The truth hurts, and how
To The Editor:
Re “Top 10 outrageous things about N.Y.U. plan approval” (talking point, by Andrew Berman, Aug. 16):
Truisms:
New York City is owned lock, stock and barrel by real estate interests.
Our elected officials are not leaders; they follow the money the real estate interests use to fuel their re-election campaigns.
If you can destroy the building where Edgar Allan Poe lived when he revised and published “The Raven,” and if you can destroy Eugene O’Neill’s and E.E. Cummings’s Provincetown Playhouse, you can do anything, with impunity.
And what about the added strain on our aging infrastructure — water, sewage, electricity, gas, phone, cable? Will N.Y.U. pick up the tab if any of these interstitial necessities collapse? Or is this just another burden we taxpayers and consumers will have to bear?
New windows? Hah! (Any mention of whether N.Y.U. will install these windows, or merely leave them on the stoops?)
Finally, when is the city going to cede Washington Square Park to N.Y.U. — privatize it — so that our elected officials can continue to claim that they’re not increasing our taxes? That’s surely the next step.
Glenn Bristow
So grateful for Berman
To The Editor:
Re “Top 10 outrageous things about N.Y.U. plan approval” (talking point, by Andrew Berman, Aug. 16):
Andrew Berman is this generation’s Jane Jacobs and I am so grateful that he fights for the Village. Thank you, Andrew. Even if we lose this battle you will always be remembered for your effort in doing what was right.
Laura Bong
You’ve got to be kidding!
To The Editor:
Re “Hot Stuff! Park benches are unfit to sit, hit 125 degrees” (news article, Aug. 16):
According to its spokesperson, the Parks Department is relying on future tree growth to shade and cool the black, hot-seat benches in Washington Square Park. However, most exposed hot seats are nowhere near the tree lines, especially on the eastern part of the park.
This is more pablum that the Bloomberg administration feeds the public, and is not much better than its deafening silence on the disappearance of St. Vincent’s Hospital.
Vahe A. Tiryakian
And after all that…
To The Editor:
Re “Hot stuff! Park benches are unfit to sit, as they hit 125 degrees” (news article, Aug. 16):
And it took forever to “remake” that park. More than half the park was unusable at any given time for about four years.
Patricia Bellucci
Just gimme that shimmy
To The Editor:
Re “Burlesque will be on the menu with stripped-down poetry club” (news article, Aug. 2):
Aww, honey. … Does K Webster think that we make money off this job? Do you think that we do burlesque to pay the rent and feed our babies? This is my hobby that I look forward to every week. It’s a highly expensive hobby. I actually would be rolling in dough if I wasn’t spending so much money on my awesome costumes. Some of us ladies simply love our bodies and love the stage.
Are you going to tell me that my “DragonBall Z” act in which I spend most of my stage time transforming into a Super Saiyan is a result of being exploited by a male-dominated society?
We are artists. Just because it isn’t your same definition of art, doesn’t mean you should pity us and discriminate against us. We do what we do because we love it.
Stella Chuu
E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to lincoln@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 515 Canal St., Suite 1C, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. The Villager does not publish anonymous letters.
