‘Balance’ needed on vending
To The Editor:
As residents of Union Square, we support the Department of Parks and Recreation proposal to regulate the number of vendors selling “expressive matter” in Union Square Park. The proposal strikes a balance, allowing vendors the opportunity to sell merchandise while providing park users with easily navigable pathways.
The Parks Department determined that it was necessary to create these rules to address concerns raised by park visitors, vendors and other members of the public. Pedestrian volume in Union Square Park ranges from 120,000 on non-Greenmarket weekdays to a peak of 200,000 on Saturdays during the busy summer season. The Union Square subway station is one of the busiest transportation hubs in the city, serving more than 35 million passengers a year. Moreover, the park is flanked by busy traffic thoroughfares, including Broadway, Park Ave. South and 14th St.
The presence of non-permitted vendors near the park’s numerous subway entrances creates a daily bottleneck for residents, commuters and visitors, and also impedes access to the park’s interior. In fact, in the absence of department rules regarding expressive-matter vendors, the number of such vendors in Union Square Park has increased since 2001, to the point where they occupy almost the entire southwest corner of the park. This not only presents a concern regarding potential hazardous and unsafe conditions stemming from undue congestion and pedestrian gridlock, it also detracts from the experience of those visitors who wish to enjoy the park in other ways.
We believe this rule change will go a long way toward increasing pedestrian safety and creating a more enjoyable and comfortable park experience for all.
James Heller and H. Jay Wisnicki
Heller is vice president, Victoria Owners Corp., 7 E. 14th St.; Wisnicki is president, 8 Union Square South, Claremont Square
N.Y.C.L.U., Board 2 back artists
To The Editor:
Re “Artists and conservancies paint rival pictures of new regulations” (news article, April 23):
Thanks for your excellent coverage of the ARTIST protest and Parks Department hearing. We had more than 500 artists protesting there, most with signs they made.
Since your article was published, the New York Civil Liberties Union and CityLaw both rejected the Parks proposal to eliminate more than 80 percent of the artists, and on Tues., April 27, the Department of Transportation testified at a Community Board 5 hearing that it is the Greenmarket that is actually causing the congestion and public safety issues in Union Square Park.
Community Board 2 has voted to reject the Parks proposal, as well.
For the record, in its 16-year history, the ARTIST group has never defended copyright infringers or “bootleggers.” We represent real artists and legitimate art vendors who sell on the streets and in parks under the protection of the First Amendment.
It is also important for your readers to know that these proposed restrictions on free speech would affect anyone leafleting, speaking, playing an instrument or getting a petition signed in a park, not just artists.
Robert Lederman
Lederman is president, ARTIST (Artists’ Response to Illegal State Tactics)
Just say no to ‘art zones’
To The Editor:
Re “Fine artists find a voice” (letter, by Lawrence White, April 28):
Mr. White seems to lack a basic understanding of the law as it pertains to selling First Amendment-protected materials. A person need not be the author of the work in order for the work to be protected.
I attended the protest and the entire hearing on April 23 regarding the proposed changes to vending of First Amendment-protected materials in certain parks. Ninety-nine percent of all artists in attendance were members of our group, ARTIST.
The most important result of the “hideously long street battle” Mr. White refers to is that he (and everyone else) no longer requires a permit to sell artwork within the public spaces of our city.
Any artist that supports “art zones” would be contributing to the eventual elimination of his or her ability to sell freely in public. This is because, if such a system were created, it would set a precedent as an “alternative venue,” leaving artists with no legal justification for selling outside the designated zones. The same tactic is used by those wishing to keep protesters away from their intended targets.
Additionally, the city could eliminate art zones at any time, or change their location — i.e., shift them to a desolate manufacturing zone of an outer borough. And what about when the art zones reach their capacity?
The end result of art zones would be fewer opportunities for artists.
Ned Otter
Otter is a member, ARTIST (Artists’ Response to Illegal State Tactics)
The shock of a lifetime
To The Editor:
I have been crying since I heard that St. Vincent’s would be closing. At first, I thought it couldn’t be true. How could a hospital that saved so many people through the years be closing? As a 92-year-old, lifelong resident of Greenwich Village, I am shocked and appalled that none of our elected officials came forward to save our beloved St. Vincent’s Hospital.
I have seen many changes to New York City in my lifetime, and it is inconceivable to me that our mayor and our senators would allow a vital hospital to close. How can it be that millions are being spent to create pedestrian plazas, stadiums and other nonessential projects, but they allow hospitals to close?
I have been watching them work for a year putting cobblestones back on Greenwich St. I remember when they removed all the cobblestones from the streets. I can only imagine how much was spent on this project, which serves no purpose.
I am also so disappointed in the Catholic Church, which didn’t lift a finger to help their last Catholic hospital in Manhattan. When I think of all the years I believed in them and faithfully went to church, it makes me want to cry. I will never again give them another penny.
Shame on you, Bloomberg, Schumer and Gillibrand! How do you sleep at night? All you care about is money and real estate. And to Obama — why are millions spent to bail out banks, insurance companies and automakers? You want to give healthcare to everyone, and yet hospitals are closing. People are going to die because of this.
There’s something wrong here. Governor Paterson seems like the only decent one in the bunch, and you all drove him out. All you Democrats are losing my vote this election.
Alice Healy
Hospital questions linger
To The Editor:
Why did St. Vincent’s Hospital’s administrators and board of directors spend so much time and money with controversial plans to build a new hospital on the O’Toole site when the hospital had just emerged from bankruptcy and was losing millions of dollars a month?
St. Vincent’s was to get $310 million for its property from the Rudins and the new hospital was to cost at least $700 million to build. They held many public meetings, hired attorneys and extra, overpaid executives and misled the public and the politicans into thinking they had a viable plan and they were very convincing.
If they had spent all this time, effort and “talent” looking for ways to save the hospital or finding a partner, they might have succeeded. Instead, they continued with their plans for the glory of a castle in the sky, completely ignoring the reality of the financial situation.
Did St. Vincent’s need an overpaid C.E.O. to come up with this fiasco? Now, 3,500 people have been fired. If they had so much time and the resources to keep this fiasco of an idea going, why did they spend so little time deciding to close?
I believe there was either extreme incompetence or some sort of corruption or collusion involved. An investigation should be undertaken by the attorney general or some other agency to determine how this disaster came about. The people responsible should be exposed, so that they do not go on to other million-dollar jobs and ruin other facilities.
Myrna Posner
Artist’s critics ‘insecure’
To The Editor:
Re “An artist calls for a boycott, and no one knows why” (news article, April 28):
I find the uproar around this story humorous, and it is apparent that De La Vega’s resistance to engage in dialogue has caused locals to interpret this story based on their own insecurities. I shopped at the De La Vega Museum last week and asked about the sign — to which he gave no comment, but in no way discouraged me from eating at Cafe Mogador. It is clear that the masses do not want to see any kind of social reform or commentary.
Jeff Kebede
E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to news@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 145 Sixth Ave., ground floor, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. The Villager does not publish anonymous letters.
