Letters to the Editor

Cyclists in Riverside Park

Bicycles whizzing back and forth on the Riverside Park path between 72nd and 81st Streets, where it’s reserved for walkers, makes the walking experience feel unsafe and unpleasant, especially for seniors, and especially now when we all need a bit of tranquility. Why don’t the cyclists keep to their own path? Which amendment do they invoke to let themselves flout civility and the rules? Presumably it was a rowdy cyclist who tossed four restraining barriers at 72nd into the Hudson this week and left the walkway entrance open to all.

Janice Dunham

Upper West Side

New York Blood Center Expansion Plans

In this reader’s estimation, Our Town deserves not only the thanks of our endangered population but a Pulitzer Prize for your recent clear-eyed and courageous coverage of the misguided New York Blood Center campaign to secure variances for a plan to savage a neighborhood (Our Town, Dec. 31 - Jan. 6) .

I can do no better than to quote your own words. They capture perfectly the sinister outcome that is no doubt the real reason for seeking the zoning variances. Bravo and my promise to do all can do to see that your journalism will provide the strength you lend us to stand for life and truth.

Now your words......

“Although NYBC stated that they and their real estate partner Longfellow Real Estate Partners LLC, a Massachusetts based real estate developer that does work in developing research and technology centers, will jointly own the campus, George M. Janes echoed a concern that the building may one day be sold and not be occupied by the Blood Center at all: ‘If the rezoning passes, NYBC has no obligation to build this building. The new zoning would allow for residential uses and all kinds of commercial uses. It could be they have the intention to do exactly what they’re saying, but they also have the ability to do anything else.’”

Annette Cunningham

Upper East Side