The Limmer Bequest

The Main Street WIRE loses a little money on virtually every issue published, this one being a rare and quite agreeable exception. Like other enterprises trying to survive in this Island microeconomy, this newspaper suffers from the pressures of scale in a world that rewards mass. The newspaper has always needed an "angel" - someone or some business that could afford to underwrite the equipment and continuing expenses that regular publication demands.

For years, that angel was Dr. Jack Resnick. The WIRE was born of his and his neighbors' need for information - to know those things one needs to know to be an intelligent citizen. He carried the newspaper, ignoring its dribs and drabs of financial loss, always hoping for break-even.

Times and lives change, and in 1996 ownership of the newspaper passed into its present hands, its losses borne by a consulting practice whose equipment, space, and phones it could use, and from which it could cadge paper and supplies. But lives and times continue to change. Retirement frees one to focus more purely on the specifics of a journalistic enterprise, but it shifts more direct expense to the publication, and losses are more keenly felt.

Ruth Limmer's dying gift is thus a very welcome one. The company that prints The WIRE will be grateful for a clearing of longstanding debt, as will others whose forbearance has been the currency of continuity for the newspaper.

But Ruth's gift is welcome for a far more important reason. She recognized the importance of a newspaper serving as ferret and conduit. She understood the value and power of words used with deliberation, craft, and feeling. She appreciated the need, in a community like ours, for the binding force of something we all have in common.

Ruth Limmer valued these things so much that, as she faced the end of her life, she left a gift that will help The Main Street WIRE to continue in the realms she knew and loved - words, thoughts, and Roosevelt Island.

Vote Tuesday

There's a primary election Tuesday. Not sure how to vote? There have been meetings on the Island in which both Nelson Denis and José Serrano have sought support as challenger to State Senator Olga Mendez. It's important to make a choice, and to vote, so that the voting power of Roosevelt Island, in simple numbers and proportion of turnout, is seen in the halls of power.

Denis shows an admirable independence and personal determination. Serrano has the backing of Assemblymember Pete Grannis and Rep. Carolyn Maloney. Both have spoken of the need to fix Albany's "three men in a room" troika of broken State government. One will challenge Mendez. Show, by your vote, that Roosevelt Island will speak loudly in November.

Halliestock

We commend to your attention an event called Halliestock, which will take place September 18. We'd have an advance report, but space is tight in this WIRE, so we'll simply direct you to an ad on page 6.

DL