Op-Ed Letters to The Editor
Claims on Jane
To The Editor:
Re “On 14th St., we continue
the fi ght of Jane Jacobs” (op-ed,
by Arthur Schwartz, Aug. 26):
The notion that author and
former Villager Jane Jacobs
would have opposed the city’s
bus-and bike-centric plan for
the 14th St. corridor is absurd.
She believed cars were terribly
destructive. In her seminal
work “The Death and Life of
Great American Cities,” she argued
for “attrition of automobiles”
and “making conditions
less convenient for cars.”
It’s hard to imagine Jacobs
objecting to a plan that would
improve transportation options
at the cost of making conditions
more diffi cult for some
drivers.
David Gurin
Lay off lawyer
To The Editor:
Re “What would Jane do on
14th St. busway?” (editorial,
Aug. 29):
Demonstrating in front of
lawyer Schwarz’s house is fi ne,
although he said he didn’t care
to have his address publicized.
Picketing in front of homes
occurs. During the Vietnam
War, we picketed in front of
draft board members’ residences,
with “Know Your
Neighbor” fl iers. Objecting to
one State Supreme Court justice’s
anti-tenant ruling, picketers
at the judge’s home were
restrained as to hours, in order
not to disturb people’s sleep.
Likewise with Occupy Wall
Street demonstrators.
Upper West Side Assemblymember
Danny O’Donnell
took a busload of tenant demonstrators
to picket at a landlord’s
palatial home in Westchester.
And so it goes.
However, leave the legal
technician alone — everyone is
entitled to have a lawyer.
Alan Flacks
No ‘auto erosion’
To The Editor:
Re “What would Jane do on
14th St. busway?” (editorial,
Aug. 29):
You admit you’re not clear
Jane Jacobs laid out much
of her philosophy in her
seminal book.
on where Jane Jacobs stood
on cars. I think the following,
from Jacobs’s “The Death and
Life of Great American Cities,”
makes it quite clear:
“Erosion of cities by automobiles…
proceeds as a kind
of nibbling, small nibbles
at fi rst, but eventually hefty
bites… . A street is widened
here, another is straightened
there, a wide avenue is converted
to one-way fl ow…more
land goes into parking… . No
one step in this process is, in
itself, crucial. But cumulatively
the effect is enormous… . City
character is blurred until every
place becomes more like every
other place, all adding up to No
place.”
Shirley Secunda
Pick your battles
To The Editor:
Re “ ‘Let them eat pastries’
or ‘Let them protest’?” (news
article, Aug. 22):
Although I am a civil liberties
lawyer who has worked
with Norman Siegel on cases,
he and I do have some fundamental
disagreements.
The First Amendment prohibits
the government from interfering
with free speech. Norman
and his former colleagues
at the American Civil Liberties
Union have represented neo-
Nazis and Klan members seeking
to overcome governmental
interference.
I interned at the New York
Civil Liberties Union and
learned, early, that resources
were scarce, and that progressive
lawyers have to pick their
battles.
I would never represent
the Klan or a Nazi. There are
plenty of super-conservative
law foundations that can take
on their fi ght, and I picketed
the A.C.L.U. when they represented
Nazis wishing to march
through a Jewish community
in Skokie, Illinois, back around
1977. I got fi red from my fi rst
legal services job for doing that,
but I would do it again.
Perhaps more to the point,
the First Amendment has nothing
to do with the political or
moral propriety of trying to
intimidate a lawyer in a community
fi ght by posting his address
in the e-mail mailboxes of
100,000 or more people, and
then picketing his home where
he lives with a spouse and minor
children. To me that is antidemocratic.
And the attempt to
intimidate a lawyer to abandon
clients smacks of a fascistic approach
to politics.
Klansman could be fascists
and also have First Amendment
rights, which is why they
got to march in 2017 in Charlottesville
with torches lit, and
why any right-minded person
called them out.
I was general counsel to
ACORN, probably the largest
activist group ever to exist in
the U.S. Its community organizers
organized many a picket,
probably even some at the
homes of businessmen whose
policies were destroying poor
communities, although more
often outside their banks and
corporate headquarters.
I do not think that is comparable
to picketing the home
of a lawyer in a legitimate environmental
case and trying to
intimidate him into dropping
his clients. Norman may have
enjoyed it. I didn’t. Yet I was
polite to the picketers, and even
engaged with a group of them
for an hour after the screaming
ended.
Arthur Schwartz
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Paid vacation would
hurt small business
BY MONICA SAXENA
I wake up every morning excited to run my restaurant in
Chelsea, serve my community and work alongside my
staff. Our mission is the same every day: Provide the best
dining experience and quality food to my neighbors, guests
and the city’s tourists.
I work diligently with my staff of 14. Our team is comprised
of hard-working fi rst-generation Americans and immigrants
like myself. Together, we work the frontline operations of the
restaurant to ensure the best dining experience for our customers.
On the back end, I work hard to provide my employees
a good job and a positive work environment.
I love the restaurant industry, but it is getting harder every
day for restaurants like mine to survive in today’s business
climate. Mayor de Blasio is now calling for an unfunded mandate
that would require businesses like mine — with more
than fi ve employees — to provide two weeks of paid vacation
time to employees. I appreciate the intentions behind this proposal,
and I agree that we need to take care of our workers for
their health and happiness.
However, the mayor’s proposal would place the full cost
and administrative burden of this new policy on small business
owners like me, who are already trying to keep up with
high labor costs, workers’ compensation insurance, liability
insurance, rent, electricity, increased real estate taxes, licensing
fees and all the other challenges of running a restaurant.
Larger businesses may be able to absorb these costs, but my
small business can no longer absorb rising expenses. Unfortunately,
I can only charge my customers so much for the delicious
Indian food we serve before we become unaffordable
and customers no longer feel they are getting a good value.
My employees already earn the $15 minimum wage, and
often more, especially those who earn tips. Mandating two
weeks of paid vacation time for each worker would catapult
my payroll costs. I imagine workers would want to take their
time off on weekends and holidays — the busiest time for restaurants
— so I would need to add employees, or pay an overtime
rate to existing workers so I could run my restaurant and
provide the level of service to which our guests have become
accustomed. In today’s tight labor market, it would be hard to
fi nd replacement workers. This policy would compromise our
food quality and customer service, and would tarnish my restaurant’s
reputation and business, which in turn also would
hurt my employees. If I’m lucky enough to cover employees’
shifts, it would cost me more because now I would be paying
for two employees but only getting the output of one worker.
I believe in supporting the city’s working people, since I am
one. But if this policy forces more small businesses across the
city to cover rising costs, we would not be providing benefi ts
for our workers; we would be putting them out of a job.
To support both working people and small businesses, the
government should help fund and administer this benefi t just
like they do with paid family leave or even Social Security.
Alternatively, the City Council could create a tax credit for the
city’s mom-and-pop shops to offset rising operational costs.
Mayor de Blasio and the City Council can’t keep asking more
from small business owners like me, without doing anything
to support the health of our businesses.
Small businesses are the foundation of the entrepreneurial
culture for which New York City is known. We want to continue
supporting our employees and serving our communities,
but we can only do that with the city’s help.
Saxena is owner of aRoqa restaurant, at 206 Ninth Ave.,
between 22nd and 23rd Sts.
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