a cursory look at the Web sites of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth (www.ae911truth.org/), Pilots for 9/11 Truth (pilotsfor911truth.org/) and Religious Leaders for 9/11 Truth (rl911truth.org/) gives one a sense of the depth, scope and credibility of the 9/11 Truth Movement today. These patriotic Americans have continued to raise the real issue: That the official story put forth by the Bush presidency at the time of 9/11 is really the “conspiracy theory” — and not a very credible one at that. As for the issue of L.E.S. gentrification being a good thing: Like a lot of things, it’s clearly good for some and not so good for others — depends on one’s social and economic status. For the poor and the working class who’ve been here for the past century, it’s not very good. Personally, as a lifelong resident of this neighborhood I miss the 2nd Avenue Deli. I miss the cheap apartments that artists could afford, affording nonartists like myself the pleasure of their company. I miss the culture of Loisaida, the Puerto Rican, Nuyorican vibe, the cheap clothes and bookstores, the quiet nights unpopulated by roving bands of drunken, young tourists. I miss the people I’ve known for years who are being forced out every day. Is that a good thing? Sorry Ed, I don’t think so, and in your heart of hearts you know I’m right.
Frank Morales
To The Editor:
A national atheist group is suing over what is called a “Ground Zero Cross” at the 9/11 memorial. To some, the salvaged steel beam is just a T-beam, a reminder of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. To others, it is a “miracle” that a construction worker stumbled upon amid the wreckage. Visitors who are non-Christians, such as dozens of those who perished, are sure to scoff at finding a seeming symbol of Christianity in such a tax-supported museum. Following the attack, Mayor Rudy Giuliani allowed religious priests onto the grounds, but rejected requests by secular humanists, atheists and agnostics who assembled at the entrance but had to meet nearby at Fraunces Tavern; I know, because I was there. Naturalists think of a cross (“crux” in Latin) as related to a Roman torture device. Y’mean the museum is celebrating that?
John Adams, our nation’s second president and a deist, called the cross an “engine of grief.” A reminder of “an engine of grief” is going to be installed in the Ground Zero museum, the purpose of which includes celebrating the primacy of no one religious dogma? Are great-grandchildren of Hindus, Buddhists, secular Jews, Sikhs and atheists to ask if their ancestors were somehow responsible? Who was behind this scheme — rather than placing the cross at the nearby St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, where it had been displayed for the curious? Warren Allen Smith
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., Suite 1C, 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.200-bed hospital is needed
Gerson fights for our lives
Bakery was great, once
City already squeezing us
Get RID of the BID
Astor ‘cacti’ for the birds
9/11 conspiracy theory?
No cross in museum
