PETA-perfect piece
To The Editor:
Re “Ban the carriage horses; Keep the Citi Bikes” (editorial, April 3):
On behalf of PETA and our thousands of members in Manhattan, thank you for the kind and lucid editorial about the carriage horses. It frames the issue perfectly.
Dan Mathews
Mathews is senior vice president, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)
Great horse sense
To The Editor:
Re “Ban the carriage horses; Keep the Citi Bikes” (editorial, April 3):
I just wanted to say thanks so much for the wonderful editorial about the carriage horses. I can’t say thank you enough for your willingness to take a stand in such a hostile climate right now.
Allie Feldman
Feldman is executive director, NYCLASS (New Yorkers for Clean Livable and Safe Streets)
A humane trend
To The Editor:
Re “Ban the horse carriages; Keep the Citi Bikes” (editorial, April 3):
Bravo for this piece, Villager. If we are able not to be harmful to animals, why would we be? Many cities around the world have banned horse-drawn carriages for all the reasons mentioned, and New York City will correctly be next — unless Mayor Emanuel in Chicago beats de Blasio to it!
Joyce Friedman
Principled position
To The Editor:
Re “Ban the carriage horses; Keep the Citi Bikes” (editorial, April 3):
I’m glad that The Villager has taken a principled position against keeping the horse carriages. It is inhumane to have horses carrying tourists around in the year 2014 in busy Midtown traffic. We have a great alternative in these vintage electric cars, and no carriage drivers will lose a job. It is a win-win for everyone.
Charlie Di Giacomo
Who’ll take them?
To The Editor:
Re “Ban the horse carriages; Keep the Citi Bikes” (editorial, April 3):
If there is somebody or some company that will pay to take the horses to retirement farms and let them live out their lives there, it would be humanitarian to ban the horse carriages. If there is no such benefactor, then the horses would be slaughtered. The horses, almost certainly, would prefer a hard life to death.
George Jochnowitz
Nublu is cool
To The Editor:
Re “Former squatters fear bar next door will be a riot” (news article, April 10):
As a squatter (with family) and a native New Yorker, I can’t wait for Nublu to open! This is far from a frat boy bar. This is a place of innovative, beautiful music, similar to The Stone on E. Second St.
I have been to their place down the block many times over the years. I remember Butch Morris and On Davis (homeboys from E. Seventh St.) jammin’ there with their bands. C-Squat should be happy to have them for neighbors. Hopefully, they would have sufficient soundproofing.
Mac McGill
Parks and giving
To The Editor:
Re “Squadron touts ‘20 percent solution’ for needy parks” (news article, April 3):
Thanks to the senator for chancing the idea that rich people might actually want to share. I hope he’s right. Apparently few others agree.
I don’t quite understand the timidity of politicians on the issue of the unequal state of our parks. Didn’t we elect this mayor on the very premise of choosing equality for our city? Nor do I understand how we let stand a park system that allows wealthy donors to drive public park policy — which happens the minute a donor chooses to give to one park over another. And just to be clear, we want the large parks well and completely funded. They serve large swaths of the public.
But I can’t, for the life of me, understand how anyone can enjoy the fancy park near his or her home while, blocks away, a park is forsaken that serves poor people — whose children arguably have the greater need of green space than their wealthier neighbors.
Sara Roosevelt Park houses four park buildings: Two serve the needs of all Manhattan’s parks and one houses the alarm system for all five boroughs’ parks. This is in a very narrow, poor park with pathways that are sinking, in a community with very little green space.
So, please spare us your worries about donors being discouraged from giving. We give with a great deal fewer financial resources. As always, it is the poor who understand generosity while the rest cling to this foolishness.
K Webster
Reisdorff was real
To The Editor:
Re “Kenneth Reisdorff, 92, owner of the Broome St. Bar” (obituary, April 3):
Ken was an extremely sweet man who cared deeply for New York and Soho. He always had a smile on his face and was happy to stop and talk about the day. His Broome Street Bar was a reflection of the man. Rustic and real, it was a great place to hang out.
Ken was a true original who will be greatly missed by everyone who was lucky enough to know him. I feel fortunate to be one of them.
Lawrence White
Missing the old WBAI
To The Editor:
We discovered WBAI almost 50 years ago. We were at Fire Island painting somebody’s house. We were listening to the radio and “The Lone Ranger” came on.
We took off our jackets, lit a fire and started listening to WBAI — the old-time radio programming, the fabulous music, four great broadcasters (Bob Fass, Larry Josephson, Chris Albertson and Steve Post) and radio programming that one could call “fair and balanced.”
And it really was. A good example was Dale Minor’s reporting from Vietnam. He was not embedded, he was reporting — a calm and intense voice of reason from the front lines.
Even the fundraising was creative. One time we brought all our pennies and some toilet paper to the station. And I’ve always regretted that we did not respond to the appeal that, for $25, our four favorite guys would cook dinner in somebody’s (anybody’s) kitchen. Not that they all would fit into our tiny kitchen.
Over the years, life changed, and so did WBAI. While the station still provides alternative programming, it is more strident, less objective and much less interesting these days. The diversity of opinion is gone.
Bob Fass nailed it a few days ago when he spoke about the wonderful, democratic experiment that had been WBAI. I hope that all this need for power (or whatever is going on) will dissipate and that the staff and the board will return to the cooperation that somehow was possible even with the differing opinions in those good old days.
“Radio Unnameable” is about all that I sometimes listen to these days.
Susan Leelike
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