The Mail

GENTRIFY THIS!

I want to thank Aaron Naparstek and New York Press for the wonderful ongoing coverage of the development situation in Brooklyn.

Low-rise Brooklyn residents in five historic communities have been trying for the past couple of years to urge the examination of these massively out-of-scale proposals more closely. Your overviews of the situation will help greatly in that endeavor.

We are not against development. We are a coalition of groups working for responsible solutions that don't line a private developer's pocket, but build on the already solid community assets and expand them.

Many of us have been here for decades. Many of us made a commitment to be part of these neighborhoods while others were still fleeing the city.

We hope that you will be able to continue covering this very critical story, as those whose lives would be altered forever by the plan as it now stands need fair coverage every step of the way as the approval process moves forward.

Phyllis Wrynn, Brooklyn

[INSERT CYMBAL CRASH HERE]

Re: The News Hole's How 'Bout a Parking Lot? (The News Hole, 7/6) Nah. Have Richard Serra cook up one of those rusty monolithic things he's so good at and call it "The George W. Bush Memorial Blank Check".

Pat Gillis, Alexandria, VA

YOU NEVER GO BACK

Dear Judy: I was-am-"Horny African-American Honey". Thank you for answering my letter in your column (Dategirl, 7/13). Now, many over-25 "late bloomers" who were probably too embarrassed to ask for advice know what to do. However, I no longer needed your advice by the time you ran the letter. I met a good-looking Israeli over the Internet and he helped me solve my problem in the early spring.

NAME WITHELD, Manhattan

BETSY CROCKER

Terrific article on Norman Siegel ("Stormin' Norman," by Alexander Zaitchik, 7/13). Betsy Gotbaum's website touts her endorsement by disgraced Kings County Democratic Chair Clarence Norman. Siegel's campaign represents an historic opportunity for Democrats in New York City to start tossing morally bankrupt elected officials out of office. Until we clean up the corrupt local machine and stand for principles people believe in, we Democrats won't unseat Republicans.

Raymond Dowd, Manhattan

Got Google?

I appreciated the profile of Norman Siegel last week, but would have appreciated some information on how to get involved in the campaign. Couldn't you have provided a website? It's not like you weren't already blatantly advocating for the guy.

Pina Balducci, Jersey City

It's Allwhite With Me

Thank you for publishing Armond White, my favorite film critic. Nobody else writes with as much insight and bravery. Please never stop; his writing challenges me.

I just saw Me You and Everyone We Know, and I hated it. It was refreshing to come home and read your review ("Don't Know Much," 6/15). It nailed how I felt-in a much more articulate way, of course. I'm confused as to why more critics don't take filmmakers to task.

Thanks again. Also, please write another book! I am big fan of Resistance. Every entry is excellent.

Mark Osborn, Austin, TX

Crowe's Pest

I suggest you give Armond White some Prozac and send him on his way. His essay "Midyear Reckoning" was outrageously wrong, proving once again this guy knows nothing about good cinema. As they say, 50 million critics can't be wrong. White's opinion of Cinderella Man and Ron Howard's wonderful films belongs in a toilet.

Mike Aleprete, Philadelphia

WE HAVE A BRIDGE TO SELL YOU

Tell me: That wasn't a real interview MattÊTaibbi did, was it? Because if it wasn't, it could have been ("Experience Required," 7/6). An absolutely brilliant column.

Bill Doskoch, Queens

The Silent Majority

I was delighted by Matt Taibbi's critique of poll results ("A New Poll, Commissioned By...," 7/6), but I think he left out an important point.

For decades I have declined to respond to pollsters and often wondered how my refusal to participate in the poll was reflected in the published report. I have never seen poll results that revealed the percentage of poll subjects that refused to respond at all. Until recently, I assumed that such cases were classified in the published "undecided" or "no opinion" categories, which very rarely exceed five per cent on any subject.

Then a few months ago a Gallup pollster called to ask me questions for a major poll, and instead of hanging up on him, as I had always done before, I asked him to tell me what percentage of people that he called refused to answer any questions at all. I asked him to give me a ballpark estimate, and he said, "At least half." Two or three days later, the poll results were published on the front page of every newspaper in the country, and Gallup claimed that its margin of error was five per cent.

It seems an interesting coincidence that the percentage of people who refuse to respond to pollsters appears to be almost exactly the same as the percentage of eligible voters who do not vote. Might it be possible that the non-voters, unaware as they are of the paucity (and character) of poll respondents, refrain from voting out of the despair they experience from reading and believing these dishonest poll results?

Verne D. Fukawi, Road Narrows, WY

SANDEEP IN DOM

Last week, you published a letter from a fellow clerk at Videoblitz (The Mail, 7/13).

I just want to say that I too was enamored of that indie. I lost my virginity to an Irish barmaid against the "L thru P" section, learned about fisting and rimming from the Falcon series, and discovered Kurosawa's Dreams there. I used to read an entire New York Press on my stool, as Goodfellas or Fantasia would play. Those were the days.

When Sandeep says he worked "on and off" from 1995-1998, it was because he was fired and hired several times. The last time was for switching Ghetto Guys with Disney's Little Mermaid. Let's see Netflix answer an asshole customer with that one.

Dom Melendez, Manhattan

We Broke the ICC Story. Remember?

You call yourselves an "alternative" newspaper? This article by Jeanne Bergman ("Drugs, Disease, Denial," 7/6) is unmitigated horseshit. Give me 15 minutes with her in a public forum and I'd tear her apart.

Shame on you for taking part in this cover-up. Shame on you for lying and for lacking basic integrity. Shame on you for not bothering to check the facts.

NAME WITHHELD, Manhattan