You self-important snobs…
To The Editor:
Re “Hey, sorry…things change” (letter, by David Moder, March 31):
I found the letter written by Donald Moder regarding the closing of Associated supermarket to be quite disturbing. According to him, this community has been taken over by the privileged elite, which includes Google and its employees, and therefore we, the financially challenged, including many seniors, need to live with what he considers “viable alternatives.” Viable to who?
This neighborhood was built up — long before many of you self-important snobs were born — by the hard work and sacrifice of small business owners and average people who just wanted a better life for themselves and their families. They were concerned with the health and welfare of their neighbors and showed respect for the elderly. They were content with basic creature comforts, not greedy excess. And as a community they thrived.
Now, if I understand Mr. Moder correctly, this area is fast becoming an exclusive club of self-absorbed individuals whose only concern is that their selfish, excessive needs are met promptly. They are the children of the corporate bloodsuckers, hoarding all the money for themselves while the rest of us suffer and die. We are like vermin… . To get rid of us, take away our affordable food source and we will either leave or succumb.
This is just another sad example of the moral decline of our society. The needs of the one come before the needs of the many. Profit is more important than people, and we, the “old folks,” are once again diminished by our losses.
Alice Maddox
We need Associated
To The Editor:
Re “ ‘Save Our Supermarket!’ 14th grocery faithful take protest to landlord” (news article, March 24):
What are our councilmembers and politicians doing? Certainly not servicing the need of the community.
Luxury condominiums are being built along W. 14th St. — one just completed next to the Associated supermarket — with apartments costing upward of $7 million. Perhaps the purchasers of these apartments don’t care what they spend for food, or don’t know because they don’t do their own shopping.
However, this area of Chelsea does not just house the wealthy. Is it the intention of the New York real estate industry to make this city a place for only the affluent?
Associated is the only supermarket on W. 14th St. There are others but they are boutique markets and are very expensive.
Associated is an asset to the community. The market is well run, the food fresh and well priced and the staff helpful and knowledgeable. We need this market and the employees need their jobs.
Permitting commercial property owners to triple or quadruple rents when leases expire is obscene. The Small Business Jobs Survival Act must be approved and acted upon.
J.L. Kaufman
Congrats!
To The Editor:
Re “Villager wins 10 awards; No. 5 in state” (news article, April 14):
Congratulations, Lincoln and The Villager staff! We depend on you for fair reporting of all community issues — and you never disappoint!
Mary Johnson
It’s too late for us…
To The Editor:
Re “L.E.S. gang book’s snub is a punch to the gut” (news article, April 7):
Sorry to say, but I think the day is past when Lower East Side activists — most of them white, and by now, most of them “rentrified” out — could team up with Latino gangs to confront the neighborhood’s problems, especially like the gradual emptying out of Jacob Riis Houses, which doesn’t directly affect anyone who doesn’t live or have family in public housing.
That does not mean, however, that the intersections between radical organizing and youth gangs cannot be understood in historical perspective, and as possibilities for the future.
I shared this controversy with John Hagedorn, who wrote “World of Gangs,” which looks in on exactly this question. I would hope that Clayton would be able to muster the energy and educational zeal to produce exactly this kind of discussion at Bluestockings, perhaps for the upcoming L.E.S. history month.
Alan W. Moore
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, 1 Metrotech North, 10th floor, Brooklyn, NY, NY 11201. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. Anonymous letters will not be published.
