Letters to the Editor
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‘Spitzer’s Giveaway’
It is important to note that the incentives offered to JP Morgan Chase were made available through legislation intended to revitalize Lower Manhattan commercial development and that this investment will yield substantial tax revenues for New York City and State [Editorial, “Spitzer’s Giveaway,” June 15, 2007].
JPMorgan Chase’s new 1.3 million square foot Class-A office tower will make a significant contribution to expanding New York City’s economic infrastructure and sends a clear message that New York City remains the financial capital of the world.
In addition, an analysis by the Alliance for Downtown New York concluded that a new office tower of this size would generate more than $137 million in new, annual tax revenues.
Generating commercial development in Lower Manhattan and encouraging companies to establish, maintain, and expand their businesses downtown is exactly what this legislation intended.
Thanks to the leadership of Governor Spitzer, Speaker Silver, and Mayor Bloomberg, its legacy will be a downtown and a global financial district for the 21st century.
ROBERT DOUGLASS
Chairman
Alliance for Downtown New York
New York, N.Y.
‘A Studiolo of His Own’
In his review of “Federico da Montefeltro and His Library,” Lance Esplund declared that the renowned condottiere and humanist commissioned Piero della Francesca to paint his bust-length portrait, and that della Francesca’s portraits of da Montefeltro and his wife, Battista Sforza, once hung in the ducal palace at Urbino [Museums, “A Studiolo of His Own,” June 14, 2007].
While it is true that della Francesca’s justly famed diptych of the couple was formerly in Urbino — it is now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence — there is to my knowledge no evidence that da Montefeltro commissioned the work himself.
To the contrary, as I argued more than 35 years ago in a Master’s thesis soon to be published online, there is considerable iconographic and circumstantial evidence that the work was not commissioned by da Montefeltro, but rather for him.
MICHELLE KAMHI
New York, N.Y.
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