THE CITY WEEKLY DESK
Published: July 17, 2005

To the Editor:

Thank you for your coverage of the campaign to save the former Todd Shipyards graving dock in Red Hook, Brooklyn (''Sailing Into History,'' July 3).

The best preservation and interpretation of a historic industrial site, such as Graving Dock No.1, is to keep using it for its original purpose when that is possible.

It is a shame that the city and state did not insist on maintaining the jobs at this successful ship repair facility and insist that Ikea -- which plans to open a megastore there in 2007 -- find a way to accommodate it.

Instead, our representatives have been willing to see a historic and still useful structure simply filled with dirt and paved over, with the loss of 100 jobs and several small marine suppliers in the neighborhood. The mitigation offered is to create a sterile promenade with a few cranes preserved to commemorate the area's maritime history.

It is a poor solution both for preserving the maritime tradition of our waterfront and for the neighborhood's economy. Let's keep all the jobs -- revive the graving dock, bring in Ikea -- and keep history alive.

Mary Habstritt
Upper West Side

The writer is president, Roebling Chapter, Society for Industrial Archeology.

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To the Editor:

I was dismayed that your wonderful article about Red Hook's Graving Dock No.1 carried a headline, ''Sailing Into History,'' that assumed the outcome of extinction, effectively seeking to void the point of the aptly interesting prose, which tells of a small preservation committee working hard to awaken interest in Brooklyn's great historic treasures, the vast potential of its maritime resources and the sheer marvel of a graving dock.

The Save the Graving Dock Committee, as it grows in strength, currently seeks the Army Corps of Engineers, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Coast Guard to weigh in favorably for a public review and help prevent a parking lot from displacing a functional shipbuilding facility.

David Sharps
Red Hook, Brooklyn

The writer is president of the Waterfront Museum.