Letters to the Editor

Deutsche fire

To The Editor:
I live in Battery Park City on North End Ave. facing south, and I have a clear view of the Deutsche Bank building. I was home the day of the fire, all day, with my windows open. I heard sirens and there were lots of fire trucks going by, but down here that’s nothing remarkable.

I was amazed to learn about the deadly fire the next day. The building is filled with toxins and mold, dioxin among them. There was no notification of any problem to the neighborhood. The B.P.C. and Tribeca CERT teams were never notified, and they could have sounded the alarm.

Wasn’t there talk originally of an alarm system, where an alarm of some sort would be sounded if there were problems on the site that might impact our health? The L.M.D.C. Web site has mention of an “Emergency Action Plan,” but it doesn’t seem to cover a fire (or maybe I missed mention of it).

Sometimes life in Lower Manhattan seems like a dark comedy. But with fairly young people dying of odd and unusual types of lung cancer down here, maybe it’s more of a tragedy.
Cheryl Moch

Bedrock view shifts

To The Editor:
Re “What Mayor Mike and family ‘leaders’ have in common” (Talking Point by Michael Burke, Aug. 10 – 16) and “Bedrock principles” (Letter by Jim Riches, Aug. 17 –23):

Out of respect for what happened at ground zero this past weekend I’ll keep this brief. I have reconsidered my position. I believe bedrock should be preserved as part of the memorial at the World Trade Center site. Preserved as the families have defined and embraced it, and as America has recognized it: a place of grief. It is, in fact, that “special place of mourning” that the jury described. The rest of the site, above ground to the plaza, should be remade — “relegated” to use the jury’s word — for all history of 9/11.

Restore the artifacts to where they were, as the people have asked and expect, rather than remake the site to serve another purpose.

Furthermore, I believe, in contrast to the current plan, a result of the demands of the Coalition of 9/11 families, the people should be permitted to stand upon the bedrock. This is not pristine, historic ground that must be roped off; its sole purpose demands that people be allowed to stand upon it.
Michael Burke

Don’t break for rats

To The Editor:
In response to Pat Moore’s recent letter (Aug. 17 – 23, “Help with rats”):

No one wants to minimize the effects of 9/11 on our community. And certainly we are all very thankful to you and all the others for volunteering to help get our neighborhood back on its feet. However, I was disappointed in your response to Ms. Pearl( Letters, Aug. 3 – 9, “Stop and smell the rats”).

The fact is that we have an extremely serious rat infestation problem (particularly in Ryders Alley and Gold St.) that is about to get even worse. As you may know, new construction is pending on a co-generation project in our backyard (Southbridge Towers) and that will undoubtedly unleash a horde of rats. Unless the Pied Piper can work his magic, we will be overrun with these very unpleasant, disease-infested rodents.

I believe that was the gist of Ms. Pearl’s letter. I do not think your letter recognizes the enormity of the problem and it certainly did nothing to ease my apprehension especially since “none of the [community board] committees will be meeting again for the rest of the summer,” per Noah Pfefferblit (news article, July 27 – Aug. 3, “Rats flood the Seaport due to water main work”).

What the members of our community would like to see is a fully detailed plan of action that addresses the current situation, lays out a course of action for the future and lets all of us know how we can work together to solve this problem.
Ellen Gold

A health care plan

To The Editor:
It will not be possible to end the kind of H.M.O. torture described by Andrei Codrescu (The Penny Post, July 27 – Aug. 3, “Help, I’m in H.M.O. hell! Just another ‘Sicko’ day”) and the even worse torment inflicted on millions of American patients without proposing a creative, and practical health care plan that the 2008 presidential candidates will feel compelled to either adopt, modify or reject.
A single-payer plan would be the most logical and practical, and the simplest arrangement to provide the public with quality health care. One generally unstated problem, however, is that as much as Americans distrust the H.M.O.s, they also mistrust the federal government – which has shown a lack of concern for the health of its citizenry bordering on criminal negligence – to run such a plan. So who should do it?

My answer is the N.G.O.s (non-governmental organizations) – the experienced and honest non-profit social welfare agencies that have courageously and humanely stepped in and helped people in need when Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, avaricious hospitals and specialists, and heartless H.M.O.s turned their backs. These organizations should form a consortium which will establish a health plan with itself as the “insurance company.”

Under this plan, insurance premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and prescription medicine would be on a sliding scale. No one will be turned down for insurance.

The consortium will have to negotiate reasonable rates of payments. The government will reimburse the health care consortium for what it lays out.

People doing the administrative work will have to be “re-trained” to treat the public with kindness and humanity – reversing their H.M.O. training, which instilled in them arrogant, mean-spirited, and often malicious behavior.

The consortium should have a monitoring board composed of physicians, academicians, cultural leaders, journalists, and, most importantly, patients, the latter being elected by the public every number of years.

The H.M.O.s, in appointing themselves the sole determinants of which procedures to fund, are practicing medicine without a license. Business managers make the decisions that determine who shall live and who shall die. There must be an end to this H.M.O. hell that would challenge even the imagination of Dante.
Aviva Cantor

Pedicab pluses

To The Editor:
Your Aug. 17 photo and caption on a protest by pedicab drivers makes sense for those who oppose recent legislation passed by the New York City Council (“Pedicabs won’t roll over”). This legislation limiting the number of pedicabs was bad news for those who support a cleaner environment, free enterprise and transportation alternatives.

Pedicabs are a nonpolluting form of public transportation powered by people, not polluting fossil fuels. It represents a pure free market service with no government subsidy. Consumers are afforded another choice from walking, taking a bus, taxi, subway or driving.

The excuse that pedicabs contribute to traffic congestion is absurd. Several hundred pedicabs are outnumbered by thousands of other vehicles including taxis, limousines, FedEx, UPS, delivery trucks and automobiles, which take up far more space. Pedicabs provide a great form of exercise and gainful employment for their drivers. These people are our neighbors and pay taxes just like you and I.

Consumers, including tourists, continue to patronize this service on a voluntary basis. Everyone should read future Campaign Finance Board filings by city councilmembers. It will be interesting reading to see if there was any political quid-pro-quo for those who voted to limit pedicabs and by fortunate coincidence received campaign contributions from the taxi industry. Doesn’t the City Council and Dept. of Consumer Affairs both have more important issues to deal with than putting a small group of brave entrepreneurs out of business?
Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.