Dear Editors: I must comment on something about which I feel most strongly: the quality and depth of WestView News’ coverage. In order to economically survive the impact that email, digital media, and video have had on their bottom lines, media outlets have been wallowing in trivia, desperately reaching out to a (perceived) newer audience.
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Praise for WestView
Dear Editors: Thanks so much for seeing merit in my “Seniorhood” piece for the May issue of WestView. It is beautifully laid out, giving it the feel of a true prose poem. I happen to have a large number of ‘oldster’ friends and most identified with the writing; they got a sort of serious chuckle
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Mobile Stroke Care Innovation
Dear Editors: Thank you for your continuing focus on health care issues in our community! A short time after attending the May 4th meeting announced by Arthur Z. Schwartz in WestView News, to discuss the crisis in our area’s health care, I went to Weill Cornell Medical Center on York Avenue to hear a talk,
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Many Thanks for My Ziedonis Article
Dear Editors: Thank you very much for my article on Ziedonis. Everything is fine, and the layout looks great. I have had quite a few compliments not only on the article, but on your paper as well, which was unfamiliar to most of my friends and acquaintances. —Bitite Vinklers P.S. Maybe you should have a
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A Generous Contribution
Dear George: I was moved by the news in your April 2017 piece “Shall We End WestView?” that Amelia Vinal donated 10 free subscriptions to those in need. I decided to offer the same and so I donated $240 through the website, and also purchased a subscription for myself. —Eduardo Cavalcanti
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Keep WestView in the Village
Please, George, keep WestView in the West Village. If I want to know what’s going on with Trump, there are 24/7 news channels. Stay focused on the people and businesses in OUR neighborhood. —Doug Douglass Doug, You have just echoed a phrase I use very often in production meetings: “Keep WestView focused on the West
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Thanking Mr. Diller
Dear Mr. Capsis: In my opinion, the words you are seeking for Mr. Diller are “Thank you very much for the generous gift to our community and the City as a whole.” We are West Village residents and 100% behind the Pier 55 project. We honestly do not understand the small (but vocal) minority opposed.
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Countering Trump Support
Dear George: You were saintly in your patient response to poor, lonely, lashing out Mr. Gianfalla. He writes that he “survived four years of a university” but obviously never learned research skills or he would know that his claim that “[h]alf of America disagrees” with your views regarding Trump is false; the latest poll shows
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The Freedom to Criticize
Dear Editors: I have been trying to avoid responding to every letter written by ignoramus Trump supporters, but the incredible stupidity and audacity of Mark Gianfalla, who wrote to WestView excoriating the paper for its opposition to the incompetent, lying, so-called President Trump, set my blood boiling. His bold assertion that Trump is the President
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Compliments for Tom Lamia
Dear Editors: I wanted to compliment you on the addition of Tom Lamia’s Notes and Perspectives From Away column. I enjoy his writing style and his message has resonated with me. There are many in the Village who have, or continue to, split their lives with small town/rural communities. Lamia’s column is valuable for those
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Fighting Community Blight
Dear Editors: I’m a regular reader of WestView and someone who hasn’t really participated in local politics. Your newspaper has made me more aware of meaningful ways to get involved in the community. Thank you for that. I am forwarding you a note (with slight edits) that I sent our council members a few weeks
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Opposing the PeopleWay
Dear Editors: Paul Steely White’s effort to defend his indefensible proposal for the deceptively named “PeopleWay” on 14th Street, published in the April issue of WestView, ignores the desires and needs of the large majority of people who would be most directly affected. First, it is incredibly short-sighted to think that “buses, biking and walking”
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PeopleWay Traffic Solution—Move
Some time ago, we published a photo of Charles Street taken in the 1930s where there was only one car parked—just one. Now, we have a fierce debate about banning private cars from 14th Street and reserving it for crosstown buses and bike lanes to replace the L Train. There is even talk about widening
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WestView Fan
Dear Editors: West Villagers (even some northerners and southerners) are burning up my phone lines to get a copy of the March 2017 issue of WestView. Your paper has ‘people power’ and packs a punch. I am pleased and honored to be a part of this ‘free’ (in all senses of the word) press. WestView
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Traumatized by Trump Trauma
Below, we feature an exchange between WestView reader Mark Gianfalla and Publisher George Capsis concerning the paper’s treatment of the Trump presidency. Dear Editors: I am writing as an active resident of the West Village and one (of the few) who reads WestView News when it is left in my building. I am often disturbed
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Joffrey Ballet
Ballet is Tradition Last month, with casual indifference, I forwarded to our Managing Editor a denunciation of the current Joffrey Ballet School management, which has followed the next generation of young dancers to Long Island City to conduct programs in what looks like an old factory. In doing so, we seem to have stumbled upon
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Graffiti: A Cry for Recognition
Have you ever seen a person spray graffiti on a wall? I have seen it only once and it involved three obviously rich private school boys around 12 years old who sprayed the concrete dividers on the West Side Highway to demonstrate that they were no longer kids. But few people ever see the graffiti
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Mom Knows Best
I’ve been writing about politics to my son, about this and that issue, and thought a recent letter may interest WestView News. —Marilyn Schwartz Hi Son, I didn’t know who Paul Rino was so, from Wikipedia, I discovered that ‘Rino’ is a stand-in for ‘Rhinoceros’ which means, in Republican lingo, a bad, no-good Republican.
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Fighting for Autism Care
I don’t even like to think about it—having a child with autism, a constant living source of pain—yet Margie Dienstag has found courage and purpose in her fight for her son and has joined with others. At a recent meeting, where she was the very last to speak to the Mayor, she told a horror
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City’s Worst Landlords
Dear Editors: The article “One of the City’s Worst Landlords Targets Morton Street Senior” in the March issue of WestView was welcomed by long-term tenants at 40 Morton Street. We all sympathize with Indra Kaushal and condemn the harassment from Michael Sloan. Sloan, operating through Skyjam Holdings, is also the owner and manager of 40
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Savvy Shopper’s Feedback
Buying coffee at McNulty’s, I was surprised to see a handwritten sign reading “Colombian coffee $90/lb.” I asked if anyone was buying it and was told, “Yes, it works out to about $3.00 per cup.” The coffee plants come to Colombia from Ethiopia. —Barbara Chacour
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Automat
Dear Editors: Being Boston-born and DC-domiciled, I must admit surprise at being reminded of an early childhood memory by a New York community newspaper! While I was too young to remember the heyday of the Automat (I was born in 1965), they still existed during one of my earliest childhood (toddler?) memories. In perhaps 1968
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Music of the Youth
Dear George, The February WestView article on “Johannes Brahms: The Working Musician” compelled me to forward my enclosed graphical commentary on the current, sad state of classical music, especially for the young audience. Incidentally, Styra Avin’s daughter, Allison Eisenger, was taught piano by my wife, Judy. As an aside: Paul Hindemith, a prolific 20th century
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Co-Dependent Nation
Dear Editors: The United States, and increasingly, the world, is being kept in thrall by the new president, Donald J. Trump. His lack of experience, combined with narcissistic demands, keep everyone on edge, trying to second-guess what he will say and do with uncalculated and, perhaps, irreversible consequences. He claimed that he’d follow campaign promises
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PeopleWay
This letter forms part of a dialogue involving the future of 14th Street in relation to the L Train shutdown planned for at least 18 months, beginning in 2019. Transportation Alternatives, a non-profit advocate for multi-modal transportation, has proposed that 14th Street be turned into a “PeopleWay.” This design would exclude private cars, carve exclusive
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WestView Online Access
Dear Editors: I just read the letter in February’s WestView News about print editions unfortunately ending up in the trash. I’d love to be signed up for the online edition. Thanks to you and your staff for all your work. —Drew Atkin Dear Drew, You may access the online version of WestView News by visiting
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Arthur’s Heart
This email exchange took place between community organizer Gil Horowitz and attorney/activist Arthur Z. Schwartz on February 9, 2017. Hi Arthur, In these dark days of challenge to American democracy, we need EXPERIENCED LEADERSHIP to move the PROGRESSIVE ACTION AGENDA WITHIN OUR PARTY and at the COMMUNITY LEVEL. We need A NEW HOSPITAL. I am
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PeopleWay Only Moves the Problem
Dear Editors: I read an article by Paul Steely White in the January 2017 issue of WestView about 14th Street, which promoted closing the street to private vehicles to form a “PeopleWay.” While I certainly appreciate Mr. White’s opinion, I respectfully disagree. While making 14th Street a “PeopleWay” might be pleasant, and help some displaced
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St. Vincent’s Closing
This letter is part of an ongoing conversation around the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) and the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital. The initial letter to the editor on this topic, from Dr. Alec Pruchnicki, appeared in the December 2016 issue of WestView in response to a November 2016 letter by Gary Tomei.
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Birds of a Feather…
Dear George, Liza, Andreea, and Darielle: I just picked up a (slightly damp) copy of WestView, and opened it to find—SHAZAM!—a gorgeous two-page layout of my Bird of the Year article!! Thank you so much for such an honored place in WestView. Thanks for the photo selection, evocative cropping, and beautiful arrangement. I am amazed.
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WestView in the Trash
Dear Editors: I enjoy reading your newspaper and appreciate the up-to-date neighborhood news. However, I noticed that it had not been around the neighborhood for a while. I found it just yesterday—in the trash. Then I found more in the trash! Whomever you charted to deliver this issue apparently ditched them all in the corner
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Siren-Free Zone
Dear Editors: I’d be glad to vote in favor of a hospital at Pier 40. However, I want to voice my concern about the potential for a constant stream of ambulance sirens on the West Side Highway (WSH). I anticipate that this will disrupt the otherwise peaceful West Village neighborhood we now enjoy at least
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We Need Affordable Supermarkets
Dear Editors: I’m in a state of shock! Last week, my husband and I decided to check out D’Agostino now that it has been “rescued” by John Catsimatidis, owner of Gristedes. It’s much closer than Western Beef and it would be more convenient for everyone in our neighborhood area to shop there. However, the prices
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Letter from Dr. Alec Pruchnicki, MD
This letter is part of an ongoing conversation around the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) and the closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital. It is written in response to a letter submitted by Andrew Berman, Executive Director of the GVSHP, which also appears in this issue. The initial letter to the editor on this
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Take Another Look at Contributing Factors to St. Vincent’s Demise
Dear Editors: Like Dr. Pruchnicki, we lament the loss of St. Vincent’s Hospital and question what it says about our City that the hospital was almost entirely replaced by luxury condos. But the implication of the headline placed upon the December 2016 letter, which may or may not reflect the sentiment of the author—that preservationists
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Subscribing to WestView
Your newspaper is great! How can I subscribe? I’m not able to regularly get to a place that has free copies. —David Corkery Dear David, You have two options for subscribing to WestView News: (1) visiting our website (westviewnews.org) and clicking the “Subscribe now” button on the right-hand side, or (2) sending a check for
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Trump and the West Village
Dear Editors: I have a question for you: Will Trump’s Presidency make a difference in the West Village? That’s the question that has been on my mind for the past few days. Last month, I was elected President of the Village Independent Democrats (VID), a forerunner in the reform movement of New York. As President,
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Response to “The Trump Win and Our Lives”
Dear Editors: I absolutely agree with Arthur Schwartz in his article headlined “The Trump Win and Our Lives” that New York’s Democratic Party needs reform. But I think Schwartz neglects a couple of important points: First, Hillary Clinton didn’t lose. She won by more than 2.8 million votes. This is the fifth time in the
