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News Briefs Thursday, March 15, 2012

Stephen Witt
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8

NYC Councilwoman Letitia James
DOE surveys students, parents and teachers
The city’s Department of Education (DOE) announced the agency’s sixth annual New York City School Survey of public school students, parents, and teachers.

The survey captures a more complete picture of each school’s learning environment by quantifying community feedback on academic expectations, communication, engagement and safety.
“We place a lot of value on the feedback from school communities, so I encourage all of our parents, teachers and students to make their voices heard and fill out the survey by April 5th,” said Chancellor Walcott.

Parents of students in all grades have begun to receive surveys in bright green envelopes via their children’s backpacks or at school events. Parents can also complete their surveys online or by mail. Students in grades 6 through 12 will receive and complete their surveys in school while teachers will complete their surveys online.

Participants may also take the survey online at www.nycschoolsurvey.org.
Surveys must be completed and returned by April 5th.
Survey results will be published at the end of the school year, and represent 10 to 15 percent of each schools’ Progress Report grade.

Council passes bill to monitor private contracts
The City Council this week passed a bill requiring all city agencies to report cost overruns on large private contacts.
“In the last five years, contract costs have increased at nearly twice the rate of overall budget spending, reaching over ten billion in spent public funds,” said City Councilwoman Letitia James, who introduced the bill.

“The vast majority of these expenditures go towards personnel and professional service contracts, and there has been considerable evidence that some of these contracts are poorly managed and lack needed oversight,” she added.

Specifically, the bill would require the mayor to notify the City Council at two points in time— when there is an initial request for a cost increase and when additional contract extensions or modifications that result in a 10% cost increase above the revised contract value.
The bill follows several instances where private contracts were let out by the Bloomberg Administration that resulted in millions of dollars in overrun costs.

Crime up in Bed-Stuy
Felony crime is up dramatically for the year in the two police precincts covering Bedford-Stuyvesant, according NYPD statistics.
In the 79th Precinct, felony crime is up more than 32 percent as compared to this time last year. This includes reported robbery, which is up nearly 44 percent with 82 incidents as compared to 57 at this time in 2011.

Felony assault is up nearly 45 percent with 84 reported incidents so far in 2012 as compared to 58 at this time last year.
Also up measurably is grand larceny and auto theft.
In the 81st Precinct, overall felony crime is up a little more than 20 percent. The biggest percentage rise was in murder.

Thus far this year there have been five murders as compared to one at this time last year.
Robbery, burglary and grand larceny is also up measurably, while there has been decreases in felony assault and auto theft.

Black youths face harsher school discipline
Black students, especially boys, in New York City have been disciplined more harshly than other students, according to new data from the federal Department of Education.

The Civil Rights Data Collection, a national survey of 7,000 school districts taken during the 2009-10 school year, found that minority students were disproportionally punished in school, and were less likely to be exposed to high-level curriculums and experienced teachers.

The information included 1,530 New York City schools, ranging from elementary to high school grades, but did not cover charter schools.

Black students make up about 30 percent of those enrolled in city public schools, but they accounted for roughly half of all in-school suspensions, which are given for lesser offenses like cursing or horseplay. Additionally, they receive more than half of all out-of-school suspensions.

The federal data also showed that New York City black and Hispanic students were underrepresented in gifted and talented classes, middle school Algebra I classes and calculus courses.

“Education is the civil rights of our generation,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told reporters in a telephone briefing. “The undeniable truth is that the everyday education experience for too many students of color violates the principle of equity at the heart of the American promise.”

The department began gathering data on civil rights and education in 1968, but the project was suspended by the Bush Administration in 2006. It has been reinstated and expanded to examine a broader range of information including, for the first time, referrals to law enforcement, an area of increasing concern to civil rights advocates who see the emergence of a school-to-prison pipeline for a growing number of students of color.

Property assessment challenge deadline
Homeowners who believe their property assessment and resulting property tax bill is incorrect must file a challenge with the city Tax Commission prior to the rapidly-approaching deadline of 5 p.m., Monday, March 19.

The deadline applies to most residential properties of three units or less and most condominiums in buildings of three or fewer floors.

In addition to challenging assessments, there are also a number of abatements and exemptions available to many New York City residential property owners.

For example, exemptions are available for a property owned by clergy members, disabled homeowners, and crime victims or good Samaritans who suffered a disability.

The city Tax Commission must receive all property tax assessment challenges by 5 p.m. on Monday, March 19.
For details on the available exemptions or the process to challenge assessments, call City Councilman David Greenfield’s district office at (718) 853-2704 or visit the city Tax Commission’s website at www.nyc.gov/html/taxcomm.

Fort Greene and Clinton Hill put back in Towns’ district

Stephen Witt
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6

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries won a reprieve in his primary challenge to unseat incumbent Congressman Ed Towns after a federal magistrate reversed her proposal to exclude Fort Greene and Clinton Hill from the federally created voting rights district.

These northern neighborhoods are Jeffries’ constituent base in the Assembly.
The newly created 8th Congressional now starts in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill and gerrymanders east and south to include such traditional white neighborhoods such as Howard Beach in Queens before moving west along Brooklyn’s coast neighborhoods including Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay, Brighton Beach and ending in Coney Island.

To make way for Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, U.S. Magistrate Roanne Mann put a swath of Brownsville in Congresswoman Yvette Clarke’s neighboring district.

Under the new formula, if ultimately approved by a three-panel judge, both districts will have a slight black majority as per the federal voting rights district mandate.

“Judge Mann clearly acknowledged that keeping communities of interest together is paramount to a fair and just redistricting process and the court should be commended,” said Jeffries. “This is a victory for the residents of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill who will benefit from the preservation of historically African-American, central Brooklyn neighborhoods within the same congressional district.”

City Councilman Charles Barron, who is also in the three-person congressional primary on June 26, responded that he opposed Mann’s first and second proposal for the same reason – it only marginally gives a black majority.

According to data, Towns’ former 10th Congressional District was made up of 64 percent eligible black voters, and the newly created 8th Congressional District will have only 56 percent eligible black voters.
“These lines still reduce the number of voting-age blacks and Yvette Clarke’s district even has less blacks,” said Barron. “It’s a shame people only went against these lines for personal ambition reasons. I stood out against them on principle.”

Barron also pointed out that with such a slim margin of black voters, it opens the door for a white candidate to enter the primary, much like former City Councilman David Yassky did in running against Clarke in 2008.

A Towns spokesperson said the congressman is reserving comment for when the judges officially rule on the lines.

The official lines are expected to be released later this week (too late for this paper’s deadline).

Vulcan Society Reacts to Federal $128 Million Judgment Against NYC Racially Biased FDNY Exam

Mary Alice Miller
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30

Members of the Vulcan Society
A federal judge has ordered New York City to pay $128 million in back wages to minority candidates who were not hired after taking the fire department test. The ruling is a final decision on a four-year-old class action lawsuit brought by the Vulcan Society. Up to 2,200 applicants who took the test in 1999 or 2002 and were not selected are eligible to receive payments. The decision from U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garufis orders New York City to hire 293 black and Latino applicants.

“We are quite elated about the judge’s decision. It talks to the fact that the fire department, at least 10 years ago, could have done something about it but chose not to,” said John Coombs, President of the Vulcan Society. “This is long overdue. We are optimistic about the outcome and we are looking forward to seeing more people of diverse backgrounds in the fire department.”

The Fire Department is currently 3% Black. Currently there are 29 women in the fire department; 4 are Vulcans. The fire department has 97% white supervision and 92% of the firefighter workforce is white. The racial composition of FDNY has remained the same for decades.

Coombs explained how the point advantage meant for city residents has been manipulated. The strengthening of the point advantage for city residents “should have been done a long time ago,” said Coombs. “That is the goal – to get more people in the inner city employed within the city. No one has a birth right or a family lineage that equates to them being hired first. All too often we find that individuals in the fire department had some relationship with a family member who has been there prior to them. That doesn’t automatically say that they are going to be in the fire department, nor should it allow them any special treatments. City residents deserve city employment. Our goal is to ensure that a great deal of the city power is used towards making sure city residents have better paying careers as firefighters.”

Regarding the validity of the test and what makes it biased, Coombs said there is information on tests that only people who have intimate knowledge of firefighting procedures would know.

“Individuals with fire background – the volunteer fire service – live upstate and out east, either on Long Island or upstate,” said Coombs. “When they are even one or two questions (on the test) where some insight of fire service or fire related codes or anything related to the fire department, they are given an unfair advantage” because the regular layperson wouldn’t know certain “terms of art” used within the FDNY.

Vulcan Society has arranged test preps and paid for the facilities and other materials. The fraternal organization have had full houses at all their tests preps.

“There are some individuals within the fire department who feel they have some sort of privilege. Somehow they got a copy of our e-mail and sent that to their group with the objective of overwhelming us in our own tutorials. I explained to our instructors that they had to explain to a few of them that the Vulcan society paid for, administers, and sets up our own test preps. They tried to overwhelm our facilities,” Coombs said. “Our goal is simple – we are going to reach out to the black and Hispanic communities. Beyond that, if we have to, we will help others, but we are not obligated to help them. We believe we have the right to service our community.” We are trying to help black people get in the fire department. We don’t have allegiance with people who don’t think we belong there in the first place.”
Coombs said “Mayor Bloomberg had the opportunity to make a difference, to see that city residents are employed. He chose do not stand for city residents, yet he is the mayor of New York City.”

“There is nothing Bloomberg can do to improve his legacy. On a racist issue like this, he is the mayor of the city. His concern should have been with the interests of New York City – to ensure people of this city are reasonably employed and those employment dollars circulated throughout the communities. He chose to ignore that. When he started as mayor, the Vulcan Society under Paul Washington’s administration, sat down with Mayor Bloomberg. He has a history of ignoring the issues concerning black people and people of diverse backgrounds,” Coombs said. “Bloomberg’s legacy is one of racism; you can quote me on that.”

Regarding the decision, Coombs said, “We are pleased and certainly hope the population as a whole would see [employment in the FDNY] for their children and grandchildren as a potential career and rewarding choice that they would see themselves in.”

Federal Magistrate Puts Out New Congressional District Lines

Stephen Witt
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5

–Ed Towns moves from representing 10th Congressional District to the 8th District —
The 10th Congressional District that incumbent Ed Towns has represented for 32 years will now be the 8th Congressional District according to new congressional boundaries that a federal magistrate proposed earlier this week.

U.S. Magistrate Roanne Mann put out the new boundaries after state legislative leaders were unable to come to agreement on redrawn district lines. Mann was empowered by a panel of three federal judges to come up with a plan that eliminates two of the state’s 29 congressional seats as required because of national population shifts over the past decade.

The district is a federally mandated voting rights district and the new lines are 58.1 percent black, 18 percent Hispanic and 22.3 percent white. The total constituency in the district is 717,708 people.

The new boundaries come as Towns is expected to face a tough primary challenge from Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and City Councilman Charles Barron on June 26.
“I really don’t have a problem with the new lines,” said Towns. “It’s a district for minority people to win.”

The new lines, though, could spell trouble for Jeffries as the northern portion of the new district where he is popular and/or already represents in the state legislature including Downtown Brooklyn and parts of DUMBO, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, were given to the newly created 7th Congressional District as part of Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez’s district.

Replacing these portions of the district isa small section of Queens in former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s district, which is one of the two districts eliminated, as well as the southern tip of Brooklyn including Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay, Brighton Beach and Coney Island.

Jeffries did not return calls at press time.
Meanwhile, Towns said he is waiting to see who actually circulates petitions and gets the necessary 1,250 signatures to run in the primary before he steps his campaign into high gear.
“My experience is a lot of times people verbalize and they waste each others time,” said Towns. “People get drunk in bars and say they’re running. Once the petitions are filed I will debate all the other candidates any time.”

Barron said he also liked the lines as well as his chances of winning the primary.
“We’re hitting the ground running. While they (Towns and Jeffries) are raising money, we’re raising people,” said Barron. “Candidates can come up with endorsements, but my campaign is people-centered with rank-and-file members of the unions.”

Before the lines become official, the federal judicial panel needs to approve Mann’s proposed lines.

Also, the state legislature may come up with their own lines and the matter may ultimately be decided in the courts.

Proposed Congressional Lines Generate Swift Responses

Mary Alice Miller
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7

This week Honorable Roanne L. Mann, United States Magistrate Judge Eastern District of New York, released her draft redistricting plan for NYS. Judge Mann was appointed by the federal three judge court, led by federal appellate Judge Raggi, to undertake the enormous task of drawing long awaited and delayed congressional lines. Judge Mann hired Dr. Nathan Persily of Columbia University, an expert on redistricting, to assist her.

In response to Judge Mann’s draft redistricting plan, Dr. Esmeralda Simmons, part of the team intervening in Favors v. Cuomo, submitted a letter to Her Honor which generally approves of the Proposed Plan’s districts for NYC, except for the minor but serious objections and recommendations.

Simmons’ Specific recommendations are:
“CD 5 (Queens): Ozone Park and Howard Beach should be completely included in CB5 and removed from CD8. The residents of both of these Queens area’s form communities of interest regarding, inter alia, their proximity to JFK airport. They should not be joined with East New York area of Brooklyn.

CD8 (Brooklyn and Queens): We strongly recommend removing the Queens areas of Howard Beach and Ozone Park, and following the Unity Plan in Southeast Brooklyn. We additionally recommend returning to CD8 the closely-related areas of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill along with Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights and Williamsburg. These adjoining neighborhoods are the transportation and commercial gateways to the central areas of Brooklyn that the remainder of the court’s CD8 covers.

This is a traditional Voting Rights Act (VRA) district (formerly 11CD) that was created for Black voters. It has covered parts of East and North Brooklyn that are heavily populated by Blacks: Bedford-Stuyvesant, Fort Greene, Ocean Hill, East New York, and Starret City, as well as the neighboring areas on the north of Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg, and Highland Park.

Howard Beach and Gerritsen Beach areas are not communities that have common interests with the majority of residents in the 8CD.
Adding Ozone Park to this district forces the neighborhoods of downtown Brooklyn, Clinton Hill, and Fort Greene to be jettisoned and put in District 9. The boundary nine between 7 and 8 along Broadway could be straightened out to coincide with Broadway (like before). The boundary between 8 and 9 could be straightened out along Flatland Avenue.

CD9 (Brooklyn): this district should honor the east – west orientation of North Brooklyn and the Southeast orientation of the Black communities in Central Brooklyn below Atlantic Avenue. The Brownsville and Flatlands areas should be returned to the CD9 district. The Cobble Hill and Fort Greene areas should be removed to CD8. The boundary between CD8 and CD9 could be straightened out along Flatlands Avenue.
This is the original VRA District (formerly CD11) that was created for Black voters in Brooklyn and first elected Shirley Chisholm to Congress. It has traditionally covered parts of Central Brooklyn that are heavily populated by Blacks: Flatbush, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Brownsville, East Flatbush, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, along with Wingate, and parts of Park Slope.
CD16 (Bronx/Westchester): Rye, Scarsdale, and Eastchester should be removed. And the Mount Pleasant areas should be added.”

Assemblyman Karim Camara in his capacity as chair of the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Caucus, wrote to Judge Mann “strongly” objecting to the Brooklyn congressional maps recently released by the court “and the splitting of traditional African-American and Caribbean-American communities of interest throughout the borough.” According to Camara, “core communities that have traditionally been part of the 10th and 11th districts – both protected under the Federal Voting Rights Act – have been decimated without any reasonable explanation.”

Camara’s position on the new NY-9, a version of a current district where Caribbean-Americans hold a strong plurality, is that “these maps extend that district north to include the traditionally African-American neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill. Meanwhile, in the new NY-8, heavily white neighborhoods of Gerritsen Beach, Gravesend, Mill Basin and Georgetown in Brooklyn, and Ozone Park, Howard Beach and Woodhaven in Queens, are all added for the first time.” Camara stated, “These neighborhoods have nothing in common – racially, culturally, geographically, ideologically or socioeconomically – with the African-American neighborhoods of central and east Brooklyn and it would be a grave mistake to include them.”

The new NY-8 map also removes the homes of Rep. Edolphus Towns and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries. Camara pointed out that both “are declared candidates for the 10th Congressional district, have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, respectively and have been presenting their candidacies throughout the district during the last several months.” Camara see this as an affront, stating that “the plan proposed by the court will short-circuit a democratic contest that is already underway, possibly depriving hundreds of thousands of African-American and Latino voters the opportunity to support the candidate of their choice.” Adding to the problems the proposed lines present, Camara stated, “Given the accelerated primary schedule with the date being moved up from September to June, dramatically changing the neighborhoods within these two Voting Rights Act districts at the eleventh hour will heighten confusion, reduce electoral participation and promote voter disenfranchisement.”

Camara saw the “well-intentioned” effort to add Coney Island to NY-8, but pointed out that Coney Island has never been a part of a Voting Rights district. Adding Coney Island in the new NY-8 requires the addition of the above mentioned neighborhoods of Gerritsen Beach, Gravesend, Mill Basin, Georgetown, Ozone Park, Howard Beach and Woodhaven.

“The issues presented by these radically redrawn maps can be resolved,” said Camara. “Instead of jettisoning the traditionally African-American communities of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and parts of Prospect Heights that have long been within the 10th Congressional District, Coney Island would more clearly benefit from inclusion in the new NY-9.” Explaining his recommendations firther, Camara stated, “In a new iteration, NY-9 could move south from the neighborhoods of Flatbush and Midwood, adding Gravesend and Coney Island. Eastern Parkway could then serve as NY-9’s northern border. At the same time, the new NY-8 could move west, to take back in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights and southern Williamsburg, communities that were inexplicably removed simply to accommodate the addition of Coney Island.”

Camara shares Dr. Simmons view regarding Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and parts of Prospect Heights, areas which Camara said “have traditionally shared the same congressional district and are a community of interest, sharing bus and subway lines, commercial corridors, public schools and police and fire precincts.” Camara believes, “These communities have resided in the 10th Congressional district for the last thirty years and should remain as such.”

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries also responded to Judge Mann’s draft congressional lines, “strongly object(ing)” to the placement of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill into two separate congressional districts. “Historically, the traditionally African-American neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill have been linked together as one “community of interest” within the 10th congressional district. They are served by the same community board, the same police precinct, the same school district, the same bus and subway lines, the same firehouses, and the same central commercial corridors on Fulton Street and Myrtle Avenue,” said Jeffries, and is “closely connected to the predominantly African-American community of Bedford-Stuyvesant that is immediately adjacent to the east. These three neighborhoods are all linked by the same commercial corridor along Fulton Street and the same mass transportation along the A, C and G lines. School District 13 also includes the neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights and parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant.”

Jeffries stated, “It is unclear why the proposed congressional map for the new NY-8 jettisons Fort Greene and Clinton Hill (as well as parts of Prospect Heights) and replaces them with neighborhoods in the far reaches of Brooklyn and Queens, including Gerritsen Beach, Gravesend, Georgetown, Ozone Park Woodhaven and Howard Beach” since they have been within the same congressional district for three decades. “This mismatched marriage does not appear to serve the best interests of any of the residents involved,” said Jeffries.

According to Judge Mann’s proposed lines, only one congressional district now resides entirely within Kings County, notwithstanding the fact that at 2.5 million residents Brooklyn is the largest county in New York State. “Indeed, we can accommodate three entire congressional districts wholly within the borders of the county,” said Jeffries. “In this context, there is no plausible reason why the new NY-8 reaches into Queens to pick up three additional neighborhoods that have nothing in common demographically with the communities that have traditionally made up the 10th congressional district.”

A coalition called the Concerned Citizens of Fort Greene-Clinton Hill expressed its position on separating the neighborhoods and stated, “Consistent with the principles of the Voting Rights Act, the neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill should be kept whole and remain entirely within the 10th congressional district.”

Concerned Citizens of Fort Greene-Clinton Hill expressed alarm that “these same maps also remove Fort Greene’s largest public housing project – the Farragut Houses, again largely African-American – from the 10th Congressional district. As a result, residents of Farragut are cast off into the adjacent district to the north, thereby further diluting the African-American presence in the 10th Congressional district, separating the Farragut Houses from their traditional community of interest.”

Long-time residents and homeowners, Concerned Citizens of Fort Greene-Clinton have lived through challenging times during the crack epidemic of the 80’s when Myrtle Avenue was known as ‘Murder Avenue.’ “We have built a wonderfully diverse community through hard work, perseverance and political cohesion,” said the group. “ We need to make sure that the integrity of this district is maintained by keeping the Clinton Hill and Fort Greene communities of interest together. As a district that falls within the Voting Rights Act, and one that has consistently adhered to the “one district, one vote” rule, to break our community up defies the spirit of the law and a fair redistricting process. It requires immediate redress.”

Members of Concerned Citizens of Fort Greene-Clinton Hill include Councilmember Letitia James, District 35, Reverend Clinton M. Miller, Pastor, Brown Memorial Baptist Church, Reverend Linda Bell, St. Lukes Church, Ed Brown, President, Ingersoll Houses, David Goldsmith, 2nd Vice President CEC 13 and District 13 Parent, Delia Hunley-Adossa, President, 88th Precinct Council, Annie Stevenson-King, AARP Legislative District Advocacy Coordinator, and other concerned community residents.

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