A scream for more parental discipline
To the Editor:
The article "A Scream for the Ice Cream Truck to Move" in the May Trib shocked me into writing.
We have an obvious generational decrease of discipline and increase of fat and sugar intake. Much was said in support of moving the truck to avoid confrontation with one's child; what is heard is that kids rule the roost.
I quote: "...He has to have it. I have to be the one to say 'No.'"
Temptation abounds throughout a child's life. It cannot and should not always be removed.
Learning over ice cream is probably better than future, more costly lures.
Parental guidance includes being the one to say "No."
Respect your discipline; it is better for your child than the ice cream.
Eliane Abramoff
Elain Abramoff
Praise for a city's 'small town' paper
To the Editor:
Congratulations. It gives pleasure to read of the awards given to the Trib.
When we get our hands on the Trib, we look for favorites such as Jim Stratton's "City Charrette" and Oliver Allen's "Old Tribeca," and read the first couple of pages for news stories and photos by Carl Glassman and stories by Barry Owens, Etta Sanders and Ronald Drenger. Then we go back for "Views," Police Beat, TRIBbits, Community Calendar and of course, Listings.
I guess what I mean is that the Trib presents a small town yet represents all of New York.
Marjorie Grimm
Director, Tuesday Evening Hour
No landmark, but a building worth saving
To the Editor:
With the recent, lamented closing of Craig's Shoes at the corner of West Broadway and Chambers streets, Tribeca lost one of its oldest surviving businesses. And now we are about to lose, as well, the building that housed it—a two-story limestone structure from the 1930s built as a Marine Midland Bank branch. It will face the wrecker's ball soon and a hotel may be built on the site. The tragedy is not that a hotel will rise but that this fine, if modest, Classical/Art Deco structure will be sacrificed to make way for it.
A clever developer would see the value in taking advantage of the building's architectural qualities—qualities that would be reproducible today only at great expense—and incorporating them into her new structure. If the new building is indeed to be a hotel, for instance, the great second floor—the old, high-ceilinged, huge-windowed main banking room—would make an impressive reception and lobby area. The street entrance, with its decorative sculptural relief and clock, might be enlarged on either side, and shops could be re-installed at street level. The building as a whole would provide a handsome base for a forward-looking, modern top (think of the recent Norman Foster tower above the old Hearst building at 57th St. and 8th Ave.).
Will ignorant and unthinking demolition triumph once again over imagination and creativity? I fear the answer is yes—and Tribeca will be the poorer for it.
John Willenbecher
Transplanted Pier 25 trees are thriving
To the Editor:
I wanted to update your readers on the "trees of Pier 25." The tree we hauled down the highway and placed in front of the new community center on Warren Street is doing well.
The other trees are in front of Tribeca's famous Yaffa's Cafe on Harrison Street. And parent Evan Lemonides took the majority of the trees out to his family's land in Suffolk County. He reports the trees are fine and plants are blooming! Thanks also to his brother's construction company for the long haul. Lisa Craft arranged for a lot of the plants to go into Tribeca homes and onto Greenwich Street.
The response to the article in the Trib has been remarkable. But to set the record straight I am no "tree hugger." While I did care for those trees for so long, it was more of a chance to educate children and adults that the time is now to cool the earth and develop natural resources. To accomplish this we must give an extra effort. It would have been easier and more economical to dump the trees, but renewing the earth is what is needed now!
Bob Townley
Executive Director, Manhattan Youth
The vision of one community activist made a 'heaven on Earth'
To the Editor:
Your article on the new Downtown Community Center reminds me of another story that needs to be told, or retold. It involves a derelict, abandoned Downtown pier and a person who came forward with an idea and scraped together the money to pay some rent to State Department of Transportation. That person was the Community Center's director, Bob Townley.
When I was on Community Board 1 in the mid-nineties, I came to a meeting and heard that Bob was planning to lease Pier 25. He said he was planning to use it for some kind of children's or camp program. I remember thinking he was crazy and taking a big risk by paying money for a raw space with no amenities and exposed to the wind and elements.
What we all know now was not so evident then, and Bob, on a shoestring, made that place into a heaven on Earth for every person living in this neighborhood.
Bob's model for developing that pier was workable, user friendly, and laid-back. There were open spaces and the area was not over-programmed with too many specific activities. My daughter learned to ride her bike and Rollerblade there. We ate there and played mini golf for cheap. We used the town dock and visited the Yankee ferry. We did art projects and played ping pong. It was clean. Magically, everything usually worked and was available to play or use.
These days, the vision of engaged community activists like Bob is what creates, and maintains, vibrant public space.
Julie S. Nadel
(Julie Nadel was recently reappointed to the Board of Directors of the Hudson River Park Trust by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer)
Why we should build the Freedom Tower
To the Editor:
I am responding to Liam Lacey's letter in the May Trib in which he criticized the rebuilding of the World Trade Center and the Freedom Tower.
I am a Vietnam War Air Force veteran (1968-1972) and a resident of Lower Manhattan who has worked in Tribeca with my two sons for almost 10 years.
I want the Freedom Tower to be built and I've talked to many city workers, many of whom lost loved ones and friends on Sept. 11, 2001, and they have the same sentiment as I do.
Without question, this was an attack by a very determined people to destroy our democracy and take away our rights to religion and all freedoms for which our forefathers and current military personnel shed blood.
With the NYPD, the greatest police department in the world, and other agencies including the Port Authority, the military and the FBI, we can prevent any more attacks on our great city, and we can also build a World Trade Center that is stronger than ever before!
Bruce Barasky
The Tribeca Trib welcomes signed letters to the editor. Send them to tribeditor@tribecatrib.com Letters may be edited for length and clarity.
