I take buses & I shop
To The Editor:
Re M.T.A. bus changes:
It’s true I live on the Lower East Side but that doesn’t mean I never go west. With the proposed bus cuts, there will be no way to get to some of my favorite places.
No more Angelika movies. Bye-bye Houston St. and Soho.
No more Chambers St. Barnes & Noble; Bed, Bath & Beyond; World Financial Center programs; strolls along the B.P.C. promenade.
What’s next — a wall?
Barbara Malley
Hard to get into hearing
To The Editor:
Re “Hundreds ride the M.T.A. board, try to derail cuts” (news article, March 12 – 18):
Thank you for covering the M.T.A. hearing and my testimony. I would like to make a few clarifications.
I did say the real story was outside. I was not referring to the demonstration on Seventh Ave. as you reported. The issue was that there was a long line at the door on 27th St. that continued on the block east to Seventh Ave. and 27th St. was crowded. Instead of managing the pedestrian flow and lines, the police closed off 27th St., so that for a period of time people could not even get in line for the hearing.
I was waiting at the door for the chairperson of the Community Board 3 Transportation Committee since we had both preregistered. But he could not even get on the block, which was closed by the police, and had to leave. It is not acceptable that people not have access to a public hearing. It is no longer a public hearing.
Also, when I was referring to the perfect bus route, but few buses, I was not referring to the M9. I was referring to the Avenue A bus that crosses 14th St., all of Avenue A and Essex to Grand, and then travels east on Grand. I said that fewer buses meant fewer riders because people will not wait, and that in turn creates more cuts. However, the M9 route also already suffers from too few buses.
Susan Stetzer
Rocky road to ferry noise
To The Editor:
Thanks for covering the dispute about the noise from NY Waterway ferries at the W.F.C. terminal (news article, Dec. 11 – 17, “Billybey replacing noisy ferries with quieter models”).
NY Waterway in fact has made some changes to their service which should make the folks in Gateway happy. That is good news because it probably means that somebody in Gateway figured out the right button to push to get action from NY Waterway.
The bad news is — the change comes at the expense of their neighbors, especially the small children who use Rockefeller playground. NY Waterway has simply shifted those noisy, smokey ferries from docking at slips on the south side of the W.F.C. terminal to the north side — so that they are further from Gateway (500 yards away to begin with) and even closer to the playground (no more than 50 yards).
Andris Vizbaras
Views of St. Vincent’s
To The Editor:
The series of articles and letters about St. Vincent’s Hospital over the past few weeks became personal on Sunday morning, Feb. 21, when I had to be taken to the E.R. at Beth Israel Hospital by ambulance, suffering pain in my abdomen. The staff and care was excellent, but it took seven hours to get a diagnosis — colon infection, colon pouches, cyst in my pelvic bone — and prescriptions. The sheer number of E.R. patients required long periods of time waiting for each test to be conducted and getting the results.
My point is that if the E.R. at St. Vincent’s is closed, the crush and burden on the E.R. at Beth Israel would be huge! Instead of seven hours, it might have taken 10 hours, 12 hours or even longer!
There seems to be a common thread running through many articles I read: bus and subway cuts, medical-care cuts, etc. It seems that our society rewards Wall St. executives with billions while cutting vital human services.
Those people who have the money travel via personal car or cab. Those people with money enjoy private medical care. The poorer people use mass transit or bicycles and public medical clinics and hospitals.
Michael Gottlieb
To The Editor:
It was with joy that I heard the news that St. Vincent’s Hospital may be forced to close.
In November 2003 I fell down two flights of steps in the No. 1 line subway at 34th St. I don’t remember falling. The next thing I knew, I was in the emergency room of St. Vincent’s Hospital.
The attending physician never even came over to see how I was. She was talking and eating and refused to speak to me. A nurse finally came over and sent me for X-rays. They said my left wrist was broken and they set it. Four of my upper left teeth were hanging loose but they said that was not their job. Again, I asked to see the doctor and she sat there and laughed at me.
I finally asked to leave since they would do nothing further for me. I signed myself out.
The next day I went to see my dentist who started the repair of my teeth. I went to my doctor who referred me to a hand specialist. I went there that same day and he said the wrist was not set correctly and it had to be redone.
I reported the hospital to the state agency. Several months later I received a letter from the state saying the hospital failed the inspection by the state and would be monitored until it passed inspection.
During the time spent there a good heart necklace was stolen from my neck. The hospital refused to look into the matter.
I pray every night that this vile hospital be closed.
Phylis Salom
To The Editor:
I am a registered professional nurse (Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing Class of 1964) and a resident of Chelsea. I am a Vietnam-era veteran, having served in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps from 1966 to 1968, and have worked in many of the major medical centers in New York City. I have also been treated at St. Vincent’s Hospital on numerous occasions over the past few years.
I can honestly state that I have never experienced or witnessed a higher level of medical and nursing care than that rendered by the staff of St. Vincent’s. The esprit de corps that exists there, including all ancillary staff, is unparalleled anywhere: respect, integrity, compassion and excellence.
There is no other hospital in New York that compares. While the East Side has “bedpan alley” (N.Y.U. Downtown, Beth Israel, N.Y.U. Hospital for Joint Diseases, Bellevue and N.Y.U. Langone and Rusk Institute for Rehabilitative Medicine, along with the V.A. Medical Center) the West Side’s mainstay is one hospital, St. Vincent’s. Where is the New York State Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st century when you need them?
Peter J. Ungvarski
“Catholic school parents rally to save schools” (Posted, Mar. 11):
Finally, an even handed article about what’s happening with St. James and St. Patrick’s schools. I’m glad that comments from Stephanie Pinto have been included. This community activist has put many hours in defining the problem, analyzing it, explaining it to everyone who needs to hear it in a coherent manner packaged with rational and well thought out solutions. For example, she asserts that there are limitations by integrating St. James and St. Josephs without taking into account the building structure of St. Joseph’s. She has been able to communicate to the Archdiocese that there is a need to find space so that a true merger can happen with St. Joseph that will include the younger preschool children.
Roberto Ramos, LCSW
St. James Class of ‘69
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