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November 3 - November 13, 2012
Editorial PUBLISHER
Jennifer Goodstein PUBLISHER EMERITUS
John W. Sutter EDITOR
Josh Rogers ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Aline Reynolds ARTS EDITOR
Scott Stiffler REPORTERS
Lincoln Anderson Sam Spokony EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Kaitlyn Meade
SR. V.P. OF SALES & MARKETING
Francesco Regini RETAIL AD MANAGER
Colin Gregory
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
Allison Greaker Julius Harrison Gary Lacinski Alex Morris Julio Tumbaco BUSINESS MANAGER / CONTROLLER
Vera Musa
ART / PRODUCTION DIRECTOR
Troy Masters
Trying to See Clearly as the Lights Come on After Sandy DOWNTOWNERS ONCE AGAIN
are coming together, helping their neighbors -- so the comparisons between Hurricane Sandy and 9/11 are natural. The key difference is that the devastating and tragic loss of life this time does not approach the magnitude of the attack 11 years ago. That of course does not make it any easier for each grieving family. The scramble back to homes for evacuees, the frantic group emails, the search for information, for places to charge cell phones, has an all-too-familiar ring to many. Once again we are inspired by the stories we’ve seen and heard about people helping – offering everything from beds to showers to food to batteries. At the Seaport, devastated businesses are helping each other recover. In northern Chelsea we saw a small group of police officers Monday lifting heavy wood from the street clearing a dangerous situation rather than waiting for another agency to do it. In the Two Bridges area on the Lower East Side, residents banded together to help senior
To the Editor: Re “Rabbi Meyer Hager, spiritual compass of Downtown, dies at 76” (news article, Oct. 17):
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Your reporter Helaina Hovitz captured the essence of the late Rabbi Hager, the leader of the Wall Street Synagogue. Truly, he was a man of kindness, compassion and sensitivity to young and old people alike. My two sons were always made so welcome and comfortable when we attended the temple’s Sabbath services, and he was always eager to have all members of the community attend the synagogue’s holiday services and parties. One more possibly unknown character trait of the rabbi: He had a genuine sense of humor, loved a good joke and his laughter was genuine and joyous. His abundant kindness and consideration toward others will be sorely missed by Jew and Christian alike.
Arnold Rozon CONTRIBUTORS
Terese Loeb Kreuzer PHOTOGRAPHERS
Milo Hess Terese Loeb Kreuzer Jefferson Siegel PUBLISHED BY
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We’re riding in subway stations built over a century ago. Short-sighted politicians will scoff at spending hundreds of billions both to protect people living near the water as well as at least some of our transit system. If that’s what it costs, it would still pay when you consider the multi billions of dollars everyone loses when our lives and jobs are so disrupted. How many times a year will Lower Manhattan be asked to pack up and flee? In the meanwhile, we still stay on the Sandy aftermath story from our new temporary offices, updating our web sites as well as two most welcome post-9/11 advances – Facebook and Twitter. Lastly don’t forget to vote on Tuesday. For those with difficulty getting to the polls, you may still get an absentee ballot application Monday if you go to 450 W. 33rd St. 10th floor. It’s too late to get thendidates to promise better protection this year but you can still hold the winners accountable.
Take the deal! If people insist on 100 percent affordable, then where are the market-rate apartments that will subsidize the affordable apartments? Nothing would ever be built. It seems that the opponents would rather have zero affordable apartments and have vacant lots for the 20 more years than take the offer on the table. Why?
the city Landmarks Preservation Commission, yet a developer who knows “inside baseball” is able to build a post-modern monster. Needless to say, our school overcrowding situation will only get worse. I’d bet dollars to donuts that nobody at the Department of Education knows about it.
Letters to the Editor
SENIOR DESIGNER
Michael Shirey
citizens trapped in their high-rise apartments without access to food or water. There are so many more stories like these. As we look at what comes next, foremost in our minds is that low-lying Lower Manhattan is one of the most vulnerable areas to storms. We hope by now, you the reader, have your lights back. We also hope the subways return to Lower Manhattan as they the rest of the city. It did not seem that long ago when the trains could run rain or shine but that day has passed and will never return without the political will for large scale investment. The science is clear that these storms will continue with more frequency and ferocity going forward. We shouldn’t rush in with massive expenditures on storm protection, but on the other hand we can’t throw our hands up and wait for better environmental policies to reverse the tide. That’s what Mayor Bloomberg seemed to do the other day. While he has been a leader on climate issues he should not be so dismissive of costly measures that would likely help.
Walter Silverman To the Editor: Re “Chinatown coalition slams widely praised SPURA plan” (news article, Oct. 17): With regard to coalition’s opposition to the SPURA plan, a 50 percent proportion of affordable housing is nearly a miracle, and the opposition makes no sense. This ratio means that every market-rate apartment supports one affordable apartment, an incredibly progressive ratio which is the highest proportion achieved anywhere. It is a miracle that the real estate market is expected to support this ratio, and even more so that it is expected that a developer and a financier will be able to work with this ratio.
Larry Gould
Jonathan
To the Editor: To the Editor: Re “Youths continue to battle anxiety caused by 9/11” (news article, Oct. 18): I want to congratulate Aline Reynolds on a thought-provoking article. She did research and discovered what we have been saying, which is that there are more than a few teens in the area who have post-traumatic stress symptoms. I have personally discovered this to be true as the executive director of Manhattan Youth, the largest community organization in Lower Manhattan. While different families react differently to events in their lives, it is clear that the events of 9/11/01 influence many of our teens’ present-day experiences. Bob Townley To the Editor: Re “‘Jenga’ building doesn’t fly with local residents” (news article, Oct. 17): Tribeca residents need to prevent future zoning disasters like this. As a resident of a landmarked area, we are unable to change anything with our own buildings without going through
Re. “‘Jenga’ building doesn’t fly with local residents” (news article, Oct. 17): This article is frankly silly. First, why do you assume that people don’t support this tower? Obviously if you ask the NIMBY “community activists”, they will be against any and all development. Most people I know support this development, as it will be a future landmark and is designed by one of the most respected architectural teams on earth. Second, all the arguments for why this tower should be built somewhere else are totally nonsensical. The building is not in any landmark district, therefore landmark rules are irrelevant. Paris does have plenty of high-rise towers, especially in recent years, so Paris would be a very poor argument against the tower. Finally, the accusations against Lend Lease are absurd, given that the company is active in almost every country on earth. I’m pretty sure they know what they’re doing. And it was Jon Galt, a totally unrelated firm, that was responsible for the Deutsche Bank debacle. Crawford