‘Tech hub’ in context
To The Editor:
Re “ ‘Tech hub’ O.K. may take a zoning change” (news article, Aug. 10):
As the founder and C.E.O. of Civic Hall, the anchor tenant of the E. 14th St. proposed development referred to in the article, I would like to provide a bit more context to fully inform your readers.
Central to the development and not mentioned in the article is the inclusion of a 40,000-square-foot digital-jobs training center, which will provide technology job and skills training for New York City students, teachers, immigrants and people with physical and legal barriers.
Technology is no longer a discrete job sector or industry. Technology is the underpinning of everything society now does. The mission of Civic Hall is to make sure tech skills are accessible to everyone — particularly the underserved — and that technology be harnessed for the public good.
Civic Hall has been serving New York for a number of years. We have made resources available to provide better services to veterans, to make sure people in public housing have heat, to make information about government benefits accessible online, and to make government more transparent and accountable. And that’s just naming a few.
It would be a shame if, in the constant battle over New York real estate, New Yorkers would lose even more access to these resources and an opportunity to participate in the 21st-century economy.
Civic Hall is more than just a place. It’s a community of people working together for the public good. I invite everyone of goodwill to join us in making sure technology serves everyone equitably and, most of all, the public good.
Andrew Rasiej
Rasiej is founder and C.E.O., Civic Hall, and co-founder and president, Civic Hall Labs
Amazon brats!
To The Editor:
Re “Amazon contract delivery trucks eat up parking, sidewalks, hurt shops” (news article, Aug. 17):
The lazy-ass spoiled brats who’ve ruined my neighborhood and live in my building have never been to a store. To hell with your stupid boxes and e-commerce! Stay out of my way — on the sidewalk and in general.
Dottie Wilson
A wave of comments
To The Editor:
Re “Sharing the shore uneasily with Trump voters” (talking point, by Kate Walter, Aug. 10):
Wow! I have been writing for The Villager for years and never got so many comments. Must have struck a nerve. I most definitely will be back to the shore this summer and every summer for the rest of my life.
Kate Walter
Pagan was our Trump
To The Editor:
Re “Sharing the shore uneasily with Trump voters” (talking point, by Kate Walter, Aug. 10):
Hey, Kate, didn’t you support Antonio Pagan for City Council? He was the Trump of the East Village. You’re not as liberal as you want Villager readers to believe. Kate, please post a photo of yourself protesting in front of the Jersey Shore Trump supporters’ houses. We all know you would never actually do it. And Kate, the Lower East Side squatters got 11 buildings and have an archive at New York University and the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, a museum for squatters.
We won. You lost.
John Penley
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