To The Editor:

On February 13, 2002 both sides of North Moore Street between Greenwich and West Streets had alternate side parking permitted. On February 14, 2002 people woke up to find their cars being ticketed and towed. Overnight, without notification, parking signs suddenly read, "NO STANDING ANYTIME". Upon investigating the change with the Department of Transportation and Community Board #1, tenants in the area learned that this change was a security measure to protect Citigroup's Salomon Smith Barney property. Prior to September 11th 2001, the residents of Tribeca had lost one side of parking to Salomon's car service brigade, when Greenwich Street was narrowed for safety reasons and parking signs were changed. Shortly thereafter we lost all our metered parking on West Street for expansion of the highway. There is a significant portion of Hubert Street that also does not allow parking. Now we are losing alternate side parking on both sides of North Moore Street. Quite simply, this is too much!

Please understand I have sympathy for the thousands of families who lost loved ones, and I can appreciate a corporation wanting to protect their employees, however, this is primarily a residential community. The people working in this area are able to return to the comfort of their homes to feel safe and return to "normal". How can one corporation have enough political clout to change zoning laws without residential consent?

We are desperately trying to not let terrorism gain control, yet in the name of security our freedom is being taken away. The people of Tribeca should be considered a vital part of New York City, yet we are continuing to suffer from 9/11. We deal with the constant noise from the barges being filled, the ever evasive answers about the quality of the air we are breathing and now we are forced to either sell our cars or be held hostage to private parking, which costs almost as much as some housing within the city. I have a family of four to feed and regularly shop in bulk for groceries. Because of the change in signs, I can no longer bring my groceries from a car to my apartment. The street is wide open and when the light is green (on the eastern corner), traffic significantly picks up speed as it heads toward West Street. This is also causing dangerous conditions for the elderly and children in our area.

And again, while we try to adjust to these overnight changes hampering our returning to normal, the cars servicing Salomon Smith Barney employees ignore the new signs and still wrap around the block.
This is a time for all Americans to unite to fight the forces of terrorism. We should not have to deal with corporations harassing us as well. Immediate action needs to be taken to remedy this situation.

Veronica Silkes

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