Monday, May 31, 2010

See Diddy in Conert for Free, NYC

See Diddy in Conert for Free, NYC

6/4, See Diddy in concert for free in Central Park during this awesome concert series

pulsed 48 minutes ago

When: 6/4/10 at 6:30am to 6/4/10 at 7:30am
Where: Central Park SummerStage
5th Avenue
Phone: (212) 360-2777
Tags: events deals

External Source: NYC Parks
 

Hip-Hop icon Diddy graces the stage during the third week of the Good Morning America Concert Series.

To attend, viewers should arrive at Rumsey Playfield via the 69th street entrance on Fifth Avenue at 6 a.m. on Friday, June 4th. The concert is free and open to the public and will take place live during "Good Morning America," from 7 - 9 a.m.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Some Ignored Heart Tests at Harlem Hospital Showed Problems


Some Tests, Long Ignored, Showed Signs of Heart Illness


By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS



Published: May 26, 2010

New York City’s public hospital system said on Wednesday that some of the thousands of heart test results that were never sent to doctors at Harlem Hospital Center since 2007 had shown signs of abnormal heart function.

Hospital officials made the admission a day after acknowledging that results of 4,000 of the tests, called echocardiograms, had never been seen by doctors because of a practice of allowing technicians to read them first.

On Tuesday, they said that no harm had been caused by the process because they believed that the technicians were so good at reading the tests. On Wednesday, they said their review undercut that belief.


Some Ignored Heart Tests at Harlem Hospital Showed Problems - NYTimes.com.

Report: Race a factor in police 'friendly fire'


Report: Race a factor in police 'friendly fire'


Updated at 09:18 AM today




The News Leader

  Eyewitness News



A task force finds race is often a factor in police "friendly fire" incidents, including those that have claimed officers' lives.


It says 26 police officers were killed in the United States over the past 30 years by colleagues who mistook them for criminals.


Many were "officers of color," including 10 of the 14 killed since 1995.


Former U.S. Attorney Zachary W. Carter served as the New York task force's vice chairman. He says the recommendations are aimed at "blunting" any unconscious racial bias.



Among other things, the task force recommends establishing protocols for off-duty conduct, and increasing testing for racial bias among officers.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Latino events in Nueva York, May 26-June 1



Latino events in Nueva York, May 26-June 1



Wednesday, May 26th 2010, 4:56 PM




Colombian harp player Mario Adnet performs at Jazz at Lincoln 
Center on May 28.
Colombian harp player Mario Adnet performs at Jazz at Lincoln Center on May 28.


The Loisaida Festival kicks off Sunday, May 30, at 11:30 a.m. in 
the lower East Side.
The Loisaida Festival kicks off Sunday, May 30, at 11:30 a.m. in the lower East Side.



Related News




WEDNESDAY 26


JAZZ: Colombian harp player Edmar Castañeda and vibraphonist Joe Locke at Jazz Standard, 116 E. 27th St., 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. sets, $20.


JAZZ: Bobby Sanabria and Quarteto Aché at the FB Lounge, 172 E. 106th St., 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. sets, $10.

THURSDAY 27


READING: Author John Radanovich reads from his 2009 book “Wildman of Rhythm: The Life & Music of Benny Moré” and celebrates with hand-rolled cigars, rum drinks and a performance by Chico Álvarez and his band, Brisas del Caribe, at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Center, Broadway at 66th St., 7:30 p.m. Free.


FILM: Ciro Guerra’s The Wind Journeys” (2009), about a Colombian man who plays the accordion, at 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St., 7 p.m., $12. Also tomorrow.


PERCUSSION: Brazilian percussionist Dende and his band Hahahaes at Barbes, 376 Ninth St., Brooklyn, 10 p.m.


EXHIBIT: Farewell reception for Cuban-based artist Luis Alberto Pérez Copperi, whose work is on view at the Cuban Art Space of the Center for Cuban Studies, 231 W. 29th St., fourth floor, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

FRIDAY 28


JAZZ: Brazilian guitarist Mario Adnet performs in “Journey to Brazil,” honoring the music of the late pioneer composer Moacir Santos, at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, 8 p.m., $38-$103. Also tomorrow.


PARTY: Joann Jimenez’s monthly "¡Wepa! Welcome to El Barrio house party, with deejays Lou Gorbea and Antonio Ocasio, at Bar 13, 121 University Place, 10 p.m.; $5-$15.

SATURDAY 29


PARTY: Deejays from GlobeSonic Sound System spin for outdoor dance party at Pier 1, Riverside Park South, from W. 59th to W. 72nd Sts. along the Hudson River, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Free.


MERENGUE: Sergio Vargas and Miriam Cruz of Las Chicas del Can fame at El Morocco, Broadway at 145th St.; 10 p.m. Advance tickets, $25.


JAZZ: Colombian Gregorio Uribe’s Big Band at Fat Cat, 75 Christopher St., 7 p.m., $3.


KIDS: Teatro Sea’s bilingual production of the classic children’s operetta La Muela del Rey Farfán” (“The Toothache of King Farfan”), at El Museo del Barrio’s Teatro Heckscher, Fifth Ave. at 104th St., 3 p.m., $12.50-$15.

SUNDAY 30


FESTIVAL: Let the streetfest season begin! The Loisaida Festival kicks off at 11:30 a.m. on Avenue C, extending from Sixth to 13th Sts., with activities for kids and seniors, an artisan section, an author’s booth and live music starting at 2 p.m. and featuring the original members of the Típica 73 salsa band with singer Adalberto Santiago and Yerba Buena. Until 6 p.m., free.


HIP HOP: Cuban-based reggaetón group Gente de Zona at S.O.B.’s, 204 Varick St., 11 p.m., $55-$65.


DANCE: Grupo Aracano and Michael Jose and Bachata Flow perform salsa and merengue respectively at Columbus 72, Columbus Ave. and 72nd St., 10 p.m., $10-$15.

TUESDAY 1


FILM: Hugo Grosso’s documentary Donde comienza el camino” (2005), about Argentine filmmaker Fernando Birri, at Videoteca del Sur, Millennium Film Workshop, 66 E. Fourth St., 7:30 p.m., $8.


HUD Is Trying to Privatize and Mortgage Off All of America's Public Housing


Below the Radar: HUD Is Trying to Privatize and Mortgage Off All of America's Public Housing

Monday 24 May 2010

by: George Lakoff, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

The Obama administration's move to the right is about to give conservatives a victory they could not have anticipated, even under Bush. HUD, under Obama, submitted legislation, called PETRA, to Congress that would result in the privatization of all public housing in America.

The new owners would charge ten percent above market rates to impoverished tenants, money that would be mostly paid by the US government (you and me, the taxpayers). To maintain the property, the new owners would take out a mortgage for building repair and maintenance (like a home equity loan), with no cap on interest rates.

With rents set above market rates, the mortgage risk would be attractive to banks. Either they make a huge profit on the mortgages paid for by the government, or, if the government lowers what it will pay for rents, the property goes into foreclosure. The banks get it and can sell it off to developers.

Sooner or later, the housing budget will be cut back and such foreclosures will happen. The structure of the proposal and the realities of Washington make it a virtual certainty.

The banks and developers make a fortune, with the taxpayers paying for it. The public loses its public housing property. The impoverished tenants lose their apartments, or have their rents go way up if they are forced into the private market. Homelessness increases; government gets smaller. The banks and developers win. It is a Bank Bonanza! The poor and the public lose.

And a precedent is set. The government can - privatize any public property: Schools, libraries, national parks, federal buildings - just as has begun to happen in California, where the right-wing governor has started to auction off state property and has even suggested selling off the Supreme Court building.

The rich will get richer; the poor and public get poorer. And the very idea of the public good withers.

This is central to the conservative dream, in which there is no public good - only private goods. And it is a nightmare for democracy.

The irony is that it is happening under the Obama administration. Barack Obama, while running for office, gave perhaps the best and clearest characterization of what democracy is about. Democracy, he has said, is based on empathy - on citizens caring about and for each other. That is why we have principles like freedom and fairness for everyone. It is why social responsibility is necessary. The monstrous alternative is having a society where no one cares about or for anyone else.

HUD, under the Obama administration, is about to take a giant step toward that monstrous society.

Here is a quote from the PETRA bill. It's intent is to:

provide the opportunity for public housing agencies and private owners to convert from current forms of rental assistance under a variety of programs to long-term, property-based contracts that will enhance market-based discipline and enable owners to sustain operations and leverage private financing to address immediate and long-term capital needs and implement energy-efficiency improvements.

Along the way, tenants' rights will be trampled, since tenants could not longer seek redress from the government through their public officials - because the government would no longer own the buildings.

Stop PETRA. This is urgent. There is a hearing next Tuesday, May 25, before the House Financial Services Committee and the Subcommittee on Housing, organized by Rep. Maxine Waters. Phone: 202-225-2201. Fax: 202-225-7854.

To write to the committee, go to this web site:

Write to your Congressperson now.

If you want to sign a petition, go here:

Here is a letter from the National Association of HUD Tenants:

Here is an informational web site, with letters, background information, and alternative proposals:

And do what you can to get the word out. This requires a national discussion.



Creative Commons License
This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

t r u t h o u t | Below the Radar: HUD Is Trying to Privatize and Mortgage Off All of America's Public Housing.

Tylenol recall: Serious side effects investigated

Oxycontin : The Poor Mans Heroin

Oxycontin : The Poor Mans Heroin






Florida's Broward County has a vast amount of "pain management" clinics which are nothing more than legal drug dealing. These clinics they dispense prescriptions for cash. Where addicts travel from all over the country to legally buy Oxycontin and other narcotics in pill form.

Roughly three-and-a-half months after OyxContin's auspicious debut -- some cases involving the illegal use of the drug surfaced in rural Maine. Soon after, the drug's popularity began to rise in rural Appalachia, especially parts of western Virginia, eastern Kentucky, West Virginia and southern Ohio (in and around Cincinnati). If claims of epidemic levels of abuse are true anywhere, it's here, says Ashland, KY pain specialist, Dr. Shelley Freimark. "In this area right now it is a severe problem," she states.

OxyContin was an instant hit with doctors when first introduced in December 1995. Hailed by pain management specialists as a wonder drug, the oxycodone-based formulation was considered a major advance in the medical profession's expanding effort to battle the debilitating effects of chronic pain. As the good news spread sales of the drug mushroomed, rising from $40 million in 1996 to more than $1 billion last year, outstripping even Viagra.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Editorial - The Supreme Court Opens a Door for Workers - NYTimes.com


A Door Opens for Workers
Published: May 24, 2010

Workers won an important victory at the Supreme Court on Monday when the justices ruled unanimously that a group of African-American applicants to the Chicago Fire Department did not wait too long to challenge a hiring test they claimed was discriminatory.


If interpreted properly by the lower courts, the ruling could give a chance at relief to minority groups, women, the elderly the disabled and others claiming to be victims of a discriminatory employment practice long after the practice went into effect.

The court ruled that the black firefighters could sue the city of Chicago over the scoring system on a test that they claimed had overwhelmingly favored white applicants. The issue was not the test itself, which a lower court had already ruled discriminatory against blacks, but the time lapse in bringing the suit. Under Title VII of the civil rights law, plaintiffs are supposed to file no later than 300 days after an unfair practice occurs; the question here is whether the practice occurred only when the scoring system began or every time the test was given.


Editorial - The Supreme Court Opens a Door for Workers - NYTimes.com.

African-American News - May 25, 2010

African-American News - May 25, 2010

 

 


Originally published May 24, 2010 Film critic Elvis Mitchell and director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders collaborated on another series of fascinating interviews with a mix of African-American artists, activists, academics and athletes.



Ownership is a major driver of the Black economy. Knowing this, a group advocating Black media ownership and a former Federal Communications Commission chairman are spearheading a crusade against cable giant Comcast and their proposed merger with NBC/Universal over the cable operator's lack of African-American owned channels on its national ...



A former police commander accused of overseeing the torture of more than 100 African American men goes on trial today in Chicago. Former Lieutenant Jon Burge is accused of lying when he denied in a civil lawsuit that he and other detectives had tortured anyone. He faces a maximum of forty-five years in prison if convicted of all charges. The accusations of torture date back forty years, but Burge has avoided prosecution until now. For nearly two decades, beginning in 1971, Burge was at the epicenter of what has been described as the systematic torture of dozens of black men to coerce confessions. In total, more than 100 people in Chicago say they were subjected to abuse, including having guns forced into their mouths, suffocation with bags placed over their heads, and electric shocks inflicted to their genitals.



NAACP raises funds for seminars (Mt. Vernon Register-News)
The Jefferson County Branch of the National Association for the Advanced of Colored People held its sixth pancake and sausage breakfast to raise funds for job and scholarship seminars.




WWI Museum honors nurses
WWI Museum honors nurses (Kansas City Nursing News)
The National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial shows the conflict through the eyes of nurses who served in the Great War.



The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a group of African Americans did not wait too long to sue Chicago over a hiring test they challenged as discriminatory, freeing them to further press their case.



The African American Military History Museum in Hattiesburg is part of an effort to raise public awareness of the significance of African-Americans in military history.



The close-knit siblings began to notice little things about their mother, Roberta Randolph.



African-Americans and women are less likely than Caucasians and men to undergo bone marrow transplantation to treat cancers of the blood.



Melanie Littejohn will receive the Freedom Award on Wednesday from the Syracuse/Onondaga County NAACP for her work as a facilitator for the Community Wide Dialogue to End Racism.

City cops oppose bill that would require them to shoot to wound - NYPOST.com


Cops furious at 'don't-kill' bill

By MURRAY WEISS, Criminal Justice Editor

Last Updated: 8:24 AM, May 25, 2010

Posted: 3:13 AM, May 25, 2010

City cops are livid over a legislative proposal that could handcuff the brave officers involved in life-and-death confrontations every day -- requiring them to shoot gun-wielding suspects in the arm or leg rather than shoot to kill, The Post has learned.

The "minimum force" bill, which surfaced in the Assembly last week, seeks to amend the state penal codes' "justification" clause that allows an officer the right to kill a thug if he feels his life or someone else's is in imminent danger.

The bill -- drafted in the wake of Sean Bell's controversial police shooting death -- would force officers to use their weapons "with the intent to stop, rather than kill" a suspect. They would be mandated to "shoot a suspect in the arm or the leg."

Under present NYPD training, cops are taught to shoot at the center of their target and fire their weapon until the threat has been stopped.

"These are split-second, spontaneous events -- and officers have to make a full assessment in a fraction of a second," said an angry Michael Paladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Association. "It is not realistic, and it exists only in cartoons.

"It's moronic and would create two sets of rules in the streets if there is a gunfight. This legislation would require officers to literally shoot the gun out of someone's hand or shoot to wound them in the leg or arm. I don't know of any criminal who doesn't shoot to kill. They are not bound by any restrictions."

"The legislators have their heads buried in the sand, and we would not be able to fully protect the public or ourselves."

In fact, NYPD officers and detectives hit their targets only 17 percent of the time because of the incredibly stressful circumstances surrounding a shooting.

Paladino, whose association represents 5,100 investigators, said he showed the bill last week to Vice President Joe Biden, who scoffed and suggested it be dubbed "The John Wayne Bill" because it demands sharp-shooting skills of the kind only seen in movies.

Sponsored by Brooklyn Assembly Members Annette Robinson (D-Bedford Stuyvesant) and Darryl Towns (D-East New York), the bill came up at the Assembly Codes Committee but was held for further consideration rather than killed or put to vote before the full Assembly.

They did not immediately comment.

Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, the Codes Committee chair from Fort Greene and Williamsburg, said that the bill is well-intentioned but that the language may need changing.

THE PROPOSAL

Section of Assembly Bill A02952

“A police officer or peace officer . . . uses such force with the intent to stop, rather than kill . . . and uses only the minimal amount of force necessary to effect such stop.”

THE CURRENT LAW

Section of state Penal Law S 35.15(2)(a)(ii)

“A person may not use deadly physical force upon another person . . . unless: he or she is . . . a police officer or peace officer or a person assisting a police officer or a peace officer at the latter’s direction.”

murray.weiss@nypost.com

City cops oppose bill that would require them to shoot to wound - NYPOST.com.

Monday, May 24, 2010

iPads banned from Yankee Stadium | ZDNet

iPads banned from Yankee Stadium

By Rachel King | May 24, 2010, 8:18am PDT
Summary
The iPad is now being banned from Yankee Stadium due to security concerns, as the tablet computer falls under the "no laptop" rule.

iPads banned from Yankee Stadium | ZDNet.

Health Department Reports










Health E-NewsMay 24, 2010






Health Department Reports Most Successful Nicotine Patch and Gum Giveaway to Date; Launches New Anti-Tobacco TV Ad


Annual giveaway enrolled a record 40,000 New York City smokers


New TV spot depicts how irreversible lung damage affects most smokers


Lung damageNew York City’s Nicotine Patch and Gum Giveaway Program enrolled more than 40,000 smokers in 2010, nearly one and a half times more than last year’s enrollment of 28,000 smokers. Following the most successful giveaway program since its inception in 2003, the Health Department continues its anti-tobacco efforts with the launch of a new television spot. The spot, originally produced in Australia by Quit Victoria, was adapted by the Health Department to air in New York City. It will run in English and Spanish on network and cable television through June 13 and can be viewed online at nyc.gov/health.


Learn more

Some Harlem Churches in Fight for Survival

Some Harlem Churches in Fight for Survival




From the second to last pew at All Souls’ Episcopal Church in Harlem on a recent Sunday morning, Sylvia Lynch, 80, lifted a hand toward the rafters and sang praises through a haze of burnt incense.


Her voice was steady and strong, as was her grip on the cane she leaned on as she stood and sang and peered over the sparsely populated pews, peppered mostly with older women with fancy hats and hair as gray as her own.


“I came up through Sunday school, and I’m still here,” Ms. Lynch said, taking a step into an aisle at the 104-year-old church after the last hymn. “Back then, it was packed. You couldn’t get a seat.”


All Souls’ Church, on St. Nicholas Avenue, and any number of the traditional neighborhood churches in Harlem that had for generations boasted strong memberships — built on and sustained by familial loyalty and neighborhood ties — are now struggling to hold on to their congregations.


The gentrification of Harlem has helped deplete their ranks, as younger residents, black and white, have arrived but not taken up places in their pews. Longtime Harlem families, either cashing in on the real estate boom over the past decade or simply opting to head south for their retirement, have left the neighborhood and its churches. Then there are the deaths, as year by year, whole age bands are chipped away.


Without a sustainable membership, and with no fresh wave of tithe-paying, collection-plate-filling young members, these churches have struggled to keep their doors open, to maintain repairs and to extend their reach in the community.


Some, like All Souls’, cannot afford a full-time minister, let alone operate a soup kitchen or clothes pantry.


“We’re seeing several funerals a year, and the new members aren’t coming in,” said Ann Mayfield, 58, senior warden of the vestry at All Souls’. “Sometimes we feel a sense of powerlessness in carrying out the responsibility we have for the community. It’s absolutely frustrating.”


The great historic churches of Harlem do not seem imperiled, and indeed, with their nonprofit housing and local economic development arms, some have fueled the demographic and economic transformation and resurgence of the neighborhood.


But for some of the smaller churches — which have served as anchors and havens in the shadow of the larger institutions — the fight to survive and stay relevant has been daunting.


“If we don’t have the teenagers and the younger people coming into the church, as the older people pass, who is going to take over?” said Raymond Stevens, 57, a congregant at All Souls’. “It’s an uphill battle. It puts a lot of pressure on the congregation because you have to dig deep into your pockets to keep the church open. Our congregation is older, many are sick, and I really don’t know what the future holds.”


The Little Flower Baptist Church, formerly on Frederick Douglass Boulevard, was forced to close because of dwindling membership and finances. At the Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church on Mount Morris Park West, leaders are struggling to fill the pews and the church’s many programs and services. The pastor at Rescue Baptist Church on West 123rd Street said that his church was not drawing enough income to pay his salary, and that he had to take a second job working at a stand inside Yankee Stadium to make ends meet.


The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York has also struggled financially, and in recent years it closed St. Thomas the Apostle Church on 118th Street, among others, including Our Lady Queen of Angels on 112th Street in East Harlem.


At All Souls’, regular attendance for Sunday service is about 50, down from hundreds in decades past. When eight children showed up for Sunday school recently, the teacher described the showing as “huge,” as it was nearly quadruple the average class size. About 80 percent of the congregation is made up of “senior citizens,” according to members of the vestry.


When a 105-year-old congregant died recently, she took with her 25 percent of the church’s annual income from offerings. The loss compounded the burden of paying for a part-time receptionist, a custodian, an organist and the priests hired on a per-service basis. Last year, the church used seven priests, a formula that proved much less expensive than the cost of a full-time priest’s salary, housing, benefits and other expenses.


The void in consistent leadership has cost the church in other ways — slowing efforts to recruit new congregants in a changing Harlem, a neighborhood ever more populated by young professionals.


Ministers from churches across Harlem said they had yet to penetrate the walls of the high-price condominiums and the million-dollar refurbished brownstones that now dominate the neighborhood. Some, in truth, expressed little desire to do so. Others said they saw the gentrification of Harlem as an opportunity, but one as yet unrealized.


A number of ministers said that most of the white faces they had seen on Sunday mornings were those of the casually dressed tourists with cameras dangling from their necks looking for the “gospel experience.” They do not pay tithes and rarely leave much in the way of an offering.


All Souls’ Church has also had to cut back on the services it used to provide, like the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings it had hosted for more than 20 years. And while it has managed to maintain its summer day camp in Harlem, the 130-acre campground it owns upstate has gone quiet.


“Every week the treasurer shows me the checks that go out and the income that comes in, and all that we can do is praise God that we are actually able to pay our bills,” Ms. Mayfield said. “But there’s nothing left over.”


A recent treasurer’s report published in one of the church’s weekly programs showed how slim the margin was between its income and expenses. Income from offerings for that week was $2,215.74. Its expenses were $2,159.36. And a change jar at the back of the sanctuary collected $17.01.


“Our funds are limited, but we try to utilize what we have the best way we know how,” said Ms. Lynch, a former member of the vestry.


Snaked somewhere between the joy, warmth and fellowship of the tight-knit, mostly African-American and Caribbean-American congregation were some frustration, a bit of anxiety and a tinge of sorrow regarding the current state of things.


“I cannot allow myself to fear the worst; I just can’t allow myself to,” said Ms. Mayfield, who was baptized at the church as a baby. “I might get a little sense of something that seems like fear, but then I have to snatch it back.”


In July 1932, All Souls’ was the scene of a rebellion, when the all-white vestry announced that the church would be segregated and that black congregants, who made up 75 percent of the congregation, would have to worship in separate services, according to the church and historians.


The Jim Crow services were fought by congregants, who printed leaflets that read, “Self-Respecting People Refuse to be Jim Crowed,” and handed them out during Sunday service, according to a news account that year.


According to historians, the vestry fought back, threatening to fire the rector if he continued to encouraged mixed-race services. The bishop, William T. Manning, eventually interceded and demanded that church services be open to anyone who chose to attend.


Ms. Lynch said she had been a member of the church for 71 years, since she was 9 — back when the church services were standing-room-only affairs.


“I was raised here, was married here, and I raised my children here,” Ms. Lynch said.


In the 1940s and ’50s, the church was vibrant and bustling, she said.


Those were the days of the blue laws, when few businesses were open on Sunday, which meant there were few excuses to skip service. Many homes did not have television. The church was the absolute center of the community, Ms. Lynch said, a place where friends came in packs and families and neighbors mingled, a time when families’ status, to a degree, could be judged by how “churched” they were.


Her mother opened a hair salon in the neighborhood and charged 50 cents a head, and a big chunk of that money went to the church, where some of her customers were undoubtedly members, she said.


“She didn’t make much, but she did everything she could to maintain and build up this church,” she said.


Ms. Lynch took a few more steps from her pew and down the aisle toward the back of the church, passing the change jar just behind the last pew, where a set of stairs led to a basement hall. There, the congregation had gathered for a post-service lunch of assorted meats, fried plantains, greens and macaroni and cheese.


As she stood at the edge of those steps, Ms. Lynch spoke of priests who rose and faded, of rescued street children and of her family and her congregation and the only church she had ever known. “Sometimes it’s heart-wrenching,” she said, stepping from the edge. “But there’s something about this church that we all love.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/nyregion/24harlem.html

Saturday, May 22, 2010

East Harlem residents claim 'predator investor' is trying to drive up rent and expel them



East Harlem residents claim 'predator investor' is trying to drive up rent and expel them



Friday, May 21st 2010, 4:00 AM


New tenants get a lot, but 'we get nothing new, and our 
maintenance keeps getting worse,' says Hilary Saunders, who lives at 
Schomburg Plaza (below) in East Harlem.

Hagen for News
New tenants get a lot, but 'we get nothing new, and our maintenance keeps getting worse,' says Hilary Saunders, who lives at Schomburg Plaza (below) in East Harlem.





Savulich/News

 


Like many New Yorkers, retired railroad engineer Hilary Saunders lived for decades in a rent-stabilized Mitchell-Lama apartment - a place a working-class guy like him could afford.

It was in Schomburg Plaza, two East Harlem high-rises that overlook Central Park.


But these days, Saunders and 4,000 other tenants at Schomburg and several other former Manhattan Mitchell-Lama developments are battling to keep their homes affordable. They are victims, they claim, of a "predatory investor," one of many that swept through the city during the housing bubble.


Such investors gobbled up hundreds of rent-stabilized buildings with big money from Wall Street, then tried to force out old tenants and drive up rents. Then the housing market crashed many owners can't meet their heavy debt load.


Tenants say their landlord, New Jersey-based Urban American Management, is so deep in debt it's trying to suck them dry.


The firm, backed by a Morgan Stanley-created investment fund, paid $918 million for the properties in 2007 at the height of the housing bubble. That was three times what the buildings had sold for only two years earlier.


"We're tired of being treated like second-class citizens in our own building," Saunders said Thursday. He and other tenants met with city Controller John Liu and other elected officials Thursday to plead for help.


"The new tenants get new kitchen cabinets, granite countertops, wood floors," Saunders said. "We get nothing new, and maintenance keeps getting worse."


Then there are the huge electric bills. Most of the developments use electricity for heating and power. Under prior owners, heating and electric were included in the total rent bill.


More than a year ago, Urban American installed separate meters for every apartment and started charging for electricity.


"Tenants were suddenly hit with electric bills of from $400 to as much as $1,000 a month," said Dina Levy, head of organizing at the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board.


Doug Eisenberg, the company's chief operating officer, admits there was a "timing" problem. The new metering began in the middle of winter and "tenants were rightfully scared" about the huge new charges, he said.


So scared that they filed complaints with the Public Service Commission, and the commission rolled back the increases.


Eisenberg says his company still wants to find a way to bill for power separate from heating.


"We firmly believe that we as a business need to be responsible citizens to reduce our carbon footprint," he said.


Eisenberg also rejects the label of "predatory investor."


"We go to great lengths to make sure our residents are treated with decency and respect," he said. "These buildings were falling apart, and we've improved them. We haven't tried to force old tenants to leave.


"And we've been able to pay our debt service every month we've owned the buildings," he added.


"That's utter nonsense," said Levy. "Urban American is the poster child for predatory investing. This was one of the most insane deals of the real estate boom, and there's no way they can pay their debt with the rent rolls from these buildings."


Along with state Sen. Bill Perkins from Harlem and state Assemblyman Micah Kellner, the tenants are demanding that Eisenberg produce audited statements that would show the health of the financial status of the buildings and would justify the huge electricity charges.


Tenant advocates say these Mitchell-Lama buildings are only a tiny portion of the 100,000 apartments that predatory investors purchased during the housing crash that are now drowning in debt.


All Saunders and his neighbors want to do is pay a rent they can afford and be left alone.


jgonzalez@nydailynews.com


Judge Will Consider Discrimination Claim in Broadway Triangle Suit - NYTimes.com

May 21, 2010
Judge Agrees to Consider Bias Claims in Brooklyn Zoning Suit
By JOHN ELIGON

A Manhattan judge has scheduled a hearing next month to determine whether the city’s plan to develop public housing in a rundown patch of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, would essentially foster segregation.

In a 22-page decision issued on Thursday, the judge, Emily Jane Goodman of State Supreme Court, indicated that there might be some merit in claims that the city’s plan to construct public housing in what is known as the Broadway Triangle could have a discriminatory effect.

“The court cannot discount the circumstantial evidence which may allow reasonable people to infer a purposefulness in the manner in which the entire enterprise has proceeded,” Justice Goodman wrote.

A coalition of community groups in Williamsburg said the city and its allies charged forward with the plan without a competitive bidding process and without including a largely nonwhite group that would be affected by the project. The city awarded development bids to two nonprofit groups, the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, which represents part of the fast-growing Hasidic community, and the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council.

Although units in the housing projects would be awarded in a lottery, the Broadway Triangle Community Coalition, which filed a lawsuit to stop the project, said the project was zoned to allow primarily white and Hasidic residents to obtain units.

For example, residents of the predominantly white Community Board 1 area would be given first choice on half of the units, according to Justice Goodman’s decision. (The entire development would be within the Community Board 1 boundaries, but part of the Broadway Triangle lies in the mostly nonwhite Community Board 2 area, the judge wrote.)

The zoning calls for buildings that are six or seven stories high, a move opponents said was intended to accommodate Hasidics, who cannot use elevators on the Sabbath for religious reasons. The plans also call for large apartments, which opponents said would also accommodate Hasidics, who typically have large families.

Justice Goodman noted that more than 90 percent of those on the city’s public housing wait lists are nonwhite and request one- and two-bedroom apartments, and wrote that it was “questionable” why there was such a strong commitment to build large apartments instead of a greater number of smaller units.

Justice Goodman said she would listen to arguments in the lawsuit at a hearing on June 14.

Judge Will Consider Discrimination Claim in Broadway Triangle Suit - NYTimes.com.

Friday, May 21, 2010

OBAMA FRIED CHICKEN SIGN

 


OBAMA FRIED CHICKEN


I thought that the communities had notified these vendors that chicken places with the Obama name was not welcomed in our neighborhood.


Yet they still pop up like this one at 116th & St. Nick.

DRUMS ALONG THE HUDSON

DRUMS ALONG THE HUDSON

When the word powwow is used in conversation, chances are it is either referring to a meeting or being used as a verb, as in "Let's powwow about this later." But the term, which comes from American Indian culture, has a different primary meaning: "A powwow is basically a celebration," said Kamala Cesar, the founder and artistic director of Lotus Music & Dance. "It's a way to come together to share your culture and your dances. You're giving thanks for everything that you have: your family, the food that we eat, the clothes that we wear. You're saying thanks to the creator by dancing."

Ms. Cesar's organization will present the Drums Along the Hudson festival on Sunday in Inwood Hill Park, the eighth version of an annual event that has grown from a few hundred participants its first year to several thousand recently. Beyond the main-stage dance and music performances, the storytelling for children and other events, a traditional powwow is the festival's centerpiece.

Lotus, Ms. Cesar said, aims to preserve the traditional music and dance of many cultures. Though the American Indian culture is the focus on Sunday, the festival also includes performances by Japanese, Korean and Brazilian troupes, among others.

Beginning at noon, a procession of American Indians from several tribes, in traditional regalia, will move from the main stage to a powwow field, where honorees will be introduced. Louis Mofsie, the founder of the Thunderbird American Indian dancers, will be commended for his efforts to keep American Indian culture alive, and two musicians will be honored for their work on behalf of environmental causes: the singer-songwriters Tom Chapin and Melky Jean.

Environmentalism, a buzzword today, is an old concept in American Indian culture. "The philosophy is you don't take more than you need," Ms. Cesar said. "That has always been there in Native American culture, and so we wanted to tie in that philosophy with the problems we are having today with our environment."

After the honors, Thunderbird, which includes dancers from several Indian tribes, will present an honor dance. Other traditional dances, some of them involving audience participation, like one last year, above, will follow.

(Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., rain or shine, Inwood Hill Park, 218th Street and Indian Road, four blocks west of Broadway, 212-627-1076, drumsalongthehudson.org; free.) STEVEN McELROY

Spare Times - Schedule - NYTimes.com.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Smikle Kicks Off Harlem State Senate Challenge To Perkins



The Daily Politics


by Celeste Katz








smikle kickoff-2.jpg


Basil Smikle kicked off his insurgent primary challenge to incumbent state Sen. Bill Perkins this afternoon in Harlem's 30th District, and Kate Lucadamo from our City Hall Bureau was there for it all:


"We are here today because Albany seems a lot less noble these days," said Smikle, 38, a political strategist and former top Hillary Clinton aide.


""The days of playing both ends against the middle are over... I'm running as an insurgent, the outsider," Smikle told a group of about 20 sign-waving supporters, including his dad, a retired textile worker.


Smikle has been an outspoken proponent of charter schools, an issue that's gotten Perkins in some hot water with district parents and special interest groups. "My opponent has not stood up for parents in Albany," Smikle said.


The new candidate dodged a question on whether he backs Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch's proposed borrowing plan to address the state's long-term fiscal stability, but said generally, "I would do everything I could not to furlough state workers."


Also on the scene was close Smikle friend and political consultant Rodney Capel -- who also considered taking on Perkins himself before the two and Larry Scott Blackmon of the Parks Department agreed that Smikle would be the standard-bearer to avoid fracturing the vote in the primary.


Capel said he was there as an "uber-volunteer" and predicted, "It's going to be a fight."


He also dumped on Perkins' pitch of being an outsider himself as "ridiculous," Lucadamo reports.


UPDATE: Perkins responds!



"I welcome Basil to the race. As a community organizer, City Councilmember and now as State Senator, I've built a record of taking action and getting results. I look forward to having the people of this district decide who can best represent them."


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/05/smikle-kicks-off-harlem-state.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nydnrss%2Fblogs%2Fdailypolitics+%28Blogs%2FThe+Daily+Politics%29#ixzz0oVlIMcuX

Hatewatch














Hatewatch is a weekly e-newsletter from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Week of May 20, 2010


Hatewatch Blog

White Supremacist Linked to Mail Bombing Imprisoned

Anti-Immigration 'Labor' Group Misleads on Job Loss

The FAIR Files: Is Race Destiny? Group's TV Show Asks


Intelligence Files
Learn more about the racist think tank American Renaissance.

Hatewatch Headlines
United StatesSon Leaves 'America's Most Hated Family,' And God, Behind
Religion News Service | May 18, 2010

OhioWhite Supremacist Guilty of Sending Noose to Leader of Lima NAACP
Toledo Blade | May 18, 2010






NYCLU: Names in stop and frisk database is illegal

NYCLU: Names in stop and frisk database is illegal

(05/20/10) NEW YORK (AP) - The New York Civil Liberties Union says a database with the names and addresses of hundreds of thousands of people stopped, questioned and frisked by police is illegal.

The NYCLU says state law requires that records relating to a summons or an arrest be sealed unless the person is convicted or pleads guilty to a crime.

It filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The database grew out of a 2001 law. It required the NYPD to give lawmakers quarterly information on people it has stopped. Last year, the total was more than 575,000.

Police use the database as a tool to investigate crime. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly says he hasn't seen the lawsuit but reiterated the importance of the database.

NYCLU: Names in stop and frisk database is illegal.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

On Sean Bell’s Birthday, a Street Gets His Name

On Sean Bell’s Birthday, a Street Gets His Name




Alvertis Alve-Alexander at Sean Bell’s street-renaming ceremony.Jano Tantongco for The New York Times Alvertis Alve-Alexander led a procession at Sean Bell’s street-renaming ceremony Tuesday.

On a dreary and rainy evening Tuesday, Alvertis Alve-Alexander put on face paint and dressed as a clown, bringing color to a street blackened with the blood of Sean Bell.


Musicians on stage sang “Sean,” and the audience yelled back, “Bell.” Under tarpaulins, volunteers dressed in yellow raincoats dished out plates of food. Photographers struggled with umbrellas and cameras to take pictures.


“We just decided to add a little bit of extra entertainment, dress up as clowns and add some sunshine on this rainy day,” Ms. Alve-Alexander said.


On what would have been Sean Bell’s 27th birthday, a three-block stretch of Liverpool Street in Jamaica was officially renamed Sean Bell Way. Earlier in the day, a federal judge ruled that a civil lawsuit filed by the family against the city and the officers who shot Mr. Bell could proceed to trial.


There is no trace of the area’s history around the corner at the former Club Kalua, where Mr. Bell had been before he was shot. It was closed in 2008 for health violations. The awning and signs are gone. All that remains of the club is a spray-painted “143-08” marking its address.


Nicole Paultre Bell, Mr. Bell’s fiancée, said she took some solace in the street naming.


“When little children walk up this block and they ask their parents, ‘Who is Sean Bell?’ they will always be able to pass that story on,” she said.


 


http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/on-sean-bells-birthday-a-street-gets-his-name/

Possible Banksy in Harlem?


Possible Banksy in Harlem?





Did Banksy hit Harlem? A reader sent in this photo from the neighborhood today—we're currently awaiting test results from our street art lab technicians to see if it's the real deal. If it is, this may have been his first venture uptown this trip. If you've spotted more pieces, send them our way!


 


http://gothamist.com/2010/05/19/banksy_hits_harlem.php

Are Bad Background Checks Keeping Black People Unemployed?

Are Bad Background Checks Keeping Black People Unemployed?





do-illegal-immigrants-take-away-african-american-jobs-thumb-400xauto-9305


From TheGrio.com:


Remember years ago when you were down on your luck, out of a job and so desperate that you decided to steal $300 worth of merchandise from a department store? You don’t remember that? Well, your record shows that you were convicted of larceny. Still don’t remember? Oh, that wasn’t you at all? Well, your potential employer is now looking at that incident on your criminal background report because the person convicted of that crime has your exact same name.


I know, sounds extreme; but according to the Attorney General, in 2006, nearly 50 percent of FBI background checks were actually incomplete or somehow inaccurate, primarily due to arrest records that were not updated by local and state authorities, and because of incidents of mistaken identity.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Judge lifts stay on Sean Bell case, settlement conference scheduled - NYPOST.com


Judge lifts stay on Sean Bell case, settlement conference scheduled

By JANON FISHER

Last Updated: 3:08 PM, May 18, 2010

Posted: 3:02 PM, May 18, 2010

After three years of delays, a federal civil rights claim filed by the widow of a man shot and killed by police on his wedding day can finally go forward.

Brooklyn Federal Judge Sterling Johnson lifted a stay on the lawsuit brought by the widow of Sean Bell, who was shot after coming out of a strip club in Queens on the morning before his nuptials.

A federal magistrate also scheduled a settlement conference for the case on July 20th and ordered the police officers involved in the case to attend.

"Because of the nature of this case, we ought to have persons of authority to settle the case present in the courtroom," said the judge.

The case has hit a series of snags since it was filed in 2007.

It was first delayed while the five cops who shot Bell were tried in a Queens criminal trial. They were acquitted of any wrong doing, but the family asked the U.S. Justice Department to pursue a civil rights investigation into why the cops had opened a fusillade -- 50 shots -- on the wedding party.

The Justice Department found no grounds for a civil rights claim in February.

The judge allowed the city to delay the case again for three months while the officers involved in the shooting were brought up on violating departmental procedures that could end with their dismissal from the force.

Yesterday, the city had not even begun an internal investigation.

"I am unimpressed," said the judge. "I am lifting the stay and we will proceed."

The judge's decision came Bell's birthday, said his widow, Nicole Paultre-Bell. He would have been 27 years old.

Paultre Bell commemorated the day by visiting his grave and then going to a ceremony renaming the street he died on "Sean Bell Way."

"We need some type of justice for Sean," said Paultre Bell. "Everywhere we turn we've been denied."

Judge lifts stay on Sean Bell case, settlement conference scheduled - NYPOST.com.

Hank Jones, Versatile Jazz Pianist, Is Dead at 91

clipped from www.nytimes.com
Hank Jones, Versatile Jazz Pianist, Is Dead at 91


Hank Jones, whose self-effacing nature belied his stature as one of the most respected jazz pianists of the postwar era, died on Sunday in the Bronx. He was 91.



Jack Vartoogian

Hank Jones at the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in Tompkins Square Park in 1995.


His death, at Calvary Hospital Hospice, was announced by his longtime manager, Jean-Pierre Leduc. Mr. Jones lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and also had a home in Hartwick, N.Y.


Mr. Jones spent much of his career in the background. For three and a half decades he was primarily a sideman, most notably with Ella Fitzgerald; for much of that time he also worked as a studio musician on radio and television.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Ask About Free Events in New York’s Parks

Rules for Debt Collectors Are Tightened - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com



City Room - Blogging From the Five Boroughs



May 17, 2010, 4:27 pm



Rules for Debt Collectors Are Tightened



By EMILY B. HAGER

The Bloomberg administration announced new rules on Monday that are intended to change the way debt collectors operate by making sure they are going after the right people.

The new rules require collection agencies to provide consumers with the equivalent of an “original receipt” of the debt, proving the ownership and including an itemized list of accrued interest and any additional fees, said Jonathan B. Mintz, the city’s consumer affairs commissioner.

Until now, licensed collection agencies equipped with a list of debtors could contact anyone in New York City whose name appeared on a debtor list, regardless of whether that person owed money or not. The new rules, the commissioner said, will force original creditors to keep paperwork documenting a debt, who owes it, how old it is and whether it is still owed under the statutes of limitations. Debt collectors have recently been criticized by some judges for their tactics, and for the lack of documentation supporting their claims.

“Let’s say that one of the names on their list is Michael Bloomberg,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a news conference held by the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation. “They quickly find people with that name all across the tristate area.”

A 2009 change to the city’s administrative code regarding debt collectors allows the city simply to impose the new rules within the five boroughs, officials said.

One key to improving the debt collection system for New Yorkers, however, is getting consumers to work with debt collection agencies.

New Yorkers frustrated by automated calls from collection agencies, or harassment for debts they do not owe, are also newly entitled to speak with an agent within 60 seconds of returning a call to a collection company.

The Bloomberg administration is not planning any public news media campaign to inform people of the upgraded rules, but it encourages New Yorkers to dial 311 if they are receiving harassing phone calls or need help managing their debt.


Rules for Debt Collectors Are Tightened - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com.

Sorority Accused Of Trashing Slavery Museum | News One


Sorority Accused Of Trashing Slavery Museum



By Associated Press May 14, 2010 11:50 am



OXFORD, Ohio — Miami University’s president has pledged a review of policies and punishments for campus fraternities and sororities after a second sorority was linked to destructive behavior at its spring formal, including vomiting and smoking inside a museum.

The second incident involving the southwest Ohio school to become public this week was at a Cincinnati museum focused on the Underground Railroad.

The Alpha Xi Delta sorority is facing a two-year suspension from the school because of the March 26 event at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Center officials also described excessive drinking and trashing of the dance floor and bathrooms.

The sorority is appealing the planned suspension.

Miami University’s Pi Beta Phi sorority has already been suspended for one year because of misconduct, including excessive and underage drinking, and damage at a local lakeside lodge.

Both sororities have been placed on probation by their national leadership.

A letter to the university from the Freedom Center alleged that Alpha Xi members and their dates vomited in different places, left the men’s bathroom with puddles of urine, dropped drinks onto the dance floor, and tried to steal bottles of boozes from the bar after many sneaked in their own alcohol in flasks or concealed in plastic bottles.

“Things went from bad to worse as the night progressed,” wrote Rhonda Miller, private event coordinator.

She caught one male apparently planning to urinate on an early 19th century slave pen exhibit


Sorority Accused Of Trashing Slavery Museum | News One.

In Trenton, Issuing IDs for Illegal Immigrants

clipped from www.nytimes.com
In Trenton, Issuing IDs for Illegal Immigrants


TRENTON, N.J. — Since moving to this city from her native Guatemala a decade ago, Herlinda, an illegal immigrant, has supported her family with restaurant work, but has had no way of proving that she lives here. Without government-issued photo identification, like a driver’s license or a passport, she said, she could not get treatment at most medical clinics, borrow a book from the library, pick up a package from a mail center or cash a check.


But this month she discovered a solution: a community identification card issued by a coalition of civic groups and endorsed by Trenton and Mercer County officials.


“When you don’t have a proper ID, they can humiliate you,” said Herlinda, 43, as she waited in the offices of a church where the cards were being issued. “I feel I belong in Trenton.”

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Cops' frisk policy is out of control: It creates a climate of distrust in minority neighborhoods


Cops' frisk policy is out of control: It creates a climate of distrust in minority neighborhoods

BY Rev. Al Sharpton

Sunday, May 16th 2010, 4:00 AM

We will never cease to be able to deconstruct the many powerful ways in which race still impacts virtually everything we do. Here in New York City, nothing demonstrates this more clearly than the relations between the men and women of the NYPD and the many communities they serve - specifically communities of color. And as the latest data of "stop and frisk" numbers and arrest statistics succinctly show, there is as yet much more to talk about.

Shortly after the NYPD released its most recent numbers - which indicate that, in 2009, black and Latino New Yorkers were nine times more likely to be stopped by police than whites - a good friend of mine approached me and engaged in a telling conversation. Citing the additional statistics that, once these minorities were stopped, their arrest rates were the same as whites - about 6% of each group wound up in custody - my colleague argued that race was therefore proven insignificant, and racial profiling nonexistent.

Now let's stop and think about this for a minute. Harassing, criminalizing and targeting certain ethnic groups nine times more than others on the premise of questionable probable cause is not a form of racial profiling? Doesn't the fact that the arrest rates among blacks and Latinos are virtually the same as whites in fact blatantly disprove the idea that these groups commit more crimes? In other words, isn't it evidence that the stop and frisk policy is biased, not the contrary?

Why is it that we spend so many resources and our tax dollars to support antiquated policies that create an environment of distrust between the police and those they are sworn to serve and protect?

Supporters of the Police Department claim that the police are simply going where the crime is - which tends to be in minority neighborhoods. They claim they are relying on descriptions of perpetrators by crime victims.

This might explain some disparity in the numbers; it cannot explain how blacks and Latinos are nine times likelier to be stopped. And it cannot justify a massive change in the climate of minority neighborhoods, which is precisely what is caused by hundreds of thousands of police stops.

Indeed, over and above the race question, we have to ask what crime gains are generally being produced by more than a half-million stops by police. The total number of stops last year - about 575,000 - was up by nearly 100,000 since 2007. For what?

It is inconceivable that the NYPD would spend so much money and manpower on this questionable tactic at a time when murder rates, robbery rates and other felonies are actually on the rise in some parts of the city. Instead of focusing on the amount of stops and frisks they muster, perhaps police officers can focus their energies on capturing the true perpetrators of crime and in effect making all of us safer.

A few weeks back, we witnessed the passage of the most draconian anti-immigration law in Arizona. You may think I'm changing the subject by invoking this - but it's closely related. Allowing police officers to arbitrarily question an individual's immigration status opens the floodgates for racial profiling; it deters cops from focusing on crime prevention. It is the same troubling pattern of behavior that we witness here in New York.

Racial profiling, wherever it occurs, is an unfortunate byproduct of the price we pay for diversity, and one we simply cannot continue to tolerate. And until we are ready to face these realities, and have a genuine discussion with ourselves across all color lines, we will unfortunately continue to be plagued by the issue of race.

Sharpton is president of the National Action Network.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/05/16/2010-05-16_cops_frisk_policy_is_out_of_control__and_needs_to_stop.html?r=opinions&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nydnrss%2Fopinions+%28Opinions%29#ixzz0o64eiykJ

Cops' frisk policy is out of control: It creates a climate of distrust in minority neighborhoods.