Editorial comment: Thank you, correspondents

It’s that time of year again when we thank all our letter writers for advancing conversation in the community.

The day may be dawning when electrons on a screen, not ink on paper, will convey the news to you. But ink is not the lifeblood of a newspaper; the rumble of a printing press is not its heartbeat. Its life is found in the relationship between the newspaper and its readers.

The vitality of The Riverdale Press is in connecting a disparate community. It’s about helping people to know one another and working together to make Riverdale/ Kingsbridge a place anyone and everyone would want to live. The results can be seen in how readers respond generously to help feed hungry people here in our neighborhood after hearing about shortages at the Kingsbridge-Riverdale- Marble Hill Food and Hunger Project, or come out to support the workers at the now-closed Stella D’oro plant.

It’s in the calendar of activities that keeps readers informed of the doings and plans of local civic, religious and cultural organizations and in the record of milestones and accomplishments that families want to share with neighbors.

But most of all, the lifeblood of this newspaper is in the dialogue that helps shape our neighborhood’s character — the arguments and interchanges on our opinion pages.

The Press does not pick and choose among its correspondents, favoring letters from the well known, the expert or the public figure, or rejecting the offerings of those who do not write in an elegant or elevated style.

This newspaper opens its letters and “Point of view” columns to all. It publishes virtually every letter it receives.

Too often, people feel excluded from communal life. Believing that public participation is a citizens’ duty, we’re proud to provide a forum that allows everyone to participate. Some of the ways people choose to make use of that forum make us angry and some make us sad. But if at times a letter is used to revile or divide, the answer is to respond, to offer good ideas to counter bad ones.

What you write on these pages makes our community livelier and better. So it’s become a tradition to raise a New Year toast to say thank you to those of you who took the trouble during the year to voice your complaints and your praise, your concerns and hopes.

Here’s to the 2009 honor roll of correspondents. Join it in the year to come by sharing your thoughts with your neighbors.

Ita Aber
Bob Albanese
Rhoda Alben-Aronson
Richard Alexander
Thea Alfano
Marcia Allina
Hayf Al-Mussawir
Joshua Alvarez
Chris Anderson
Steven Appelbaum
Karen Argenti
Gary Axelbank
Irv Barash
Avielah Barclay
Gabriel Bautista
Helene Benardo
Bob Bender
Adrian Benepe
John Benfatti
Jeff Berkin
Jeffrey Binder
Judith Block
Cheryl Bluestone
Colleen Boris
Pamela Boyle
Ivan Braun
Geraldine Bree
John Brennan
Robert Brewster
Philip Brieff
Alessandra Britao
Ruth Bromberg
Tom Brown
Michael Buckner
Laura Bundesen
Lori Caiazzo
John Calvelli
Megan Camacho
Penelope Campoli
Denise Caraballo
Thomas Casey
Arlene Chavel
Gene Christian
Paul Chrzanowski
Paul Cohen
Mandy Colgan
Richard Conley
Susana Cook
Annemarie Coyle
Alberto Cruz
Doug Cunningham
David Currier
Michael Dailey
Matthew D’Amico
Diana Dean
Rev. Diego
Delgado-Miller
Mary Devlin
Eleanora Dimango
Edward Dingillian
Jeffrey Dinowitz
Susan DiRaimo
N.T. Donegan
Dorcas
Kay Dundorf
Kristen EastlickLopez
Minna Edelman
Margaret Egan
Sylvia Elbaz
Barbara Eliasson
Paul Elston
Gee Eng
Nicky Enright
Mia Smith Fanuzzi
Bob Fanuzzi
Gail Farrelly
Theodore Fettman
Isaac Fields
Rob Finz
Jacki Fischer
M.E. Fitzgerald
Jessica Flagg
Raymond Fleishman
Mildred Foster
Mary Fox
Avidan Freedman
Lora Frisch
Anne Marie Garti
Mazin Gazala
Bonnie Geller-Geld
Mickey Gensler
Nadine Gevirtz
Anne Gibbons
Richard Gilbert
Ezra Glaser
Daren Gluck
Florence Gold
Annemarie Golden
Devorie Goldhair
Sam Goldman
Gerald Goldsmith
Nancy Goodstein
Alvin Gordon
Joshua Gordon
Alice Gottlieb
Tamara Grapek
Karen Greene
Margaret Groarke
Tom Gronroos
Barbara Gross
Manny Grossman
Surah Grumet
Grace Guthrie
Leonard Guttman
Ruth Hammer
Dan Hanley
Jay Hauben
Susan Haughton
Bernie Hauser
Linda Hays
Peter Heiman
Phyllis Heller
Marsha Henkin
Aaron Hershlag
Hala Hindi
Ari Hoffnung
Ariana Holback
Maya Homics
Annmarie Hunter
Avrum Hyman
Rob Jacklosky
Harriet Jackson
Melvin Jacobs
Simon Jaffe
Libby Josephberg
William Kaladjian
Stephen Kaminsky
Maxine Kaplowitz
Bruce Karhoff
Mitch Kaufman
Anne Keegan
Barbara Kestenbaum
Gus Kifle
Gunther Kathryn Kilsch
Oliver Koppell
Pearl Korn
David Kornbluh
Lucie Krauss
Ellen Krokosky
Ben Krull
Judy Kunz
Shelley Kuziak
Shawn Ladda
Jim Lahti
Eva Lana
Josh Land
Ellen Landauer
Gerald Lebowitz
Andrew Leftt
Jed Levine
David Levine
Yael Levy
Daniel Lipsman
Norman Liss
Claire Lobel
Zach Lynn
Arlene Mackin-Hyland
Suzanne Mahler
Holly Makin
Howie Mann
David Manning
Judy McGowan
Damian McShane
Tom McTigue
Paul Mencher
Barbara Michaels
Alexandra Milgram
Diana Moore
Elena Mora
Eduardo Mora
Tanya Munroe
Miriam Muravchik
Fran Namzoff
Rosa Nazar
Teresa Pereira Neufeld
Ann Noonan
Ray Norberto
Marion Novack
James O’Gara
Donald O’Keefe
Vivian Oleen
Kevin O’Reilly
Melinda Ortega
Sophie Ortiz
Marie O’Shea
Cynthia Pader
Dominique Padurano
Roger Parson
Ella Pastor
Rebecca Patt
Bill Pedoty
Becky Pomponio
Helen Popish
George Prans
Robert Press
J.T. Psachie
Rachel Radna
Ronald Raphael
Lore Rasch
James Rather
Ed Ravin
Howard Ring
Madeline Ritter
Anthony Rivieccio
Ellen Rodman
Bob Rubinstein
Kevin Saer
Sara Sawyer
Saul Scheinbach
Steven Scher
Blanche Schustack
Heidi Schwartz
Lynn Schwarz
Frances Segan
Roberta Seidner
Charles Shayne
Tracy Shelton
Linda Shriner-Cahn
Ed Silverman
Susan Slater
Susan Smellin
Catherine Smith
Bruce Snowden
Bernard Solas
Nat Solomon
Karen Stahl-Don
Emma Stanislawski
Cliff Stanton
Mark Steinman
Terry Stoeth
Adam Stoler
Carol Stricker
Boris Suchkov
Jane Summer
John Sweeney
George Tabor
Bruce Tallerman
Phyllis Tashlik
Eugene Tenenbaum
Bruce Ticker
Marcia Trummer
Ceil Tureck
Judith Veder
Jim Wacker
Alyssa Ward
Richard Warren
Glenda Wasserman
Stacy Weaver
Ron Wegsman
Miriam Westheimer
Frank Wetta
Celia Wexler
Charles Williams
Fred Winters
Marjorie Wolfson
Howard Yourow
Martin Zelnik
Christine Zwolinski

This is part of the January 7, 2010 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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