Park can now take flight
To The Editor:
Re “What the hel(iport)? Operator to pay $250K for illegal tourist flights” (news article, Aug. 3):
Bravo to our fabulously wonderful attorneys, Arlene Boop and Dan Alterman! The residents of Hell’s Kitchen could not be more grateful to them. Our portion of the Hudson River Park has been neglected for too long by the Hudson River Park Trust. Now we can involve the community in upgrading and future plans for “our” park.
Kathleen McGee Treat
Treat is chairperson, Hell’s Kitchen Neighborhood Association
Park act backs boating
To The Editor:
Re “Pier 40 e-survey goes out” (news article, Aug. 3):
Tobi Bergman and the Community Board 2 Future of Pier 40 Working Group have distributed a survey to help determine what the neighboring communities and Pier 40 stakeholders want for the pier’s development. Respondents to the C.B. 2 survey should be reminded that, in addition to generating funds to support the rest of the park, the Hudson River Park Act requires that the equivalent of 50 percent of the Pier 40 footprint be reserved for “passive and active public open space.” Free public rowing on the south side of Pier 40 enhances public access to both.
The Pier 40 ball fields are a treasured resource to the C.B. 2 community, and the results of the survey should reflect that. However, in order to be consistent with the legislation that created the park, plans for the pier’s development must “encourage, promote and expand public access to the river, promote water-based recreation, and enhance the natural, cultural and historic aspects of the Hudson River.” The free public rowing programs offered by Village Community Boathouse do all that and more. Rowing at Pier 40 and youth team sports on its ball fields are both active uses of open space on the pier — but only rowing is a water-dependent use.
Community boathouses also dramatically expand public access to the open space of the waters that actually make up most Hudson River Park. The area served by C.B. 2 has one of the lowest proportions of public open space per resident in the city. C.B. 2 residents enjoy only 0.58 acres per 1,000 residents, while the standard for the rest of the city is 2.5 acres. Free public access, via small boat, to the Hudson River increases the open space available to the public in a neighborhood that is seriously lacking this basic resource.
Sally Curtis
Curtis is president, Village Community Boathouse
Stoliars really hooked us
To The Editor:
Re “Arthur Stoliar, 90, first chairperson of C.B. 2” (obituary, July 27):
On behalf of the hundreds of Trout in the Classroom teachers, students, volunteers and supporters, we thank Mr. and Mrs. Stoliar for the gift of this wonderful environmental education program here in New York City. We celebrate your life and your contributions to hands-on STEM learning for all students.
Lillit Genovesi
Genovesi is coordinator, Trout in the Classroom
Bob’s positive presence
To The Editor:
Re “Robert Rambusch, 93, liturgical artist, designer” (obituary, July 6):
Bob Rambusch was a very special person. I manage Greenwich House’s Center on the Square senior center where Bob would come daily. Bob will be deeply missed at the center.
He volunteered for many years and was dedicated to our Theater Club. Bob was respectful, kind and generous. His presence, friendly demeanor and good nature to everyone he encountered meant a lot to so many. We will keep his memory alive here forever.
Laura Marceca
Coler in the house
To The Editor:
Re “Affordable housing fight is also focusing on recovering units” (news article, July 20):
This is a good beginning and the first sign that Erik Coler, the 25-year-old president of Village Independent Democrats, might just be able to wrestle the club away from a bunch of power-hungry old-timers who seem hell-bent on keeping in place the destructive political machine that the Democratic Party has built in this state and city.
I know the players well since I have been a longtime V.I.D. member. I have seen the club become uprooted from its progressive history by the machinations of veteran members who wanted to make sure progressive people like me — who had to turn their back on the club’s leadership and refused to endorse Cuomo or Quinn — were kept in check.
We managed to swing the vote to Teachout, but it has been a backroom struggle with the actual membership left out of most decision making.
I wish Erik well and support him. I did endorse him when the club was choosing its new president.
However, I was chosen to run against a candidate the club had endorsed, Deborah Glick. I had stepped into the shoes of a candidate, Arthur Schwartz, who had been so harassed in public by the team working for the incumbent that it affected his health to the degree his heart doctor said, Stop or you will have a heart attack. He stopped and shortly after did have a heart attack.
I stepped up because the incumbent had walked away from her constituents and because of her involvement at the highest level of Albany power games fronting for the now-disgraced former Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver. She won and I got around 1,000 votes after being in the race five weeks.
I have since been shunned and demeaned by the winning candidate and her cadre in the V.I.D. leadership. I tried to support Erik but found I was not being notified of meetings. I am now watching them turn on him.
I know he is committed to affordable housing issues. But I would like to suggest there is a huge difference with the St John’s Partners affordable housing units: As small as they are, they will be new units on the market. The housing that Coler is trying to rescue from the hands of greedy, dishonest real estate people is housing people already live in.
I am very grateful for Erik’s efforts. But there remains today no low-income senior housing in Community Board 2 — even if he is successful in saving homes for people now living in them, and getting them damages.
Jim Fouratt
Win-win on bins
To The Editor:
Re “Stuy Town is fertile ground for composting program” (news article, July 22):
What Rei Moya and Marynia Kruk didn’t tell you is that the tenants who were skeptical of this program had good reason to feel that way. While the composting bins are, indeed, lockable, many of the people using them were not locking them, which meant they were being left open.
With multiple bug and rodent traps already in place in the areas where the composting bins are located, the bins’ improper use could easily have increased the bug / rodent problem in the buildings.
Under intense tenant pressure on social media to either fix this problem or remove the bins, Mr. Moya found a solution. He had strong magnets placed on the bodies and lids of the bins, which meant that the lids would close shut automatically, circumventing their misuse by tenants.
Mr. Moya deserves and has been given praise for coming up with this solution, but it would not have happened without concerned tenants insisting that one be found.
Adam Rose
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 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.
