Volume 16 • Issue 19 | October 07 – 13, 2003
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Rink is not cool
To The Editor:
Re “Trust springs rink surprise” (news article, Sept. 30– Oct. 6, 2003):
Where did this concept of an enclosed ice skating rink, or any skating rink, come from? The “permanent” structure evokes an aura of “permanence” and “quality” equal only to a golf outing hospitality suite of a sponsor who really can’t afford being there but needs the exposure because someone in the organization said they did. I don’t believe that this blatant piece of gratuitous crap is being thrown at our community. Even the rendering stinks. At least they could have gotten the perspective correct.
Perhaps I jumped the gun in my evaluation of this “concerted” effort, but is this rink the size of a hockey rink, or is it a mockup of Central Park’s rink, or is it modeled after some LaLa land rink? Laugh though you may, someone thinks that this is a good idea. In it’s present presentation, I think not.
Lou Scrima
Koch off on Bush
To The Editor:
Former Mayor Ed Koch deserves a big (-) if his position supporting President Bush’s war on Iraq is as reported in Downtown Express Sept. 30 article, “What’s he doin’? Koch backing Bush.” Either his logic is so impaired that he is blind to the facts, or he takes outrageous positions just to garner attention.
Bush has a tiger by the tail and can’t let go until Saddam Hussein is found — dead or alive. That’s why the administration will not give a timetable for our troops to come home. If we leave before Saddam is captured, then there’s a good chance the Iraqi people will once again embrace him as their leader. We will have sacrificed so many lives, and spent billions to rebuild the oilfields and the neglected infrastructure by that time — to what end? To solidify Saddam’s position and make Iraq another sanctuary and center of fanatical terrorism?
Iraq’s interim representative to the Arab League has vowed to embrace that organization’s position on Israel. That is to drive that nation into the sea. Help Israel? Think that over, mayor.
Iraq’s potential for producing oil will mean it will join and strengthen the OPEC cartel, which will continue to use the money from oil profits to fund the terrorists’ causes and prevent us from winning the right “War on Terror,” which no doubt has been harmed by Bush’s preemptive war, and alienated 99 percent of the world’s powers.
The Bush administration’s failure to cut into this country’s gas-guzzling culture by increasing the minimum miles per gallon by two times the minimum, and its failure to push alternative, non-polluting energy production (solar, wind, etc.) is an easy way to cut into OPEC and its resulting power.
So, Mayor Koch, please reevaluate your position, and consider carefully how you can help return sanity to the White House in 2004.
Irwin Fruchtman
Better on films than pols
To The Editor:
Re Koch on Film (Sept. 23–29, 2003) and “What’s he doin’? Koch backing Bush” (news article, Sept. 30–Oct. 6, 2003):
(+) Ed Koch is 100 percent correct in exposing the scandalous hype of “Lost in Translation.” It certainly was mediocre and boring.
(-) Koch complains that there was nepotism involved in Sophia Coppola getting to make this less-than-adequate movie. Nepotism gave rise to the mediocre president whom he is endorsing. As inept as Sophia Coppola is at making movies, W. Bush is the same at running a government. And a man as well versed in history as Ed Koch should know that W. and his entourage are very dangerous people.
Kenny Ross
Bin Laden’s footprints
To The Editor:
We are not keeping our vision of what belongs at ground zero. Sadly, we’re keeping the vision of Osama bin Laden, his 19 9/11 terrorists, and terrorists all over the world by preserving the open footprints that they created. The reason there are problems with rebuilding is the open wound that is sitting in the center of what we are trying to rebuild and move forward on. We can’t move forward like this though.
The World Trade Center sat within the 16 acres of ground zero. The World Trade Center needs to rise again from the center of ground zero and not spread out. To me, this is more devastating than rebuilding on the damn footprints. The crowding is occurring because of the weak structures proposed by Mr. Libeskind who wants to squeeze the space the original twins provided in two towers down into six or seven buildings.
David Lopez
Jersey City, N.J.
Rebuild the towers
To The Editor:
Re “New plans for the W.T.C.” (editorial, Sept. 23–29, 2003):
Expanding the World Trade Center site is a no good idea. It is unnecessary. Just discard Larry Silverstein’s irrational 70-story height limit and there is no problem with rebuilding ten million square feet of office space in 110-story towers. Such towers fitted on the site before 9/11/2001, and they will fit even with a significant memorial and some streets beside them.
Besides, if replacing the immensely profitable underground mall with street level stores is such a good idea, why is the mall operator pulling out of its lease (“Port looks to buy W.T.C. retail,” news article, Sept. 16–22, 2003)?
Alexander Butziger
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