Incident was more than unruly
To The Editor:
Re “Teen rampage” (Police Blotter, Sept. 17):
I was one of the people who saw the “Teen Rampage” on Sept. 15 and it was far from “unruly kids” as quoted by the desk sergeant at the First Precinct. I heard terrifying screams coming from people who witnessed the attacks or were being attacked at the corner of Spring and Varick Sts. One of the people was being beaten so badly in the middle of the street by at least five teens that I thought he would not survive. I ran into Manhattan Storage to ask the man behind the plexiglas enclosure to call the police, which he refused to do. Later some of the workers told him to call.
I observed from inside two teens going through a woman’s pocketbook and others trying to climb the dumpster to take out rocks. They were running back and forth between Spring and Dominick Sts. and the parking attendant was trying to chase them away.
I left about 15 minutes later and observed one of the victims, a messenger in his 20s, trying to hold himself up against the telephone booth and attempting to pick up the contents of his delivery bag scattered all over Spring St.
On the corner of Hudson and Spring Sts. I saw two police cars come down the street with the traffic and without the sirens on. Some of the teens were now running back and forth on Dominick and Hudson Sts.
Calls to 911 must have come in from motorists at Varick and Spring, which grid-locked at 5:30 p.m. as cars and trucks entered the Holland Tunnel, and from other people on the street who had cell phones. I have to assume some of them came to the aid of the victims, otherwise there would have been bodies on the ground. The area on the corner has no place to run to for safety and people on the street fled, like myself. I assume therefore when the police appeared there were no victims hanging around to continue to be attacked and therefore no charges were filed.
I believe a review of 911 calls would tell a different story than it was just “a group of disorderly adolescents, unruly kids.”
Carole De Saram
Union Sq. N. redesign process
To The Editor:
Re “Union Sq. N. redesign is taking shape” (news article, Sept. 17):
Thank you for reporting on Union Sq. Community Coalition’s annual meeting, where the proposed redesign for the north end of Union Sq. was discussed. We hope that by having this on the front page of The Villager we will have more community involvement in projects affecting Union Sq. It is especially important in a project this large, which affects so many stakeholders: children, the Greenmarket, café patrons, picnickers and other enjoyers of the park.
The article was remiss in mentioning that U.S.C.C. organized this meeting to share the plan with our members and the public (and that it took place at the historic S.G.I.-U.S.A. building.) U.S.C.C. meetings are always open to the public and we invite all friends and neighbors of the park to become active members. You can contact U.S.C.C. at: unionsquarepark@yahoo.com or P.O. Box 71, Cooper Station, NY, NY,10276.
Susan Kramer and Gail Fox
Fox and Kramer are co-chairpersons, Union Sq. Community Coalition
Trying to mend political rifts
To The Editor:
I write in response to a letter to the editor by Jim Brennan in The Villager two weeks ago (“Marlow, Schwartz and leader race,” Sept. 10). Jim is a good friend and one of the members of my community I truly admire. Although I respectfully disagree with his analysis of my previous letter and of the district leader race, I write not to take issue with him, but rather to echo his comments and to applaud his motives. Jim’s reflections on the state of our community are (as usual) correct. The Village has too often had its politics driven by disputes over personalities, not principals, and that fact has hurt us all. When I became V.I.D. president a year ago, it was my top priority to change Village politics in the manner Jim advocates. Although I was unsuccessful, I remain undaunted.
To be certain, there are battles worth fighting. We cannot have our community led by ineffective political leaders merely because they have the most money to spend and/or the most powerful political allies. At the same time, we cannot reject quality candidates for office simply because of who they choose to associate with. (My support of Brad Hoylman for City Council in 2001 demonstrates my personal commitment to putting that principle into practice).
Going forward, let us focus on electing officials on the basis of who will be the most effective advocate for the concerns of our entire community. We need elected officials who bring to the table both exceptional personal attributes and the ability to produce tangible results, for only then will our community’s opinions be most widely heard and its needs most commonly met. Considering the deep pool of talent we have in the Village and its surrounding communities, we should not have to settle for less.
Moreover, to the extent our community is stuck with leaders who talk a great deal but produce few results, who are more adept at talking at their constituents than listening to them, and who are better at dividing the community and alienating those who disagree with them than they are at bringing all of us into a positive working relationship, we should join together at the polls to replace them. Despite the contentiousness of this past district leader race, one fact is beyond dispute: all of the candidates for office were determined to work to bring our community together. I think that uniformity of opinion is a very positive development. I have no doubt that having Keen Berger serve as our new district leader is a step in the right direction.
I complement Jim on his insightfulness regarding what we need to do to become a stronger, more united community. Now that the election is over, let us commit to working together whenever possible, and to electing government representatives who will best serve the needs of our community and beyond. And should that require replacing current leaders with new ones so that our community will be better served and more fully represented, so be it.
Chad Marlow
Marlow is president, Village Independent Democrats
Planters were sneaked into Soho
To The Editor:
It has been confirmed that the Department of Transportation has given the first four permits ever granted for the giant boxes that are forming blockades up and down W. Broadway in Soho. The box people claim these huge obstructions are for trees, but they do so with a wink in their eye. The truth is that these boxes serve one purpose only, and that is to keep anyone from ever using that area of public space again. In fact these boxes are unhealthy for trees as they normally die within five to seven years….slowly. Plant lovers? Hardly.
In the first place, three of the planters (at 478 W. Broadway at Houston St.) are blocking places where actual earth-rooted trees were to be planted in the spring. In other words, we will now have huge ugly boxes, and not real trees in this area of Soho ever again. When these particular tenants of that particular building have long gone, these enormous boxes will stand as testament to their bias, intolerance. noncooperation and anger. What a wonderful monument to leave behind.
The best part for the box people is that they never once had to address public concerns about their obstructions. They just placed them at whim, and that was it. At three separate public hearings concerning the boxes at 478 W. Broadway, neighbors, shopkeepers, property owners along with artists, legal vendors and veterans showed up to protest the petition for the already existing boxes at 478 W. Broadway, and to speak out for real trees, and real people. The box people did not show up…..ever….not once.
Normally this sort of nonappearance means an automatic denial. Not in Community Board 2, however. They apparently have great sympathy for this sort of bigotry, and it runs deep within the sidewalk committee, which oversees this type of situation. Therefore they were able to keep the issue alive for their friends at 478 W. Broadway to such an extent that the D.O.T. granted permits for these boxes in a private, closed-door session. This in spite of legions of complaints, and several citations being issued for placing the boxes without any permission, or any permit whatsoever.
Wow! How do I get to become that kind of special citizen? It must be cool to be able to do what you want, whenever you want, including breaking the law for years, and then when you get caught, your friends within the system will bail you out. Where do I sign up for that deal
Lawrence White
A Robert Moses kind of day
To The Editor:
Re “Start of Abingdon Sq. renovation comes suddenly” (news article, Sept. 10):
With a sledgehammer, crack-down goes the stanchion
With a sledgehammer, crack-down goes another
Following the buzz saw slicing away the wooden planks
of the Abingdon Square Park benches.
Along comes the buzz saw again to slice off the metal roots
connecting the concrete stanchions to the ground
Sparks go flying like fireworks across the plaza
Stacks of wooden bench slats are stacked
as if in preparation for a bonfire waiting
for the trees to join them.
Margie Rubin
