Quantcast

Letters to the editor

Village and Villager influence news

To The Editor:

Re “Washington Post: Times ‘lifts ideas’ from Villager” (news article, Aug. 6):

Most certainly The Villager would require The New York Times and any media/news outlet to adhere to ethical journalism by providing proper attribution to any and all stories generated by the paper. The Villager’s publishers should continue to seek full remedy to such egregious acts of taking stories without proper credit. That being established foremost, I would like to suggest there might be an opportunity in the problem.

When I have had occasion to travel back to my home state of Massachusetts or to visit other cities throughout the nation, I am often amazed at the local awareness of New York City issues including the doings of our Greenwich Village community. In these encounters my own chauvinism and parochial outlook frequently embarrass me. The fact is the nation, if not the world, is watching and “lifting” both stories and ideas from our “small town.” They want to know how New York City Villagers are handling issues of diversity, racial/gender/sexual orientation and tolerance. How do we cope with violence and crime? What are our initiatives for economic and job recovery and what will be the outcome of Ground Zero rebuilding? Few locations in the nation can boast a more dedicated network of community groups and block associations. Combine this with a talent pool of Olympic proportions along with human nature and group dynamics that produce intrigue, scandal, petty sparing, jealousy, sex and paranoia. You simply have the news everyone reads and wants to read.

In my humble opinion the lifting of stories from The Villager indicates the bar has been raised for both the paper and the community. The Villager must be vigilant to keep up its fine journalism and reporting showcasing our community achievements. Special care must be taken when interviewing local pundits, narcissists and political wannabe types not to fall into quoting speculation or character bashing. The Villager newspaper might be local, but its reach and influence is well beyond any provincial boundaries.

Carol Kroker

How big papers rip off small ones

To The Editor:

  I just read the Washington Post coverage of your dispute with the New York Times and I’d like to encourage you to demand a full internal investigation from the Times, along with an apology to their readers and yours. I once worked as a reporter for a rural California weekly and it was common for the reporter covering our area from one of the San Francisco bigs to graze through our paper, including my work, and simply lift anything they thought was interesting. There is a gray area here, since the practice doesn’t always fit the definition of plagiarism, and news is news everywhere; but when it concerns a feature-type item, identical sources or information that is gained through unusual enterprise, there is a clear violation. It’s particularly galling to be a hard-working reporter for a small but serious publication and have some lazy hack feel free to steal from you simply because they have a greater circulation. The Times’ inadequate response to you shows the same attitude of pompous entitlement that led their reporters, Lee and Crow, to rip you off in the first place. I hope you won’t settle for their non-admission of guilt.

 

Paul Neimann

Zoning bonus is issue on Bowery

To The Editor:

Re “Effort aims to preserve the Bowery” (news article, Aug. 6):

I would like to clarify my quote in this article, about community facilities “that only serve transient members and not the Bowery community,” in which I was referring to a new New York University dormitory on the Bowery. It is not the transient nature of the students living in the dorm that troubles many longtime Bowery advocates. In fact, a number of social service organizations zoned as community facilities have been providing safe havens for transient homeless populations for more than a century, serving a portion of the community in need. The N.Y.U. dorm differs from these facilities because it is a private building, closed to the greater community, but it nonetheless received a zoning bonus in accordance with the city’s policy that community facilities serve their surrounding communities.

The coexistence of students, artists, single-sector businesses and the homeless have all contributed to the Bowery’s unique character and history. But new development on the Bowery should be respectful of its neighbors, both in scale and use.

Lauren Arana

Arana is issues and advocacy coordinator at the Municipal Art Society

Unique Bowery building threatened

To The Editor:

Re “Effort aims to preserve the Bowery” (news article, Aug. 6):

How ironic that an interest is finally being shown in preserving The Bowery’s unique character just when one of its most colorful buildings is about to be demolished and replaced by a city-sponsored housing project. I’m referring to 295 Bowery, originally the 1895 McGuirk’s Saloon and Dance Hall (a/k/a “Suicide Hall”). How much more aesthetically pleasing and economically advantageous for this neighborhood it would be if some creative developer would purchase this building and restore it to its 1890s atmosphere as a 21st-century restaurant/bar/nightspot. Anybody have any ideas?

 

Marilyn Stults

Agrees Christopher St.’s too noisy

To The Editor:

Re “Film explores Christopher St gay youth culture” by Sascha Brodsky (news article, Aug. 6) and Thomas Hoover’s letter to the editor concerning noise on Christopher St. (“Can’t sleep on Christopher St.,” July 30):

As I write this at 7 p.m., the SHOUT (Special Health Outreach to Urban Teens) vehicle is in its usual place in front of St. Veronica’s Church and crowded around its entrance are “urban teens,” waiting to go in. It’s connected with something called the Ryan Center. On the other side of the vehicle is printed, “Funded by AIDS Institute NY State Dept. of Health.” The vehicle is about the size of a Greyhound Bus. It’s here in place every Thursday afternoon-evening, sometimes in front of this address.

The name of the film Brodsky reviews is called “Life on Christopher St.” Life on Christopher St.: I know it well: I’ve been living at this address, close to St. Veronica’s, since July 1957. Before that I lived on Greenwich near Perry. I cannot recall the precise quotation but Oscar Wilde says something like, I don’t care what you do as long as you do it quietly and “don’t scare the horses.” Amen.

Hoover’s letter, you will recall, concerns the noise on Christopher St.; it’s the abomination of desolation — betimes. The times being between (approximately) 11:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. During these hours, physicians and scientists have advised, is the best time to sleep. This is especially true for those who work, either at a job or earning their way as artists or craftsmen or students. Our health and our earning power are at stake in the matter.

The SHOUT people are without doubt virtuous in their work. I don’t know precisely what it is they do, nor do they invite visits or queries from those of us born early in the last century. I understand. But, they’re funded, as they advertise, by the state of New York. So, in a sense, it is the state that has placed its imprimatur on these activities, which are dependent on the activities of the urban teens who flock and frolic here.

And, not to beat the bush, I say the state should take responsibility for the noise decibel level here during sleeping hours. Someone must assume the adult role. In loco parentis. Who?

P.S.: And don’t go blaming the gay bars. These urban teens are too young to ever have been in one.

John Stanley