Op-Ed Letters to the Editor
Save our bus loop more elevators? Let them split
Vaccine stunner
To The Editor:
Re “Vaccines double standard”
(letter, by Martha Danziger,
June 6):
I am stunned that Martha
Danzinger justifi es not immunizing
her child because
of a “double standard” — that
she should not be required to
vaccinate her children because
the U.S. admits immigrants
who have not received good
medical care in their home nations.
Surely, there should be
one standard for all, and that
means healthcare and vaccination
for everyone, long-term
resident or not.
She believes her child was
sickened by vaccination. I understand
why a mother would
want to blame some previous
event for the illness of her
child — I do the same myself.
But that should not be used to
avoid protecting a child.
I have heard some parents
say they are willing to risk having
a feverish, itchy child home
in a darkened room (because
measles hurts the eyes) for a
week or two. But the Centers
for Disease Control reports
that, in the fi rst months of
2019, 66 people (mostly children)
have been hospitalized
with complications from
measles, including a newborn
(born with measles because his
unvaccinated mother
had them).
When my 15-year-old daughter’s
immune system was down
because she had radiation for
cancer, a sign on the door to
the waiting room was “DO
NOT ENTER if you might
have been exposed to chicken
pox.” That was before widespread
vaccination for chicken
pox, a disease that could have
killed her. She recovered,
thank God, but if she had cancer
today I would be terrifi ed
of measles, mumps or chicken
pox. I would not let her leave
the house except for infusion.
I do not believe that Martha,
or any parent, would deliberately
risk the health of babies
too young to be immunized, or
of immune-suppressed adults
who could die of a “childhood”
disease, or of elders whose immune
systems are failing. We
all want to live; we need each
other to do so.
Dr. Kathleen (Keen) Berger
Berger is a developmental psychologist
Elevate
the dialogue
To The Editor:
There is a solution to the ongoing
lawsuits against the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority
for the lack of suffi cient
accessible subway stations for
riders with disabilities.
Why not ask any major business,
college or hospital that
benefi ts from subway stations
adjacent to its facility to
sponsor installation
of one or
BY BARBARA RUETHER
I have lived in the West Village on Bank St. since 1958. I
worked in the Department of Community Medicine at St.
Vincent’s Medical and Trauma Center until it closed in
2010.
I left work in corporate America to work serving people in
our then-community, very idealistically taking a $20,000 pay
cut in 1975. H.R. insisted on interviewing me twice to ensure
that I knew I was taking a big risk to work on a grant program
called the Chelsea Village Homebound Elderly Program. But
I was determined.
This little program based on teamwork (doctor, nurse, social
worker collaborating closely together) was founded to
help keep the frail elderly in their homes, where they wanted
to be, as long as safely possible. The C.V.P., as it was known,
served well and later became the New York State model for the
Nursing Home Without Walls Program, technically known as
L.T.H.H.C.P. (Long-term Home Health Care Program) that
can provide all the services in a patient’s home, including
aides, physician care, nursing care and social worker support,
as well as occupational and physical therapy. The patient can
remain at home as long as the cost of needed care does not
exceed the cost of the local nursing home.
State Senator Lombardi helped us fi nd the resources and
economies to use Medicaid and it worked. Now, New York
State residents can fi nd an array of services for seniors who
wish to remain living at home safely by checking out NY
CONNECTS. I am proud to have been a founding part of
these services in my community and to know how it grew to
serve many more.
Now the community I served is determined to make me a
prisoner in my little Bank St. studio apartment by taking away
my Abingdon Square 14A bus. It’s the public, affordable vehicle
that provides me my critical access to my doctor’s offi ce
on the East Side. At age 83, I am unable to climb the subway
stairs to get Uptown. Most everyday things I need begin on
the 14th St. corridor. The senior center I prefer is on Washington
Square North off Fifth Ave.
Basically, the Village has become a barren desert because
all the stores are gone, as are the little shops that my neighbors
and friends enjoyed visiting. I cannot afford to eat out, most
of the affordable little eateries are gone. You know the story,
just walk around.
At least the Abingdon bus gets me to the great 14th St.
corridor. Walking up to 14th and standing around waiting for
another bus is exhausting. Even if I do walk up to 14th, there
is not a seating shelter to rest at Eighth Ave. and 14th St. The
Abingdon bus stop on Eighth Ave. in front of the drugstore at
least provides some shelter in case of bad weather. In stormy
weather and heat, one can take the bus to reach 14th St. and
east from there.
Are you aware that it costs about $8 just to step into a yellow
cab before it travels an inch? I need the bus. We need this
bus. You are taking away my lifeline and that of many others
who have made the Village a wonderful place to be. Now “the
Village” is gone and taken over primarily by pied-a-terre nontaxpayers
who make decisions ignoring the we — the people
who still do live here. Seems you want us gone, too?
Now the M.T.A. says it’s going to slow down and take a
little time — up to nine months — to “study” whether the
Abingdon loop is indeed needed so badly. But to even have
thought of eliminating it, this longtime Village activist says
shame on you.
PHOTO BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
At a press conference last year announcing the M.T.A.’s
commitment to install elevators at the Sixth Ave. and
14th St. subway station, Milagros Franco, who has been
disabled since birth and lives in the E. 20s, left, said
that each new subway elevator is another victory for accessibility.
the cost 50 percent with the
M.T.A./New York City Transit
Authority in exchange for
naming rights to the elevators.
The M.T.A. may have to
make some hard decisions on
what other projects and programs
may have to be canceled
or reduced in its next 2020-24
fi ve-year capital plan, budgeted
at $30 billion or more, to fi nd
more funds for installing more
A.D.A.-compliant elevators.
Larry Penner
Penner previously worked 31
years for the Federal Transit
Administration Region 2 New
York Offi ce
Thanks on
Ben’s behalf
To The Editor:
Re “Ben Green, 73, C.B.
chair, activist” (obituary, June
13):
From Benjamin Green’s
family, we thank many friends
who supported Ben through
his illness, especially Judith
Marsh, Linda Cronin-Gross,
John DeHority, Nelly Golden,
Julie Judge and his friends at
New York Chemists.
Blessings to all.
Alicia Maniatakis
Cousin
made proud
To The Editor:
Re “Ben Green, 73, C.B.
chair, activist” (obituary, June
13):
I am grateful for this lovely,
informative piece here, for Ben
who is at peace. I am a cousin
made proud! Lifting prayers
for him, and all his loved ones
— friends and family. I have fi -
nally gotten to know him.
Liz Burton
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Letters to the Editor, 1 Metro-
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The Villager reserves the
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Anonymous letters will not be
published.
Schneps Media TVG June 20, 2019 13
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