Letters to the editor

Volume 1, Number 45 | The Weekly Newspaper of Chelsea | July 27 - Aug. 2, 2007

Letters to the editor

Oops, pope did it again

To The Editor:
As a 35-year resident of the West Village and a lifelong practicing Catholic who values Jesus’ model of inclusion and love for all God’s people, I am deeply disappointed that the Vatican has chosen to exclude and distance itself from other Christian churches.

In the recently released document “Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church,” the Vatican has made it clear that they believe other Christian churches “suffer from defects.”

“Not only does this document hinder and potentially damage years of positive ecumenical dialogue and relationships, but it also disregards the example of Jesus,” said Nicole Sotelo, acting co-director of the progressive Catholic organization Call To Action. “Jesus, who was Jewish, invited all people to the table, regardless of religious affiliation. Why can’t the Vatican follow the model of Christ?

“As Catholics who try to follow Christ, we feel impelled to publicly disagree with the Vatican’s document. Our silence would equal complicity. We will not be complicit with exclusion. We believe that the Christian community is bigger than the Catholic Church and that Christ’s model of inclusion must be lived today, as it was 2,000 years ago. Despite what the Vatican says, we will continue to strive to live as Jesus did by sitting at the table with all God’s people.”

Personally, I would like to apologize to all my Christian and Jewish and Muslim and Hindu and Buddhist friends for the hurtful words coming from Rome.
John Doyle

“All but for one mistake”

To The Editor:
Re “One-way is sure way to improve safety on Ninth Ave.” (news article, July 20):
The stretch of Ninth Avenue between 16th St. and 14th St. has been changed to “one-way downtown.” This ends decades of having a broad uptown lane on the east side of the avenue, which was established mainly to accommodate truck traffic for the Port Authority freight terminal.

Probably this unusual alacrity on the part of the N.Y.C. Department of Transportation is a good thing. Perhaps the new DOT commissioner is to be thanked for it.

However, it seems to me that one mistake has been made in the process, and that it is likely to be a fatal one. Only the red and green signals are in use on each of the three-light vertical traffic signals at that intersection, facing uptown-downtown.

The arrow for vehicles to turn left from the downtown avenue onto 16th St. is not in use. Thus, drivers speeding down Ninth Avenue are turning left when—and only when—flocks of people are crossing the street with the white “Walk” signal and the green light.

This is a recipe for instantly converting more people into puddles of blood and guts. Hasn’t anyone noticed this except me? (Con Edison is working at the west side of that intersection now, and that stretch of Ninth Avenue is in the process of being resurfaced.)

I think that, after decades of drivers and walkers alike being familiar with that intersection’s peculiar—and peculiarly dangerous—format, at least a temporary use of the left-turn arrows, with special signage, is needed. Actually, I strongly suggest that a permanent left-turn signal, separate from the “Walk” time for pedestrians, is needed, at least unless and until Ninth Avenue and 16th St. is transformed from its present layout.

It has taken decades to get even insufficient improvements at Ninth Avenue and 23rd St., Ninth Avenue and 57th St., and Fifth Avenue and 39th St., to name a few places where separate vehicle-turn signals and time periods were lacking. As the signals already are in place at Ninth Avenue and 16th St., why not time them and use them, instead of leaving them dark? Otherwise, some hapless driver is likely to have the trauma of killing “seven at one blow” or some other number of victims.

The title of this letter is from a WW II joke told to me 40 years ago by a priest who probably was just a bit too young to be drafted then. The commanding officer is concluding his hearty congratulations to the fighter pilot who has made a perfect landing on the Navy carrier after bringing himself and his plane back unharmed from a successful combat mission in the Pacific. “Arr, but for one mistake . . .”
Kathy Casey

If a hurricane hit Pier 40

To The Editor:
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff recently warned New York to prepare now for hurricane storm surges that could devastate low-lying portions of the city. This issue was discussed in an illustrated lecture, “Vulnerability of Metropolitan Region to Hurricane Damage,” by Nicholas Coch on Governors Island on Sat., July 21.

What does this mean for Pier 40? Hurricane storm surges will affect the weakened steel piles of Pier 40. The piles, which were repaired 20 years ago, are once again in need of repair.

This means that more work is needed now, along with a comprehensive engineering study for protection from storm surges. Adaptive reuse of the structure is needed to accommodate all protective options needed in the future.
Bill Hine and Robert Smith
Hine and Smith are members, Save The Piers