Buck stops with Bill
To The Editor:
Re “Betraying its mandate, L.P.C. hikes Gansevoort St. heights” (news article, June 9):
It’s obvious that the members on this commission have no interest in landmarks or preservation. To quote a radio host, they are prime examples of political appointees who have been “wined, dined and pocket-lined” by the real estate industry with full approval of Bill de Blasio. This is one of many reasons that he should be a one-term mayor.
Mike Conway
City going out of control
To The Editor:
Re “Betraying its mandate, L.P.C. hikes Gansevoort St. heights” (news article, June 9):
It is laughable that Jared Epstein, the developer’s rep, thinks he knows anything about the historic Gansevoort Market area. He is about to demolish a landmarked street. For what? An Armani store?
Also once again we see the omnipresent lobbyist Jim Capalino exerting his muscle. People have said Jim is friends with de Blasio. Is that where his magic comes from? Is this a way to run our great city? Help! Help!
Elaine Young
Young is co-founder, Save Gansevoort
Balancing bars vs. residents
To The Editor:
Re “What was he drinking? Cuomo bill could allow bars to be near schools” (news article, June 9):
It is really disappointing that the local community boards didn’t inform the community about this protest. I would have worked hard to get some residential members of the Bleecker Area Merchants’ and Residents’ Association to come to City Hall.
It’s hard to keep a balance between residents and liquor establishments already. We have had our fair share of bars in our Bleecker St. area come to us. In reality, bars are not all bad. Yet it only takes one bad bar to make it miserable for everyone.
We have faced more than our share of bar owners coming in to our community and saying that they want to open a restaurant, only to find out that they have no experience as a restaurant owner or manager. They do have experience as bar owners and we know that they won’t wait a minute to crank up music and hand out the bar snacks.
If our government wishes to weaken one of the safeguards of a community, then they need to balance it elsewhere.
Raymond Cline
Why worship Weiss?
To The Editor:
Re “Where are our leaders?” (letter, by Bunny Gabel, June 2):
Ted Weiss may have been a very nice person but he was among the least effective representatives in the House during his 16-year tenure there. According to C-SPAN, over that extended time, he sponsored 30 bills: Four passed and 26 did not.
His passed bills were truly significant, including support for democracy in Zambia; support of congressional high school art; opposition to human rights violations in Mauritania; and support of the 100th anniversary of moviemaking. It took Mr. Weiss 16 years to build this list of accomplishments. Wow!
Upon his death in 1992, James Dao wrote in The New York Times: “Once he voted against legislation to increase penalties for child pornography… . The final House vote was 400 to 1 for the measure.”
Weiss was a gadfly whose effectiveness in Congress caused our district to miss out on millions in federal dollars. After all, if our representatives in Congress do not bring federal money to New York, who will?
Harry Malakoff
Sticks it to Glick
To The Editor:
Re “Schwartz stonewalled” (Scoopy’s Notebook, June 2):
Deborah Glick’s position on outside income, an impossible ideal, is just silly, and quite frankly, antidemocratic. It’s so utterly simplistic, it’s hard to fathom that she can actually support it.
A citizen legislature has family farmers, hardware store owners, accountants and lawyers, entrepreneurs and other small business owners, people who have saved all their lives and have dividend-producing investments. In other words, people who know how things work in the real world, from which Glick has been shielded for nearly a quarter century.
She wants everyone in Albany to “be like her,” a professional lifetime politician, and she makes it sound so simple. For my money, this is the worst possible situation you can have in an elected position: someone who relies on that salary and will do anything to protect staying in the job, including turning a blind eye to the illegal behavior of colleagues, which is the real, one and only issue in this campaign. Past behavior matters, and in every way indicates future commitment to change.
Transparency and disclosure are the keys. So is having the courage to prevent your colleagues from stealing or from making secret sexual harassment settlements, and to let the community in on a massive pending air rights transfer law before it is written and goes to the governor. Glick did not step up when it mattered most.
And now, in so many words, she accuses a well-known pro-gay community member of homophobia? That’s just dirty, low and cheap. Would that she had aimed that tough side at her colleagues while they were stealing from New York State taxpayers.
It was time for a change years ago. Schwartz, and perhaps other candidates, ought to be expected to be equally effective and tenacious on core Village issues, such as L.G.B.T. equality and housing. Those are a given. It’s time to give someone else a shot at “the everything else.”
Patrick Shields
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