Cude is working for us
To The Editor:
Re “Benchmark moment” (Scoopy’s Notebook, Aug. 20):
We need Terri Cude and Dennis Gault as our district leaders. Who else sees every problem we have and addresses each of them on daily basis? Terri has led the fight against N.Y.U. 2031, has led the fight for M21 and M5 bus service, and fights daily for noise control, better monitoring of environmental issues and historic preservation.
She leaves her apartment early in the morning and returns late at night, stopping at every opportunity to take note of and address things she sees that are wrong in our neighborhood. Dennis Gault and she are a perfect team covering the north and south parts of our district.
This is an exciting primary where we get to happily vote for a neighbor, a friend, a concerned and caring neighborhood activist. Please take advantage of this great voting opportunity and vote for Terri Cude and Dennis Gault.
Judith Chazen Walsh
Vote experience; Vote Grillo!
To The Editor:
With the upcoming election in September, it is crucially important that Village voters understand the crucial role district leaders play in our community.
District leaders have the critical job of hiring and placing coordinators and poll site workers at polling sites in the district. It’s an ongoing job and one that is especially demanding. It takes years to master and is a job that will be especially critical with a presidential election looming in 2016. A great deal is at stake.
I’ve worked as a coordinator for Jean Grillo for the past five years. She hired me to work various sites in Soho, Tribeca and the Village, as needed. Voters in the 66th Assembly District, Part B, have no idea the work she puts in, with long hours and sacrificing many weekends months in advance to call coordinators, call poll workers, assign people to classes, get test scores, find out about sites that suddenly get closed (through no fault of hers), scrambling to get everyone moved, trying to find new sites, going to politicians to try and get sites to stay open. She saved three sites in the Village but couldn’t keep N.Y.U. from shutting another. Even the Board of Elections can’t stop them!
She is always on the phones working and makes herself available day or night. More than 18 district leaders across the city have endorsed Jean Grillo and John Scott so far! Jean and John have earned their respect and admiration, and Villager readers should consider very carefully just what district leaders do when deciding for whom to vote.
Michael McDerman
‘Blighted’? What a joke!
To The Editor:
Re “Gasps over Gansevoort plan as developer calls historic street ‘blighted’ ” (news article, Aug. 20):
One has to laugh about Jared Epstein’s comments on blight on Gansevoort St. It is interesting that it is his own his partner, Neil Bender (the current Gottlieb), who owns this block and has not made any effort to lease the blighted spaces or to do modest repairs. One exception is the Gansevoort Market, run by Chris Reda, which is a wonderful space. Unfortunately,Gansevoort Market is being removed to make way for Pastis and undoubtedly the higher rents that Pastis will probably pay.
It does not take a massive development in order for a block to be cleaned up. It takes a landlord that is not so overly greedy. The Gottlieb style is shabby, unmaintained buildings and extraordinarily high rents that many Gottlieb tenants complain about.
The blight on the area is Gottlieb’s ruinous practices. No one says Bender / Gottlieb shouldn’t make a profit, but the Gottlieb touch elevates greed to an astonishing height.
The club issue in the area goes way beyond a few buildings on Gansevoort St. and the one club that is on that block — which Jared is so kindly “cleaning up” for the neighborhood — is most likely moving across the street (to another Gottlieb space).
Elliot Draccule
Bikes for bagels
To The Editor:
Re “It’s schmeer love between an artist and N.Y.C. bagels” (news article, Aug. 20):
We lost our art space in Petrosino Square to the Citi Bikes, and we don’t want artworks in the small, gated and green area of Petrosino. We have consistently demanded that the gated green space be left uncluttered and open, so that people can meditate and eat lunch in peace.
In the early morning we demand that the tai chi exercisers, among others, be allowed to continue their practices unmolested by things like giant bagels.
However, if the Department of Transportation would take the Citi Bikes away from the designated art space in the north triangle of Petrosino, we would welcome any art at all — the worse, the better, even a tower of bagels as tall as the tallest buildings in the city. But only, to quote the Village Alliance’s William Kelley, if such art is temporary.
Many thanks to Kelley for giving the bagels a home. They were going to be shoved down someone’s throat, so to speak, no matter what.
Minerva Durham
Let’s not lose focus
To The Editor:
Re “Crusty pit bulls gone wild; Man attacked protecting dog” (news article, Aug. 13):
Thank goodness being a homeless person (willful or otherwise) is not a crime. However, having a vicious dog off leash should be.
This not about “crusties” or pit bulls. I know sweethearts in both groups. This should be about owners who allow their vicious dogs, of any breed, off the leash.That is where the liability is and that is where the law should focus. Not on our biases.
Lawrence White
Noise coverage sounds good!
To The Editor:
Re “Residents sound off on rising noise” (news article, July 23):
The article on construction noise is so important and can be used as an argument against unprecedented razing of small buildings and construction of huge ones in their place. It’s a very real health hazard to nearby residents, and it also takes massive energy to raze what was there and construct new buildings.
And the new high-rises will use a lot more energy than the low-rises they replace. And, of course, we are losing our neighborhood places — public places — as well as affordable homes. Streets, sidewalks and parks will become ever-more congested, more street noise, etc.
Attention must be paid! Keep up the coverage!
Bette Dewing
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