Readers Feedback 1.21.04

the city’s landlords

I’m not an absentee landlord, but I used to be, and I know a
lot who are and belong to the New York State Property and Business Owners
Coalition. I take exception to Councilman Ben Douglas’ statement blaming the
“high concentration of poverty mostly on absentee landlords”
(“Busting Up the Ghetto,” January 7).

            I do not
deny the existence of slumlords, but they do not typify the majority of rental
housing owners in the City of Rochester,
most of whom only have a few units and do their best to maintain their
properties and screen out drug dealers and drug users as tenants.

            In an ideal
world, the proportion of owner-occupied housing in the city would be much
higher than it is. However, until that worthy goal is achieved, much of the
current housing stock will continue to be owned by absentee landlords.

            I am an
owner-occupant in the city. Contrary to the popularly held stereotype, the
homes on either side of me and across the street are absentee owned, but as
recently as 2 years ago, those owners were themselves owner occupants. They
left the city for a variety of reasons — declining public school standards,
crime, and employment and retail more available in the suburbs.

            The city
must be made more attractive to all classes of people. To stigmatize landlords
and paint with a very broad brush is counterproductive to the economic and
social health of this city.

            Larry Viggo, Selye Terrace, Rochester

Johnson’s message

Jack Bradigan Spula comments that apartheid will continue in
the area (“Backwards and Forwards: One Helluva Year,”
December 30). The African-American candidate failed; therefore the electorate
is racist.

            Has it
occurred to anyone that perhaps Mr. Johnson had the wrong message? I believe my
dog could have beaten any candidate with a well-known metro-government slant.

            Randy Fredlund,
Greece

Follow through

At a candidates’ forum this past October, I had the
opportunity to ask Maggie Brooks to consider the issue of children’s health
services if she were elected county executive. I clearly recall that she gave
me an affirmative answer.

            I hope that
she will now be able to do so.

            Bernard A.Yablin,
MD, Jewish Home of Rochester, Brighton

Put ’em in Charlotte

If Rochester
wants to see the economy, the ferry, anythingsucceed and move forward we need to:

            1) Close
High Falls and move it to Charlotte.

            2) Take the
money that would be wasted on the aqueduct project and spend it in Charlotte.

            3) Take the
money that would be wasted on the Corn Hill waterfront project and spend it in Charlotte.

            4) Move
what’s left of downtown Rochester
to Charlotte. (There isn’t much
left to move.) Start with the old Changing Scene restaurant (the one where you
got to see all the air-conditioning units as you dined.) If it had been built
in Charlotte, it would still be
operating.

            5) Build
the bus terminal in Charlotte.

            6) Build the
Megacenter in Charlotte.

            7) Save the
railroad bridge in Charlotte. It
would attract visitors if it was a restaurant and street of shops. And yes,
have it rotate, for god’s sake!

            8). Tell
the Mayor that downtown Rochester died
over 20 years ago. It’s time to give “No Man’s Land” a decent burial!

            9) Rename Charlotte
“Rochester North.”

            Dave Kaspersin, Dewey Avenue, Rochester

On the road

As an avid cyclist, I, along with several other cycling
friends, was very much offended by the picture used for the article “Roads
to nowhere?” by Christine Carrie Fien (December
30).

            The bicycle
on the ground surrounded by vehicles suggests that there is some kind of
accident. After reading the article and finding that it has nothing to do with
bicycling — in fact, the bicycle is not mentioned once — I feel the picture
is very unfair and in poor taste. That’s especially true since this comes so
soon after the commotion Clear Channel stations created when some programs
urged listeners to “attack” bicyclists with their vehicles.

            Karen Managan, Martinot Avenue, Rochester

            Editors’ response: The illustration —
which also showed automobiles and trucks in an accident — was intended to
suggest confusion, not attacks on cyclists. And the object to which you refer
was a motorcycle, not a bicycle.

‘Reality’ ethics

Sometimes little things are telling — such as what is
shown on television, and what we watch. Fear
Factor is a popular reality show pitting people against each other in
various trials to compete for a cash prize. One of the standard trials is to
eat something considered revolting. Often this means devouring living creatures
— for example, a large sack of writhing worms, or 20 large African spiders
— within a certain time period.

            The
contestants see this as an obstacle to overcome to win the money. “They
are just worms,” the contestants assure themselves. “If I’m tough, I
won’t let them make me sick!” But the contestants overlook something: They
are trying to profit from the pain and destruction of innocent and relatively
harmless creatures.

            We viewers,
too, miss the point that we are willing to watch killing for amusement. We
condone the expression of loathing for other members of the natural order —
ironically, through consuming them. This is a far cry from the hunter who kills
in order to bring food to his family.

            Isn’t it
arrogant to assume that the earth’s creatures are here for us to torture for
our profit and amusement? Contestants who make it through this trial see themselves
as brave, fearless, and heroic. The African spiders, I can only guess, must see
these human beings as monsters.

            Sometimes
we need to pause, assess what we are doing, and make a choice. Perhaps the Fear Factor contestant who ate the
spiders felt that the act was worth the $50,000 because he really needed the
money. The larger choice is: Is it worth it to us viewers to watch it?

            James Thompson, Cutler Street, Rochester

Writing to City

We welcome and encourage readers’ letters for publication.
Send them to: themail@rochester-citynews.com or The Mail, City Newspaper, 250
North Goodman Street, Rochester14607.

            Our
guidelines: We don’t publish anonymous letters — and we ask that you include
your street name and city/town/village. While we don’t restrict length, letters
of under 350 words have a greater chance of being published. We do edit letters
for clarity and brevity. And in general we don’t publish letters (or longer
“op-ed” pieces) from the same writer more often than once every three months.

This article appears in Jan 21-27, 2004.