It’s easy to criticize
To The Editor:
Re “Triangle memorial is a wedge issue in Village” (news article, March 31):
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire building is one of the most important labor and immigration sites in the world and it deserves a memorial. It is easy to complain — just think of the controversy around the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C. Now everyone loves it!
Fraser Ottanelli
Design devoid of context
To The Editor:
Re “Triangle memorial is a wedge issue in Village” (news article, March 31):
The neighborhood community is strongly opposed to this particular design because it doesn’t honor the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire victims in a meaningful and respectful way. This art brut, modernist installation is devoid of all historical context relating to the horrendous event that took place here and the building architecture.
Noreen Shipman
Keep your ‘public art’
To The Editor:
Re “Triangle memorial is a wedge issue in Village” (news article, March 31):
The proposed “public art” memorial is not a fitting remembrance of the victims of this tragedy. It lacks the dignity and gravitas that this historic event and its site — the landmarked Neo-Renaissance Brown Building — require. A plaque with the names of the victims would suffice.
Constance Dondore
A charmer till the end
To The Editor:
Re “Bob Adelman, 85, photographer who covered civil rights, M.L.K.” (obituary, March 31):
I was never offended when Bob flirted with me. He was just so damn funny and he never, ever stepped over the line. I really enjoyed his baited hooks and threw them right back at him. We spent hours on the phone discussing projects but also we just enjoying chatting…about everything. He was so damn smart! And quick! And at 85, did not miss a beat.
I spent a week at his place during the last Art Basel Miami Beach. He had gotten an infection in a tooth socket and ended up overnight in the hospital. When I phoned him to get his room number, he said something to the effect of, “Oh, darling…I’m just so tired tonight. I think you should sleep in your own bed and let me get some sleep here.” And then he quickly said, “Oh, Oh…I thought you were Branka!” referring to his girlfriend, when of course he knew exactly who he was talking to. But he was such a charmer. It was hysterically funny.
I went up and spent a couple of hours in his room, and at least three different nurses came in to chat. He would always engage them in banter but also ask them where they were from (usually abroad) and then discuss the particulars of their countries and the political situations, etc. And the nurses loved him. One looked at me and said, “He’s one of the good ones.”
That was the last time I saw him. I had a number of phone conversations and e-mail exchanges with him until just a week before he leapt off the planet. When I heard the news, I burst into tears. As James Taylor wrote, “…but I always thought that I’d see you again.”
Lorraine Anne Davis
Why taken to Bellevue?
To The Editor:
Re “7th Ave. So. Stabbing” (Police Blotter, March 3):
A stabbing occurred at Seventh Ave. South and Christopher St. — within shouting distance of the stand-alone emergency department at W. 12th St. — yet the victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital. Does this strike anyone else as ridiculous?
Diane Martella
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