Letters to the Editor

To The Editor:

To the litany of boondoggles proposed for Lower Manhattan in the aftermath of 9/11 — the West St. tunnel, the Libeskind death pit, etc. — we can now add one more:  Mayor Bloomberg’s “aerial gondola” system for Governors Island (news article, Feb. 17 — 23, “That’s 125 million dollars, not lira for this island gondola”).  For a mere $125 million in taxpayer funds, the mayor proposes to string a spider-web-like network of ski lifts across New York Harbor, forever marring one of the most scenic vistas in the world — the grouping of Lower Manhattan towers encircled by water. 

The proposal is so asinine, so incomprehensible from any aesthetic or economic standpoint, that the only way to comprehend it is as part of the mayor’s larger war on Downtown redevelopment.  Witness that, while for years he pursued his stadium fantasy, the mayor left us at the mercy of our governor up in Albany, a man who in turn made it clear that the only voices he was concerned with were those political demagogues claiming to speak for the families of the victims — community be damned.  Indeed, the mayor has cared so little for us down here that for four and a half years, he has not lifted a finger to make the City University of New York tear down the ruined Fiterman Hall.  Nor has he undertaken any effort to complete the renovation of historic, city-owned Pier A, which has been boarded-up for several decades. And he intends to siphon off the $4 billion of Liberty Bonds that Congress and the American people entrusted in him to rebuild the World Trade Center site, and instead use it off for projects in other parts of town more to his liking.

Indeed, to the extent Mayor Bloomberg has paid any attention to Lower Manhattan redevelopment at all, it has only been to impede the process, not encourage it.  How else can one explain the mayor’s insatiable need to harass the one man who is building anything Downtown, Larry Silverstein?  Or the Mayor’s decision to inflict upon us his dim-witted lieutenant, Amanda Burden, who apparently believes that the fate of the World Trade Center site hinges on the restoration of one-half block of teeny-tiny Cortlandt St.?  Or the mayor’s most recent decision to cut off funding for two new, desperately needed public schools for our community?

On December 12, 2002, the Mayor gave a major policy speech in which he first addressed the future of post-9/11 Downtown.  His answer to the problems besetting our community at that time?  A hydroponic garden on the East River.  In the ensuing 38 months, much has changed down here.  The area has become a beehive of activity, at least in all the building sites not controlled by the mayor.  And yet, we local residents still are forced to eat tomatoes grown exclusively from God’s green earth, and not from a giant greenhouse floating off an East River pier.  I propose that, before the Mayor embarks on his latest scheme for Lower Manhattan, he first see his last one through to completion.  Once we all have hydroponic fruits and vegetables on our dinner tables, then the mayor can come back and tell us about aerial gondolas.  Until then, he should just shut up and leave us all alone.

John Dellaportas

Island waste