Views of a bridge
To The Editor:
I concur fully with the opening sentence of the news article on the Brooklyn Banks park (“Don’t let the Banks collapse, skaters say,” news article, October 23 – 29), which states “The Brooklyn Banks is a place with no rules except gravity.” Therein lies the problem for those who live next to it at Southbridge Towers.
There are no curfews, so skaters/bikers remain active well after dark. There is no supervision so some build wooden “jumps” which could be dangerous. The noise of skaters/bikers, because to the proximity of the “jumps” to St. James/Pearl St. is magnified by and echoes through the Brooklyn Bridge arches into the apartments of Southbridge residents. Your ample photos demonstrate the graffiti, and one quote in the article states, quite matter-of-factly, that the park is filthy.
Many skaters on their way to the park elect to travel on sidewalks, posing a danger to everyone, but especially to seniors, who frequently complain to me, thinking that as a member of Southbridge’s board of directors, I can solve this type of problem — I cannot. Worse, the park is actually in Community Board 3, so our local Board 1 had no input in the decision to locate it there.
In short, this type of park would be best in a non-residential area, perhaps on Randall’s Island.
John Ost
To The Editor:
I just read the article in the Downtown Express about how the banks are closing. That isn’t a smart move for the city because now skaters and bikers are just going to go to other spots around the city and end up getting in pedestrians’ way and getting kicked out of spots that they aren’t allowed to be. I think the Banks is the one spot in N.Y.C. where skaters/bikers can hang out and ride without getting in trouble or wrecking ledges and benches and getting in people’s ways. Not only that, but the Banks are a historical spot for us. I mean just look at some of the things that happened there.
Joe Karlson
B.P.C. taxes
To The Editor:
Re “Gov asks mayor & Thompson for B.P.C. help” (news article, Oct. 23 – 29):
The article misses one key point: Why is the Battery Park City Authority generating a surplus in the first place! Are we B.P.C. residents some sort of second-class citizens — cash cows to be abused by an unelected B.P.C.A.? Is it even constitutional for an unelected “board” to levy taxes on the people?
A couple of ideas for the state and our elected officials: Dissolve B.P.C.A. and save the millions it costs. Let B.P.C. become a normal city neighborhood where we get to vote directly for people who tax us. We already pay tax for police and parks — it’s called city tax. Return the surplus ($268 million) to B.P.C. residents as a tax rebate. We need to fundamentally reframe this discussion.
The people of B.P.C. need to wake up to fact we are getting fleeced, and direct their outrage to Sheldon Silver, Daniel Squadron and Mayor Bloomberg. To be blunt, a 900-square-foot condo in B.P.C. has a $620-per-month PILOT; a 1300-square-foot condo across the West Side Highway has a $230 per month tax.
Andy Williams
Mayor’s race
To The Editor:
Yes, extending term limits is “troubling and anti-democratic” and so is your support of a candidate like Mayor Bloomberg, (“Re-elect Bloomberg,” editorial, Oct. 16 – 22) who pushed through that power grab. As far as education goes, perhaps your paper should interview the children who have to endure the unsafe, overcrowded conditions that degrade their education. I’m also surprised that you so easily believe the “grades/report cards” the Dept. of Education has assigned themselves, but perhaps a little critical investigation would have cut through the millions of dollars of advertising spin touting Mike Bloomberg’s misleading educational record and shameful waste of public funds. I object as a parent, but even more I object as a taxpayer and citizen. It seems the Downtown Express no longer represents or serves downtown or its community.
Annette Evans
To The Editor:
I’m shocked and dismayed at the Downtown Express’s endorsement of Michael Bloomberg for mayor. First of all, why is this paper endorsing any candidate? It seemed odd at best.
The move was stunningly incongruent with the views of their own readers. Publisher and editor John Sutter knows better than anyone what our Downtown community has suffered at the hands of this autocrat. Unprecedented residential building, under the auspices of “revitalization,” using our tax dollars to supply these as-of-right builders with 30-year tax breaks, Liberty Bond financing and the like. The mayor also turned a blind eye to the massive school overcrowding that happened as a result, saying only when cornered on the issue, “Isn’t it great that families want to stay in New York.” Yet another glib, condescending and, to use his own word, disgraceful remark to the people that put him in office.
I have to say, as much as I respect the editors here, this move was a huge disappointment. Be grateful you are a free paper, as you would lose a lot of subscriptions over this one.
Tricia Joyce
Member of the P.S. 234 Overcrowding Committee and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s School Overcrowding Task Force
To The Editor:
Forget about Bloomberg’s disrespect for the democratic process in disregarding two term-limit referenda. Forget about his consummate nouveau riche compassionless demeanor. Forget about comparing the moral equivalence of the yuppies’ multimillion dollar Predator Balls and multimillion Manhattan birthday parties with Bloomberg’s odious and ostentatious purchasing of an American political office. Forget about: his monarchial control of the Board of Ed; his desire to eliminate the public advocate position so he can have absolute fealty; and his acquiescing in the physical tearing up of our city and handing it over to the Liberty Bond corporate welfare “developers.”
Think history. Remember 1964: Johnson defeated Goldwater in a massive landslide. The mandate complex set in and all of Johnson’s great domestic programs and legacies are subsumed by a war of mendacity and arrogance of power. Remember 1972: Nixon defeated McGovern with a whopping 19 million plurality. All of Nixon’s domestic and foreign policy achievements are soiled by a mandate he believed allowed him to corrupt and subvert the Constitution.
If you think Bloomberg’s first 8 years are a study in Napoleonic arrogance, just give him a mandate for four more in a landslide; Michael I will make George III look like a Founding Father.
Your editorial called Bloomberg a “visionary.” You’re either kidding of delusional. Nelson Rockefeller was a visionary; Mike, you’re no Nelson.
Send Bloomberg back to Boston.
Walter Silverman
To The Editor:
Re “Thompson says open Park Row and consult with the community” (news article, Oct. 16 – 22):
For 8 years, Mayor Bloomberg has abandoned Chinatown to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s draconian security policies while such measures do not exist at 26 Federal Plaza. Increasing traffic congestion, emergency service access and quality of life issues at Chatham Square and Canal St. are known, but what about the long term economic and financial consequences to the surrounding communities and to the city of these street closures? Can a cash strapped city afford to give Commissioner Kelly unlimited parking and an open check book to protect One Police Plaza?
While Bloomberg claims to be “green” he’s presided over 145,000 government parking permits, not including the illegals. His administration failed to enforce traffic laws despite years of community protest and documentation.
Recently the chief Internal Affairs Bureau officer assigned to monitor the permits was removed when reporters found his girlfriend’s vehicle parked on the street with a free parking permit. How convenient that shortly afterwards, the mayor rushed out the announcement of the city’s new Fast Fleet Car sharing plan, despite our requesting this for years?
Chinatown is a major tourist attraction. Empty storefronts and struggling businesses deplete tax dollars — thriving businesses provided jobs to many immigrant families. With Chatham Square dug up, this will only worsen.
How has Mayor Bloomberg helped the rest of Lower Manhattan? Ask the Tribeca and Battery Park parents battling for a say in their children’s schools and those who object to a “teach to the test” curriculum and inflated grades. Ask the heroic Downtown environmentalists about the building violations in the Deutsche Bank debacle. We intend to let our mayor know on Nov. 3 that eight years is enough.
Jeanie Chin, Jan Lee and John Ost
Civic Center Residents Coalition
To The Editor:
Regarding buying a third term:
It may well be that Mike Bloomberg will keep the buses running more punctually than his opponent, and he may even save us all a few hundred bucks per capita with his superior management skills. But I’d rather lose the money, and freeze at a bus stop. Washington froze at Valley Forge on behalf of democracy. I can take it too.
John Jiler
Southbridge decision
To The Editor:
Re “Privatization risks” (Letter, Oct 23 – 29):
At the present time the board of directors is not able to respond to letters such as the one you submitted. I on the other hand can and will respond to some of the old played out misleading issues you brought up.
Let’s start with the oldie but goodie greed card. Nice touch comparing Southbridge Towers to Wall St., but it’s “apples to oranges” telling us how billions have been lost by greed and the same thing is happening with the privatization of Mitchell- Lama co-ops. From what I know and heard, that’s misleading “chicken little.” The sky is not falling.
Your next misleading statement is “Show me a senior co-operator who is enjoying a lifetime of security, from a reverse mortgage along with the low Mitchell-Lama maintenance, and I’ll show you a bribed liar. We were told by a board member that there are other ways to access equity.”
Of course if we stay in Mitchell-Lama we can’t benefit from the various avenues to access equity. If we go private, those avenues open up to Southbridge seniors and others.
As for posters being torn down from the bulletin board, you conveniently leave out the fact that not only anti-privatization posters are being torn down but pro-privatization posters were also being torn down. Constructive letters, both pro- and anti- are now behind enclosed glass in the lobbies. I guess that leaves out your vindictive letter.
You mention our board being “privatizer dominated.” Just remember the residents of Southbridge voted this board in overwhelmingly fully knowing what to expect as the board was and is transparent.
Your post contained the words “liar” and “henchmen.” Shame on you.
Michael Wishner
