Letters to the editor

Volume 1, Number 35 | The Weekly Newspaper of Chelsea | May 18 - 22, 2007

Letters to the editor

Sexton on Washington Sq. Park

To The Editor:
In speaking with Chelsea Now’s sister paper The Villager recently, New York University President John Sexton provided significant insight into where we may expect N.Y.U. to take the Village over the near and distant future.

The planning process described by Dr. Sexton can be a positive development and holds great promise for a new N.Y.U. and community initiative.

If, in fact, Dr. Sexton has “absolutely no idea” about a leveled plaza and other elements proposed for the Washington Square redesign, I hope he will now inform himself of the plans and of the community’s deep concern about the proposed plans.

N.Y.U. does celebrate images of the park in its promotional literature and seems to embrace the park as the core open space of their campus.

It would be a wonderful act of good faith and a show of support for their community for N.Y.U. to engage in the current dialogue on the renovation plans for the park. Nearly 90 percent of the community opposes the proposed plans. The university should be willing, as a good and influential neighbor, to confront the “very deft city administration” and take a position that aligns with its community, instead of always being a somewhat disengaged adversary.

Norman Rosenfeld
Rosenfeld was a member of the architects committee that designed the 1970 community-led renovation of Washington Square Park.

Attack on pedicabs is pitiful

To The Editor:
I was surprised your most recent issues did not report extensively on recent legislation passed by the New York City Council limiting the number of pedicabs. This action is bad news for those who support a cleaner environment, free enterprise and transportation alternatives.

Pedicabs are public transportation powered by people, not polluting fossil fuels. They represent a pure free-market service with no government subsidy. Consumers are afforded another mode of choice versus walking, taking a bus, taxi, subway or driving. The excuse that pedicabs contribute to traffic congestion is absurd. The several hundred pedicabs operating in the city are outnumbered by thousands of other vehicles, including taxis, limousines, FedEx trucks, UPS, delivery trucks and automobiles, that take up far more space.

Pedicabs provide a great form of exercise and gainful employment for their drivers. These people are our neighbors and pay taxes just like you and I. Consumers, including tourists, continue to patronize this service on a voluntary basis.

Everyone should read the next Campaign Finance Board filings by New York City councilmembers. It will be interesting to see if there was any political quid pro quo for those who voted to limit pedicabs and by fortunate coincidence received campaign contributions from the taxi industry. Doesn’t the New York City Council have more important issues to deal with than putting a small group of brave entrepreneurs out of business?

Larry Penner

The wrecking ball

To The Editor:
“We need housing for all the people—for working people and artists—not just Wall Street investment bankers.”

That quote was reported by Chelsea Now from a recent Community Board 4 hearing on a proposed high-rise development affecting our community’s residents.

That quote so aptly reflects the current state of our modern transitional stage. As far as our eyes can see and our feet can travel, we observe luxury high rises being constructed. The giant cranes and wreckers come in. Former Mom and Pop stores go down. Scaffolds go up. Traffic congests and is diverted, as old buildings come crashing to the ground, scattering rats—both two- and four-legged ones—to other places.

Wake up, neighbors, and smell the coffee before your kitchen, too, goes under the wrecking ball along with the percolator. I speak from firsthand experience, for it actually happened to me elsewhere in our city. So, please take heed in your community affairs. Get involved!

Peter Zaccone