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Debatable
Leadership
To
the Editor:
It
is no surprise to me that Mayor Jennings will not enter into
a debate with Alice Green. [“Green and Growing,” Nov. 3] After
all he is the mayor who did not endorse Carl McCall, but rather
Pataki. He developed budgets that eventually closed down Camp
Opportunity, a minority-run summer camp that had served minority
children free of charge for years.
He is mayor of the city where the good people of Arbor Hill
came faithfully for several months to City Council to let
their elected officials know that the 3 and 4 AM garbage pickups
were disrupting their sleep, making life difficult. Their
pleas went unheard. Yet when the good people of another part
of the city complained about the same thing several years
later, legislation was instantly enacted because “people should
not have to live this way.” This reflects on his leadership
just as the mishandling of the absentee ballots in the futile
attempt to make independently minded Wanda Willingham lose
the legislative election reflects on his party leadership.
Money originally allocated for the repair and renovation of
Henry Johnson Boulevard mysteriously was reallocated to New
Scotland Avenue near his home. Neighborhood input for the
Arbor Hill renovation plan could only be accomplished by lawsuit.
Those from Madison Avenue were warmly invited.
When my son was 8 years old, he met a person whom he told
me he liked because “he did not treat me like I was black.”
When asked to explain, he said, “oh, like you are not there.”
No, I am not at all surprised that Mayor Jennings is not debating
Alice Green for the election. I only hope that the good people
of Albany who have not had to suffer “not being there” will
open their eyes and take a good, long look. What we saw with
Katrina does not just exist in the South.
Susan
Stutz
Albany
Hard
to Swallow
To
the Editor:
In
her review of Angelo’s Prime 677 [Food, Nov. 3], the reviewer
wrote “For dinner, my husband had the prime New York strip
($39), which comes from the most tender section of beef. Sides
come a la carte ($4 to $8). . . . The steak, however, was
the main event, and it was well worth the money.”
C’mon—what can you do to a piece of meat that makes it worth
40 bucks a serving, without so much as a couple of
broccoli florets? Prices like this are outrageous! This is
like the Emperor’s New Restaurant, where people stand in line
to pay exorbitant prices in order to be seen as the type of
person who thinks that a 40-dollar slab of meat is “well worth
the money.”
In fairness, I was taken to Angelo’s for dinner and did enjoy
the food very much. Would I go there on my own credit card?
Not on your life! There are plenty of places in the Capital
District where you can eat for less than half the price equally
well if not better.
Frankly, I was surprised to see a Metroland review
of such a restaurant that did not so much as mention the fact
that this is pricey fare indeed. In general, Metroland
reviews the sort of restaurants that “real people” can afford
to go to, and I find the reviews very useful in deciding where
to eat out. I would imagine that the dinner tab for the reviewer
and her husband was paid for by Metroland—would the
reviewer have been so effusive in her praise if she were paying
the tab herself?
Paul
Busman
Cohoes
Editor’s reply:
We consider all dining experiences in the Capital Region fair
game for the Food section, and do not restrict our reviews
to restaurants within a certain price range.
Because
People Aren’t Nice
To
the Editor:
Answering
my letter saying that its Katrina response simply reflected
government’s inherent dysfunction in meeting human needs,
Chris Edelson holds that the problem isn’t government as such,
but the people running it [Letters, Oct. 6]. I agree that
government could be wonderful if only it were run by the kind
of virtuous, wise, selfless administrators he pines for. But
in the real world, the prodigious power and money associated
with big government inevitably fall to sharp-elbowed people
very different from the disinterested angels Mr. Edelson wishes
we could put in charge. That’s why his dream of a truly benevolent
government is just that—a dream.
Frank
S. Robinson
Albany
Metroland
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