Room for protests
To The Editor:
Your editorial, “Manhattan can fit protestors and the G.O.P.” (May 14 -20), said it well. If our city can’t provide for thousands of citizens to assemble peacefully within shouting distance of the Republican National Convention, it shouldn’t have bid to host the event in the first place.
Thanks also for reporting Mayor Bloomberg’s ludicrous use of the 9/11 attacks to justify the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, during Laura Bush’s visit to Battery Park (news article, May 14 – 20, “A Bush at The Battery”). The only link, of course, is the colossal intelligence failures that granted murderous free passes to the hijackers in the U.S. and to President Bush in the Middle East.
And lastly, thanks for Al Amateau’s account of Jane Jacobs’ appearances in N.Y.C. (news article, May 14 – 20, “Jane Jacobs, urban legend, returns Downtown”). It was a gem!
Charles Komanoff
Test for lead
To The Editor:
Re “E.P.A. looks to connect remaining dust to 9/11” (news article, May 14- 20):
The World Trade Center contained approximately 50,000 computers each made with four to eight pounds of lead which was pulverized and dispersed around Lower Manhattan and possibly beyond; the Environmental Protection Agency has never done the tests that would provide a definitive answer. Lead is dangerous to human health. It would be wrong both scientifically and morally not to clean it because it failed to arrive labeled “W.T.C.” In its pursuit of a magic bullet or “fingerprint,” the W.T.C. Expert Technical Review Panel should not forget common sense: 9/11 released hundreds of contaminants, each with its own ‘”fingerprint,” that traveled to different areas according to their weight, when they burned and which way the wind was blowing at that time. Their presence now can only be determined by representative testing in concentric circles radiating from ground zero, as E.P.A. conducts at other environmental disasters.
Jenna Orkin
World Trade Center Environmental Organization
Cars and the superblock
To The Editor:
Allowing for vehicular transportation through what was once the superblock for the World Trade Center would be known for causing more air pollution yet the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. doesn’t seem to acknowledge that (news article, May 7 – 13, “Environmental statement for W.T.C. still lacking, C.B. 1 committee says”). Environmentally, it would be better if that wasn’t allowed. The same would go for the West St. tunnel, which Battery Park City workers and residents do not support (news article, May 7 –13, “Pataki backs rail, car tunnels”). Honestly, I highly doubt that the L.M.D.C. will even answer to environmental concerns on the W.T.C. site and with anything around it.
Tal Barzilai
Pleasantville, N.Y.
