N.Y.U. is on the march
To The Editor:
Re “N.Y.U. unveils rezoning for its two superblocks” (news article, June 2):
I strongly oppose N.Y.U.’s unconscionable expansion in the Village and its plan to build on the superblocks, greatly increasing the stress on community services, infrastructure and green space.
Like Hitler marching into Poland, then Czechoslovakia, then the rest of Europe, the N.Y.U. administration has stomped all over the Village, in the process dismantling the once-legendary Provincetown Playhouse. N.Y.U. has demonstrated contempt for historical memory.
With such a terrible track record, it now wants to burden this neighborhood with towers of nebulous purpose. A hotel? Are we serious? Has anyone thought this through?
N.Y.U. will create a potential physical and psychic wasteland of infernal towers, transient residents with no stake in the community and insufficient green space in a neighborhood already lacking in green space.
N.Y.U. has no right to do this. Nor does it have the right to take away or “buy” any of the Department of Transportation strips or any of the other pieces of land adjoining its property. The university also cannot cavalierly disrupt the lives of so many people who would breathe the dust and endure the toxic waste and noise that any new construction on the superblocks would entail.
N.Y.U.’s plan is a wanton crime against the Village and its residents. Let’s stop this plan now. Build on a wasteland somewhere else; create something useful elsewhere. Don’t create a potential disaster zone in the heart of the Village when you have no true purpose other than “Drill, baby, drill” aggrandizement.
Rhoma Mostel
Buses gone wild
To The Editor:
Re “Chinatown study on asthma looks for pollution link” (news article, June 2):
I’ve lost track of how many traffic studies have occurred in Chinatown, but has anything improved with respect to the “Chinese interstate buses”? They’re all over the place!
I think it’s fair to say that many people think these buses have a right to conduct business on the streets of New York. I disagree with them. The city’s traffic rules require interstate (and intrastate) buses to operate “from an off-street terminal or terminals duly approved by the proper authorities of the City of New York.”
The executive director of the Chinese Progressive Asso-ciation, Mae Lee, is quoted as saying that the interstate buses “provide a useful service.” But I think it would be a more useful service if the C.P.A. could discover whether or not the proper city authorities actually approved of these buses operating in a neighborhood that already has poor air quality and heavy traffic. If there was no approval, then why is there no enforcement? If, on the other hand, the authorities approved of having bus “terminals” on the streets and sidewalks of such a congested neighborhood, then it begs the question, “Why?”
Cathy Glasson
Black Israelites, oy vey
To The Editor:
I live at Broadway and Spring St. We who live here have had to put up with the “bus bump-out,” wall-to-wall vendors — and now, frequent visits from an army of haranguing Black Israelites. Six hours of racist ranting and raving, amplified by a microphone, making it impossible to keep the hateful language out of our homes.
I’m at a loss to understand how this has been allowed.
Crista Grauer
You’re not ready, Grasshopper
To The Editor:
Re “Angry Buddhist in court and on vendors, BID, Obomba” (talking point, by Carl Rosenstein, June 9):
If the Zen master is seeking enlightenment with his request to the hot dog vendor at West Broadway to “give me one with everything,” he will certainly end up angry. Better that he request “make me one with everything” and thereby truly earn his title of master!
Jon Keller
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