Bravo for Motley exhibit
To The Editor:
Re “Buhmann on Art: Motley at the Whitney” (arts article, Dec. 31):
Thank you for giving Archibald Motley some long overdue recognition. I say “overdue” because when I went to the new Whitney recently, my wife and I discovered that this elegant museum had given an entire floor to an American painter, whose work I had never seen or heard of. How, in a long lifetime of looking at art could this be possible? Great art isn’t supposed to be kept out of sight, but this seems to have happened for whatever reason — possibly because he was black.
In any case, I’m happy to have seen this exceptional artistry and regret that he’s no longer around to enjoy his apparent elevation from obscurity. His work deserves to be seen.
Gene Epstein
Serious sidewalk hazard
To The Editor:
Over the last few weeks, I have seen more and more of those metal cellar doors left wide open for extended periods of time. Usually, they have a red rubber cone in front of them as the only protection to prevent someone from falling into the cellar from the street. And sometimes a rubber cone isn’t even there.
Prior to this, the only time I had seen one open was if someone was going up or down doing work. I could go a year without seeing even that. Now I see an open cellar door two, three, four, five times a day. And they are not always the same ones. Clearly, there has been some kind of change.
I find this terrifyingly dangerous, a catastrophe waiting to happen. I fall a lot, so this is particularly unsettling to me. Also, I can see how someone not paying attention for a second could fall into one of these openings, or bump up against the door itself, which is dangerous enough — or trip over something, or slip on the ice, or simply not see it, or be jostled in the street by accident.
I don’t know why this has started to happen so often. But clearly something new and very dangerous is going on. What can be done to stop it?
Robert Roth
READER FEEDBACK FROM FACEBOOK
Re “Protected Buildings Fraudulently Marked For Destruction” (news, Jan. 21, 2016):
The DOB [Department of Buildings] is dysfunctional. In this day and age to not have a centralized system allows for criminal behavior by landlords. If the mayor wants to keep existing affordable housing, this is one fix that should happen NOW.
Miki Fiegel
It is outrageous that the DOB’s response to this flagrant criminality is to revoke a fraudulently and feloniously obtained permit. No penalty? No referral of the case to the district attorney for felony prosecution? Coddling criminals encourages crime, and tenants and the community are the victims.
Richard N. Gottfried
Chair, Health Committee at New York State Assembly
Re “Horse Carriage Plan Meets Opposition” (news, Jan. 21, 2016):
How about we leave the horses exactly the way they are? They have a home with good care and an easy job. All the concern for their well-being is misplaced. There are thousands of homeless horses in this country. Why aren’t the people who claim to care so much about carriage horses spending their money to help them instead of donating to NYCLASS [New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets], etc.? A lot of horses could have been saved with the amount of money NYCLASS spent on their anti-carriage campaign.
Barbara Levy Steever
There’s no mention of the cost to do the additional studies and research to answer all the questions that came up. Certainly that won’t be cheap. Defending against any legal challenges that come up if the bill is passed won’t be cheap either. Time for the City Council to vote “NO” on the bill, so they can move on to dealing with more important matters.
Nancy Preisser
Just demonstrates the power of money in politics. DeBlasio is coming off as a tremendous hypocrite. He can be bought. It only takes a $1 million contribution in the general elections, plus over $100,000 since.
Richard Barnett
Re “Veteran Boxer’s Gym Fights for Survival” (feature, Jan. 7, 2016):
Love this place. When I trained with Jimmy, not only did I get a great workout, I LEARNED! Get a tailored workout and learn a skill that could potentially save your life — that’s how Jimmy gives more than he asks.
Ken Gibson
A very good article, and I am proud and happy to be a part of this. Jimmy and X-Fit are an added bonus to the Chelsea area, and deserve our support.
Vera Konig
