Letters to the Editor
Congestion Pricing
In an article from the April 2024 edition, Aadvika Gupta notes that data backs up a driver’s claim that traffic into the city is worse after congestion pricing. While it is true that the data tracker mentioned (congestion-pricing-tracker.com) does show a post-pricing bump for the specific route mentioned at that specific time of day, this is a bit of a cherry-picked example. That route shows a strong benefit later in the day, and many other bridge and tunnel routes show benefits even during the morning commute. No policy will be perfect for everyone, but when reporting on the victims of congestion pricing, it is important to weigh it against the, potentially much larger, group of people who benefit (and that is to say nothing of the MTA riders, who are also absent from the article).
Grace Lindsay
Assistant Professor, Psychology & Data Science
New York University
Drugs in Greenwich Village
I’ve just read Mia Isacson’s article in the March 2025 issue of The Village View, “Is It Me or Do We Have a Drug Issue in Greenwich Village?”
I was born a few decades ago living in the 6th Ave. neighborhood Ms. Isacson singles out. And I can say, it seems to me the issue might be her!
Greenwich Village does not have a drug issue; it has an affordability and gentrification issue. In that process it has lost its heart, its intelligence, and the creative energy. Despite my age — day or night — I now feel safer than ever both on 6th Ave. and in our neighborhood parks. Before the gentrification of Soho — when there were many more homeless human beings in our streets — very few of them were “dangerous.” Indeed, it’s possible that there may be more gentrifiers using drugs – out of our sight – in the hip restaurants and office toilets of Wall Street investment firms and “billionaires’ row” uptown.
I recommend a wonderful anthropological study, Sidewalk by Mitchell Duneier (1999) in which many of those street dwellers tell their own stories.
Newcomers to The Village seem to forget that until the late 1980s Greenwich Village was a scruffy, very affordable neighborhood which had been attracting writers, dancers, painters, musicians, since the 1920s. Until the end of the 90s, rent was so cheap that many artists could afford to live in Soho’s large lofts and in the many tenement apartments that cram the streets from the Hudson River to the East River.
It is true, that before the scourge of gentrification, there were many more homeless people in those streets. But that only makes clear that we need more affordable housing, more good public schools, more work for families of all incomes, and access to healthy food. These are the necessities that make a neighborhood safe for everyone. Even artists.
Although Greenwich Village is now safer than it was when artists could afford to live here, I’m sad to say, Greenwich Village will never again be the vibrant community that made NYC the creative mecca of America. Now, it belongs to the transient population of NYU students and to the very rich who have transformed the vibrant streets of Soho into a boring, expensive shopping mall for tourists and celebrities. The whole country is impoverished by that banality.
Kate Herskovitch
Cuomo
In a disturbing move, some political, religious, and union leaders announced their support for Andrew Cuomo for Mayor. Having these leaders side with a confessed sexual harasser, is deplorable. He admitted as much and resigned, but is now reneging on that confession to run for mayor, countersuing his victims into submission. His scandals cost taxpayers millions in court and settlement fees.
During Cuomo’s tenure NYS rents rose by 33%. In NYC 50% of tenants became rent burdened – spiking homelessness while enriching real estate developers. He underfunded NYC schools, then ignored a Court’s order to provide the $2 billion owed. When he resigned that debt had increased to $4 billion — placing NYS shamefully at #48 in the US with the biggest gap between rich and poor districts.
He created the disastrous Tier 6 — treating new hires as second class citizens — increasing service years, contributions, and penalties, while decreasing benefits. This caused mounting vacancies and the inability to attract new workers to replace Tier 4 retirees.
This self-professed “car guy” syphoned $465 million from the MTA, while subways fell further into disrepair. He refused to refund, instead proposing using $216 million to create a light and music show at NYC bridges.
But the most unforgivable was his order placing Covid patients in nursing homes – exposing residents to the virus and leading to 15,000 deaths. He’s now accused of lying to Congress, with this case referred to the DOJ for prosecution. Do we want another mayor beholden to Trump for a pardon for his misdeeds?
Although a Queens native, he’s only shown contempt for our city. The suffering inflicted in his years as governor is unforgivable. Please DO NOT RANK this immensely corrupt, self-serving, and most possibly criminal politician in the upcoming primaries. NYC CAN and MUST do better than this!
Rebeca Pagan-Rodriguez
