An accelerating problem on East 23rd Street
The following is an open letter to Council Member Dan Garodnick:
Dear Dan,
On the heels of a letter to you by a resident of Stuyvesant Town, Mr. Sanderson, which was published in the Town & Village, about unsafe conditions in the service lane, I would like to bring to your attention some very dangerous conditions a little bit north, on 23rd Street.
I have been a resident of Peter Cooper Village for many years. For a long time, 23rd Street was a quiet place. Not anymore. For the past few years, it has become a major access road to the FDR Drive. During the quieter times, before and after rush hours, 23rd Street from First Avenue down to the Drive, has a become a speedway for many cars and busses. If a device checking speed limits were to be set up, many vehicles would clock in at well over the 25 mile an hour speed limit, more like 40 to 50 miles per hour.
During rush hours when the traffic is bumper to bumper, horns blaring, many drivers have taken to the service lane as a way to avoid the backup of traffic. So, now, the service lane becomes the speedway. Many drivers go through the stop sign at First Avenue and 23rd Street, and the one at Asser Levy Place. At the end of the service lane is a sign and signal for a right turn only. Not for many of these drivers who care not what a sign says. There are many, many u-turns made all day, all evening.
If someone stops in the service lane, briefly, to wait for a parking spot, these speeders start honking, and sometimes screaming at the person who has every right to stop for a minute or two.
Another infraction is cars exiting the service lane at what is the entrance, and entering at the exit. It is a collision waiting to happen.
I was at the 13th Police Precinct’s community meeting last summer to discuss these issues. After listing all the above, the only comment was “Oh yes, children go to school over there.”
I think they should have said we really need to keep the residents of the community safe, or people are always crossing to use the gym at Asser Levy Place, or anything in the way of grasping the seriousness of the reckless driving.
I am hoping that action will be taken here, so that we do not have a pedestrian hit by a vehicle, or a very serious accident on 23rd Street.
Sincerely,
J. Greene PCV
Support legislation to protect horses
In response to a letter to the editor published in the July 9, 2015 edition of Town and Village about the export and slaughter of horses from the US, I would like to elaborate a bit more.
The writer of the letter was referring to the practice in the US of sending horses to Mexico and Canada to be slaughtered for meat for human consumption.
In April 22, 2015 Representative Frank Guinta of New Hampshire sponsored a bill in Congress called the
H.R. 1942 Safeguard American food Exports Act of 2015.
If it is passed, it would ban the export of Horses from the United States to be used as food for human consumption.
According to Govtrack.us, the bill has a prognosis of 8 percent chance of being passed.
I see it like this… You can donate money to rescue groups and save a few horses or you can contact your local
representative and ask them to support the H.R. 1942 Safeguard American food Exports Act of 2015
and ban the export of horses for slaughter permanently.
How can you do this? The ASPCA home page has a section at the bottom of the page called “Get Involved,” under that: “Advocacy Center,” then under “Action Needed Now,” click on the first article: USA: Urge Congress to Ban Horse Slaughter Once and for All!
The article will inform you who you need to contact and their contact information. There is also a form you can fill it out and they will e-mail it for you.
In addition, the website govtrack.us will give you more information on the bill, you can request status updates and they will also tell you your district, who your local representative is and their contact information.
As I said the bill has an 8 percent chance of passing unless people let Congress know it is unacceptable to
slaughter these beautiful animals. Please act now, it will only take a few minutes of your time.
Thank you.
Elizabeth Drury, ST
Hopeful for an alternative to leaf blowers
I just came home from work and was looking forward to the gardens and enjoying the peacefulness of Stuyvesant Town. Instead I was bombarded by noisy, toxic leaf blower machines. Workers use them without facial masks for long periods and at all hours of the day beginning in the early morning. Furthermore, residents and their guests, young and old, are also subject to the carcinogens produced by these machines.
There were many news reports beginning in the fall of 2014 about the toxins produced by these machines; yet ST/PCV still chooses to force their workers to use the blowers, subjecting themselves and everyone around them to health risks including cancer.
ST/PCV should stop using these machines; and should use an environmentally friendly and healthy alternative.
Susan Antini, ST
Tagged: East 23rd Street, letters, stuyvesant town, Stuyvesant Town landscaping, traffic safety 
