Rethinking Market Square and looking to the future
May 21 — To the editor:
In response to both Jim Spline's opinion piece and Lasky's letter today (5/21), I request data from the City on the actual number of parking spaces that would be lost if Market Square were pedestrianized (while parts of intersecting High, Fleet, Church and Pleasant streets remain open) and exactly what is the current revenue being gained from the spaces that would be lost.
Without hard data, no one can claim that it is impossible to close the center of the market square to traffic (again, cross streets are closed to pick up and drop off delivery workers, residents, and people who cannot walk far). it is open). Installing retractable poles (found in many cities in Europe and the United States, such as Burlington, Vermont, and Boulder, Colorado) in restricted areas of market squares would allow snowplows to be used in the winter. As Splaine said, all you need is imagination.
We taxpayers (I've lived here since 1985) have paid for the Foundry Garage, and once both Hanover and the Foundry are open there will be plenty of parking and the few parking spaces in the city will not be needed.
Sitting outside, breathing in clean air instead of hearing cars idling at traffic lights or crosswalks, listening to birds singing instead of the loud exhaust horns of motorbikes and cars cruising the downtown beltway, should be the future of Market Square. With a little imagination and an eye to the future instead of clinging to the past, it can be achieved.
Catherine Blandin
portsmouth
Advertisements denouncing Israel were reprehensible
May 21 − To the editor:
5/19 To the list of people who signed the “Not in our Name” ad in Sunday's Coastal Newspaper.
I am a proud member of Temple Israel in Portsmouth. Both of my children have had their Bar Mitzvahs. My wife and I have been to Israel. The advert last Sunday condemning Israel and suggesting increased aid to UNRWA is totally reprehensible. Multiple media outlets have found evidence that the agency is infiltrated by Hamas and its supporters. The UN has been nothing but a total adversary and adversary of Israel since its creation 76 years ago. Anyone who pays attention knows the UN is a complete joke.
Did you guys put out an ad after 9/11 saying that the US has no right to go after the Taliban? Don't you understand that if the world turns against the Jews again, the Jews have nowhere else to go? ?My wife's grandparents were Holocaust survivors. Their entire family was killed except for a brother named Joe. Joe was an early immigrant to Israel after independence in 1948. He could not find a safe place in Europe even after the war, so he fled. Our son was named after him.
Your ad's headline would be more appropriate: “We demand the immediate release of the October 7th hostages. We condemn the sexual violence and torture of innocent civilians (including many Americans).” ” would have been. That's what I'm going to put my name on.
Jay Lieberman
Portsmouth
To deny genocide is to accept responsibility for it
May 16 − To the Editor:
It takes real effort to deny the genocide taking place in Gaza, as recent letter writers have attempted. We must ignore the fact that the leaders of the Israeli government called for the removal of the Palestinians and then proceeded to remove the Palestinians. Instead of accepting painful realities, we must confuse people with distracting counterarguments. Here are some examples:
Israel is the only democratic state in the Middle East. Indeed, it is a democracy where millions of people living there are denied the right to vote. So what about Turkey?
Palestinians have repeatedly rejected offers of statehood. On examination, this proves to be a gross oversimplification of a troubling history. And does it follow that Palestinians deserve to be killed in response?
The United Nations says the number of Palestinian deaths has been exaggerated. The United Nations recently released revised estimates of the number of women and children killed, but analysis of an additional 10,000 deaths is pending. However, the United Nations has not changed its figure, which puts the death toll in the entire Gaza Strip at more than 35,000. There is no reason to think that the high mortality rates for women and children have changed.
The Israel Defense Forces notifies civilians before attacks, giving them an opportunity to seek safety. There are no safe places in Gaza, including schools, hospitals and UN facilities. Palestinian poet Refat Alalil was assassinated after fleeing to his home after receiving a phone call that the Israeli Defense Forces knew of his whereabouts.
The Israel Defense Forces are the most moral military in the history of the world. An Israeli whistleblower confirmed to CNN that according to survivors' reports, Palestinian captives were sometimes stripped, beaten, tortured and even killed. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the IDF has set up “killing zones” where they can shoot anyone who moves around. Surgeons who returned to Western countries reported seeing children, including infants, killed by a single shot to the head or chest.
Hamas uses civilians as human shields. Dropping a 2,000-pound bomb on one of the most densely populated areas in the world is sure to kill thousands of civilians, whether or not they are designated as “human shields.” Even if human shields exist, they are remarkably ineffective. When the Israeli military suspected that a lone armed terrorist was aboard the World Central Kitchen motorcade, they did not hesitate to kill everyone in the motorcade.
Criticizing Israel is anti-Semitic. This fallacy would hold Jews around the world responsible for Israeli war crimes.
The assertion of genocidal intent is simple, given the many statements by Israeli leaders calling for the elimination of Palestinians. Here are some examples:
Defense Minister Yoav Galant: “I have ordered a total blockade of the Gaza Strip. There is no electricity, no food, no fuel. We are at war with the human animal.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Gaza is a city of evil. We will ruin every place where Hamas is deployed and hiding. I say to the people of Gaza, get out of there now.”
President Isaac Herzog: “There are no innocent civilians in Gaza.”
The United Nations Genocide Convention lists specific acts such as:
“Kill members of the group.” Israeli forces have killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Many more people are buried under the rubble. The killings are occurring at a pace unparalleled in the 21st century.
“Causing serious physical or psychological harm to members of the group.'' A total of 78,000 people were injured. Many end up suffering lifelong disabilities. Children and the elderly in particular are beginning to die of starvation.
Israel disrupted supplies of food, water, medicine, and fuel to Gaza, “deliberately imposing living conditions on populations intended to cause physical destruction, in whole or in part.” 1.5 million people were forced from their homes. They blew up hospitals, universities, and schools. 60% of housing was damaged or destroyed. Sewage is flowing into the street.
To deny the apparent genocide, for any reason, is to accept responsibility for it.
William R. Castle
portsmouth
Protesters quote Martin Luther King Jr. while speaking lies about Israel
May 21 − To the editor:
Antonucci et al. (May 21) Invokes the names of MLK, Desmond Tutu, and Cesar Chavez to justify blocking Congressman Pappas' office. But they undermine their own moral authority by repeating the Hamas-inspired lie that 35,000 Gazans have been killed in the war so far. Two analyzes of casualties in Gaza by academic statisticians have found that the figures are almost certainly fabricated by Hamas. Even the United Nations, no friend of Israel, admits that 35,000 is too high.
The claim that there is a “new hunger crisis” in Gaza is also false. As The Wall Street Journal reported last Monday, “Israel has facilitated the delivery of 542,570 tons of aid and 28,255 aid trucks to Gaza since the start of the war, even though it knew that the aid directly and indirectly subsidized Hamas rule.” A few days ago, 11 of 16 food aid trucks that left a U.S.-built jetty in Gaza were hijacked before reaching the hungry people, presumably by Hamas for its own use.
Pastor Grishaw Jones and others call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. What they fail to mention is that there was a ceasefire before Hamas's brutal raid on southern Israel on October 7th. Our protesters now want to stop the IDF from pursuing a campaign to eliminate Hamas as a future threat to the Israeli people.
Who the hell do our protesters care about? They acknowledge that they have “listened to the voice of the Palestinian people.” But did they listen to the families and friends of the Israelis killed on October 7th? Have you spoken to the families of Israelis who have been imprisoned in Gaza dungeons since October 7th? Have they listened to the voices of the 100,000 Israelis who have been forced to flee their homes since October 7th? No, our protesters prefer to take a “brave stand against genocide.” In other words, they prefer to repeat the anti-Semitic lie and blood libel that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. Bringing up Martin Luther King Jr.'s name to gain the moral high ground is no substitute for telling the truth about the war in Gaza.
Richard England
Durham
Please join us in supporting Granite United Way
May 22 – To the editor:
New Hampshire is a great state to live and work in, but many of our fellow residents can be plagued by complications. We have innovative solutions to many of these challenges, and we are fortunate that Granite United Way can bring organizations and communities together to help solve these challenges.
I have had the privilege of serving on the Granite United Way Board of Directors and have seen first-hand the work that many community organizations do to improve lives. I value this work, but donations are needed to support and continue this important work.
I am inspired by donors who want to make a difference, and as a donor I have an amazing opportunity to do a $20,000 challenge match.
Join me in supporting United Way this spring: Your donation will be matched up to $20,000 to ensure programs supporting affordable housing, early childhood initiatives, mental health, substance use disorder and individuals in recovery are available in their time of need.
Text GUWNOW to 41444. Together we will change lives!
Nick Tompus
board member
Granite United Way
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