Scary shopping dreams in ‘FiDi’
To The Editor:
Re “Retail market is finally booming near Wall St. (Downtown Notebook, March 12 -25):
Last night I had a nightmare. When I awoke I discovered it was no nightmare. It was real. No longer did I live in the Wall Street/Seaport Area. I am living in FiDi.
Attempting to rid myself of the nightmare, I took my handbag and credit cards and walked in FiDi to do my favorite thing: Shop!
Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Burberry. Oh a sea of high-end retail stores waiting for me to discover. Lovely clothes, expensive clothes. I quickly ran to Century 21 where I knew that I could buy at least one dress, maybe more, leaving me not broke by the temptations of the new and classy retail stores. Even Disney was beyond my pocket and I didn’t want to dress like Cinderella.
Lunch time, no luck there either. Wow, oh wow. Soup, salad, and cocktail broke the bank.
The old was better than the new. Surrounded by mini malls, I sought comfort in a movie.
This is great I thought. At last a movie theater that I can walk to from my new address, FiDi.
Reserved ticket in hand, I checked in and sank into my airline style bed. The smell of food surrounded me. My pillow covered my eyes because I did not want to watch the couple next to me kissing, hugging and……well, you know! I ran out to buy a drink to aid my recovery from shock. Thirty-somethings gathered round the bar area, making the usual noise. This was a movie, a dream…….or a nightmare?
Luis Vazquez is a real estate broker who lives and I presume sells real estate in the Downtown area. He writes “more coming…..just wait. This is a brand new FiDi.”
Dickens wrote about cities “getting younger.” I can hardly contend with William St. traffic.
Back to bed in my Financial District apartment I draw the blinds, turn on Mozart, and feel into what I hope is a dream.
Diane Wintering
To The Editor:
In the quintessential historic district of New York City, the plans of the Howard Hughes Corp. are to de-construct and to destroy, thus their motto — “See Change”— nothing to do with the Sea and everything to do with Change. Had the Roman Coliseum been here, Hughes would topple it and turn it into a Barclay Center. This Texas company has no interest in an intelligent enhancement of our historic district, but worse, they have no interest in the common man or in common sense.
Tourists from all over the world come here every day. Why? They come to view history: a non-existent building — the former World Trade Center. They come to see the old Financial District, its buildings and its history, whose disappearance the present plans would accelerate.
Hughes’ motives are clear. As the New York Post reported long ago, the lease to our Seaport was given away for pennies (“South $weet Lease Deal.” Feb. 24, 2013).
The city politicos time and again have had short vision with tragic consequences (i.e. Penn Station). Now they would take some crumbs from the table of the plutocrats.
As I read Luis Vazquez, “Retail Market is Finally Booming near Wall Street.” (Downtown Notebook, March 12-25), I shuddered and hoped that the article was pure fantasy — that its outline of the future Financial District is a series of sick jokes.
Must we ever be victimized by weak political hacks who refuse to say the one moral word: NO. No to costly cinemas that sound more like bedrooms and bars than film theaters. No to costly stores when people need to shop at Century 21. No to buildings that block the view of the Brooklyn Bridge. No. No. No.
Richard Fabrizio
