‘Fracas on New Goldman Building’

Your recent item “Fracas on New Goldman Building Sets Democrats to Chiding Mayor,” [Jill Gardiner, Page 1, April 6, 2005] featured various Democratic mayoral candidates criticizing Mayor Bloomberg’s policies on rebuilding Lower Manhattan. Since none of these would-be mayors has ever actually had a real job that wasn’t funded at taxpayer expense, they may not realize that Goldman Sachs was engaging in a form of public negotiating with the city in order to achieve design modifications to changes in West Street.

Council Speaker Gifford Miller is quoted as saying “I think that the mayor has neglected almost everything in favor of a football stadium.” Maybe Mr. Miller has trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time. From the expedited cleanup at Ground Zero and nearby, to plans for new transit hubs, to the opening of a host of new parks and public spaces in Lower Manhattan, the Bloomberg administration has moved decisively to revitalize downtown. All of this while initiating major zoning and development changes such as the West Side Stadium and Convention Center and rezoning the waterfront in Brooklyn.

While Mayor Bloomberg is accomplishing great things, Speaker Miller and his councilmanic cronies have been busy with such vital city issues as welcoming dictators like Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe to City Hall. Perhaps the term-limited speaker ought to spend a decade or so in the private sector, creating jobs, meeting a payroll, and satisfying customers – as Michael Bloomberg did – before he has the chutzpah to run for mayor.

ERIK PETER AXELSON
Brooklyn

‘The Circus Leaves Town’

The article by David Blum denigrating “Carnivale” was, in my opinion, full of errors [“The Circus Leaves Town,” Arts & Letters, April 5, 2005]. I imagine you will be receiving many other letters detailing the errors, so I’ll just address the one most pertinent to me. I am over 60, retired from NASA, and relatively intelligent. I can’t say I understand “Carnivale” completely, but have thoroughly enjoyed watching and pondering and learning about all sorts of philosophical ideas that I’d never have done without that show. There is a broad range, from preteen to over-60, of rabid viewers who willingly watched every week, sometimes over and over and over, and more than 4,000 who participate in an online chat. I can find absolutely no reason for an author to pan this show unless he hasn’t actually paid any attention to it. The cinematography and attention to detail alone are enough to be addictive.

MADELEINE SPARKS
Huntsville, Ala.

Dale Messick, R.I.P.

I was sad to read that Dale Messick, the creator of “Brenda Starr, Reporter” passed away [“Dale Messick, 98, Cartoonist, Creator of Brenda Starr,” Stephen Miller, Obituaries, April 8, 2005]. I was an avid fan of that comic strip and I followed Brenda Starr’s adventures all through the late 1950s, ’60s, and early ’70s. I can recall characters such as Merrie Rider, Widow Creeper, No-No Night, Hank O’Hair, and Aunt Abretha.

In the early 1990s, I developed a nostalgic interest in the comic strip and I wanted to pinpoint the date of a specific story. I can not recall through which publication I was able to track down Dale Messick. But, I learned she was living in Santa Rosa, Calif., and I was given her telephone number. I called and it was Messick who answered the phone. We spoke for quite some time about many of her colorful story lines, and she also told me that she most enjoyed creating Brenda Starr’s glamorous fashions.

At the time we spoke, Ms. Messick was writing for a local senior newsletter and seemed to be enjoying what she called “the delightful weather of Santa Rosa.” When I read today that she passed away, I remembered her open and friendly personality. In his obituary, Mr. Miller brought back the memory of Brenda Starr, one exciting heroine. And it seems Dale Merrick had a life filled with great adventures of her own.

MARJORIE J. LEVINE
Manhattan

‘Thomas for Chief Justice’

Recently in The New York Sun, Laura Ingraham promoted Clarence Thomas for chief justice [“Thomas for Chief Justice,” Opinion, February 9, 2005], but called the job “Chief Justice of the Supreme Court” instead of correctly, “Chief Justice of the United States.”

GEORGE J. FRIEDMAN
Manhattan

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