Letters to the Editor

CYCLING IN RIVERSIDE PARK

The following is from a letter I wrote to the Parks Department:

The walkways in Riverside Park have become dangerous with more and more cyclists and motorized scooters using them as thoroughfares for commuting.

Cyclists and scooters haven’t the common sense to warn you if they are coming from behind; in the rare instances that they do, they do not alert you to whether they are passing on the right or left. In any event, the warning is not in time for the pedestrian to reposition, and certainly not in time to reposition any dog being walked.

Riverside Park’s paths were designed for strolling, not for use as thoroughfares.

I propose that cyclists (except children under the age of 6) and motorized scooters be prohibited from all walkways and be confined to designated bike lanes (as is the case in Central Park).

Perhaps the overwhelming use of commutation bikes would have been inevitable, but it seems that the pandemic has made cycling through the park a hazard to all others now.

R.V. Bernstein

Upper West Side

EMPTY TELEPHONE STANDS

Something to look into: the empty metal telephone stands/posts that still persist near 240 West 65th Street and 50 Amsterdam Ave. between 61st and 62nd Streets. And where else?

They’re a useless eyesore that should be taken out.

Please know that I’ve filed three complaints with 3-1-1. But when I called to check the status of my complaints, I was told that the City Bridge franchise said it was “in compliance” as is (presumably because the telephones themselves were removed?).

But who does the land belong to? Doesn’t that owner have a say in whether the empty posts are removed?

Ellen B. Stern

Upper West Side

CORRECTION

In the print version of the City Arts piece on the Frick exhibition (“A Gift That Keeps Giving,” Our Town Oct. 27 - Nov. 2) there were two editorial mistakes: a reference to “The Eveillard Gift 766” in the first sentence, and duplication of text with the subhed “A Paper Backstage Pass.” We regret the errors. To read the correct version of the story online, please go to www.ourtownny.com.