Welcome to 2004. In honor of the New Year, we’re taking a break and letting our readers write this special edition of the City Limits Weekly. Here’s a sample of what you had to say about how to make New York a more livable city:
“I wish officials at the Department of Transportation would place a ‘yield for bikers and pedestrians’ sign on the Brooklyn end of the Manhattan Bridge. That way, I won’t have to risk my life every morning as I cycle to work.” –Stuart Post
“I’m dreaming of a continuous dirt running path along the length of Riverside Park.” –Hilary Silver
“That the City Council… upholds the Landmark Commission decision to make Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine a national landmark (development parcels included).” –Raquel Granda, Director, Cathedral Community Cares
“That Marty Markowitz would scrap the [proposed Nets basketball] stadium… Brooklyn doesn’t need another new thing–just a new attitude.” –Anonymous
“[I have] visions of elevator operators at work in each and every Washington Heights subway elevator dancing in my head.” –Amy M. Traub
“My wish is that the new World Trade Center and Freedom Tower will be built under the legal jurisdiction of the NYC Building and Fire Department codes.” –Sally Regenhard, Chair, Skyscraper Safety Campaign
“I wish the Department for the Aging would withdraw its RFP for meals on wheels in the Bronx because it could hurt frail, homebound elderly by cutting funds and pushing them into frozen meals.” –Bobbie Sackman, Director of Public Policy, Council of Senior Centers and Services
“Rebuild the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem.” –Anonymous
“I’m eager to start a year in which children’s advocates do not have to choose between layoffs in the classrooms and cuts to the programs protecting kids at risk of abuse and neglect… and I hope the year ends with an ironic blessing: knowing that an orange-hued delay on the Brooklyn Bridge only means construction.” –Bill de Blasio, City Councilmember
“I would love to see a Minimum Wage increase. I find it saddening we live in a time when [McDonald’s] value meals are worth more than the working man. Heck, you can’t even buy a Fun Pass at $5.15 an hour.” –Julio Diaz
“I wish Governor Pataki would not waste $400 million of valuable Liberty Bonds for a private power plant project in Queens that barely has the slightest connection to Lower Manhattan. The money can be used much more effectively to replace office and residential space lost as a result of the terrorist attacks…” –Mike Gianaris, State Assemblymember, Queens.
“I wish the MTA would be held financially accountable to riders.” –John Tozzi
“A North Brooklyn green belt of wide open space along the waterfront, from Williamsburg to the tip of Greenpoint, that consists of grass and shade and trees. The only man-made objects that should rise on the land are park benches and tables for the community to use and to enjoy the open space in its most natural state.” –Patti Choy
