Setting the record straight
To The Editor:
Re “Miriam Chakin, 90, children’s book writer who loved Israel” (obituary, June 11) and “V.I.D., the place to be” (Scoopy’s Notebook, May 14):
In the interest of future historians, I’d like to make a couple of corrections to remarks about the Village Independent Democrats that appeared in recent articles in The Villager.
V.I.D. was not founded by Eleanor Roosevelt. Although she famously made some campaign appearances on behalf of club candidates, and she, along with Senator Herbert Lehman and other prominent Democrats, supported the club.
Also, the club was not founded in 1957, but right after the 1956 presidential election by those of us active in the Village Stevenson-Kefauver Committee. People with long memories may recall that some members of that group (notably Ed Koch) wanted to join De Sapio’s Tamawa Club and “bore from within”; but they soon learned the folly of that approach and returned to the fold.
By the way, my contribution to that exciting and raucous organizing meeting was to point out that if we chose the name Village Democrats, the initials would be an undesirable V.D. And that’s how V.I.D. was born!
Carol Greitzer
Hopes Pier55 will prevail
To The Editor:
Re “City Club sues to stop Pier55; Faults enviro review, ‘secret’ process” (news article, June 18):
The promise of Pier55 has invigorated our community with the hope of what Hudson River Park can bring to our children and our families. In fact, it is rare to see a great vision like this be so carefully planned — from infrastructure to programming to financing — and with a real sense of giving back to an arts-based community. As such, I am disheartened to learn of a lawsuit filed by some who would rather see this project fail.
New York City’s residents and children are constantly hungry for more open space and new artistic experiences. Pier55 promises to provide both, at a level of quality beyond anything that we could imagine or that the Hudson River Park Trust could afford to build on its own. The pier’s design is beautiful and its artistic team world class.
As a resident of the West Village and Chelsea for more than 15 years, a parent of two school-age children — one at P.S. 3 and one at Clinton School for Writers and Artists — and an entrepreneur who started a technology business in the Meatpacking District, I continue to love the distinct spirit of community in this neighborhood. It is the local artistry and communities that matter most in providing meaning to the life experience.
We have the opportunity to support a beautiful and grand vision to bring Pier55 to life and replace a crumbling pier with an asset that will enhance the lives of our residents and our children even more: more space and more greenery and arts education opportunities that haven’t existed in the park before.
It is such a shame to see a lawsuit filed — under such mean-spiritedness — to try to end this possibility. I do hope Pier55 will come to fruition so that it can enrich the lives of all who use Hudson River Park, including my family, my neighbors and my friends.
Dr. Yin Ho
Ho is C.E.O., Context Matters Inc.
Déjà vu all over again?
To The Editor:
Re “City Club sues to stop Pier55; Faults enviro review, ‘secret process’ ” (news article, June 18):
What is New York City’s promise to coastal communities in Manhattan for certain sea-level rise and storm surge, and how does this planned pier adhere to those promises, given our limited public funding capacity?
From the nyc.gov Web site: “The greatest extreme weather-related risk faced by New York City is storm surge, the effects of which are likely to increase given current projections of sea level rise… [I]t is anticipated that climate change will render…Southern Manhattan even more vulnerable to these risks.
“…[T]he city’s parks serve as the city’s front line of defense when extreme weather events hit, buffering adjacent neighborhood…
“…Floodwaters inundated Hudson River Park…traversed West Street, and flowed into inland streets. … [F]loodwaters reached one or two blocks inland at depths of two to three feet… .”
This isn’t the first time a project by this designer, Thomas Heatherwick, has drawn criticism, as seen in a May 23, 2015, article in the Guardian, “How Joanna Lumley charmed ‘dear Boris’ to back her garden bridge dream.”
“Questions were raised over the procurement process,” the Guardian reported. “Despite original plans for the bridge to be entirely paid for by private sponsors, the public contribution to the bridge across the Thames has now risen… .
“[W]hat is staggering is quite how quickly a plan for a private tourist attraction planted in the centre of the city, at the whim of a celebrity, has been swept through the planning system — and taken £60 million of public funding with it.
“…It all adds up to a misuse of power, position and influence.”
According to a Change.org online petition stop the bridge, the project’s coast has grown to £175 million, with more than £60 million of that in public money.
“The rising cost of construction and the burden of annual maintenance, currently £3.5 million per year, will fall upon the public if the Garden Bridge Trust fails to deliver,” the petition warns.
K Webster
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