THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD

To the Editor:

I was disturbed by your article on drug dealers in Harlem ("Whose
Neighborhood?" July 14). It frequently notes that many of these dealers are
Dominican and states that "dealers found protection in this close-knit
Dominican community."

Others and more powerful groups have given protection to drug dealers:
landlords who rent apartments to them for drug storage and those who bring
drugs into the country. And weak law enforcement helps those who sell and
buy drugs.

You mention "Rich men in S.U.V.'s who travel the East Coast from Miami to
New England." Blaming one group of people for a problem that involves many
is irresponsible.

Erika Rodriguez, Washington Heights

To the Editor:

I've lived in Hamilton Heights as a renter, and reducing life here to a
surreal clash between middle-class homesteaders and cocaine dealers is
misleading. This is not the Wild West, and recent home buyers are only a
minority.

Gentrification is often opposed when newcomers displace longtime residents
and destroy a neighborhood's existing culture. Fortunately, this isn't
happening. I've found the Heights an interesting place to live, with a
vibrant (and legal) street culture that I wouldn't want to see buried under
a wave of name-brand stores and high-priced condos.

Eric Breitbart, Hamilton Heights

To the Editor:

Thank you for for a much-needed, accurate presentation of the invasion of
Hamilton Heights by the international drug trade. Two questions:

Why aren't the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Internal
Revenue Service cooperating to deal with this issue? And how is it that
billions of tax dollars are shipped to Colombia, yet the 30th Precinct can
barely find resources to answer the calls of local residents?

Hamilton Heights Homeowners Association

To the Editor:

When Washington Square Park had a drug problem, the full weight of the city
descended. When the crime rate was high and the subways dangerous, the
smallest offense in some neighborhoods got full attention. Why is Hamilton
Heights ignored?

I have been arrested when questioning the police about open drug deals,
while dressed in a suit. Yet, the city seems uninterested in the drug
market in this neighborhood. What will it take to get the full weight of
downtown to respond to uptown problems?

Fred Allen, Harlem

To the Editor:

I disagree with the article's mild reproach ("the dealers are a nuisance"),
rationalization ("it's simply a job to support their families") and
dignifying of the drug trafficking in my neighborhood. This line of
argument supports the politically pernicious conceit that this war on drugs
is tantamount to a war of gentrification, that it is a war of middle-class
values versus a street reality of young drug dealers described in innocuous
variations as "countrymen," "great tippers" and "helping hands."

As an African-American of a working-class family born and raised in the
neighborhood and now returning as a homeowner, I can tell you that
middle-class people do not value safety and right living any more than poor
or working-class black or Hispanic citizens. This is not an issue of class
or culture but of crime.

K. Stinson Hamilton Heights

To the Editor:

I am African-American, and have lived in Harlem-Washington Heights for over
10 years. I have been a member of the precinct councils, the neighborhood
associations and block associations, and sit on the board of the
Morris-Jumel Mansion. My goal has always been the same: to remove the drugs
from our environment. Whatever population inhabits the drug culture, be it
Latino or my own people, they are scourges of this city, despite the fact
that they may keep the area crime free. Crime free that is, of everything
but their crimes, including wholesale murder, which gave Lower Washington
Heights the highest murder rate in the city for years running.

Our elected officials need to take a more active role and vocal stance.
They seem to be so afraid of losing the Hispanic vote, but they are missing
the main point. First, Hispanics are as adversely affected as all of us.
And to think that they condone this situation is an insult to them. And
second, drug dealers don't vote.

Regina McRae, Hamilton Heights