Unacceptable primary pass
To The Editor:
Re “A pass for now on the Democratic mayoral candidates” (editorial, Aug. 26 – Sept. 1):
Your editorial is unacceptable. Sure they all suck, but your readers crave your leadership to help us make up our minds! Which one sucks the least? Is it the crybaby Miller, the comedian Weiner, Freddy the vacillator or Queen Virginia?
It is simply unacceptable to abrogate your leadership in these most trying of times. Who will we vote for on Sept. 13? You really expect us to make up our own minds? C’mon! Get real! We need you to help make up our minds, darnit! Unless…unless you really want us to vote for Bloomberg…perhaps this is the reason for your timidity?
Vinson Valega
Bloomberg is better
To The Editor:
Your August 26 editorial “A pass for now on the Democratic mayoral candidates” told me that the winner of the upcoming September Democratic mayoral primary candidate will be none of the above. An overwhelming majority of the 2,600,000 registered Democrats will vote for none of the above by staying home on primary day. Neither former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, N.Y.C. Council Speaker Gifford Miller, Congressmember Anthony Weiner or Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields have given any compelling reasons why they could do a better job.
Mayor Bloomberg is the only person standing in the doorway at City Hall to prevent a return of one party rule. Why return to the days of Democratic party clubhouse control of City Hall, with the usual accompanying municipal corruption and fiscal mismanagement? Remember when N.Y.C. was on the verge of fiscal bankruptcy under the late Democratic Mayor Abe Beame in 1975? With Mayor Bloomberg you have someone who finances his own campaign. He is independent from hundreds of special interest groups, who have collectively donated millions of dollars to all four Democratic party mayoral candidates in the expectation of future favors at taxpayers expense. This is known as pay for play around City Hall. Mayor Bloomberg is also a successful businessperson who knows how to meet a payroll, create jobs and build a business. Why turn the keys of City Hall over to Ferrer, Miller, Wiener or Fields? They all represent the current generation of career politicians, whose political ancestors descended from the old corrupt Democratic party clubhouse machine. When confronted with these choices, intelligent voters regardless of party affiliation will give Mayor Bloomberg a well deserved second term.
Larry Penner
Great Neck, New York
Vendor help
To The Editor:
I am a Downtown resident for over 10 years and have come to appreciate a precious few street food vendors in the neighborhood. With the recent closing of Liberty Plaza (at Liberty Street between Broadway & Trinity Place) for much needed renovations, several such vendors have disappeared overnight (news article, Aug. 19 – 25, “Work begins on Liberty Plaza Park renovation”). The construction fence surrounding the plaza, impressive & impersonal, communicates nothing of the whereabouts of the vendors that earned their livings for years on the site.
Happily, after many lunchtime ambles, I found my favorite weekly haunt, Alan’s Falafel, just south of Syms on Trinity Pl. below Rector St. Alan, who offers the best falafel platter in the area, inside or out, has considerably less traffic than at the old Liberty Plaza location.
Downtown folks would be greatly served if news journals like you would run an article about the scattering of the vendors with no “forwarding address” left by the powers that be.
Mike Costantin
No hero
To The Editor:
Re “ Writer slain in Iraq is remembered Downtown” (news article, Aug. 19 – 25):
As an honorably discharged veteran of the Vietnam era, I take exception to calling Steven Vincent a soldier. He was not a soldier. He was a rightwing political agitator. In the Lower East Side, he was a cheerleader for Antonio Pagan and his pro-real estate yuppie developer platform, which will eventually drive us all out of the neighborhood.
He promoted “legal” drug-dealer bar owners while supporting the government’s stupid drug war, which has incarcerated thousands of people of color in this neighborhood. For many many years, the L.E.S. was legendary for its culture of resistance to the rich and powerful who control this country. Steven Vincent, Antonio Pagan and their real estate developer friends have done what the government was never able to do — destroy this proud culture forever.
As for Iraq, Steven Vincent did not volunteer for the armed forces to fight for George Bush and big oil. Instead, he went to Iraq to become a cheerleader for Bush. Vincent was “the ugly American” who was too stupid to realize that imposing American culture by force on Third World countries does not work.
John Penley
Gaza omissions
To The Editor:
I am a Veteran of the Battle of the Bulge and received a Bronze Star for combat against S.S. troops in Belgium. I’d like to comment on Ed Gold’s article on his cousins in Israel and the so called disengagement from Gaza (Downtown Notebook, Sept. 2 – 8, “It’s all relative: Thinking of cousins during the Gaza pullout”).
Ed quotes his cousin Yehuda as expressing hope that it will all be over “with as little damage to both sides” and in time the aggravation “will calm down and normal life and peace will return.” He glosses over the fact that the settlements in Gaza were in occupied territory, that Palestinian homes were demolished, that settlers have shot and killed Palestinians trying to recover their land and homes and that Israel defense forces effectively still control theperimeter, blocking access to Palestinian jobs and hospitals and in effect creating a Bantustan similar to that of Apartheid South Africa.
Many people particularly those who otherwise consider themselves liberal or progressive justify the oppressive and racist daily policies against Palestinians, all in the name of the Nazi Holocaust. We must call for a complete end to the occupation of Gaza the West Bank, and support the right of return of over one million Palestinians thrown off of their land and in the Diaspora.
Dave Silver
Friendly apologies
To The Editor:
In UnderCover, I was quoted as stating that Julie Menin wished to wrestle control from Friends over the title of the new community space (Aug. 26 – Sept. 1, UnderCover, “Making Friends”).
Actually, the majority of our community board, not just Julie, wishes to retain community control of this space, as do I, and we voted for this in a resolution. And I honestly don’t think that Julie actually wishes to wrestle with anyone, as in discussions I’ve had with Julie on this topic greatly reflect consideration of Friends, on which she serves as a member of the board.
While some community board members might wish to wrestle, I misstated Julie’s intention, for which I apologize to her, UnderCover, and its readers.
Tom Goodkind
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