Letters to the Editor
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
‘A Soviet Traffic System?’
It is clear that Edward L. Glaeser does not drive in New York City traffic. The congestion in the city is due in part to the volume of traffic, however, many other factors contribute to the delays [“Does New York Suffer From a Soviet Traffic System?” Page 1, May 25, 2006].
The yellow and gypsy taxis are allowed to cruise the street, picking up and discharging at will. They need to be constrained to taxi stands and both the passenger and driver penalized for violations.
Trucks delivering in the city are forced to double-park because loading zones are blocked with illegally parked vehicles. Eliminate those and the streets will be faster.
Official vehicles often park in restricted zones preventing trucks from delivering without blocking the street – eliminate the permits and traffic will flow.
Large dumpsters are left for days at construction sites, often full. A 12-hour limit for dumpsters would go a long way to alleviate this problem.
Truck sizes need to be limited – no tractor-trailer should travel down any secondary street in New York City. Smaller trucks should be used for delivery.
Finally, before the imposition of congestion pricing, shouldn’t we consider the sorry state of our subway system? If it were cleaner, more reliable and safer, perhaps we would use the subway rather than our cars.
DWIGHT SIMMONS
Brooklyn
‘On Conscience’
It was quite ironic to find on your op-ed page of May 24, 2006, the famous “conscience” quotation from Lillian Hellman [“I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions”].
As everyone should know, she couldn’t and wouldn’t cut her conscience to fit “this year’s fashions” only because it was already permanently cut to fit the Kremlin fashion of her days. You should know it, of all the New York newspapers.
LEON ROZENBAUM
Fresh Meadows, N.Y.
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