The Mail

Tipping Point

Regarding Judy McGuire's screed on tipping ("Tips on Gratuity," 6/8): Nobody should ever have to tip for a service they are already paying for. It's humiliating for employees to have to put together tips to make rent, and annoying for customers to have to waste time attaching a monetary figure to a worker's performance. In civilized countries (Japan, Italy, etc.) neither waiters nor waitresses nor bartenders nor taxi-drivers sweat customers. And why is that? They're paid a wage they can live on. Which brings us to the real point: The real cheapskates are not the patrons who leave chump on the bar, but the bar owners who fob off on their customers the responsibility for paying their employees.

T.M. Gendron, Cuernavaca, Mexico

Henry's Last Words

Dear Mr. Zaitchik: Thank you for your wonderful obituary on our late, dear friend Henry Flesh (6/15). We would just like to point out that the details you mentioned regarding his nearly completed novel were misleading. Mr. Flesh's work, 1979-started much before he was diagnosed with mantle zone lymphoma-alternates between chapters of a diary and a novel within a novel, two disparate yet closely connected worlds. The character loosely based on Johnny Temple, Mr. Flesh's former publisher, is but a side character, in no way pivotal to the complex structure and plot of the book.

Gabrielle Danchick, Jonathan Durbin and

Alex Zafiris, Paper Magazine

I Scream

I was saddened to read Gabriella Gershenson's eulogy for NYC ICY in the East Village (6/15). As long as I can remember it's been my favorite summer stop for high-end ice cream, including the sublime apricot ginger flavor mentioned in the article. Sometimes it seems like the best little spots in the city are disappearing faster than they can be replaced. It's a perennial lament, sure, but the death of NYC ICY really hits home.

Pina Loffa, Manhattan

Nuke York City

I agree with the sentiment behind Alexander Zaitchik's article on the threat of nuclear terrorism ("Last Best Chance," 6/15), but it is naive to think that restricting access to fissile material is possible.

There are at least two states that we know of which have both the capability and the motivation to provide weapons-grade material to terrorists or private individuals. In addition, as the article notes, there are many unaccounted-for weapons in the ex-USSR. It is certainly not impossible that the transfer of a nuclear weapon or of materials to make one has already occurred.

Rather than chasing a train that has already left the station, perhaps a more prudent course of action would be to address the issues that make New York a target-in particular, New York City's long-standing support for and alliance with the United States.

Jabairu Stork, Manhattan

Green Dreams

Aaron Naparstek asks what an Eco-Metropolis would look like and how it would work ("Pedal Power," 6/15). First of all, all automobiles would be electric-powered. Better yet, no cars at all. The streets of Manhattan have always been hotter than they should be during summer. Reason one-cars. Their emissions increase the temperature. You'll know what I mean when you've spent a good afternoon in the midst of Central Park, then walk out to feel a rush of hot air overpowering your skin.

Reason two, lack of trees and bushes. There simply is not enough nature in this stone-walled city. They absorb the bad air and turn it into good air. There would be trees everywhere, big and tall, that would provide shade during summer; during autumn, just imagine the colors. The fallen leaves could also be recycled into compost.

Wayne Howard, Manhattan

Hell on Wheels

As a pedestrian and driver, I deplore the behavior and attitude of city cyclists ("Pedal Power," Aaron Naparstek, 6/15). A bike lane was installed on my Prospect Heights Street six months ago. As a driver in that time I've seen only seven bikes use it, all going the wrong way against traffic despite the picture sign on it indicating the correct direction. When I need to move into it to park, I get angry gestures and curses from bikers, but when cars use this lane as a second one, since it is often empty, they are ticketed.

Countless times myself and other pedestrians have been cut off or "kamakazied" by cyclists (coming more than an arm's length away from my body) on crosswalks during the "walk light" brief period when all cars have stopped and we thought we were safe, and the same treatment on sidewalks where cyclists don't respect that it's illegal to be there and a threat to the sick, old or sensory impaired. And what response does one get if you speak to the cyclist? Invariably it's anger and arrogance that you have needs that get in their way.

Jon Sanderson, Manhattan

Hell on Bigger Wheels

Thanks for Aaron Naparstek's article last week ("Pedal Power," 6/15). I live a few blocks away from that intersection in Park Slope and it has been haunting me since I found out about it. Your article was very useful in dealing with my sense of horror, as it placed the tragic incident in a larger political context. It got me thinking about what can be done to make the city better for cyclists, and thus a better, healthier place for all New Yorkers.

I was wondering if there are laws regarding the routing, amount of and size of trucks that are driving through residential areas? It seems ridiculous and unnecessary that a 10-wheel truck was driving down 5th Avenue when 4th Avenue has so much more space, wider lanes, etc.

Also, I would assume that because Prospect Park is so close by, that Park Slope would have an extremely high concentration of cyclists. Is there some way of rezoning certain neighborhoods in which that is the case, so that they provide bike lanes?

Greta Gertler, Brooklyn

A Point of Fact

Re: "Glen Campbell" (6/8): "Before getting there, though, both Webb and Campbell had to attempt reviving their respective careers with 1974's Reunion. It was a magnificent bomb that-thanks to the first recording of Webb's later mega-hit "Highwayman"-still laid the foundation for each performer's later comeback."

While "Highwayman" is on the Aussie CD reissue of Reunion (retitled Reunited), it was not on the original album. It was the title track on his 1979 album Highwayman. I'm sure nobody cares, but Reunion is an awesome record. "Highwayman," while cool, suffers from botched production and would have marred a damn-near perfect record.

Dominic Welhouse, via email