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To the editor,

I think it is a mistake to dismiss the proposal to rename PS 94 from the Henry Longfellow School to the “School of Diverse Languages and Cultures” as an act of “political correctness” (“School’s memory short on Longfellow,” June 23). Writer Chris O’Connell laments the “all-too-American practice of forgetting the past” while forgetting himself that the past is built on its own version of political correctness, which, in America, promoted a Euro-centric vision of our country.

While I don’t expect to see Frederick Douglass on the dollar bill any time in the near future, small achievements like reminding students that they are part of a culturally vibrant society should not be discounted as mere window dressing.

David Terhune, Cobble Hill

• • •

To the editor,

I was disappointed in your recent article about the requested name change at PS 94.

The article was far too subjective for the front page of a newspaper. Phrases like “crash on the rocks of political correctness” and “the jargony name change” have no place in a news article. As the old adage goes, journalists should show, not tell.

If you’re convinced that the name “School of Diverse Languages and Cultures” is jargony, you should trust that that will be clear to your readers from the name itself, without your having to add the label.

That said, the proposed new name is certainly relevant to the current student body. PS 94 works hard to celebrate the many cultures and languages of its students while integrating them into a single community. The school has embraced dual-language education, which lets native English speakers learn another language while helping immigrant children learn English. PS 94 offers dual-language programs in both Spanish and Chinese, the only school in the city to do so. In an international city like New York, I feel that every child should learn a second language, and I applaud PS 94 for making that possible for so many of its students. Longfellow would surely agree.

Mary-Powel Thomas, Boerum Hill

The writer is president of the Community Education Council for District 15

Why no love?

To the editor,

If The Brooklyn Paper would look beyond its own shallow interpretation, they might see that what is happening at 345 Eldert St. in Bushwick is really a cultural celebration by artists who are honoring the spirit of July 4, not some leftist cry against corporations (“Their Independence Day,” June 30–July 7).

Some of the artists have contributed redefined themes of American culture for the event — which is lacking today, as American mass culture loses itself to the usual rhetoric and fears of terrorism propagated by corruption.

Do we really need another mockery of individuals who are trying to live differently, people who may express common concerns about economic freedom? And isn’t The Brooklyn Paper in the end really just serving the same old mentality against difference and individual expression?

Now, more than ever, we need freedom of thought, liberty, and expression, not another medium that attacks differences. Kudos to the artists of the United Studios of Eldert. Cristopher Rodriguez, Bushwick

Editor’s note: No offense intended. This newpaper always stands strongly in defense of freedom of expression, as our letters column demonstrates.

No, she’s wrong!

To the editor,

Letter writer Amanda Sawyer of Park Slope recently complained about the new businesses in her neighborhood, one of which I have a particular interest in (“Wrong on Fourth Av.,” June 23).

I am the wife of the owner of Mule Cafe and I can assure you that our garden has never been packed with drinkers on a weekday evening.

My husband puts in many hours trying to make Mule a viable business in a once-dangerous stretch and often closes the place himself.

We are not open past midnight and have never had a loud crowd in our serene garden.

We are sensitive to our neighbors’ concerns, and, as a result, have yet to receive a phone call or complaint about our business.

I cannot speak for Cherry Tree, another establishment Sawyer cited, but am familiar with them as neighbors. I would not be surprised that they would surely oblige any request to tone down their outside noise.

Cafes, bars, restaurants and city life go hand in hand and I do believe with proper communication there is much room for living harmoniously.

Tara Sansone, Park Slope

And so is he!

To the editor,

Your letters section recently featured a missive from Mark Brennan that featured a cheap shot that off-handedly associated atheism with Communism and Fascism (“Suspended disbelief,” June 23). Brennan has it absolutely backwards.

The evils of Communism and Fascism were not so different from the evils of any religious system that allows sociopaths to gain power using religious beliefs.

Communism and Fascism were both secular religions with their own prophets, sacred texts, belief systems and rituals; from Marx and “Das Kapital” to Hitler and “Mein Kampf.” Neither of these historical movements was “about” atheism and atheism is not about any particular social organization.

More to the point is that religions, communism and fascism each enable and elevate those who might be most intent on achieving social control.

A part of today’s gathering wave of discontent with our president and vice president is recognition of the disconnect between their support of religion, their use of moral language, and the immoral outcomes of whatever they become involved with. In fact, that pair is enough to make anyone doubt that there is a God.

Alan Rosner, Prospect Heights

Make plaza Grand

To the editor,

I am happy to see that someone is trying to bring order to the chaos that is Grand Army Plaza (“The Squared Circle,” June 30–July 7). Somehow though, there doesn’t seem to be an understanding of what actually happens on the side streets leading into and from the plaza — and, as such, the proposed solutions only create equally disastrous ones. For example, where does the traffic go that regularly travels up Union Street to Eastern Parkway and Flatbush Avenue if there is no direct route to these streets? They’ll probably head up St. Johns Place, where they’ll create even more dangerous conditions.

I suspect that the willingness of the city to work on Grand Army Plaza with neighborhood folks is a diversion from focusing on the more serious traffic problems on Flatbush, Atlantic and Fourth avenues, problems that the Department of Transportation has ignored since at least the 1960s and whose solutions extend all the way into Manhattan.

The city has refused offers of help from professionals and watched idly as those problems are being exacerbated by all the development in Downtown Brooklyn and especially by the proposed super mega-development of Atlantic Yards.

Bob Ohlerking, Park Slope

It’s no ‘payoff’

To the editor,

If you had done a little research in your recent story about the Khalil Gibran Academy (“Boerum Hill school gets Gibran payoff,” June 30), you would have learned that these “perks” are not “rewards” by any stretch of the imagination.

In fact, the Department of Education has promised to make sure the School Construction Authority actually builds a long-planned and already funded technology lab in our school. The SCA’s inability or unwillingness to get the job done caused the school to cancel its technology program altogether last year. Promising to get the lab built is not a “reward”; it is simply doing what they were supposed to have done already.

The reason that the Parent-Teacher Association insisted that the Department of Education put its promises into writing was to make the agency accountable for so many broken promises of the past.

Perhaps that should have been the theme of your article: Why don’t parents trust the Department of Education, the entity responsible for educating our children!

Katia Lief, Cobble Hill

Pool partier

To the editor,

I am thrilled that we will have the use of the Floating Pool this summer (“Everybody in the barge,” June 30). When the Brooklyn Bridge Park development plans were first shown to the neighborhood, the one thing I wanted to see was an outdoor pool. I have back and leg problems and have been told to walk in the water. My doctor is also thrilled about the pool.

Mona Bregman, Brooklyn Heights

Smells a Ratner

To the editor,

After the Assembly ruined an otherwise worthy extension of the 421a law by including special breaks for Atlantic Yards and Bruce Ratner (“Bruce Boost,” June 30), I wrote the following letter to our Borough President, Marty Markowitz:

Dear Marty:

You and I may have some differences on Atlantic Yards, but in general I have been supportive of the arena and the affordable housing that Bruce Ratner proposes to build. But the latest handout to FCR by the state legislature has me appaled. You have always been a staunch supported of affordable housing, I ask you take a principled stand on this matter. Tell Gov. Spitzer that the added support for Atlantic Yards is really beyond any reason. Even ACORN, one of the biggest supporters of Atlantic Yards, has called the carve-out for Ratner “bad public policy” because it provides hundreds of millions in tax money for luxury housing.

Enough is more than enough. The legacy of Atlantic Yards will be directly on your watch. Spitzer should veto the bill and tell the legislature to pass 421-a reform without this boondoogle for Ratner.

Sidney Meyer, Boerum Hill

F express now!

To the editor,

Based on the article “Can I get an express F, please?” (June 23), I support Gary Reilly’s petition.

If repairs really need to be done to stations before an F express can be a reality, then the G line should be extended to Coney Island and the F line could skip some stops.

As it is now, every time the G train gets to Smith/ Ninth Street, many passengers are left waiting for the F train — and most of the times it is already full.

One more thing: the G line and the F line are the worst lines in the subway system. The G line is always with three or four cars instead of the regular eight or 10 cars.

The worst lines in the subway system happen to be in the most populated borough of New York City. The people of Brooklyn deserve better.

John Gilbert, Jr. Boerum Hill

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper

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