Green that E. Chelsea civic space
To The Editor:
Re: Letters To The Editor, July 31, 2014 (two letters in response to our “Secret Parks of Chelsea” article in the July 17 edition):
I would like to remind Ms. Raccagni and Ms. Sukenick — who seem eager to dump more tons of concrete and steel on 20th St., that parks are civic (people’s) space. They are the pores through which a city breathes. It is no accident that Occupy Wall Street rose in Zuccotti Park — which we promptly renamed “Liberty Park.” Anarchists love parks. So do kids, oldsters, and, yes, capitalists. Occupy later marched uptown to visit the homes of 11 billionaires.
Many of my fellow marchers, who had never left their overcrowded home areas, went goggle-eyed at the open space, splendor, and greenery, subsidized by the people’s tax money. If trees and space are good enough for the likes of Jamie Dimon, they are good enough for the people of massively overbuilt E. Chelsea!
Burying our last open space under tons of concrete and steel will enrich some politically connected developer while killing community. Affordable Housing needs to be expanded on spots where dilapidated and underused buildings already exist, not by destroying civic space!
Kathryn Nocerino
Does not like Citi Bike
To The Editor:
A recent Daily News editorial said Citi Bike “has entered a death spiral” because “36 percent of its initial subscribers had chosen not to renew” their annual memberships.
Pedestrians everywhere are cheering. Citi Bikers have been as law-breaking as other bikers — riding on sidewalks, in Washington Square Park, the wrong way on streets, ignoring traffic lights, etc., etc.
And there’s a hilarious ad for a storage company I saw on the subway: “Bloomberg’s gone. You can put the bike away now.”
New Yorkers are voting with their feet — literally. We want those huge bike racks off our sidewalks, out of crowded intersections blocking crosswalks.
We want Citi Bikes gone.
Noreen Shipman
Sleaze tactics are criminal
To The Editor:
Re “Tenants’ Rights Trashed Amidst Market-Rate Conversion” (news, Aug. 14):
I’m almost surprised that no one blamed the fact of the gentrifying High Line as the cause of this! I love the High Line, but it was landlords like this one who, before, claimed that the decrepit state of the High Line since 1980 was “depressing values” of their real estate holdings. But sleaze is sleaze.
They didn’t inform the tenants of their rent stabilization rights? They should be taken to court and all their “improvement” work stopped short.
Don’t you think this is a crime?
Bill Goodhart
Pricing out service workers
To The Editor:
Re “Tenants’ Rights Trashed Amidst Market-Rate Conversion” (news, Aug. 14):
What is happening in NYC is a horror. All our neighborhoods are being destroyed to make room for the rich. Iconic restaurants, delis, shoe repairs and every other mom and pop shops are being forced out and replaced by high end stores and housing for the rich. Look at the Second Ave. Deli. The landlord raised the rent so high, they closed and it was replaced by a bank.
Remember the subway strike a few years ago? Duane Reades, McDonalds and so many more businesses did not open because their workforce lived in the Bronx or Brooklyn and there was no way to get to work. This is what happens when you replace affordable housing and the workers of this city have to live elsewhere.
In a few years, there will be no workforce around to serve the rich. Everything these landlords and developers do now will backfire on them in a few years. Workers do not want to travel an hour to work and they do not want to pay transportation costs when they are only making minimal wage. They will look elsewhere. What they are doing now will destroy the reason people moved into the neighborhoods in the first place: services.
James Edstrom
Reader Comments
From ChelseaNow.com:
Re “Tenants’ Rights Trashed Amidst Market-Rate Conversion” (news, Aug. 14):
I know Andrew Rai, who is a friendly affable fixture of the Chelsea community. At any given time, you can see this guy helping an elderly lady with her groceries or helping a blind person cross the street [residents of Selis Manor, on 23rd St]. These investors who are doing this should be thoroughly investigated, as should the history of the building. These tenants need the protection of our elected officials, and they should be able to stay in their homes.
Steven
