Reading Amy Halloran's commentary ("In the spirit of Melville, a voice for St. Patrick's future," May 14), I was struck by the numerous unexamined and dubious assertions made concerning the demolition of the former church in Watervliet.
She used many words that clearly demonstrate theistic bias. Words such as "the people built the church," and "the strength of that devotion" as well as ascribing supernatural influence in the initial difficulty in the razing of the bell tower.
Ms. Halloran implies the "monied interests" of the Nigro Companies and Price Chopper proceeded in a vacuum to shape our lives and our cities. She conveniently neglects to cite the "monied interests" of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, which, faced with a glut of empty urban churches and serious cash-flow problems, seized the opportunity to turn yet another white elephant into some quick cash.
It is the diocese that abandoned Watervliet, not Price Chopper.
Ms. Halloran also claimed "bricks and wonder" preferable "to a parking lot for shopping carts." Every news item I have read claimed the Watervliet support for St. Patrick's was scant and mostly came from outside the city. Churches are largely single-use structures and are notoriously difficult to repurpose.
Empty churches do not generate either jobs or taxes dollars. Supermarkets clearly do.
Vince Quackenbush
Albany