Fiorello’s not going anywhere
To The Editor:
Re “N.Y.U. unveils rezoning for its two superblocks” (news article, June 2):
The Friends of LaGuardia Place have carefully consulted with Fiorello about the plan to move him and he has advised us that he does not wish to be moved a single inch.
The statue of Fiorello LaGuardia is owned by the Friends of LaGuardia Place, and the “strip” upon which it is placed is owned by the city of New York. We have no intention of allowing him to be moved north or south or any other place. Nor do we have any intention of allowing any other building to be built on this property, which, although city owned, has been developed and maintained by our group, with community funds, for more than 20 years.
Fiorello anxiously awaits the construction of the new toddlers garden, which has been approved by the Department of Transportation, the Parks Department, the Design Commission and Community Board 2; it is being built with a combination of public and private contributions, including one from New York University.
LaGuardia Gardens is a special area of open space that has been created by the community and has been dedicated to community use. It provides a moment of peace and serenity for the residents of New York City, and we who have worked so long and hard to maintain it will not allow it to be destroyed or moved.
Lawrence B. Goldberg
Goldberg is president, Friends of LaGuardia Place
Clock started with Coles
To The Editor:
Re “N.Y.U. unveils rezoning for its two superblocks” (news article, June 2):
Thanks to Lincoln Anderson for this informative article on N.Y.U.’s 2031 plans. I, and many others, believe that the deed restriction runs from the completion of Coles gym, which would make 2021 the first date they can try to impose their will on our neighborhood.
Sylvia Rackow
Rackow is a member, Neighborhood Preservation Committee, 505 LaGuardia Place
Co-op not part of N.Y.U.
To The Editor:
Re “N.Y.U. unveils rezoning for its two superblocks” (news article, June 2):
Although N.Y.U. may have conveniently forgotten, there is no such entity as its “three-building University Village (Silver Towers) complex.” I’m quoting from your otherwise fine exposé of N.Y.U.’s plans for rezoning.
Silver Towers consists of two buildings — 100 and 110 Bleecker St. The third building on the block, 505 LaGuardia Place, has no relation to N.Y.U., but is a publicly financed Mitchell-Lama co-op. The city agreed to let N.Y.U. build on the superblock, but kept ownership of that one building.
Keep up the good work.
Gloria McDarrah
Bloods and Crips will play
To The Editor:
Re “Newark gangs (tried to) work it out on the court” (notebook, by Clayton Patterson, May 19):
I am Jiwe, the individual that attempted to put this game on. They cancelled us twice, but not a third time. We are gonna have this game, they just won’t know about it. Peace and Blessings.
Dashaun “Jiwe” Morris
‘Lovable’ Sweeney fires away
To The Editor:
Re “Angry Buddhist in court and on vendors, BID, Obomba” (talking point, by Carl Rosenstein, June 9):
Carl, you are the first person ever to call me “lovable.” Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Points well taken in your column. However, you forgot to mention that although Wellington Chen’s Chinatown Partnership got millions of federal dollars from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to clean the streets, it also promised in its proposal to L.M.D.C. to add historic street signage, tourist trail maps, improved lighting, a Night Market and tourist outreach. None of the latter were carried out. Why not and what happened to the money for these projects?
As far as the street cleaning, the streets of Chinatown are still dirty. And although the streets of Soho from Canal and Broome Sts. as far west as Broadway were part of L.M.D.C.’s cleaning fund, not one of these streets was cleaned one day, ever. Instead, he left the dirty work to the Soho Partnership, a charity for recovering homeless people, that relies on the donations of strangers for its income. Chen never compensated them a dime.
What has Chen done with the federal money, besides pad his exorbitant salary and pay $80,000 to numerous “consultants”?
Sean Sweeney
‘Buddhist’ mocks heroes
To The Editor:
Re “Angry Buddhist in court and on vendors, BID, Obomba” (talking point, by Carl Rosenstein, June 9):
Carl Rosenstein has proven that no matter what you write, the reader will get what he wants out of the text.
In my letter to the editor pointing out that legal vendors (in this case disabled veteran vendors) were the ones who alerted the police to the smoking, bomb-laden S.U.V. in Times Square, I stated that legal vendors see things that others often do not. They stand in one place for hours on end and have a tendency to observe things that shopkeepers or passersby gloss over. The attempted bombing of Times Square is just one case in point. There are others.
However, in Mr. Rosenstein’s zeal to be hip, funny and maybe even literary, he mocked this notion by saying, “street vendors are an important front line weapon in the war on terror. And pigs can fly. But if that’s the case, then Obomba should deploy a special squadron of New York City vendors to Afghanistan.” By using his poison pen, Mr. Rosenstein has only illustrated his extreme bias and ignorance of the situation.
In response, I put this question to Mr. Rosenstein: If your family had been in danger that night in Times Square, wouldn’t you be thankful for the disabled veteran vendors who alerted the police? My bet is that you would not be so snide if that were the case.
With this in mind, I place a challenge before Mr. Rosenstein: Try to discover what you are talking about before you act too cute by half. If we are to get through this horrible time in our history, it will be because we all pull together as a city, not by elevating ourselves through the inappropriate mocking of disabled veterans who act heroically. It is possible to be literate without behaving like a complete jerk. I advise he try it.
Lawrence White
Put hospital before hoops
To The Editor:
I am just furious at seeing Mayor Bloomberg’s “C’mon LeBron” video on NY1 and the Internet, since the mayor has never had time to respond to any of our community’s many, many letters, e-mails, calls, meetings and activist rallies.
Of course, there was that day after St. Vincent’s Hospital closed when he announced that his one plan to recognize the issue was to have the Fire Department answer ambulance calls. Our feedback on that so far as been horrendous — with long waits for ambulances to arrive at the scene and with overloaded E.R.’s at those East Side hospitals.
Of course, I guess they would put the mayor and his big business and real estate cronies at the head of the long lines, right? And, of course, airlift them by helicopter?
When are more people going to wake up and smell the danger here? Both sides of town are being affected.
Pamela L. La Bonne
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