Op-Ed Letters to The Editor
Alternate
subway plan
To The Editor:
Re “Gov backs serial subway
sex-abuser ban” (news article,
Sept. 12):
Why not create the “X”
line, which could run separate
trains? These would provide
cars for folks to light up either
cigarettes, cigars or marijuana.
You could also have other cars
for drinking, gambling or adult
entertainment. This could raise
the M.T.A. millions.
Create the “H” line using
old subway cars about to be retired.
They could be converted
to provide overnight accommodations
for homeless people,
including portable showers
and medical support facilities.
This would afford regular
straphangers more space and a
safer environment.
Mayor Bill de Blasio needs
all the help he can get in dealing
with the growing New
York City homeless population.
Many of them refuse to go
to shelters, which they view as
unsafe. They prefer riding the
subways overnight or staying
out on the street. This could
save New York City millions.
Larry Penner
Penner previously worked 31
years for the Federal Transit
Administration Region 2 New
York Offi ce.
Don’t move
Port Authority
To The Editor:
Of the three fi nal proposals
for a new Port Authority bus
terminal, I was surprised to
discover that two would move
it to the Javits Center site between
34th and 38th Sts. and
11th to 12th Ave. This upsets
the current, sensible northsouth
orientation with Pennsylvania
Station and switching
to a crosstown format. Other
downsides include losing the
direct bus access into the Lincoln
Tunnel on three aerial
bridges from the current bus
terminal, and replacing connection
with the 12 subway
lines at 42nd. St. with a single
No. 7 spur line. And all the
drug and homelessness problems
and terrorism threats,
etc. of both terminals would
be consolidated into a single
three-block area. All things
FILE PHOTO BY STANLEY WLODYKA
Should Citi Bike riders be
forced to wear helmets,
like this woman at a protest
last year outside the
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement court at
Varick and Houston Sts.?
considered, I think the only
option is to rebuild on the existing
Port Authority site.
Chris Horsfi eld
Bike jive talk
To The Editor:
Re “Mayor mulls Citi Biker
helmets and bike licenses”
(news article, Sept. 12):
This licenses-for-bicyclists
jive is victim-blaming bollocks
of the lowest order. It is disincentivizing
the solution to
the plague of traffi c fatalities
— or a big part of it. Instead
of burdening bicyclists with
bureaucracy, there should be a
vigorous crackdown on lawless
motorists. As of today, there
have been 123 traffi c fatalities
in New York City this year.
Two of those were due to bicyclists.
The rest due to motorists.
This focus on bicyclists is
out of whack in the extreme.
Bill Weinberg
Accountability
To The Editor:
Re “Mayor mulls Citi Biker
helmets and bike licenses”
(news article, Sept. 12):
Licenses for cyclists — absolutely.
Being struck by a cyclist
zooming along can result in
life-threatening injury, if not
death. Presently there is no resource
if you’re struck by a cyclist.
You drive a car, you need
a license and insurance. You
ride a bike, you need a license.
And insurance.
Betty Gerendasy
Political mentor
To The Editor:
Re “Liz Shollenberger, 63,
Dem district leader” (obituary,
Sept. 12):
When I was a newbie in politics,
Liz showed me the ropes.
She was my friend and a mentor.
She loved evening the odds
in housing court as she stood
up for the rights of tenants. I
am proud to have known her.
Howard Hemsley
Westbeth friend
To The Editor:
Re “Liz Shollenberger, 63,
Dem district leader” (obituary,
Sept. 12):
We at Westbeth revered Liz.
She is a hero if there ever was
one. Oh, if there only were
more like her. Thank you on
behalf of so many, dear Liz.
Patricia Horan
White whiners
To The Editor:
Re “Rivera must listen to us
on park plan” (op-ed, by Pat
Arnow, Sept. 12):
Dear white people, please
check your privilege. Ten
thousand families of color lost
access to their homes during
the last fl ood, which this plan
will now protect. But you’re
just concerned about where
you’ll walk your dog or bring
your compost for the next
three-and-a-half years. This is
a good plan.
Jamal Hill
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Letters to the Editor, 1 Metro-
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grammar, clarity and libel.
Anonymous letters will not be
published.
A Green New Deal
BY HOWARD BRANDSTEIN
The coastal resiliency problem we are facing is precipitated
by decades of decisions that did not address the
core cause and problem.
Over the past 10 years New York City has spent more than
$150 million to renovate East River Park. The city now proposes
to spend $1.5 billion to bulldoze the entire park and
raise the level of the coastline from Montgomery to 23rd Sts.
by 8 to 10 feet to prevent fl ooding in the Lower East Side and
East Village. A new park would be built atop this dirt pile.
The city’s plan, however, is wholly inadequate to deal with
the environmental crisis confronting us since it fails to address
the root cause of the problem: Why are sea levels rising?
One need only observe the F.D.R. Drive adjacent to the
park to witness the scope of the problem: thousands and thousands
of cars polluting our environment 24/7 and wrecking
our climate system with their relentless emission of carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, transportation
is the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas
emissions at 29 percent of the total. If nothing is done quickly
to forestall and reverse this reality, no amount of dirt can be
piled high enough to protect our communities from fl ooding.
Robert Moses designed the F.D.R. Drive as an integral element
in a new vision for New York. But this extravagant vision
of a car city is a dead end for our 21st-century climate
crisis. The F.D.R. Drive provides six lanes of highway for an
endless stream of noisy gas-guzzling cars that carry an average
of only two occupants per car.
Meanwhile, residents of New York City Housing Authority
and other developments along the F.D.R. Drive live in a transit
desert with limited bus service and subways too distant for
easy access. It is time to replace car lanes with dedicated bus
lanes on the F.D.R. Drive and put the residents of our communities
fi rst by providing clean, quiet, nonpolluting electric
buses to speed riders Downtown and Uptown on the Drive.
By substituting electric buses for cars, we will be able to
shrink the F.D.R. Drive from six lanes to three lanes and provide
the needed room to build a fl oodwall without interfering
with Con Edison’s utility lines — one of the city’s primary
objections to the earlier community resiliency plan.
The community’s earlier plan calls for decking over the
F.D.R. Drive and expanding East River Park. By shrinking the
F.D.R. Drive and introducing nonpolluting electric buses, this
becomes even more feasible since the issue of ventilating noxious
fumes is eliminated. The construction of the fl oodwall or
berm also becomes feasible in or along the F.D.R. Drive by
shrinking the number of lanes from six to three.
The city in arguing for its plan has also claimed that the
current East River Park is unsuitable to act as a fl oodplain in
the event of a storm surge since there is too much artifi cial
turf on ball fi elds that do not absorb water. Let’s then remove
the artifi cial turf and restore the soil and grass. This will be a
bonus for the insects, birds and other wildlife under threat by
climate change. The cost of maintaining grass versus artifi cial
turf is more than offset by savings in the community plan.
It should be pointed out the city’s plan requires an alienation
of-parkland request to New York State since the project
requires state oversight. The city has not made this request.
A plan fusing resiliency, sustainability and transportation
equity is the essence of a Green New Deal for Community
Board 3. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
says we have about 10 years to slash greenhouse gas emissions
or face dire consequences. If we don’t act, a degraded nature
will implement its plan, and we are sure not to like it.
Brandstein is executive director, Sixth Street Community
Center in the East Village.
Schneps Media TVG September 19, 2019 13
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