Carriage horses are not commodities
To The Editor:
This is a plea, asking Councilmember Corey Johnson to vote for Intro 573, when it comes up for a vote in the City Council.
It will, once and for all, ban the carriage horses from New York City.
This “tradition” has been around since the mid 1800s. It’s time to bring it to an end. You don’t have to have two legs to be a slave — and that’s what these horses are. They are unwilling laborers for their “owners.” They are denied freedom of any kind, their natural instincts are thwarted, and they are nothing more than objects of property for profit.
We can do better. We must do better. We must evolve beyond this exploitation now. Horses know the difference between pleasure and suffering. They are sentient beings, not commodities. We must realize this, and act on it.
Councilmember Johnson, please vote for Intro 573.
Thank you.
Jean Khatchadourian
Tommy Tune deserves Tony time
To The Editor:
I am addressing the fact that The Lifetime Achievement Award will NOT be presented during the Tony telecast (June 7). I would like to change that!
Lifetime achievement awards are awarded to recognize contributions
over the whole of a career — rather than, or in addition to, single contributions. This year’s recipient is Tommy Tune and he is certainly deserving of this award. He has won nine Tony Awards and is the only person in theatrical history to win in four different categories (and to win the same two Tony Awards two years in a row). With this Lifetime Achievement Award, he will have an unprecedented 10 Tony Awards!
Tommy danced onto the Broadway scene in the chorus of “Baker Street” in 1965 and hasn’t stopped since. He worked in the choruses of “A Joyful Noise” in 1967 and “How Now Dow Jones” in 1968. He garnered raves and his first Tony (Best Featured Actor in a Musical) in Michael Bennett’s “Seesaw” in 1973. Branching out, he directed his first show, the Off-Broadway production of “The Club” in 1976. “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” was his next venture, followed by “A Day in the Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine” and his second Tony (Best Choreography).
Tommy returned to off-Broadway in 1981 to direct Caryl Churchill’s “Cloud 9.” In 1982, “Nine” brought him a third Tony (Best Direction of a Musical). Mr. Tune pulled double duty in “My One and Only” and was rewarded with his fourth and fifth Tony (Best Choreography, Best Actor in a Musical). This was followed by “Stepping Out,” and then he received his next two Tonys with “Grand Hotel” (Best Choreography, Best Direction of a Musical). The following year brought the “Will Rogers Follies” and his next two Tony Awards (Best Choreography, Best Musical).
Not satisfied to remain stationary, Mr. Tune returned to the stage in his acclaimed one-man song and dance extravaganza, “Tommy Tune Tonight!” first on Broadway, and then touring nationally and internationally.
He continues to perform, and epitomizes why Tonys are given out in the first place.
It is an insult to a body of work and worth to be relegated to not be a part of the very telecasts that purports to celebrate excellence in the theatre.
Please help me get him the respect he deserves and allow his legion of fans to celebrate with him by writing to the Tony Committee directly, at tonyawards.com.
Theatre Lovers: Lifetime Achievement Award winners should be celebrated as PART of The Tony Telecast.
Richard Skipper
Disabled get screwed
To The Editor:
Able-bodied Westbeth artists leave the building through the main entrance at 55 Bethune St. and down four steps to the sidewalk. The mobility impaired who can’t maneuver the steps come and go through the entrance on 744 Washington St., designated by the Department of Transportation [DOT] as the official place for pickup and drop-off by accessible vehicles. It also has an indoor waiting area with chairs.
Sometime ago, the board of directors, in violation of city law, narrowed the already narrow Washington St. sidewalk to an illegal 3-foot width — not wide enough for maneuvering a wheelchair — when scaffolding posts were placed directly on the sidewalk. In June 2014 the board’s executive director announced that the scaffolding was improper and would be replaced by October 2014 with a wider, legal one. In December, not only had it not been replaced, it was extended, and a violation was issued by DOT and the Department of Buildings [DOB].
Recently, the board, with unthinkable arrogance, and the tacit approval of DOT and DOB, had the Washington St. sidewalk lined with concrete barriers, banning assessable vehicles from the pickup zone, and instructed Access-a-Ride passengers to wait on the corner of Bethune St. or Bank St. instead. The mobility-impaired who cannot navigate the scaffolding posts or the stairs are now forced to take the following route: leave the elevator, go through the mailroom, up a ramp with no rail or platform, through a glassed-in foyer, into the inner courtyard, through the underpass, down a too-steep ramp, across the broken surface of the outer courtyard, turn left at Bank St., and go half a block to Washington St., and wait on the corner of Bank St. or Bethune St. for their ride — rain or shine.
Also recently, a screwdriver fell eight floors from the scaffolding to the corner of Washington and Bethune Sts., nearly missing an artist in a wheelchair and another passerby. Nevertheless, this potentially dangerous situation, the board tells us, will continue until the end of the summer. To quote Clint Eastwood: “Are you feeling lucky?”
Margie Rubin
Rubin is a member, Disabled in Action
Feedback from Facebook
Re: “Curbside Homestead, and Hope, for Former Chelsea Merchant” (feature, May 21, 2015):
Shows you that sometimes the homeless situation is more complicated than we even thought. Mr. Morris has quite a story and I wish that there was some place he could find a warehouse to live his dream. Excellent story.
Kc Williams
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