False linkage
To The Editor:
Steven Snyder’s review of “A Mighty Heart” is priceless (arts article, June 22 – 28, “Revisiting a painful wound from the Iraq war”). It reminds me of the line in “Monty Python’s Search for the Holy Grail” after Lancelot wipes out half the wedding party – “Why quibble about whom killed who?”
Daniel Pearl was murdered by either Pakistani terrorists who did it, they claimed, as “a blow against the U.S.” and “because he was a Jew working against Islam,” or by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11 who boasted, “I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew.” Snyder, in his review, never mentions that or for that matter, just how Pearl came to be decapitated. Snyder does, however, imply the Bush administration and the U.S. is responsible, describing Pearl’s murder as “one of the most painful public scars of the ongoing war in Iraq,” which is interesting since Pearl was murdered Feb. 2, 2002, more than a full year before the current war in Iraq began.
But why quibble about “whom killed who?” That’s not what “A Mighty Heart” is about and obviously not what Snyder is interested in — the meaning and impact of the crime upon the world; the responsibilities that casts upon all of us. Who cares? When “confronting such evil” as Snyder puts it, what really matters is, as they say on the talk shows, how does that make us feel?
However, as we all should know by now, that is just what the memorial at the World Trade Center site is all about. The 13-member jury dedicated the remade W.T.C. site entirely to “how it made us feel.” America’s memorial will include no reference to the attacks upon America.
Why quibble about who killed whom? God forbid, but if future generations are hit, may they forgive our foolish self-centeredness.
Michael Burke
Brother, F.D.N.Y. Capt. William F. Burke, Jr., Eng. Co. 21, killed Sept. 11, 2001.
Bowie’s ch-ch-changes
To The Editor:
Re “Don’t turn on the red light, Chinatown tells Sting and Bowie” (news article, June 29 – July 5):
It is a sad commentary on the times in which we live that David Bowie, whose music we all love and whose immortal lyrics many can quote by heart, now wants to be a burlesque club impresario. When he moved to the neighborhood, I was thrilled that “the Halloween Jack” had moved from the “Top of Manhattan Chase” (another location in the neighborhood, whether or not he actually lived there he cryptically quoted it in “Diamond Dogs”) to the top of the Chocolate Factory (also home to the newly opened Mulberry Street Branch Library), though I felt that his addition of a “painting studio” with two-story windows was a bit oversized, given his output. Now I wonder what kind of neighbor he wants to be.
Sante Scardillo
Pier 40 plans
To The Editor:
My strong desire in writing this letter is to make clear our family’s intense disapproval of The Related Companies’ Pier 40 redevelopment plans.
These proposals would ruin the feeling of a “small town” sports field. I grew up in the suburbs, so I was lucky to have many beautiful and well-kept playing fields for organized sports. The beauty of having Pier 40 is that it is not surrounded by blaring car horns, sirens, tourists, commercial sales or fear that your child will be taken.
Our son has played at Pier 40 since he was 4 years old. He is currently 9 and plays in the Greenwich Village Little League Junior Minors Division. At Pier 40, there is a strong sense of community and a genuine love of youth sports. We often stay after the games to play baseball with our kids on the rooftop field. We have never been charged money or kicked off the field if no one is using it.
This time spent playing sports with our children creates bonding and friendships. We want a healthy environment for our children. My son is constantly exposed to the insanity of our city. There are many places he can go to see a play, a movie, play video or arcade games and buy toys. The last thing we want is to come to our practices or games on Saturday and Sunday and be exposed to any of that. We want to be with families we know, in a quiet place and beautiful “green” space to play sports.
We don’t want either of the two proposals suggested for the pier. Please hear our plea to keep our pier a simple, beautiful field for families to gather and kids to play sports.
Krystn Wagenberg
To The Editor:
I am very concerned that parents of the children who play ball at Pier 40 do not realize what poor condition our pier is in. Our pier needs serious structural maintenance and refurbishing. Walk along the walkways next to the field. The water coming down is caused by spalling. The water has seeped into the cracks and holes, rusting the rebar and seriously compromising the concrete.
In biz kids — a theater conservatory — we have installed netting across our ceiling to catch the falling concrete. This is a condition that cannot be patched. Water has a way of finding its own direction through concrete. I have a tarpaulin that catches water and funnels it to a bucket. I also have a main water pipe in my studio ceiling that is so incredibly rusted out we have several buckets in the ceiling and plastic wrapped around the pipe. However, that pipe is also beyond repair and needs replacement fairly soon. There is a crack in the hallway, so that every time it rains our hallways get washed! These are just a few of the physical problems in biz kids’ area of the pier.
This is not band-aid time. The Hudson River Park Trust has been using that approach and time is running out. Unfortunately, if something substantial is not done, we run the risk of loosing the pier. This is expensive and the Hudson River Park Trust recognizes this. A developer like The Related Companies is the only one willing to spend the kind of money needed to keep Pier 40 a part of our lives. Related has also been open and responsive to making changes and adapting their plans to make them more community friendly.
Rather than trying to shoot Related out of the water, hadn’t we better look at why we need them and how best to achieve the goals of our community? Why don’t we take this time to communicate our needs and desires, so that we are able to achieve the best for our community? It is time to be totally realistic and recognize the need for informed action.
Peggy Lewis
Founder and director, biz kids, ny, inc. New age problem
To The Editor:
As we grow older we begin to appreciate the everyday things of life more and more. We marvel at the changing seasons, the wonders of spring, summer, fall and winter, the world around us.
But despite the pride we find in the accomplishments of our scientists in this 20th/21st century, it comes at a great price to those of us who have aged.
Here at Southbridge Towers, where I reside, the aged, bent and lame, of whom I am one, are becoming more and more visible. It seems like only yesterday that my neighbor was straight as a rod. This change didn’t happen overnight. The slow but steady breakdown of our bodies and faculties is a stark reality. No amount of exercise or health food or even rest can prevent this inevitable deterioration. We cannot look for the fountain of youth, just a comfortable way of life as the end nears.
That more comfortable way of life could and should be made possible by the medical field, but we hear that doctors are not interested in the practice of geriatrics, thus leaving us even further to remain the victims of longevity.
Once again, I appeal to our elected officials to find answers to the question of what more we can do for the aging. If the later years are not more satisfying to us, then our society is far from being a healthy one. Life needs to be good from beginning to end.
Geraldine Lipschutz
Letters policy
Downtown Express welcomes letters to The Editor. They must include the writer’s first and last name, a phone number for confirmation purposes only, and any affiliation that relates directly to the letter’s subject matter. Letters should be less than 300 words. Downtown Express reserves the right to edit letters for space, clarity, civility or libel reasons. Letters should be e-mailed to news@DowntownExpress.com or can be mailed to 145 Sixth Ave., N.Y., N.Y. 10013.
