Op-Ed Letters to The Editor
Its trees set Minetta Lane apart from the surrounding
“honky tonk,” a letter writer says. Sadly, the street’s
trees are being destroyed by trucks — plus, a healthy
tree was chopped down by the Parks Department.
Stuy Highpocrisy
To The Editor:
Re “Stuy H.S. Christian case
irked students, parents” (news
article, Sept. 5):
Let me get this straight. The
people complaining have issues
with the public school mixing
with the Christian religion but
have no problem mixing with
the Muslim religion by having
a longtime Muslim prayer section
there?
Such hypocrisy.
Either allow both or none
at all, if you want to be consistent.
Will Danielle Filson, the Department
of Education offi cal
quoted in the article, remove
the Muslim prayer posters as
well?
Luis Gomez
Woe is Petrosino
To The Editor:
Re “W. Village isn’t pining
for street trees, unlike Little
Italy” (news article, Sept. 5):
A dearth of trees in Little
Italy is sad and too true.
As the New York City Department
of Parks and Recreation
increasingly subcontracts
out its work, including
the planting and maintenance
of trees, standards plummet.
In Petrosino Square, the only
park in Little Italy, we discovered
that one peripheral gingko
died because the contractor
failed to remove the thick
metal wire from around the
tree ball, so as the tree grew, it
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
strangled itself.
Another tree was sheared
to a stump by one of the
ubiquitous fi lm trucks. Other
trees were planted in improperly
prepared tree pits, which
caused water to run off into
the street instead of to the
roots of the trees.
A fi x, an agreement by
Parks to expand the tree pits,
was abandoned halfway unfi
nished, years ago now. Many
appeals were made to 311
and Parks — all the way up
to Parks Manhattan Borough
Commissioner Bill Castro and
Parks Commissioner Mitchell
Silver.
But the upshot is that, of
the dozen peripheral trees in
Petrosino, one tree has been
missing for close to a decade,
and two standing gingkos have
been dead for two years; that
is, one-quarter of the peripheral
trees in Petrosino are missing
or dead.
Through gross mismanagement,
the city of New York
is failing to husband our precious
public resources, and
Little Italy suffers, especially.
Georgette Fleischer
Fleischer is president, Friends
of Petrosino Square
Trees tragedy
To The Editor:
Re “W. Village isn’t pining
for street trees, unlike Little
Italy” (news article, Sept. 5):
Our home on Minetta Lane
was designed around the very
concept of the relatively unique
way the trees formed an almost
gothic arch crossing Minetta
St. and was represented in the
facade of our building.
Well, after an incredible debacle
of the Parks Department
marking the wrong tree for
removal — and then cutting
it down, despite its being perfectly
healthy — it’s no longer
a supportive concept.
But more than that, it was
one of the very things that
made our neighborhood
unique, interesting and a lush
respite from the honky tonk of
MacDougal St. and Sixth Ave.
The trees getting hit and
subsequently destroyed by wayward
construction trucks — or
theater-set trucks moving in
equipment and scenery for the
Minetta Lane Theater — has
become unfortunately commonplace.
The installation of tree
guards — paid for by the community
— still cannot sustain
keeping these trees alive.
It’s a very unfortunate situation
that really does demand
a more substantive response
than to continue to plant new
trees without accounting for
protecting them for future enjoyment.
Adam Kushner
End tracking
To The Editor:
Re “Don’t cut Gifted programs”
(editorial, Sept. 5):
I must dissent from this.
The whole notion of a twotrack
education system where
the “sharpest” are groomed for
“success” and the presumably
duller majority relegated to the
proletariat (or joblessness) is
repugnant.
We should be demanding a
better education system for all,
one that expands the sphere
of the “sharpest,” rather than
leaving the rest behind.
Bill Weinberg
E-mail letters, maximum
250 words, to news@thevillager.
com or fax to 212-229-
2790 or mail to The Villager,
Letters to the Editor, 1 Metro-
Tech North, 10th fl oor, Brooklyn,
NY 11201. Please include
phone number for confi rmation.
The Villager reserves the
right to edit letters for space,
grammar, clarity and libel.
Anonymous letters will not be
published.
Rivera must listen
to us on park plan
BY PAT ARNOW
East River Park ACTION has been urging people to call
City Councilmember Carlina Rivera to voice opposition
to the plan to close and demolish East River Park.
A few who did have reported that Rivera’s offi ce staff is trying
to talk them out of their position on this destructive fl oodcontrol
plan. It sounds like the councilmember has made up
her mind to support the plan and has instructed staffers to
convince callers to change their minds —rather than being
open to changing her mind when presented with passionate,
well-informed positions from your constituents.
One person who opposes the plan said that a Rivera staffer
“spent 15 minutes trying to convince me of how great the
plan is, how much community input was taken and kind of
brushing me off because I haven’t been in all the community
board meetings to appreciate the scope and breadth of that
consultation with the community.”
It is inaccurate to imply that the community supports this
plan. The caller might not have been at meetings, but I sure
have, and if Rivera was listening, she heard a resounding No.
At the Community Board 3 meeting in June, for instance,
70 people testifi ed, and 67 were against the fl ood-control plan
in whole or in part — in large part! Testimony at that meeting
was passionate, heartfelt and cogent. It touched on everything,
from losing recreation for our kids, who might then get
into mischief, to losing biodiversity, shade, a place to exercise,
a route for biking and walking, a shady picnic area, and a
place to cleanse the air and soothe the soul.
From our canvassing in the park and around the neighborhood,
we’ve learned that most residents don’t know about the
plan to demolish the park, and when they hear details, they
are horrifi ed. What “community” is Rivera listening to?
The person who called the councilmember’s offi ce went on,
regarding her call with the staffer: “She told me several times
that there were ‘factions in the neighborhood spreading misinformation.’”
However, is it misinformation to say that the park will be
closed for years? That the park will be completely demolished?
That the city has not promised one inch of phased construction?
That even if it did, phased construction would still
destroy the entire park? That the alternate parks and recreation
spaces that the city has offered are paltry, sad and cruel:
Take away the skateboard area of Tompkins Square Park!
Take away the hockey fi eld in Two Bridges! Hey, bikers, just
go over to First and Second Aves., which are already crowded.
Timelines? “We’re working on them,” we are told.
Another caller who talked to a different Rivera staffer said,
“She basically spent an hour trying to make Alternative 4
what the city calls the ‘Preferred Plan’ palatable to me. I
kept telling her how destroying the park and raising it up 10
feet would offer no additional fl ood protection than a barrier
wall along the F.D.R. She just would not listen to any of my
talking points and kept trying to fi nd a concession that ‘would
make me happier about the project.’”
Councilmember Rivera, please tell us you won’t support a
plan that hasn’t publicly given you a single meaningful concession
almost a year after the city announced it, even though
you yourself have repeatedly demanded accommodations.
You can be a hero of the New Green Deal rather than the
politician who will oversee a vast mud pit for years. Please
listen to your constituents.
Arnow is a member, East River Park ACTION (eastriverparkaction.
org)
Schneps Media TVG September 12, 2019 13
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