Letters to the editor
Finding hope after homelessness
To The Editor:
I found your article “Ex-Inmates further their Fortunes Off Broadway” (news article, May 2) not only inspiring but personally relevant. After experimenting with drugs and alcohol while in my teens, I wound up homeless, mentally ill and stigmatized. I was fortunate to be a client at the psychiatric facility The Bridge Inc. for several years. Similar to a Fortune Society client’s course, I received therapy, job-readiness education and support, housing, medication and recreational treatment. I volunteered at several agencies to obtain work experience (the Fortune Society coincidentally being one of them!), attended rehab and completed two job-training programs. The Fortune Society is a highly dedicated, compassionate organization serving a sorely needed purpose. Mass advocacy for change of state policies regarding criminal justice, the treatment of the mentally ill and developmentally disabled, the unemployed, the need for affordable housing and other sometimes seemingly intractable societal problems is essential, and is usually highly effective and can be mutually supportive and empowering. I have not seen the play “The Castle” yet, but plan to very soon. Right now, I am residing at a women’s shelter, the Olivieri Center, where I have been helped to achieve re-admittance to CUNY’s City College of New York and obtain a part-time job.
I don’t expect it to be easy, but rehabilitation can be achieved. There seems to be no limit to what the future can bring.
Marcia Ann Reid
Quinn’s ‘callous indifference’
To The Editor:
Writer Elizabeth Forel (“Speaker shortchanges animals, ” letter, May 2) speaks volumes when she says voters are paying attention to elected officials and their voting records on animal issues. I am one of those who sees a candidate’s attitude toward animals as a broader reflection of their character and intelligence. Locally, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is an example of an elected official who doesn’t seem to have a clue, as she shoots down bill after bill that would provide some meager protection for animals and the people who care about them. She flat-out ignores letters and calls from the majority of New Yorkers who strongly object to having horse-drawn carriages in New York City. She dismisses an official city audit that documents abuse and serious neglect of the horses. She shows callous indifference to the millions of New Yorkers who have pets and want to be able to keep them in their homes. She is caught with slush funds and tries to correct this by keeping her fellow City Councilmembers in the dark. In my opinion, when one connects the dots, a picture of a self-motivated, self-absorbed individual appears in the name of one Christine Quinn—the antithesis of what a public servant should be. It is long past time for her to step down.
Susan Davis
Morality more than a human issue
To The Editor:
In response to Ms. Forel’s letter “Speaker shortchanges animals” (letter, May 2), I am one of those mainstream compassionate voters and consumers who votes for politicians and buys from businesses based on their humanity.
A legislator’s stance on animal bills is an indicator of his or her morals and ethics. A morally good person, among other things, is kind to animals and people, and is supportive of the weak and helpless. Therefore, revelations of Speaker Quinn’s shell game of fake groups to hide political slush funds and her $600-per-hour lawyer retained at taxpayers’ cost is no surprise to me.
As many of my friends and colleagues, I do support compassionate legislators and business. For instance, I support Manhattan Mini Storage and Tony Avella for mayor. Also I don’t support the New York Sun newspaper, because they published a one-sided editorial puff piece on the New York Horse Carriage Industry. Lastly, I don’t support Christine Quinn for mayor, and strongly support calls for her resignation as speaker.
Roxanne Delgado
E-mail letters, not longer than 250 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. Chelsea Now reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel.
