10
June 13 - 19, 2013
letters to the editor Continued from page 8
Déjà vu all over again To The Editor: Re “Garden hero — or partier amid the plants? Or both?” (news article, June 6): The other day, when I picked up The Villager, and began to read Lincoln Anderson’s article, I was hurled back in time. The late 1990s were a demanding time for the community gardens of the East Village and Lower East Side. We fought hard and furiously to preserve our gardens from the developers. After the Chico Mendez Garden was slated for development,
Jeff was looking for another garden to join. Because of his seeming zeal and commitment, he was welcomed as a member of Green Oasis, the garden to which I belonged. At the Green Oasis, he behaved in exactly the same ways as the members of Dias y Flores now describe him as behaving in that garden some 10 to 15 years later. After a couple of years of this, including late-night parties where underage kids jumped into our koi pond, and our asking Mr. Wright and his girlfriend at that time to follow the rules of the garden and GreenThumb, etc., they would not cooperate. We had a few very difficult meetings, then voted them out. We ended up going to adjudication with a city ombudsman. One of the adjudicators asked us if it had occurred to us that Wright and his pals might be trying to take over the garden.The result of the meetings (if I remember it correctly) was that they were
in honor of
Saint Anthony of Padua Thursday, June 13, 2013
Shrine Church of St. Anthony of Padua West Houston and Sullivan Streets New York NY 10012 Phone 212-777-2755 www.stanthonynyc.org
Thursday, June 13 Feastday of Saint Anthony of Padua
Mass Schedule: 9 AM (English) 11 AM (English) 2 PM (Italian) 4 PM (French) 6:00 PM (English) Solemn Mass followed by Street Procession
ITALIAN FOOD FESTIVAL
Saturday, June 8 Sunday, June 9 Thursday, June 13 ALL DAY
St. Anthony’s Bread and Oil will be available in the vestibule of the church each day of the Novena beginning June 5. Religious articles and refreshments in the Church Hall on June 8,9, and 13
NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANTHONY-‐ JUNE 5-‐13
Poetry of garden gatherings To The Editor: Re “Garden hero — or partier amid the plants? Or both?” (news article, June 6):
T.S. Eliot, “The Waste Land” What better place to exchange lovely ideas and spend time than in a garden? I really enjoyed stopping by, even in winter when the flowers weren’t blooming, and meeting all different sorts of people. Jeff is a lovely man who understands how incredibly important it is to have a place outdoors where friends can meet, mingle and enjoy away from the hustle and bustle of New York City. Katherine Sloan
Mitigation by air conditioner?
Pamela Pier
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade, And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten, And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
63rd Annual Feast Day and Street Procession
asked to leave for the remainder of the season, but they could reapply. They didn’t. We were very relieved. Through his contacts, he had brought Pete Seeger to the Green Oasis. He noted this as an example of what he had done for our garden. He asked another lawyer to represent him at that time. Is Jeff Wright living though his own tragic version of “Groundhog Day”? He is the sword and the wound.
To The Editor: Re “Carrots, sticks, air conditioning and N.Y.U. 2031” (talking point, Martin Tessler, May 30): Thanks for bringing this to light, Martin Tessler! It’s incredible and horrifying that N.Y.U. is promoting air conditioner use to “mitigate” construction noise. The air conditioners will be sucking in the construction toxins while still assaulting eardrums by creating an equal (but perhaps less obnoxious) noise level. This noise “mitigation” will be needed year-round during two decades of construction. Run an air conditioner in October? The antithesis of green! The cost for the mitigation of the N.Y.U.-created noise assault will be borne by those living on and near the superblocks. N.Y.U. 2031 is nothing but a way to make more money for N.Y.U. Otherwise, why would N.Y.U. have repeatedly testified that it had carefully analyzed its space needs and was asking for only exactly what it absolutely required — then, after approval, convened a Space Priorities Committee? And why did N.Y.U. require a rezoning to commercial, other than to make money by renting out the housing units on its lower floors to businesses that will pay top dollar? N.Y.U., please go back to being an educational institution and stop being one of the city’s greediest developers. Pay your hardworking professors appropriately for the excellent education they provide, and stop wasting huge dollars on celebri-profs. Mary Leigh E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to lincoln@ thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 515 Canal St., Suite 1C, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. The Villager does not publish anonymous letters.