Letters to the editor

Volume 1, Number 51 | The Weekly Newspaper of Chelsea | September 7 - 13, 2007

Letters to the editor

Getting your barns straight

To the Editor:
Re “Gansevoort traffic goes in the right direction” (editorial, Aug. 22):

In your Aug. 22 editorial, you refer to “a traffic-light timing approach where all pedestrian crosswalks…would be used simultaneously for short bursts of time” as “barnstorming.” The correct terminology is Barnes Dance.

The Barnes Dance, named in honor of Henry A. Barnes, a former New York City Traffic Commissioner who championed the technique, entails synchronizing traffic lights at an intersection so that they all turn red at the same time as one part of the light cycle, stopping traffic on all sides and allowing pedestrians to cross all at once, in all directions.

As you indicated, this technique is “especially effective at complex intersections…,” giving pedestrians a fighting chance to get across the street safely.

Shirley Secunda
Secunda is the Chair of Community Board 2 Manhattan’s Traffic & Transportation Committee.

Councilmember errs

To The Editor:
Manhattan residents who cherish their parks might be interested in this recent news story overlooked by virtually all media. On August 15, New York City Council Finance Committee Chairperson Councilmember David Weprin, who is also a 2009 candidate for New York City Comptroller, made an appearance at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park to announce his involvement in approving one of the Council’s many pork barrel member item projects—this time in support of Shakespeare in the Park. Councilmember Weprin had his driver illegally enter the loop road, which was closed to vehicles so joggers, walkers and bikers could enjoy the park without traffic. Worse still, his car was parked illegally on grass and pavers by the side of the road. (Source: Streetblog: “As He Likes It: Weprin, and His Car, in the Park—Aug. 16.). Shouldn’t all public officials set a higher standard for citizens to follow rather than using the perks of public office as a vehicle to abuse our natural resources?

Larry Penner

Kudos for real estate coverage

To The Editor:
The real estate series in Chelsea Now must continue. They are having an important impact on the Chelsea community. Next week is the near anniversary of the land-scandals investigation by reporters of Newsday in Suffolk County, L.I., which in 1970 reaped that daily newspaper a Pulitzer Prize. It all started from a curious reporter who saw irregularities in zoning transactions near MacArthur Airport. I have first-hand experience in this development because I lived in Suffolk County and edited/reported/investigated all the circumstances of political corruption some 40 years ago. Chris Lombardi and your other writers have done a remarkable job. Your uncovering of the pressures driving people out of their apartments now is related to the same tactics used by politicians—who were privileged to have inside information—to force homeowners to sell their properties back in the 1960s. Thanks again.

Peter Zaccone

C’mon Jerry, impeach Dick!

To The Editor:
As a longtime Manhattanite, longer than I care to remember, and a longtime constituent of Congressman Jerrold Nadler, I was dismayed to learn that H. Res. 333, the bill calling for the impeachment of Dick Cheney, is sitting in the committee our congressman chairs — and that it may continue to sit there until it dies. Our congressman is the chairperson of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (all of which have been trampled by Cheney) of the House Judiciary Committee.

Nadler, who generally has been a real representative of the Upper West Side, is not backing this bill. He states, through his office personnel, that the bill does not have enough congressional backing. But if he came out for it, pushed for it, he would bring a lot of other congresspersons along with him.

I must ask Congressman Nadler, when will Congress say enough to an executive branch run amok?

When lies and deceptions have led us into an illegal and immoral war with Iraq that has already maimed or killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and Iraqis?

When the dictum of a “unitary executive” allows the administration to flaunt its power over the Legislature’s branch initiatives, established law, constitutional guarantees and historical precedent?

When torture and extraordinary rendition are established as legal practice and the right of habeas corpus is abolished at the whim of the executive branch?

When the American people are wiretapped and spied on without cause?

Or will it take:

A war with Iran?

The appointment of another ideologue to the Supreme Court?

A national emergency that allows the president to declare martial law under his recent executive order?

I ask you, West Siders, to join with me in calling on Congressman Nadler to sign on to H. Res. 333, press for a hearing on the bill in subcommittee and hold a vote to pass it; and to press for adoption of H. Res. 333 in the Judiciary Committee as a whole and move it out to the House of Representatives.

I am disappointed by the Democrats who were swept into office by the voters in November 2006. I am disappointed that the war is still funded. Let’s call, e-mail and visit our representative in his office to demand that he use his power.

Sharon Pavlovich
Pavlovich works in the national office of World Can’t Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime.

Gottlieb ‘ghost town’

To The Editor:
Re “Mollie Bender, 85, of Gottlieb real estate family” (obituary, Aug. 10):

Can anyone tell me what’s so “wonderful” about leaving dozens of buildings and storefronts in the Village and Chelsea vacant for years on end? Some areas of the West Village are beginning to look like the abandoned ghost towns of the Wild West. Maybe someone can prevail upon Mrs. Bender’s son to begin the process of rehabilitating these eyesores into the vibrant life-affirming buildings they were designed to be and allow us long-suffering Village and Chelsea residents to feel pride in our neighborhoods again.

Carol Dougherty

E-mail letters, not longer than 350 words in length, to news@chelseanow.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to Chelsea Now, Letters to the Editor, 145 Sixth Ave., ground floor, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel.