Shame on D.H.C.R.
To the Editor,
There has been an ongoing dispute from ICON, the renter of the Southbridge Towers garage for a huge increase. Several hundred letters and a petition with about 500 signatures of “Southbridgers” were sent to the Division of Housing and Community Renewal to absolutely reject the huge increase wanted by ICON. But to no avail. D.H.C.R. approved the increase. Shame on D.H.C.R.
Shirley Espriel
Bedbugs and Bicycles
To The Editor,
I believe that we are currently experiencing two scary plagues in New York City — bedbugs and bicycles. This letter is about bicycles.
To focus the biker danger solely on parent fears in City Hall Park is to ignore a problem that is being discussed throughout the city if you follow the Internet. In the downtown area, the Esplanade in Battery Park City is another site for an accident waiting to happen. As someone wrote several months ago, bikers should be required to have a license and insurance, and be subject to fines. Without accountability bikers “zipping through” various locations act with impunity. It is naive to think that people riding bicycles will keep to an appropriate speed. (They might as well walk.) It is naive to think that patrolling (useless on the Esplanade) is an answer. Speed cannot be controlled, and people do not read signs. Anyone who needs proof should spend a day (better a week) observing traffic on the Esplanade.
The recent story in the news of a 4-year-old being sued by the family of an 87-year-old woman who died after serious pelvic injury resulting from a fall caused by the child “zipping” on his tricycle brings attention to the fact that unmonitored vehicles on sidewalks can lead to fatal injuries. To say “accidents will happen” is blasé. It assumes that the accident that “happens” does not cause injury or death to you, or yours.
The law currently requires a $100 fine for bikers over 12 years of age who ride on the sidewalk. However, under the current administration, the law is not enforced. (In BPC police officers would rather saunter around on horseback for their own pleasure, or just look the other way). That $100 fine should be extended to wherever there are pedestrians. The dangers are the same.
Only the fanatics at Transportation Alternatives, from naked self-interest, promote “shared pathways.” Not only children, but the elderly and disabled are at risk. These groups are effectively banned from public areas/parks because of jocks on bicycles. This is the truth that Parks staff conveniently ignore with their one-size-fits-all “The Parks are for everyone” mantra — except toddlers, the frail elderly and the disabled, that is.
The City Council Committee on Aging has made Pedestrian Safety a priority in District 5 (Yorktown) represented by Jessica S. Lappin. It is time for Margaret Chin to do the same. Tour de France cyclists do not belong in pedestrian areas in downtown Manhattan.
Dolores Dagostino
Blame the right people
To the Editor,
Re: Larry Penner’s Letter to the Editor in your October 27-November 2, 2010 issue.
I wish that the so called “local NIMBY crowd who opposed construction of a new Saint Vincent’s Hospital on the west side of 7th Avenue” had as much power as Mr. Penner attributes to them! If they did have that amount of power, we would have a good emergency room and hospital at or near 7th Avenue and 11th Street, and the unlucky person who has the bad fortune to have a serious medical emergency on the West Side during any of our various rush hours or traffic jams would have the comfort of racing to 7th Avenue instead of inching cross-town to the current emergency rooms.
The “NUMBY” crowd did not cause the closing of Saint Vincent’s Hospital…Saint Vincent’s closed because it ran out of money to meet its financial obligations: debt repayment, payroll, etc, even after the Landmarks Preservation Commission gave Saint Vincent’s permission to build a hospital on the west side of 7th Avenue.
Please print this letter so your readers will have correct information about the closing of Saint Vincent’s and not place blame where blame is not due.
Sincerely yours,
Elizabeth Ryan
Letters policy
Downtown Express welcomes letters to The Editor. They must include the writer’s first and last name, a phone number for confirmation purposes only, and any affiliation that relates directly to the letter’s subject matter. Letters should be less than 300 words. Downtown Express reserves the right to edit letters for space, clarity, civility or libel reasons. Letters should be e-mailed to news@DowntownExpress.com or can be mailed to 145 Sixth Ave., N.Y., N.Y. 10013.
