‘Save the Plaza’

Apropos Frank Tomaselli’s letter on the Plaza hotel [“Save the Plaza,” Letters, March 4, 2005], may I request Mr. Tomaselli put together an investment package that will procure the hotel from the new owners after giving them a return on their investment? He can then continue to patronize the hotel and watch the diminishing and negative returns on his investment while Elad properties, the current owners of the hotel, can put their money to use elsewhere in a free market.

Mr. Tomaselli and certainly Peter Ward appear to be oblivious of the premise of a legal contract. The new owners bought the hotel with the knowledge that the Plaza exterior but not the interior is landmarked. Retroactive imposition of government rules can only having a chilling effect on transactions in the city. Mr. Ward and Mr. Tomaselli appear to have been oddly silent when conversions of office and other buildings to hotels were undertaken at a feverish pace in New York in the late 1990s, an example of which is the conversion of the former Guardian Life building in 2000 as a W hotel.

RIKIN SHETH
Manhattan

‘Love Affair With Sparkle’

The New York Sun’s story “A Love Affair With the Sparkle of Carbonation” [Lan Nguyen, On the Town, February 23, 2005], provides interesting information about a new type of soda. But the story unfortunately mischaracterizes high-fructose corn syrup, or HFCS – a natural homegrown sweetener from Midwest cornfields. Below are some relevant, scientific facts about HFCS that readers should be aware of:

* Recent mischaracterizations of HFCS as a unique cause of obesity do not represent the consensus opinion of scientific experts. Many parts of the world, including Great Britain and Mexico, have rising rates of obesity despite having little or no HFCS in their foods and beverages due to tariffs and trade policies.

* Seven months ago, the Center for Food and Nutrition Policy at the Virginia Tech issued a report compiled by scientists who reviewed a number of critical commentaries about HFCS. Their analysis found that HFCS is not a unique contributor to obesity.

* HFCS has been proven beneficial to consumers through its use in many foods and beverages, including several products that are specifically made for people trying to control their weight.

* In 1983, the Food and Drug Administration listed HFCS as “Generally Recognized as Safe” (known as GRAS status) for use in food, and the FDA reaffirmed that ruling in 1996.

* The American Dietetic Association notes that: “Consumers can safely enjoy a range of nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners when consumed in a diet that is guided by current federal nutrition recommendations … as well as individual health goals.”

AUDRAE ERICKSON
President Corn Refiners Association
Washington, D.C.

‘Undue Process’

Regarding The New York Sun’s alarm over Introductory Bill 390 [“Undue Process,” Editorial, February 23, 2005]: The laws the Department of Consumer Affairs enforces are already on the books, and administrative tribunals have been around for decades to prevent burdening the court system. The issue is whether DCA can enforce its laws without one hand tied behind its back, relying on rare lawsuits in state court to protect consumers who file heartbreaking complaints against fly-by-night furniture stores, tax preparers, funeral homes, travel agencies, and more. DCA can already adjudicate violations issued to 55 different categories of licensed businesses and at least half a dozen other unlicensed businesses under laws recently enacted by the City Council. Many of the City’s small businesses – bodegas, tobacco retailers, and others – are already covered by existing hearing requirements. The real issue is whether some violators get a free pass for violating the law because cumbersome court procedures make it impractical to hold them accountable.

The charge that DCA is going after businesses “with a vengeance” is also unfounded. Our efficiency for collecting past fines has been mistaken for actual violations issued, but in fact we issued fewer total violations last year than the year before. This DCA inherited a huge backlog of cases where violations had already been issued but were never heard, so fines were never levied, let alone collected. We’ve corrected all that. We have collected on past fines, which is only fair to the businesses that play by the rules.

GRETCHEN DYKSTRA
Commissioner
New York City Department Of Consumer Affairs
Manhattan

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