Letters to the editor

Taking issue

To The Editor:
Re “Garment District producers gear up for Pin Day petition campaign” (news article, July 13):

Chris Lombardi’s reference to me in his article on garment district rezoning (June 9–July 5) was seriously incorrect. Contrary to what Lombardi wrote, I have never been “feted” at any Fashion Center BID event, much less at “many.”

I have appeared—not been “feted”—at exactly one BID-sponsored event: a buffet luncheon forum for retail real-estate brokers in the spring of 2006. As one of four or five invited, unpaid speakers, I discussed leasing opportunities in the area.

I trust you will share this letter with your readers promptly.

Steve Cuozzo
Cuozzo is a real estate columnist for the New York Post

City Hall’s other half

To The Editor:
Others may have also noted an error of omission in Gerard Koeppel’s informative column “Manhattan traffic congestion a historic mistake” (Talking Point, July 20). But here goes anyway.

The design of New York City’s City Hall is credited to two architects, Mangin and John McComb, Jr., not to Mangin alone. McComb was also the architect of Old Queens, the historic Georgian-style building on the campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.

Ronald Asinari

Congrats to working group

To The Editor:
After months of deliberating the future of our Pier 40 in the Hudson River Park, the Pier 40 Working Group chartered by the Hudson River Park Trust Advisory Council recently released its detailed, comprehensive recommendations for the pier’s development. I would like to congratulate the group on completing this important, difficult task.

Now that the recommendations have received further endorsement from Community Boards 1 and 2, as well as the Advisory Council itself, I look forward to using the document as the strong statement of community needs that it is, in discussions with the Governor’s Office and the new members of the Park Trust, once they are appointed.

It is not an easy time to be a park advocate on the West Side. These days, the designated parkland on the Gansevoort Peninsula is at risk of alienation, development on Pier 57 has been stalled for more than a year, and incursions like the heliport and the tow pound continue to displace promised green space. Furthermore, the most recent New York State budget allocation for the Hudson River Park is significantly lower than in recent years. With the need to develop Pier 40 looming on top of all this, each of these park issues may impact how the others play out. It is important that the community remain vigilant on all fronts, and I pledge to continue to do the same.

As a legislator who represents most of Hudson River Park, as well as parts of Riverside Park and East River Park, I strongly support the goals of the Pier 40 Working Group’s recommendations, and am now working to see them realized as part of our ongoing, essential battle to get the much-needed, community-friendly parkland our neighborhoods deserve.

Thomas K. Duane
Duane is state senator for the 29th District.

Bar crowd beats hookers

To The Editor:
Re “Sex workers swept out of Gansevoort as the new clientele moves in” (news article, July 27):

I’m responding to Lucas Mann’s article about the displaced transgender prostitutes. It appears Mr. Mann has a kind of misplaced nostalgia for the prostitute with the “heart of gold.” In truth, the drunken and otherwise excessively affluent patrons of the Meat Market’s stores, clubs and restaurants bring money to the neighborhood and more police protection. The noise and inconvenience in a formerly quiet area, which is zoned for clubs, is unfortunate, but I would think far more preferable than the insidious crime of drugs and prostitutes.

I don’t know if Mr. Mann is a resident of the West Village. If so, he might be far less sympathetic to the transgender prostitute population here, which routinely harasses residents. On almost any early weekend morning or coming back from work, no matter if children are present, we are subjected to menacing and/or obscene comments and behavior. There is also the tragedy of transgender youth soliciting older men, rather than perhaps being channeled into job-training programs. Exploitation is repugnant, whether it’s consenting or not. An alternative to looking the other way, in the guise of “tolerance,” is to provide real-life employment opportunities.

Many of the West Village’s transgender prostitutes are transients who don’t contribute to neighborhoods and, in fact, operate to their detriment. That they live without avenues for legitimate jobs is unfortunate. That they make life miserable for working people and bring crime to the area should not be condoned. For those of us who pay taxes and raise children, development is a blessing.

Susan Weinstein