Letters to the Editor: Good Bargain; Common Sense

GOOD BARGAIN? To the Editor: Anyone having recently ridden on the 1956 vintage Manhattan 42nd Street cross-town bus had a great trip down memory lane. It was a time when bus drivers had to make change and drive at the same time. No one dared bring any food on the bus or leave any litter behind. In the mid-1960s, air-conditioned buses were just becoming a more common part of the fleet. You had to pay separate fares to ride either the bus or the subway. There were no MetroCards affording free transfers between bus and subway, and no discounted weekly or monthly fares. Employee transit checks to help cover the costs didn't exist. Fast-forward to today, and you can see how MTA public transportation is still one of the best bargains in town. -Larry Penner DEFYING COMMON SENSE To the Editor: It defies common sense that any municipality would place a transfer station of this scope in a densely populated residential neighborhood. The number of garbage trucks alone will overwhelm the narrow streets. No other facility of this kind is anywhere near a New York City neighborhood, especially one with so many children and schools. This area of Yorkville is a beautiful, quiet corner of the city with Carl Schurz Park and Gracie Mansion only a few blocks away. Has the mayor or Christine Quinn ever really spent any time here? The existing facility has been closed for years because of its negative impact on the community. No amount of modernization can deflect its impact. I feel that the community is actually being victimized because there are no powerful development interests here. Can you imagine the mayor trying to place this facility in the "hot" Tribeca area or near the new West Side developments? In addition, trying to paint this neighborhood as part of the elite Upper East Side is disingenuous. This is a working-class Manhattan neighborhood. Not that it matters. This does not belong near anyone's home or school. Everyone needs to continue to remind our mayor that this facility is unacceptable, and to remind Quinn that we vote. -Sharon Wolf Horowitz