Classic ‘menu speech’
To The Editor:
Re “Renato Migliorini, 82, partner in Hudson restaurant” (obituary, May 1):
Renato was one of my favorite New York City people — maybe even the absolute favorite. I’ll miss him, like everyone who ever had the honor of meeting, speaking and listening to his wonderful “menu speech.”
I’d like to think I had more of a bond with him since Piccolo is my all-time favorite restaurant of anywhere. And I’ve been everywhere, man.
Yale Gurney
Mounds, Migliorini…
To The Editor:
Re “Park toilet tally” and “Gotta have park” (Scoopy’s Notebook, May 1 and April 24) and “Renato Migliorini, 82, partner in Hudson restaurant” (obituary, May 1):
Thanks, Scoopy and The Villager, for this coverage and update on the Washington Square Park bathrooms. Before the discussion of the park renovation’s phase three and the new building came to Community Board 2’s Parks and Landmarks committees, Rebecca Ferguson, the park’s former administrator, took a bunch of people on a tour of the existing three buildings, including the bathrooms, which many of us had never been in!
The women’s bathrooms were in such disrepair and I can only imagine what the men’s room looked like. However, those discussions about phase three were chaired by then-Parks Committee Chairperson Tobi Bergman and there was never, to my recollection, discussion as to how many stalls there would be in the bathrooms. The “discussion” was mainly on the building’s look, not the interior’s specifics.
I always thought the building, from the architects’ design, looked like a suburban train station — and, indeed, it does. It’s pretty, in a sense, but I’m not sure it fits into Washington Square Park or its surroundings.
Thanks also for the coverage of the park’s new “mounds” replacement, which Alan Gerson should feel good about. He and mounds advocates helped retain a similar play structure there, though the Parks Department did not want it. You can see how it’s one of the redesign’s most unique aspects. It encourages “spontaneous play,” which is what the original mounds set out to do.
I used to live on Hudson St. one door down from Piccolo Angolo. Renato was always a smiling face and warm presence. One early morning, the heater or something in the basement of my building started smoking. There was smoke in the ground-floor hallway and the fire alarm went off.
I called the Fire Department and left the building with my one cat in a carrier. I could not get my other cat to come with us, so I just hoped, if it was a fire, that the firefighters would arrive in time. I was sitting on a bench outside the building at around 5 a.m. while, I think, the firemen were inside, when Renato (whose name I did not know) came in to work.
He invited me into Piccolo Angolo, gave me espresso and talked to my cat. It was so sweet, he was so kind, and he allayed my fears. Although I have not lived at that address for a while, it is something I will never forget and a very “New York” moment.
Cathryn Swan
P.O. mobile unit M.I.A.
To The Editor:
Re “Customers become unglued after postal truck stays shut” (news article, April 24):
We read with interest Tequila Minsky’s article on the mobile unit at the Patchin Station Post Office, because we were there on Sat., April 26, at around 2 p.m., and no one was there then, either. We waited with two other people (one with a walker) for more than an hour, but the mailman never showed up.
So we walked around looking for a mailbox, at least, and found one on Greenwich Ave. I was worried about the woman with the walker, but she mailed her letter and went home.
The person supposedly operating the mobile unit is not there every day except Sunday until 4 p.m. Don’t believe the signs.
Jane Heil and Michael Usyk
C.B. 3 numbers don’t lie
To The Editor:
Re “C.B. 3 lacks leadership diversity, member charges” (news article, May 1):
The fact that the membership of the Executive Committee of Community Board 3 is diverse wins Ayo Harrington’s argument. Fifty members of the community board voted for these appointments. This is precisely why more diversity and balance exists. On the other hand, the committee chairpersons are appointed exclusively by board Chairperson Gigi Li.
Ms. Harington has handled this with grace and dignity. She gave statistics. Numbers do not lie. The appointed committee chairpersons under Li (and, I suspect, equally under her predecessors, Dominic Berg and David McWater) do not reflect the diversity of the 50 board members.
For context, it was former Borough President Scott Stringer and now his successor, Gale Brewer, along with Councilmembers Margaret Chin and Rosie Mendez, who have been responsible for creating the board’s diversity. It was up to Li as board chairperson to make sure these elected officials’ commitment to diversity and representation was upheld.
In the aftermath of all this, some commentators are now portraying Ms. Harrington (I’m paraphrasing) as a loud black woman who is using the race card to get something she doesn’t deserve. This to me is disturbing and sobering, a reminder of just how far we have to go to end a legacy of slavery, race and segregation in this country.
Finally, there is no way to have an honest conversation about race relations, institutionalized racism, inadequate representation or prejudice, if you cloud the discussion with a false premise. That Ms. Li is an Asian-American woman does not exclude her from the same scrutiny a Caucasian man or woman may have experienced in these same circumstances. Ms. Li was in a position of power and influence — what did she do with it? Ms. Harrington’s statics provide the answer.
Erin Harvey
It’s a collective concern
To The Editor:
Re “C.B. 3 lacks leadership diversity, member charges” (news article, May 1):
The struggle to end racism is a collective one. The momentary relief of finding “the” racist is the work of tabloids. It is a counterfeit fight. And worse, it is ineffective in ending racism because it confuses people into thinking that the depth and mass of the problem is being tackled.
The Executive Committee of C.B. 3, in part, is composed of an African-heritage man who is the first vice chairperson; a Latina who is the secretary; and a Chinese-heritage woman who is the board chairperson.
How you best fill the committee chairperson posts to reflect racial diversity that is inclusive of African heritage, Latino and, I assume, indigenous peoples is the task at hand. The woman who brought the complaint wants that, the chairperson wants that, and the rest of the board wants that. If achieving this goal is happening too slowly, if it’s not going well, if there is disagreement about it — that is something the group, collectively, is responsible for.
Personalizing a systemic difficulty of the magnitude of racism to one person, even if that person is the leader, is destructive to the group’s functioning, is not accurate and is hurtful. Targeting the person of color who leads this group as “the” racist? Completely off.
It reminds me of blaming President Obama for the fact that racism still exists in the U.S.
And to clarify: Prejudice is different from institutional racism. We all carry prejudice — we live in a society that exploits any difference to divide and conquer. But racism is the one-way, institutionalized, mistreatment of people of color — with white people acting as the agents of that oppression. People of color might carry internalized racism — brought on by racism — but that’s very different in terms of real institutional power relations.
K Webster
Tribes, the real deal
To The Editor:
Re “Steve has left the building, but takes a piece of it” (news article, April 17):
A Gathering of the Tribes, Steve Cannon’s salon-style aerie cum gallery, was the real deal in a world of hype and spectacle. Sarah Ferguson’s article was a welcome tribute to a scruffy haven that will be dearly missed. Those of us who frequented Tribes count ourselves lucky to have been a part of L.E.S. history.
Steve Cannon truly empowered people. Like so many others, I benefited greatly from his array of programs. I showed art at Tribes. I had the privilege to contribute to Tribes Magazine #10 in the capacity of arts editor. I read poems there and wrote blurbs for several of the dozens of books that Cannon published through his Fly By Night imprint. I heard great music there. All courtesy of the “Blind Professor.”
The atmosphere at Tribes in the last days and hours was a mix of nostalgia, defiance, grief and pride, all crowned by a potent sense of fraternity. Tribes as we knew it has undergone a sea change, but the community it served lives on, as does the one and only Mr. Steve Cannon. His is a legacy of love — built not on what he did for himself but what he did for others.
Jeff Wright
Cannon is the L.E.S.
To The Editor:
Re “Steve has left the building, but takes a piece of it” (news article, April 17):
I am a former back-room tenant of Steve’s. I lived there in the winter of ’93. Later on, I would send friends. Amiri Baraka would stop by. I met Max Roach on the front steps, as he was a friend. Bob Holman and Steve held poetry workshops on the third floor, among them Reggie Gaines.
I’m sure “Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk” got its start in those workshops. Jim Jarmusch would come by and grace us with his cagey cowboy glare. This house has seen nearly every significant New York cultural figure pass by at one time or another since the ’60s. Steve’s house was a cultural institution.
After the fire, I plastered the stairwell, tore down the plaster-and-horsehair roof in the back gallery. We all pitched in. Every night was full of talk, and I got my first real cultural and cosmopolitan education.
Now, of course, the building is a real estate opportunity in an increasingly high-toned market, and nobody cares. Shame on you, Zhang. Another classic case of money-grubbers using their tight-assed legalese and standards of decency to evict any real vibrancy out of the Lower East Side.
Steve Cannon is the Lower East Side, and Steve Cannon is New York City.
David Jager
A retail red herring
To The Editor:
Re “Too small to let fail: Helping local mom-and-pops” (talking point, by David Gruber, May 1):
Villager readers, do not be fooled by this talking point piece. This was written to hide the only real solution to stop the closing of small businesses — the 25-year-old bill bottled up in the City Council and never allowed a vote by the full Council, the Small Business Jobs Survival Act.
Business owners know that the problem centers on when their leases expire and that they have zero rights to negotiate the new terms or to even say if they can stay in business. The solution to stopping businesses from closing is simple: Give the tenants equal rights with the landlords to negotiate fair terms, and if they can’t agree, then an arbitrator will decide. The real estate industry wants government-controlled programs and regulations because real estate, through its massive campaign contributions, controls our government.
Steve Null
Null is director, Coalition for Fair Business Rents
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