Dear editors:
I was shocked to see the New York Times editorial “Hudson River Park Needs Help” June 7, with a comparison of the Hudson River Park Trust proposals for office development on Pier 40 with the Westway superhighway plan of more than 20 years ago. Saying office development is ‘not that bad’ compared with a Westway superhighway, (pardon the gender language) is like saying the woman-beating boyfriend who changes to being verbally and mentally abusive is not so bad.
Hudson River Park has been made a beautiful partner to a robust developing city of buildings, especially along the west waterfront. Yet today, Pier 40 is an ugly obstruction to the sweep of the harbor views from the pedestrian piers. To justify even more obstruction by building development on the water, because the park was established with no public funding, is to say we can’t solve our problem without further corrupting the waterfront park.
If there is going to be a push to amend the act, that should be to provide public funding, as it should have been from the very beginning. I encourage everyone to insist on public funding for our public park.
—Brian J. Pape
