Row, row your selfish boat
To The Editor:
Re “Do the right thing” (letter, by Rob Buchanan, April 6):
Ad hominem red herrings aside, Rob Buchanan offers up some puzzling commentary in his recent letter about Pier55.
He refers to secrecy, yet multiple public hearings were held regarding Pier55, and the large majority of us in the community, including Community Board 2, came away excited and pleased with what we saw. And the plaintiffs’ claims of a flawed process were rejected at every level of our state court system.
He also refers to harming the environment. But, once again, every level of the New York State courts has rejected that flimsy claim — and not once have the plaintiffs been able to provide an expert to back it up. Even the recent decision in the plaintiffs’ favor did not rule that the project would harm the environment.
Finally, perhaps better than anyone else, Rob Buchanan illustrates that the plaintiffs’ battle to kill off a public park that the neighborhood supports revolves around a selfish, idiosyncratic attempt to tailor public policy around the whims of a tiny few. Mr. Buchanan likes to talk about how many people kayak in the area around 14th St. But he happens to be one of the only ones. In fact, through about six recent months of observation, the park observed zero people boating there. Thousands of New Yorkers enjoy the park’s boating programs to the south and north, where there is less old pier and pile debris in the river.
In the end, Mr. Buchanan’s letter really proves just one thing: His misguided participation in this lawsuit is really just all about himself.
Mike Novogratz
Novogratz is chairperson, Friends of Hudson River Park
Soon it will be too late…
To The Editor:
“Do something meaningful for supermarkets” (talking point, by Kirsten Theodos, March 30):
When Ruth Messinger was the Upper West Side councilperson, she helped create the small Business Task Force.
It was led by a wonderful cleaning-store owner; it’s so long ago I don’t remember his name. Gail Brewer was there with Ruth, along with an intern named Michael.
I do remember how hard everyone worked to get the word out that we were losing our small family stores at a fairly rapid pace due to enormous rent increases.
Learning from our effort with Sweet 14 — which ultimately failed to protect local stores — the Small Business Task Force tried to have the businesses lead the fight, but the results were the same.
The state again told the city that Albany needed to pass legislation protecting small stores and the city asked the state for the required enabling legislation. Family businesses do not have the time or resources to lobby and take time off from work to save their livelihoods.
Ruth and her staff worked hard on the issue, as did the hatters’ union, which donated a small office, and a few banks sent representatives, and at least two events were mobilized.
But business owners are not organizers, and after a few years everyone got discouraged.
And now rents have really gotten out of hand and an extraordinary greed for profits is pushing them even higher. No matter how outrageous this all is, it’s hard to stop what’s going on. And this is no longer just a Manhattan issue.
Soon it will be too late.
Susan Leelike
We’re drowning in Starbucks
To The Editor:
Re “Deal brewing to bring Starbucks to Avenue A and St. Mark’s Place” (news article, March 30):
Yes, I have been a Starbucks customer — their coffee frap is delicious.
Still, do we have to turn our city’s body and soul over to a corporate chain? Especially in the heart of the East Village?
Joseph Hanania
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